Part 3 - Create a bootable usb 'light windows' a.k.a Bart PE

This is the third and last part of booting from usb flash stick.

In this part I will describe how to create a bootable usb 'light windows' a.k.a Bart PE.

Requirements:

1. For this you will need an usb flash stick. I myself tried a No name usb 2GB and it worked fine.

2. You will also need the following files:

-pebuilder3110a (official site download)

-Windows 2003 Server SP1 or srsp1 (two extracted files from the win 2003 sp1)

How-to:

1. Save the files from above to a place on your disk for example C:\



2. Extract the pebuilder3110a.zip to the folder c:\pebuilder3110a

3. In folder c:\pebuilder3110a create a new folder named: srsp1 (this will be used later)

4. Open a command-prompt and type in the following command to extract the files of Windows
2003 sp1:

WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe -x



5. A message box will appear asking you to select a directory for extraction, choose:

C:\win2003sp1



6. Copy the file setupldr.bin

-from C:\win2003sp1\i386

-to C:\pebuilder3110a\srsp1

7. Expand and copy ramdisk.sys by running the command:

expand -r C:\win2003sp1\i386\ramdisk.sy_ C:\pebuilder3110a\srsp1



8. Go to the folder: C:\pebuilder3110a Start BartPE by double clicking pebuilder.exe







9. A windows will appear. Select source to your windows xp cd (in my case F: was my cd letter):



10. If your Windows XP cd has Service Pack 2 included then you need to enable a plugin.
Click on the Plugins button and enable "RpcSS needs to launch DComLaunch Service First - SP2 only" in the list.



11. Click close when done.

12. Click Build, to start building the image that will be used for your usb.

13. If asked to create directory, click Yes.



14. Click Close when done.



15. Plug in your usb stick if you haven't already done that.

16.After building is finished go to command-prompt and type in:

pe2usb -f G: (where G: is my usb drive letter)



17. Type in YES when asked to. This will start creation of your bootable usb stick.



18. When done close the command-prompt window and take out your usb stick. You should now be able to boot from your usb stick.

This concludes the final part, Part 3 - Create a bootable usb 'light windows' a.k.a Bart PE.
By this I have now described three ways of using a usb flash stick booting. I hope you have had good use of this reading.

Part 2 - Install Windows XP from a usb flash

This is the second part concerning booting from usb flash stick.

In this part I will describe how to enable installation of Windows XP from an usb stick.

Requirements:

1. For this you will need an usb flash stick. I my self tried a Sandisk USB 4GB and it worked fine.

2. You will also need the following three files:

-PeToUSB
-usb_prep8
-bootsect

3. A Windows XP CD or a mounted iso of Windows XP.

4. Further you need to have a computer that allows booting from an usb stick. (Almost all newer computers especially laptops allows booting from usb.) You will also need to set your usb to be the first boot priority in your computers BIOS.

How-to:

1. Save the three files from above to a place on your disk for example C:\bootusbxp.



2. Extract usb_prep8.zip, PeToUSB_3.0.0.7.zip and boot bootsect.zip to the same folder as the (ie C:\bootusbxp). It should look like:



3. Move the file PeToUSB.exe to the folder usb_prep8.

a) Go into the folder PeToUSB_3.0.0.7 and cut the file PeToUSB.exe.

b) Paste the file PeToUSB.exe into the folder usb_prep8. It should now look like:



4. In the folder usb_prep8 you will find a file named usb_prep8.cmd.



5. Double-click this file and a command-prompt will appear:



6. Press any key to continue. This will open the PeToUSB formatting tool.
In the drop down list you will see you USB flash drive (In my case SanDisk U3...)



7. Press Start to begin formatting the usb flash stick. A question will appear saying if you want to Continue? Press Yes.



8. Yet one more question appears asking if you want to continue. Click Yes to continue.



9. If everything goes as expected a message box will appear saying that the operation was completed successfully (ie your usb flash was successfully formatted).
Note! Don't close any windows, let the PeToUSB and usb_prep8.cmd windows stay open.



10. Next step is to configure the boot sector so that the usb will be able to boot. This is done with the BootSect.exe (C:\bootusbxp\bootsect).

a) Click Start => Run...

b) Type in the word: cmd



c) Click OK. (A command-prompt window will appear)



11. We now need to move to the folder where the BootSect.exe file exists. (ie C:\bootusbxp\bootsect). Do this by typing and pressing enter after each command:

a) type: cd\

b) press: Enter

c) type: cd bootusbxp\bootsect

d) press: Enter

e) type bootsect.exe /nt52 G: (where G: is the usb flash stick)

f) press: Enter

g) The bootcode should now have been updated. See screenshot:



h) You can now close this window.

