Create bootable WINXP ISO

Andrew Henry · Jun 14, 2008

So here's the deal, I have a key for Windows XP that I bought, but I broke the disc, so I borrowed a friends disc to rip it to my hard drive. I ripped it, but I I ripped it into the entire disc's contents, so I need to know if there is a program for OS X that can create a bootable .iso from the XP files that I can use in Vmware Fusion.

Any help would be appreciated, I've looked around for programs but haven't found any that will do what I need, I tried creating a .dmg using DiskUtility and dragging the files onto that, and then using a program to convert it from .dmg to .iso, with no luck, so if anyone has any ideas or similar experiences I would appreciate it.

NOTE: I only have my Mac available, no Windows machines, otherwise I would just use a Windows program to do this as it really is quite simple.

Thanks a lot,
Andrew

italiano40 · Jun 14, 2008

Disk Utility should do it; select the disk, click New Image, tell it to create a CD/DVD image and it'll create a .cdr file that is really just an .iso file.

vistafanboi · Jun 15, 2008

Andrew Henry said:
So here's the deal, I have a key for Windows XP that I bought, but I broke the disc, so I borrowed a friends disc to rip it to my hard drive. I ripped it, but I I ripped it into the entire disc's contents, so I need to know if there is a program for OS X that can create a bootable .iso from the XP files that I can use in Vmware Fusion.

Any help would be appreciated, I've looked around for programs but haven't found any that will do what I need, I tried creating a .dmg using DiskUtility and dragging the files onto that, and then using a program to convert it from .dmg to .iso, with no luck, so if anyone has any ideas or similar experiences I would appreciate it.

NOTE: I only have my Mac available, no Windows machines, otherwise I would just use a Windows program to do this as it really is quite simple.

Thanks a lot,

Andrew

I'm not quite understanding your problem, Andrew:
What do you mean by "I ripped it, but I ripped it into the entire Disc's contents..."?

1) Do you mean that you copied the entire disc to your Hard drive in the root folder of your HPF+ system partition, and it was spread out over the entire HD? As far as I know, it is not possible to do this on an HFS+ volume.

2) Do you mean that you copied the entire disk into a single folder on your HD? IF so, you have not done anything anyone else does when copying a Microsoft distribution disk. Just use Disk Utility to create an image of this folder, and then burn it to a CD or DVD.

3) Do you mean something else?

As far as I know (and I've been using Windows for many years, (since Windows 1.0), it is not possible to "rip it into the entire Disc's contents..."

Now, it IS possible to copy the disc into a folder on one's HD, then incorporate a Service Pack into that folder, which would "rip it into the entire disk's contents" (i.e., "slipstream the Service Pack into the XP installation media)".

Additionally, please let us know a few things:
1) HOW did you "rip" your friend's disk? Using which OS? Using which program of that OS? All that is necessary is to straight-forwardly "copy" the entire contents into a SINGLE FOLDER on your HD (but NOT the root folder), then send that through a program which can create ISO-9660 images and burn them to a CD or DVD.
2) Did you do this from within OS X? From within XP? From within Vista?
3) Please tell us exactly WHAT steps you took to obtain your initial results.

If what you say is correct, it is completely "legal" to use your friend's disk with your CD key, and come out with a completely legal licensed copy of Windows XP.

On the otherhand, if your Key was bought separately from the distribution media, you cannot have a result of a "legal" license, since Microsoft does not allow the sale of stand-alone COA [Certificates of Authenticity, containing the installation Key]. This means that any such stand-alone keys are not authorized by Microsoft, and therefore, cannot be licensed by Microsoft, whether the key is able to be activated or not.

Please do not take this the wrong way. I am definitely not accusing you of anything, I am just giving you necessary information. What you do with it is up to you.

I don't understand what you are saying. This is why I need further information. Please do not tell us any more about HOW your key got separated from the distributioin media, since this is a public forum.

What is really important here is exactly what you mean by "I ripped it, but I ripped it into the entire Disc's contents..."?

Without a fuller understanding of exactly what you mean by that, it will be very difficult to offer any solution or advice.

Sorry,

Donald L McDaniel

CWallace · Jun 15, 2008

You will also need to extract the Microsoft boot image from the Windows XP CD and apply it to the CD you are burning in order to boot from it for installation purposes.

This guide is based on using Windows tools, but it gives you an idea of what you'd need on the Mac side.

Andrew Henry · Jun 15, 2008

vistafanboi said:
I'm not quite understanding your problem, Andrew:
What do you mean by "I ripped it, but I ripped it into the entire Disc's contents..."?

