How To Install Windows XP On Asus EEE PC

We recently had a question on the Ask-Us page that prompted me to write this tutorial as this might be very handy for people using not only the Asus EEE PC but all PCs which do not have a optical drive.

Pre-requisites before beginning :

• A PC with CD-ROM
• Windows XP installation media
• Atleast 1GB USB flash drive
• USB_PREP8
• PeToUSB
• Bootsect.exe

Now that you have got the required files in place, we can begin on the tutorial.

Step 1: Unzip the files

First, extract the files present in the bootsect.zip . Next you need to copy the PeToUSB executable into the USB_prep8 folder. All these folders can be placed anywhere according to your convenience.After you have done all this stuff, you can move on to the next step.

Step 2: Run usb_prep8.cmd

Open up the folder USB_prep8 and you will find a file named usb_prep8.cmd . Run the executable file to launch the command promt box which will ask you to press any key. Press any key and then you will see PeToUSB program launch up. Don’t close the usbprep8 windows until told to do so.

Step 3: Start PeToUSB utility

After you see the PeToUSB window, press the start button present at the bottom of the window. You do not need to tweak any values in the program as they are preset to the appropriate ones. Leave the window open and proceed to next step.

Step 4: Fire up command prompt.

Run command prompt and navigate to the folder where you had saved the file bootsect.exe file. After you have navigated to the directory, type this command in the command prompt and run it, “bootsect.exe /nt52 R:” without the quotes and where R is the drive letter of your USB flash drive. Also make sure there are any programs accessing the drive or any open window of the drive. After modifying the bootsector of the USB flash drive, a notification saying “Bootcode was successfully updated on all targeted volumes.” would flash on your screen. You can now close the PeToUSB and this command prompt window while still leaving usbprep8 window open.

Step 5: Configure some settings

You will now notice that the usbprep8 window has changed. You will now have to configure a few settings in this window. Press “1″ to set your Windows XP CD-ROM drive and set the CD-ROM drive letter as the path to installation files.

Press “2″ and assign a letter which is currently not assigned to any of the drives on your PC.

Press “3″ and enter the drive letter of your USB flash drive.

Step 6: Start the process

Press “4″ to start the process.

Press “Y” to format the temporary “T:” that the program creates. Press Enter after the formating is complete. After the files are copied to temporary drive, press Enter again to continue the process. Press “Y” when it asks for confirmation of copying files to the USB flash drive. After the process is complete, the program asks whether you wish to set the USB drive as preferred boot drive, select Yes in the window. Then select Yes to unmount the virtual drive.

Step 7: Boot with USB drive

You can now close the usbprep8 window. Restart your PC and boot from the USB drive and select text mode on the startup menu. You are now on course for a normal familiar windows installation! But you need to delete all the partitions present to prevent yourself from getting the hal.dll error message.