Thread: Installation Disk Hack

There are thousands-maybe millions-of people out there who find that due to installing and uninstalling software and fiddling with them, Windows' performance takes a hit over time. The best way out is a format + Windows reinstall, but this usually means having to download and install all the Windows updates all over again. This can be quite a pain in the backside, and more so for those on limited bandwidth connections.

There are two things you can do: either turn off automatic updates and live with your stock XP installation, or read through the following and make your own updated Windows XP disc, so that any subsequent formats and rein¬stalls are considerably less painful. The first thing you need is a Windows XP installation disc. If you don't already have the XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) update included in the installa¬tion disk, download it from . Now you'll need to download and install the software that will help us customise the installation disc. It's called nLite, and it's available at With these in place, you're good to go.

Adding Sp2
To integrate Windows XP SP 2 into the XP installation, copy the contents of the XP installation disc to a new folder in C: \ called XP. Now at a command prompt, navigate to where the SP2 download is. From there, enter this: WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU /integrate:C:\XP You'll see a new window showing you the progress of the integration.

Adding Hotfixes
It's now time to include all the updates which were rolled out after SP2. There is a wonderful Windows XP Post SP2 pack that allows you to inte grate all the hotfixes rolled out after the SP2 update. Download the 46 MB update from Once you have this file, you need to install nLite. Once nLite is installed and started, select the window should look once the XP Post SP2 update has been integrated directory where your Windows XP installation is stored-in our example, C: \ XP. Click on Next through the screens till you reach the Integrate HotFixes window. Here, click Insert and browse to the folder where your Windows XP Post SP2 update is saved and select it. The post-SP2 updates are ready to be integrated into your Windows XP installation.

Adding Drivers
If you have hardware for which Windows XP does not have the drivers, you can integrate it into your installation disc using nLite. You can only integrate .ini and .inf (Windows driver) files, but some times you'll find driv• ers in the EXE format. You can extract them using WinRAR or WinZip and add the corresponding driver files into Windows.