In this guide I am going to show you how to make a boot disk for windows
xp which will include lots of useful tools such as system recovery
programs, partition editors, virus scanners, testing tools and more.
You can also add and remove tools as you wish from the boot disk for
windows xp.
To make a boot disk for windows xp we are going to make a usb drive
bootable using a program called Grub4DOS. Grub4DOS is a boot manager
that can easily be installed and configured on to a usb drive. Grub4DOS
enables booting to multiple operating systems which are stored directly
on the usb drive. In this guide I will show you how you can create a
nice looking menu like the one below to launch your applications.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Requirements For : How to make a boot disk for windows xp -USB Drive, the larger the better, min 1gig
-Grub4DOS install files, Link below
-Applications you wish to use, Listed Below
Contents For : How to make a boot disk for windows xp
- Step 1 – Installing Grub4DOS
- Step 2 – Download Additional Files
- Step 3 – Testing The Grub4DOS Boot Disk for Windows xp
- Step 4 – Customising Your Boot Disk for Windows xp
- Step 5 – List Of Applications That Can Be Added To Our Boot Disk
Step 1 – Installing Grub4DOS First thing to do is insert your USB drive in to your computer, Now
backup any data you want to keep on to another drive, then format the
USB drive.
Now we need to download the Grub4DOS installer,
Grub4DOS Installer
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] To check for a newer version go to Index of /grub4dos
Extract the files in to a folder on your local hard-drive. Browse in
to the Grub4DOS Installer folder and double click on the
grubinst_gui.exe file. You will get a screen like the one below open
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]1 – Click on the disk radio button
2 – Press the refresh button
3 – Select your USB drive from the drop down menu. Be very careful,
If you select the wrong drive you might harm your windows xp system.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] 1 – Click on the refresh box next to the “Part List”
2 – Click on the drop down box and select “Whole Disk (MBR)”
Under options tick the box “Don’t search floppy” and make sure all
the other boxes are unticked. Now click on the” install” button at the
bottom of the window. If all has gone well you should get a black popup
window saying “The MBR/BS has been successfully installed, Press ENTER
to continue ...” Press enter to close the window.
Now download the Grub4DOS OS files which is located
HERE.
Extract the files on to the root of your USB stick. We are done
creating the boot disk for windows xp, now we need to test and configure
the boot disk.
Step 2 – Download Additional Files For Our Boot Disk For Windows xp
We now need to download a few files in order for our boot disk to work correctly.
First we are going to download microsoft diagnostics and recovery xp,
This program is not available on the Microsoft website any more so we
will need to download this program via a torrent. Go to google and
search for “microsoft diagnostics and recovery xp torrent” Once you have
downloaded the program copy XPLOADER.BIN file in to the images folder
on your USB boot disk.
We need to download the latest .iso file for the anti-virus. Go to Rescue CD
and download the rescue CD. Now extract the zip file and rename the
.iso file to f-secure.iso (All lower case) then copy this iso file in to
the images folder on your
Step 3 – Testing The Grub4DOS Boot Disk for Windows xp
Insert the USB stick in to your computer and turn on your computer.
We now want your computer to boot to the USB stick, You might need to
go in to the BIOS and configure the USB to be the 1st boot device. When
your system has booted to the USB stick you should see a menu like the
one below.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Step 4 – Customising Your Boot Disk for Windows xp I have made it easy for you to add your own programs to this boot
disk if you wish. From the main menu if you select “Windows XP Misc
Tools” you will go to a menu to can easily customise. Open the file
misc.lst on the root of your USB boot disk with notepad. If you want
to add a program download the file and place it in the images folder,
then edit the misc.lst file as follows.
Find the text
Quote:
And replace with
FOR Iso Files
Quote:
title %YOUR TITLE HERE%n%YOUR DESCRIPTION%
map (hd0,0)/images/%FILE NAME%.iso (hd32)
map --hook
chainloader (hd32)
boot
|
if the above doesn’t work try
Quote:
title %YOUR TITLE HERE%n%YOUR DESCRIPTION%
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /images/%FILE NAME%.iso
map --mem /images/firadisk.gz (fd0)
map --mem /images/%FILE NAME%.iso (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
chainloader (0xff)
|
For .img Files
Quote:
title YOUR TITLE HERE%n%YOUR DESCRIPTION%
fallback 1
map --mem /images/%FILE NAME%.img (fd0)
map --hook
chainloader (fd0)+1
rootnoverify (fd0)
|
Below I have made a list of all of the applications I could find
on the internet that you can use to add to your boot disk for windows
xp.
Step 5 – List Of Applications That Can Be Added To Our Boot Disk
All In One Applications
- Ultimate Boot CD Ultimate Boot CD - Download the UBCD One of the best free recovery boot disks available on the internet
- Hirens Boot CD Download Hiren's BootCD 13.0 Another greate boot CD, includes 100's of free to use tools
Anti-Virus Scanners
- Kapersky Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 Download
- F-secure Rescue CD Rescue CD
- Bit Defender Index of /rescue_cd
- Avira AntiVir Avira AntiVir Rescue System - Download
- Trinirty Rescue Kit Trinity Rescue Kit: Download
- Avg rescue CD AVG - Rescue CD | PC Rescue and Repair Toolkit
- Sardu SARDU - Shardana Antivirus Rescue Disk Utility
- DrWeb cd Dr.Web CureIt! — download free anti-virus! Cure viruses, Best free anti-virus scanner!
Other Useful Links[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
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