1) Do you mean that you copied the entire disc to your Hard drive in the root folder of your HPF+ system partition, and it was spread out over the entire HD? As far as I know, it is not possible to do this on an HFS+ volume.

2) Do you mean that you copied the entire disk into a single folder on your HD? IF so, you have not done anything anyone else does when copying a Microsoft distribution disk. Just use Disk Utility to create an image of this folder, and then burn it to a CD or DVD.

3) Do you mean something else?

As far as I know (and I've been using Windows for many years, (since Windows 1.0), it is not possible to "rip it into the entire Disc's contents..."

Now, it IS possible to copy the disc into a folder on one's HD, then incorporate a Service Pack into that folder, which would "rip it into the entire disk's contents" (i.e., "slipstream the Service Pack into the XP installation media)".

Additionally, please let us know a few things:
1) HOW did you "rip" your friend's disk? Using which OS? Using which program of that OS? All that is necessary is to straight-forwardly "copy" the entire contents into a SINGLE FOLDER on your HD (but NOT the root folder), then send that through a program which can create ISO-9660 images and burn them to a CD or DVD.
2) Did you do this from within OS X? From within XP? From within Vista?
3) Please tell us exactly WHAT steps you took to obtain your initial results.

If what you say is correct, it is completely "legal" to use your friend's disk with your CD key, and come out with a completely legal licensed copy of Windows XP.

On the otherhand, if your Key was bought separately from the distribution media, you cannot have a result of a "legal" license, since Microsoft does not allow the sale of stand-alone COA [Certificates of Authenticity, containing the installation Key]. This means that any such stand-alone keys are not authorized by Microsoft, and therefore, cannot be licensed by Microsoft, whether the key is able to be activated or not.

Please do not take this the wrong way. I am definitely not accusing you of anything, I am just giving you necessary information. What you do with it is up to you.

I don't understand what you are saying. This is why I need further information. Please do not tell us any more about HOW your key got separated from the distributioin media, since this is a public forum.

What is really important here is exactly what you mean by "I ripped it, but I ripped it into the entire Disc's contents..."?

Without a fuller understanding of exactly what you mean by that, it will be very difficult to offer any solution or advice.

Sorry,

Donald L McDaniel

Sorry when I was typing it out, I figured no one would understand, what I meant is that I ripped the disc into it's file hierarchy, as in it's basically an extracted .iso, I didn't rip it, I had my friend do it and he put it on my external hard drive and gave it back.

I converted from Windows, and I know exactly how to repackage the files into a bootable .iso on Windows, but I don't know how to do it on a Mac, and the disc utility did not work, I tried almost every configuration, with no luck.

I'll attach a screenshot to show you exactly how it's ripped below:

Basically to sum it up, I need to know how to repack these files into an .iso that will boot with VMware, using only OS X.

Thanks for your help.

The General · Jun 15, 2008

Just go get his Windows again and use Disk Utility to make an image of the DVD. To do that,

1. Put the DVD in your drive.
2. Open /Utilities/Disk Utility
3. Click on the DVD in the column on the left.
4. Click "New Image" on the top.
5. Hit okay.

It will take a while to create the DMG wherever you saved it.

Then burn it with Disk Utility.

clapperboy · Aug 30, 2008

Exactly what I need help with...

I'm trying to do the same thing.

following The General's workflow did not result in a bootable disk. Evidently the BIOS or whatever on the Windows machine did not read the .dmg file as bootable.

What other approach would work?

I have an XP Home SP3 disc I'd like to replicate using Mac tools.

Any thoughts?

forrie · Aug 1, 2011

Same boat

I found this older thread by searching Google.

I've run into the same problem, only here I created a backup DMG. I burned the DMG to ISO (DVD) and it will not boot. I believe the reason is, you must select other options with Disk Utility ("Master Mode"?).

It's not obvious, IMHO.

I think there are some *NIX command-line utils that might help with this; however, I noticed that most of the answers here are not relevant. The last image he posted shows the problem. How to take a backed up ISO and reburn it to BOOTABLE media (DVD/CD).

I my case, there was no resulting *.cdr file. But, the necessary boot code is in the file hierarchy -- I'm no master of mastering CD's but it seems to me you gotta develop a boot block for this to work correctly.

Anyone got an answer?

balamw · Aug 1, 2011

This thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/332696/ has some instructions for using mkisofs.

EDIT: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=297 seems to have to bootfiles you need if you don't have them.

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Create bootable WINXP ISO

Andrew Henry

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vistafanboi

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CWallace

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Andrew Henry

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The General

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forrie

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