12. Before you continue, insert your Windows XP CD into your optical drive. Then return to the PeToUSB windows if it is still open and click on the Close button. The command-prompt window should now appear with the following menu alternatives:



13. In this prompt there are three steps that are important: 1, 3 and 4. We will need to complete each step. Start by setting the path to XP Setup Source (ie your Windows XP CD path). Do this by clicking:

a) 1

b) Enter

14. A window for browsing will appear. Select the drive for your Windows XP CD. (In my case F:) and click OK.



15. Next we need to set the target for the usb flash stick.

a) Type in: 3 and press Enter.

b) Type in: G (Here you should type in the letter of your usb in my case G). Press Enter.

16. The final step is to create the windows template and start copying installation files to our usb flash.

a) Do this by typing: 4 and pressing Enter.

b) A question will appear if we want to format the virtual drive (Y/N). Type Y and press Enter.

c) Then press any key to continue....it will now copy files from your Windows CD to the virtual drive.

d) After that a message box will ask if you want to copy TempDrive files to USB taking 15 minutes. Click Yes to start copying files to your usb flash.

e) On question if you want usb stick to be preferred boot drive U: Click Yes

f) Further click Yes to unmount drive.

g) When finished click any key in the command prompt to close the window.

This completes the steps needed for enable installation of Windows XP from an usb stick. Next I will describe how to install Windows XP from the usb.

The installation procedure differs a little bit from an usual installation. First you need to note that the usb flash needs to stay inserted in the computer during the whole installation of Windows XP. Secondly you will see a new menu displayed when booting from the usb flash. Below I continue describing the installation process.

18. Start your computer with the usb inserted. A menu asking to start from TXT Mode or GUI Mode will appear. Select TXT Mode.
The computer will then restart two times during the installation process. The same menu as above will appear, but this time you should select GUI Mode on both occasions.

19. After the installation has finished you can remove the usb flash stick.

This concludes the Part 2 - Install Windows XP from a usb flash. In the next part I will describe how to boot up a light Windows XP a.k.a Bart PE directly from the usb flash.

Part 1 - Create a bootable usb flash

This week I had a laptop that had a broken cd reader, whose windows had started to malfunction. Normally it is quite easy to format a computer with a Windows XP cd. But this time it weren't that easy, therefore I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn how to boot from a usb flash drive.
Today also more and more laptops are being delivered without an optical drive not to speak of the tiny EeePC's.

This insertion will consist of three parts:

1. In the first part I will describe how to "Create a bootable usb flash".

2. In the second part I will describe how to create and "Install Windows XP from a usb flash".

3. And in the third and final part I will describe how to "Create a bootable usb 'light windows' a.k.a Bart PE".


Create a bootable usb flash

Requirements:

1. For this you will need an usb flash stick that aren't bigger then 2GB (since this is the limit). I my self tried a NoName USB 2GB and it worked fine.

2. You will also need the following two files:
-HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool (This tool enables you to format your usb flash stick)
-Dos (Includes dos files needed when making the format)

3. Further you need to have a computer that allows booting from a usb stick. (Almost all newer computers especially laptops allows booting from usb.) You will also need to set your usb to be the first boot priority in your computers BIOS.

How-to :

1. Save the two files from above to a place on your disk for example C:\bootusb.



2. Extract the file HPusbUtil.rar which contains the file HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool (HPusbUtil.exe).

3. Install the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool by double clicking the file HPusbUtil.exe, and following the installation procedure.

4. Next extract the file dos.rar to a folder for example C:\bootusb\dos.



5. Now start the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool either from the link on your Desktop or from the start menu. The tool will now open and you will see the name of your usb stick in the dropdownlist. Here you should set the following settings:

a) File system: FAT

b) Format options:
--Quick Format "unmarked" (you could also try marking Quick Format)
--Create a Dos startup disk....using DOS system files located at:

c) Browse for the Dos files that you extracted to C:\bootusb\dos by clicking the button [..]

It should all look like:



6. Click Start to begin the formatting of your usb stick.

7. After finishing the formatting click OK.



8. You should now have a bootable usb flash stick that are bootable on computers that allows usb booting.

In the next part I will go throught on how to create and "Install Windows XP from a usb flash".