# Solved: Cannot install Windows XP from USB using unetbootin



## iamsostuck

I have always had Ubuntu Studio on my little netbook and it was not until now that I need Windows on it for school. I am having the hardest time installing it. The steps I have taken so far are:

1. Booted from live USB and used Gparted to delete all linux partitions and created a FAT32 partition with my whole hard drive.

2. Used Unetbootin to create a USB bootable Windows XP because I do not have a DVD/CD-Rom drive on my machine.

3. Reboot machine with USB stick in and enter F12 for boot menu and pick USB Flash memory.

4. A screen comes up like what is normal for a Unetbootin made USB with only one option being "default", as usual there is a 10 second count down at the bottom that will select by default after time expires. When I click on default it does nothing and the timer resets. If I do not do anything and let the timer countdown reach 0, it does nothing and starts over.

I am not super smart at computers, I have just always used linux for my photography and editing because all the tools are great and free!  However, as for knowing how to use a linux OS I really have no idea. It seems like everyone suggests that Linux has made it so my computer does not recognize the boot info of windows based files so naturally it wont see the USB and maybe that is why it is not working right. I did delete it all, but maybe there is more I need to do? I have searched forums and nothing seems to work. 

I really need Windows for my summer quarter of college and I would be much appreciative if someone would help me out. 

Thank you


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## arochester

1) What happens if you take out the USB stick and then reboot?

2) Have you set the BIOS so that it boots from the Hard Disk first, rather than USB?

3) If you are having Microsoft Windows only, instead of dual booting, it should have created a new Microsoft Windows MBR (Master Boot Record) and there should be no problem


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## iamsostuck

If I take the USB out and reboot it gives me an all black screen and some error with grub. The only thing it will boot is a linux based live USB. It does not recognize windows is what it seems like.

Perhaps I am not deleting all of linux? If you had Ubuntu on your computer and wanted to wipe all clean and install windows what would you do? Maybe I just did not delete it fully is all.


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## TerryNet

It does boot one USB (Linux) but not another (Windows). Indication is that there is something wrong with the USB that does not boot.


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## iamsostuck

I have tried with 3 different USBs. And two of them are brand new barely a day old. I really do not think it is the USB. Perhaps maybe the way I am putting Windows on it to make a bootable USB. I used Unetbootin to make a bootable USB. It works flawlessly when I do it with any Linux distro I have tried.

It is quite frustrating...


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## vicks

If you get an USB external CD drive, you should be able to install from cds.
Vicks


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## iamsostuck

So there is no way to do this other than a USB CD drive? I am a broke college girl. I really do not have extra money to spend on computer stuff. I have another PC and an ethernet cord. Could I possibly use my other PCs ethernet cord to connect the two to transfer an OS via CD drive or my other HD? My other PCs specs are (if it matters)

Intel i7 950
Nvidia GTX 285
12GB 1333 Ram
2TB Sata HDs


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## saikee

Dangerous ground here for one license to be used on two different computer!

In any case I couldn't help to ask what make you think a Xp can be installed from a USB device? The Internet information suggests quite a bit of work involved not just use UNetbootin. Without modification only later Vista and Win7 can be boot from a USB flash drive.


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## iamsostuck

no I didnt mean use 2 of the same serial codes. I have the original Windows Product number on Windows 7, but have a disk for Windows 7 update for my other PC. I still have 2 Windows keys and only using one Windows. I also have my old XP serial code from my older desktop which is not in use. I would love to put 7 back on there, but I just thought I would try XP because when I tried 7 it did not work.

I do have a Windows 7 upgrade disk that can work as a full install as well and I have the old Windows key that was on the Windows 7 previously on the netbook. Only issue is I do not have it on a USB. 

If I made an ISO out of the upgrade disk, how would one go about getting it to a bootable USB? You say Unetbootin is not all that is needed? What other things are needed to do this? I would love to know. I was told Unetbootin works and I tried it with an ISO I made of my upgrade/full install disk but it did the same thing as XP does. Something is not right with deleting Linux it seems like.


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## saikee

I have been pre-occupied with putting 4 Vista and Windows 7 installation DVD into one flash drive and wrote this thread.

I can confirm using Grub you can boot as many Ivsta and Win7 in a USB flash drive. The limit is the capacity of the flash drive.

As far as I am aware Xp does not support similar arrangement.

You do need a Win7 installation DVD to make the partition inside the flash drive bootable but this can be done at any computer with any installation DVD as long it fits your version. This means a 32-bit Vista or Win7 can do all 32-bit systems but you need a 64-bit DVD to do all the 64-bit systems.

The process of making a flash drive bootable with a Win7 inside involves executing the bootsect.exe available in every \boot directory of an installation DVD. You can achieve the same thing by bring the flash drive to a PC with Win7 as it can run bootsect.exe.

Haven't tried UNetbootin myself but I read its description that it can operates in WIndows to download an iso, place it in a partition and do the linkage to make it boot. That is alright with an Linux iso but not with a XP which is a proprietary system with no free download. Linux iso works because everyone will have a CD-based boot loader isolinux but some also shipped with syslinux which is a boot loader for hard disks, floppies and flash drives. The work carried out by UNetbootin can be done manually by a user.


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## TerryNet

> Perhaps maybe the way I am putting Windows on it to make a bootable USB.


That's what I meant to say, but worded it extremely poorly and inadequately. 

I hope this latest information from *saikee *will lead to success for you. You can use a CD/DVD drive from another machine, but you cannot boot from a remote drive unless it is on a computer that is setup as a special server to boot another machine over a network.


