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TR Dojo

by Bill Detwiler, Head Technology Editor
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Welcome to the first episode of TechRepublic’s IT Dojo show. During this weekly video, I will discuss best practices that you won’t often find in the official product documentation, demonstrate advanced tips that aren’t widely known but are highly useful, and share lessons learned from the experiences of real world IT pros. Our first IT Dojo episode covers a handy tip that’s been a hit with the TechRepublic audience in the past.

Booting Windows XP from a USB flash drive gives you a great IT support tool. For example, you can make a troubleshooting toolkit for booting and analyzing seemingly dead PCs. Or you could always have your favorite support applications at your fingertips.

In this IT Dojo video, I explain the process and pitfalls of creating a bootable Windows XP USB drive. I outline how to configure a computer’s BIOS to boot from a USB drive, how to download and use the free software to create a bootable drive, and how to install Windows XP on the drive.Once you’ve watched this IT Dojo video, you can read the original TechRepublic article, walk through the process in a screenshot gallery, and download a PDF version of the tip with the following resources:

Bill DetwilerBill Detwiler is Head Technology Editor of TechRepublic. Previously, he worked as a Support Tech and IT Manager in the social research and energy industries. Read his full bio and profile. You can also follow him on Twitter.

Print/View all Posts Comments on this blog

BartPE, WinPE, or WinBuilder essential troubleshooting tools? Bill Detwiler - TechRepublicTechrepublic Moderator | 04/28/08
BartPE saved me this weekend! vjg@... | 04/29/08
Winternals ERD2005 it is much better rosrj2003 | 04/30/08
Winternals ERD2005 is a great tool, but not cheap tfloyd@... | 04/30/08
Utilities to delete "in use" files No name specified | 05/01/08
Ever heard of Unlocker? eikelein | 05/02/08
Ever heard of Unlocker? abderdiak | 10/15/09
Good idea, but... haimsn | 04/29/08
Good idea, but... husserl@... | 04/30/08
NO XP with computer ? mark.holman@... | 10/29/08
UBCD4Win . . . eikelein | 04/29/08
Great tools.... kgunnIT | 04/30/08
A hardware problem here Gis Bun | 04/29/08
BartPE wdewey@... | 04/29/08
Correct, wdewey eikelein | 05/02/08
3 days work, and I got..The ultimate boot environment! jkonrath@... | 04/29/08
Good job, now how did you get the external HD to boot? ComputerFieldsInc@... | 04/29/08
USB Hard drive booting... jkonrath@... | 04/30/08
Share your experience please! sfields@... | 04/29/08
I just gave you the tools... jkonrath@... | 04/30/08
Great reply, Thanks jkonrath eikelein | 05/02/08
PIDkey tool TechnicalMumboJumbo | 05/03/08
support dot dell dot com eikelein | 05/04/08
HEEEEEELP! Stelian | 04/29/08
reply to 'heeeeeeelp' roy.evison@... | 05/26/08
So, it's finally hitting the mainstream eh? team_elii@... | 05/01/08
Just a comment... No name specified | 05/01/08
question on the srsp1 files andyafk@... | 06/14/08
Just a waste of time georgeclooney | 04/29/08
ever checked out iM2501 | 04/29/08
Actually ... spam@... | 04/29/08
Actually, it is relevant. ElGeeko | 04/29/08
Still Trolling blambert@... | 04/29/08
Why not do it all? esalkin | 04/30/08
For certain situation I need a propper tool! jiri.zich@... | 05/01/08
gparted, etc. Greg Mix | 05/02/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP techrepublic2@... | 04/29/08
Thanks for the tip iM2501 | 04/29/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP rideoutm@... | 04/29/08
IT Dojo is a Trademark in IT - You're going to need to rename the column Bill Ward | 04/29/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP dukethepcdr@... | 04/29/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP marklnewton | 04/29/08
USB Flash drive boot Desktop Veteran | 04/30/08
You can't get away from it tfloyd@... | 04/30/08
To Each Their Own Desktop Veteran | 05/01/08
At first I thought this was great but.... tom@... | 05/01/08
You are correct.... Desktop Veteran | 05/02/08
IT = Solutions Haas | 05/05/08
To Each Their Own Desktop Veteran | 05/06/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP suniltr77@... | 04/30/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP Desktop Veteran | 04/30/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP Desktop Veteran | 04/30/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP Texas.Ex@... | 04/30/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP Desktop Veteran | 04/30/08
Still Confused Texas.Ex@... | 05/02/08
Sorry for the confusion Desktop Veteran | 05/02/08
Too Much of a Newbie I Guess Texas.Ex@... | 05/02/08
Gotta start someplace! Desktop Veteran | 05/02/08
The barren wasteland of the BIOS page BALTHOR | 04/30/08
To be clear on the BIOS page Desktop Veteran | 05/01/08
Possible the BIOS is using NVRAM dunham_john@... | 06/19/08
Not the case... cmatthews@... | 10/13/09
You don't need to install the SP to get the files... Rowan Hawkins | 04/30/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP tyleriam@... | 04/30/08
Can I install windows XP using this way? kaheru81@... | 05/02/08
An Option Desktop Veteran | 05/02/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP james.goodwin@... | 05/02/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP KKJ7191@... | 05/02/08
Just to be clear... Desktop Veteran | 05/02/08
Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP yuganv@... | 05/02/08
Can this be done with windows vista? clehofer@... | 05/02/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP roy.evison@... | 05/04/08
Windows XP Installation Desktop Veteran | 05/05/08
xp installation roy.evison@... | 06/15/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP rck@... | 05/21/08
ISO file Desktop Veteran | 05/28/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP abuhamzy@... | 10/21/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP pwatkins@... | 10/31/08
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP zhogdr@... | 07/21/09
RE: Video: Create your own bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP janefonda | 01/03/10
Jane, that's out of bounds here.. cmatthews@... | 01/03/10

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