Create Windows XP boot disk on a mac?

[Hicks.]

Well, i'm in a right pickle!

I own a macbook, and want to create a windows xp boot disk on a usb flash drive.

My windows machine does not come with an XP disc as it's an old Compaq. It won't boot and i can't get it into safe mode and comes up with the following message:

"STOP 0x000000ED UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

After doing some research it looks like an xp boot disk may solve this.

Any pointers guys?

Apolgoies if this is in the wrong forum!

 

[localoid]

If that machine has a floppy drive, and you have six blank floppy disks, you could try try this...

 

[Nermal]

As far as I know, you can't boot Windows from an external drive.

 

[balamw]

Have you considered Parallels? http://www.parallels.com

Some have reported being able to slipstream SP2 by loading SP1 into Parallels and going from there...

FWIW, there is a way to make Windows boot from an external, but it requires removing the internal drive during install, so it works best on a MacBook (not MBP) and should only be considered if you know what you're doing.

http://guides.macrumors.com/Booting_Windows_XP_From_An_External_Drive

EDIT: Also, consider nlite if you are slipstreaming.

B

 

[Hicks.]

Thanks for your comments guys

To clarify, my compaq presario 2178 laptop does not have a floppy drive unfortunately. I'd heard of the 6 floppy disk boot option and was hoping I could somehow just put all that information onto a USB flash drive- using my macbook. I downloaded the boot software for XP Home (.exe file); but obviously this won't work with a mac.

I'm pretty sure that when I go into the BIOS, there is an option to boot from an external drive- but perhaps this doesn't include a USB device....

I don't want to muck around with my macbook (taking hard drive out, putting windows on it etc) in case I mess it up! I was hoping just to get some precious photos from the compaq machine and then load the 3 restore CD's that came with it to reformat the hard drive and start from scratch on it again.

Failing that, it looks like I'll have to try and borrow somebodies XP SP2 disk. Why HP/ Compaq don't include it with the machine I'll never know!