How to create Windows XP Live CD, complete with preinstalled programs

To create a Windows XP Live CD we will require

1. Bart PEbuilder
2. A CD burner like Nero
3. A bootable Windows XP CD and
4. Some pebuilder plugins to customize the CD.

Step 1: Download PeBuilder from here and install it. Make sure you have enough free space on the drive where you install the program. After you have finished adding all programs it will create an ISO to be burned into a disk. The size of the ISO will depend upon how many programs you add to your live CD. I would recommend atleast 700MB of free space.

Step 2: You may want to set a wallpaper that will appear on the desktop when you boot the CD. For this open the folder where you have installed PEbuilder and replace the file bartpe.bmp with the wallpaper of your choice.

Step 3: Download XPE plugin from here (direct download link). It's the GUI shell of the XP Live CD that will create the XP start button and taskbar. You are free to download as many plugin (applications) you want. Currently there are more than 500 applications to choose from. Both freewares and commercial applications are available. Antivirus programs like Kaspersky, NOD32, Avast; burning program Nero; media players like VLC; OpenOffice, Foxit PDF reader, Acrobat Reader etc are available.

Pebuilder plugins repository
More Plugins here

Step 4: After you have finished downloading all your favourite programs, open PEbuider and specify the source path to the Windows XP installation bootable CD. You can copy the CD to your hard disk and point the source to the copied file.



Step 5: Click Plugins and add all the plugins you have downloaded. Since we have added XPE, disable nu2shell and the startup group from the list of plugins.

Step 6: Specify the ISO image file and click Build. The program will integrate the plugins and create an ISO image.

Step7: Burn the image into a disk using any burning software and your live CD is ready.



The Live CD Desktop



Running Abiword



Running VLC Media Player


Source: Digit magazine Nov 2007 issue.

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35 comments
west158 said...

west158

lol, so so cool, yet so so simple, yet so so hard.....

Anonymous said...

Or just use Reatogo-X-PE @ http://www.reatogo.de/

Jimmy said...

I'm having problems with it, lots of getFileVersion() failed about ntdll.dll and when enabling/disabling plugins. any idea???

Kaushik said...

@Jimmy: I think you should start afresh.

Anonymous said...

bartpe is not working with winpe its generate err message "error while executing shdovwc.dll pl hpl

Anonymous said...

Hey i think this shit is really really cool. Think it helps if you have a crushed HDD. Thanks man it really helped me.
Sammy.

Faisal said...

The Plugin button is not working. There are errors in the link of Plugin Button.

Otherwise, that a tremendous tool.

Anonymous said...

I have problem with hard drive, I dont see my Harddisk in My Computer, in XP live. I dont know how to see it? pease help me.. Laci

Kaushik said...

Is your hard disk SATA? Does the live CD contains drivers for sata disk? Does your live CD has service pack2 installed? If not, download SP2 and the necessary drivers from the HDD manufacturer's site and integrate it into the live cd.

Anonymous said...

Hi, thaks for help. My disk is SATA and my Live CD has SP2. I´ll try download HDD drivers and itegrate to Live CD.My HDD is sharing in vista drivers.it´s the problem. Laci

Gassan_MostWanted said...

hi can we install certian free wares in xpe
eg. vlc k-lite
if yes can u help me with that
i am gassan, id gassan_mw@yahoo.co.in

rico said...

reech tanks very good! realy help me to solve my prblems

Naresh Punia said...

whats the average boot time ? I mean how fast is this bootable CD. I guess it will be quite slow as compared with hdd Install

Anonymous said...

oi...........can we add america online 8.0 or 9.0???if can...............how.....:D

Biabani said...

Wow, it really works.It Saved my Valuable Data From Absolute Damage.Thanks 2 the person who saved mine but lost his own.Really Thanks.

Anonymous said...

why whwn i burn a iso image and booting
its appear
"The file iaStor.sys could not be found,
press any key to continue" ??????

Anonymous said...

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Petya said...

Írjatok LiveXP-ből ki egy ISOt végre aki leszedte már.
és ki a torentre! Rapidshare nem enged be
ha nem vagyol premium user

TORENT & SSSSEEEEDDDD!!!!!!!! pls

Anonymous said...

Very useful files search engine. http://Indexoffiles.com is a search engine designed to search files in various file sharing and uploading sites.

Anonymous said...

Cool but, it does not go auto to Windows.

Anonymous said...

hi guys can any 1 pls help me i wnt to create silent installer my email address (sohail_mus2002@yahoo.com)

Anonymous said...

Worked great. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Thanks, this was great. Really cool and good description. Everything worked fine in the first short. Amazing stuff!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks - looks useful - but why does the source Windows XP CD need to be Bootable???

Kaushik said...

The source CD has to be bootable to make the Live CD bootable.

Virus X said...

Thank you very much
this is exactly what I was looking for
Thank again mate :)

Robin said...

Great!With this i can copy my downloads from a 1-disk computer withhout windows!
I dont want to install windows again!
Tnx!

Anonymous said...

thanxxx it worked...

Anonymous said...

thanks for sharing this idea. I tried it, its good. The only problem i am facing is, i am not able to connect to the net. I have a LAN connection, i have setup the connection in the same manner when i was using my hard disk for booting windows.pl suggest me the remedy.thanking you

taruna.kapupara said...

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And Any Pc Probl's

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Anonymous said...

hey thanks for this..learnt alot from....
could anyone please tell how to exactly integrate sata drivers with live cd...
thanks

Anonymous said...

Man, you are great!

Anonymous said...

Another vote for Linux OS. Creating Live CDs is a native feature of Ubuntu (and, I believe, many others) and the whole OS (and most, if not all, of the easily installable programs) are completely free and changeable (i.e. Open Source).

zaiem said...

hi, i follow this tutorial and successfully create windows live cd..i cant access usb drive in My Computer..is there any way i can access my usb drive? thanks

Suresh Bhandari said...

Hi,
Can we get MS Office Plugin, if yes please share link.

thanks in advance,
Suresh Bhandari

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