The problem:
You have a legal installation of Windows XP but no installation CD.
The manufacturer pre-installed Windows XP for you -but ‘forgot’ (hmm...) to give you the install media.
It’s unfortunate, but this is the most common scenario and can be very problematic for people who just want to reinstall or clean install their legally purchased Windows.
The solution:
First do a search for a folder named I386. There might be more than one, but the one we care about will contain winnt.exe and winnt32.exe. The I386 directory is typically one of the top-level directories on the distribution CD-ROM but most importantly it is the directory that contains the distributed copy of Windows XP. Winnt.exe and winnt32.exe are the DOS and protected mode setup programs, respectively.
winnt32.exe is the "32 bit" version of the character mode Windows setup. You should be able to run this from within Windows.
winnt.exe is the "16 bit" version of the character mode Windows setup. Why a 16 bit version? If you can't run winnt32.exe and are able to boot from an MS-DOS floppy or are able to boot to Win9x DOS mode, then this setup program will work for you.
You will need to copy the entire folder to your CD burner. Download Bootfiles.zip from here:
http://www.tacktech.com/pub/microsoft/bootfiles/xp/bootfiles.zip Create a folder on your drive called ‘OS’ with 2 subdirectories: ‘ROOT’ and ‘BOOT’.
Copy the entire I386 folder into ‘ROOT’
Extract ‘boot.ima’ into ‘BOOT’.
We are now ready to burn the disc.
Start Nero Burning Rom
File > New
1.) Select CD-ROM (Boot).
2.) Select Image file from Source of boot image data.
3.) Check Enable expert settings (for advanced users only!).
4.) Set Kind of emulation: to No Emulation.
5.) Set Load segment of sectors (hex!): to 0000.
6.) Set Number of loaded sectors: to 4.
7.) Set Platform identifier: to Intel x86 compatible.
8.) Press the Browse... button.
Locate the BootSector file (boot.ima) in the folder C:\OS\BOOT.
Click the Open button.
Click on the ISO tab.
- Set File name length to Max. of 31 chars (ISO Level 2).
- Set Format to Mode 1.
- Set Character Set to ISO 9660 (standard ISO CD-ROM).
- Check the Joliet check box.
- Check all Relax ISO Restrictions.
- Check Allow more than 64 characters for Joliet names.
Click on the Label tab.
Remove the check from Also use the ISO 9660 text for Joliet.
Enter the Volume Label into the ISO 9660 and Joliet text boxes.
Click the More fields button.
This is a reference page for CD Volume Labels:
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=312Enter the relevant Volume Label into the System Identifier, Volume Set, Publisher,
Data preparer, Application text boxes under ISO 9660 and Joliet.
Click the OK button.
Click the Burn tab.
- Check Write.
- Check Finalize CD (No further writing possible!).
- Set Write Method to Disc-at-once.
- Click the New button.
Locate the ‘ROOT’ folder.
- Select everything in the folder and drag it to the ISO compilation panel.
Note: Some files are not shown in the following image.
- Click the Write CD Dialog button.
Click the Boot tab.
- Verify the settings. Correct if needed.
- Click the Burn button.
Wait for Disc creation to finish.
Click the OK button.
Click the Done button.
You now have your 100% legal windows XP CDrom!
Your installation PID (key) is on a sticker on the side or bottom of your computer.
I wish this could be made simpler, but haven’t found another way around this problem other than just buying a new disc hopefully these directions will save you the 100 euros. (Bill is already rich)