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## iamsostuck

After hearing this I think that Unetbootin is my issue. I downloaded MBRWiz and used the command prompt with bootsect and created it this way. I am still waiting on the folder I made to be copied to USB and we shall see how it goes.

Thank you all for your input.


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## iamsostuck

Okay well I put the USB in the netbook, selected USB Flash from the mulit-boot menu and a black screen with "BOOTMGR is missing, Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to restart"

I used this as my tutorial on making the USB bootable and everything seemed to work flawlessly, by that I mean I got no errors while using the command terminal.
http://maketecheasier.com/boot-and-install-windows-7-from-usb-flash-drive/2009/01/23

Thought I had it this time 

Edit: Also I have Ubuntu Netbook Remix fully installed on it at the moment so at least I had something to use. I was just going to write over it in the install. Would I need to delete Ubuntu again and create a NFST partition so it can see my USB?


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## TerryNet

The formats of the hard drive and the USB drive can be different; will not cause a problem. When you get to the point of booting Windows from the USB you will have to format the hard drive partition to NTFS (or FAT32) to install Windows there.


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## iamsostuck

It will not boot from the USB though.


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## saikee

Every Vista and Win7 installation DVD I tried on a USB boots without any outside help except Grub. 

The trick is you must use bootsect.exe to write the boot sector code in the partition where the Vista/Win7 resides.

The most important bit is that the booting partition must be the first partition from the partition table. It works on both primary and logical partition. For a logical partition it will always be the sda5, or sdb5 or sdc5 etc.

The NT versions of Windows Win2k and Xp cannot be booted unless extra tools and drivers are added.


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## iamsostuck

"The trick is you must use bootsect.exe to write the boot sector code in the partition where the Vista/Win7 resides."

I almost have no idea what you are talking about. I just followed some tutorial on how to put windows onto a USB. Other than that I am lost. 

As it stands now, my little netbook sits with nothing on it other than a 300GB NFTS partition. The USB installs I keep making seem to not be working. I get the grub error message which I know I need to fix mbr but I cannot get a Windows disk to boot. If it would just boot I would be completely fine. I cant change to boot USB in bios like all tutorials suggest, however I can use a multiboot menu which I assume is the same thing. 

Only thing I get from USB when I load it is "BOOTMGR missing, hit ctrl-alt-delete to restart"

Frustrating :/


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## saikee

There is nothing complicated in putting a Win7 installer in a pen drive.

You just copy the contents from a Win7 installation DVD to a preformatted partition in the pen drive. Say make it simple the only partition there.

The pen drive will not boot immediately after copying because no boot loader has been installed.

The bootsect.exe is a program insde the \boot directory of the installation DVD. It is used to write a boot sector code inside the pen drive partition. The command is 


Code:


bootsect /nt60 D:

where D: is the drive letter of the pen partition.

When this is done the pen drive partition is "chainloadable" and can booted up by Grub.

The sequence is Grub loads this boot sector code when "chainloader +1" is instructed by the user after the pen drive partition has been identified by the "root" statement. The boot sector code loads the bootmgr which is part of the contents of the installation DVD.

I list the contents of a 32-bit version of Win7 here which I have mounted in /mnt/sdc6



Code:


[email protected]:/home/saikee# ls /mnt/sdc6
[B]autorun.inf  boot  [COLOR="Red"]bootmgr[/COLOR]  efi  $RECYCLE.BIN  setup.exe  sources  support  System Volume Information  upgrade[/B]
[email protected]:/home/saikee# ls /mnt/sdc6/boot
[B]bcd  bootfix.bin  boot.sdi [COLOR="Red"] bootsect.exe[/COLOR]  en-us  etfsboot.com  fonts  memtest.exe[/B]
[email protected]:/home/saikee# e

You can take the pen drive to a computer with Win7 to execute the bootsect.exe. Alternatively booting up a Win7 installation DVD (in a computer that has a DVD drive), opt for "repair", then "command prompt" will give you a terminal to execute this command.


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## iamsostuck

Oh my, I am so happy!! I got it to work thanks to everyones help. 

I think I was making an error when using the bootsect command, I actually really do not know. All I know is that it worked and just in time for summer quarter on Monday! 

Thank you all a million


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## TerryNet

Have a productive summer.  You can mark this Solved using the button at the upper left of the page.


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## saikee

iamsostuck,

I think you have a duty to clarify to the reader that you have not installed a Xp but a Win7 in the end if this is the case This is because your thread refers to Xp but I suspect it is the Win7 that you managed to fire up..


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## iamsostuck

Yes, thank you so much.

What I ended up doing was booting into my desktop and taking the Windows 7 upgrade disk I got with my new desktop that came with Vista, and I got the bootsect copied from it to my newly formatted 8GB NFTS pendrive. I ran through the command line commands to make the pendrive bootable, extracted the ISO to a folder and put that folder in the pendrive directory.

I then got another pendrive, put Ubuntu Netbook Remix on it and booted into my netbook with the live USB. I then used Gparted to erase all partitions and create 1 NFTS partition. I rebooted with the Windows 7 pendrive in and what do you know, it worked! 

I then used my old Windows 7 key that I had taken from the system specs before Windows was taken off the first time. I got all my Office stuff on there for school and I am ready to go.

I now have it dual booting to Ubuntu Studio which is what I wanted in the first place. 

My brain hurts from all the computer knowledge I just received but in the age of technology I am sure it will come in handy again


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