Building A Windows Live CD

 
  
Windows XP LIVE CD 
 
 
Any PC user can create a CD that runs Win XP without being
installed, and use it to troubleshoot and recover crashed
machines.
 
 
Posted by: 
blackram@projectallabout  
Edited by: 
CairaC 
 
 
 
2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This tutorial was posted by blackram@projectallabout . 
GR8 Tutorial man! 
This is one of the best written and best composed tutorials I have seen so far, and not only is it well done but it is 

extremely useful for anyone as a first aid kit but especially to Network Admins,
 Systems Admins/Engineers. 
 
Let’s get started ☺ 
 
 
Please go to the next page … 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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.::*CREATE YOUR OWN*::.
.::*WINDOWS XP LIVE CD*::.

INDEX 
 
 
 
Introduction              …………………………………………          Page 4 
Let’s Get Started               …………………………………………          Page 5 
What You Need                ………………………………………………..             Page 5 
Last Notes                ………………………………………………..             Page 6 
Create your own Windows XP Live CD          …………………………………………          Page 7 

Create Plug‐ins for Programs     ………………………………………………..      Page 8 
Change the look and feel     ………………………………………………..      Page 9 
BONUS      …………………………………………  Page 11 
 
 
Contact details
…………………………………………  Page 12





















 
 

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INTRODUCTION






Any PC user can create a CD that runs Win XP without being installed, and use it to troubleshoot and
recover crashed machines.



A live CD contains an OS configured to run directly off the CD, ie, it need not be installed on the system.
Just pop the CD into the system’s drive, boot from it and the OS will be up and running, without tampering
with the OS loaded on your system’s hard drive. This can be a very handy tool for network administrators
for tasks such as, recovering data from crashed desktops or doing other troubleshooting tasks. Companies
that want to demonstrate their software products to clients could also use it. They would, however, need to
integrate their product with the OS that is running on the live CD. Similarly, educational institutes could
use it to provide training to students, or even cyber cafes could get diskless workstations, boot them off a
live OS and provide Internet access. As we can see, there are plenty of uses for a live CD.

Most live CDs till now had been based on Linux, with the most popular one being Knoppix. But, now
there’s a live CD that runs Win XP. In this tutorial, we’ll talk about how you can create one.














 
 
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LETS GET STARTED



WHAT YOU NEED

The first thing you need to create a live Win XP CD is a licensed copy of Win XP.








Next, you need a tool called Bart’s PE-Builder v3, which is free and a substitute for WinPE (a tool from
M1cr0soft that also creates Win XP live CDs). You can download this tool from here:






It comes as a zip file, and there’s a wizard that takes you through the building process when you unzip and
run it. First the wizard will ask you for the path of your Win XP installer CD.

Next, it will give you a plug-in list from where you need to select programs that you want to put on the live
CD. There are some very useful programs for system recovery, such as Nero for burning CDs, Ghost,
Snapshot, DOS 16-bit support and Easy Recovery Pro.