Microsoft Windows XP live CD is the best way to boot into the Operating System without installation into the computer. By using this XP Live CD you can use XP and its features without actually installing them. This sounds cool, right? Creating a Live CD is not a big problem. It just involves adding of some plugins. One of the easiest ways to do this is using a software called pebuilder. Using it, you can create an XP Live CD in just about 15 minutes!
Here’s all the software you’ll need:
- pebuilder3110a1.exe, which can be downloaded from
ftp://dl.xs4all.nl/pub/mirror/nu2files/pebuilder3110a.exe - Plugins: xpe-1.0.7.cab (the GUI shell) from http://tinyurl.com/2ct72t and Other plugins from www.bootcd.us/BartPE_Plugins_Complete.php
- Nero Burning ROM
- A (bootable) XP CD
Thw XP live CD can be created by the following steps:
Step 1: Download pebuilder3110a1.exe and install it.
Step 2: For the wallpaper, replace C:\pebuilder3110a\bartpe.bmp with the image you want as your wallpaper. You can
find the default XP wallpaper at C:\WINDOWS\Web\Wallpaper\bliss.bmp.
(Both these, of course, assume the C drive as the installation location.)
Step 3: Download the plugins:
- xpe-1.0.7.cab: This will create the XP start button and taskbar. It is the GUI shell of the XP Live CD.
- Network Driver Plugin Pack: This provides many network card drivers
- FreeAV Virus Scanner: This integrates FreeAV
- diskexplorer_for_ntfs.cab: A very good file explorer And more you can choose what you want to download to add functionality. There are 537 plugins right now to choose from!
Step 4: Open pebuilder. Specify the source path to the Windows installation file. This should be your Windows XP installation bootable CD, where the i386 folder resides.
Step 5: Click Plugins and add the plugins you’ve downloaded. Since you’ve included xpe-1.0.7.cab, disable nu2shell and the startup group.
Step 6: Specify the ISO image file, and click Build.
Step 7: After that’s done, use Nero (or any other burning software) and burn the image file to a CD. You’re done!
