Neowin Wizard: Create your own Windows XP SP2 Disc

In this article, you will learn how to convert your original Windows xp cd to the latest version of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2 ).

What are the benefits of doing so?

When you reinstall Windows XP on the host, your system will automatically upgrade to Service Pack 2 (SP2), saving the trouble of "Windows Update" and "re-installing Service Pack 2.

You can also add your own things, such as Microsoft powertoys for Windows XP, to this CD. I believe that you will install many of your own tools after installing a brand new windows. Now you can put all of them into this CD.

Prepare this CD

Before we start, you need to prepare the following:

Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) in your language)
Windows XP Startup File (used to write boot area of the CD)
The NEO burning ROM of the latest version I used in this wizard
At least 1.5 GB hard disk space (reserved for xp cd and SP2 files)

Let's get started.

Go to a CD drive (with Windows XP) and copy all the files to a folder on your hard disk. This is easy. (Shown below) I use F: CD.

Go to the root directory to determine where the file WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe is (example), and then enter the following command:
F: WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe-S: F: CD
Confirm the correct drive letter, depending on where you put the file.

In this example, I copied all the content of Windows XP CD to the F: Cd and Windows XP Service Pack 2 files on the F: disk. To ensure correctness, check the file location again.

Click "OK" and you will see that the file is being integrated, as shown in the following figure:

Later, you will see the following prompt: the integration process has ended.

Now the Service Pack 2 file is in your CD folder.

You may notice that this folder is no longer like the original CD, because the service package file has been added to the root directory. You may want to add some additional files now, but I added Norton Anti-Virus 2003 and all Windows XP powertoys to the support folder. You can append some small and critical software that you need to install every time after Windows is installed, note that the size of these attached files cannot exceed the size of the disc (the size should be kept at 650/700 mb, depending on the selected disc type ). You can check the folder size by right-clicking the CD folder and selecting properties in the pop-up menu. If your file exceeds 650 MB or 700 mb, Nero will warn you that the file size is too large.

The final preparation is to add the WPA. DBL file to your CD. WPA. DBL is an activation file for your computer or hardware. This file is unique to your machine, so you don't have to worry about it being stolen or somewhere else. However, it will only appear on a computer that has activated Windows XP.

The advantage of backing up this file to CD is that you can activate windows without contacting Microsoft via the Internet or by phone. This means that you can automatically activate Windows XP after you reinstall the system without worrying about the time limit for calling the Microsoft representative.

As shown in the figure above, open "Search for Windows XP" and select "all files and folders"-> "search here"-> "C: "(or a drive with Windows XP installed ). Click "more advanced options". Make sure that the first three options are selected ("Search for system folders", "search for hidden files and folders", and "Search for subfolders ").

Once you find this file, copy it to any place you like in the CD folder, so that you can find it after the CD is created. In my CD directory, I put it in the "support" folder.

Note: WPA is used in the newly installed system. the correct method for DBL files is: Install Windows XP SP2 and start to safe mode, and set WPA. copy the DBL file to the System32 folder (C: windowssystem32 in this example) and restart the computer (to normal mode ). You will be prompted to activate Windows XP. After you click OK, you will find that Windows XP can be activated if the file still matches the current computer. (This activation method is not supported by Microsoft. If it fails, you must use the conventional method of Windows XP to activate it ).

Burn files to CD

Open the Nero burning ROM and select the CD-ROM (BOOT) just like the picture below. Make sure that the content of your dialog box looks the same as that in the image. The xpboot. BIN file can be stored elsewhere on your computer. Replace F with the path on your computer :.

Next, match the content under the tab (ISO:

You can select the content under this tab. I chose wxpsp2_en as the volume label, but you can replace en with the language of your region. You can also name it wxpsp2. Examples include wxpvol_en (volume) wxpoem_en (OEM version) wxpret_en (retail version.

Next, click "new" to add files to the disc using the file browser of Nero. First, set the location to the prepared Windows XP SP2 CD folder, and then drag these files into it. Nero automatically calculates the size of the disc file and prepares the data to be burned.

After everything is complete, click the "burn" button and you will see the "burn" dialog box. Make sure that the "End disc" option is selected, and then click "burn ".

If everything goes well, you will see:

Before you confirm the correctness of the CD, you may want to try to use it to start the computer. You don't have to verify all the steps, just make sure you can use this CD to start the computer. In this case, you can use the Windows XP Service Pack 2 Integrated CD to replace the original CD to install the system.

Related connections:
Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) in your language)
Windows XP Startup File (used to write boot area of the CD)
Website of Nero burning Rom