WinXP: Installation CD 5-Step Slimming Method

Many of the files on the Windows XP installation CD are rarely used or even used, but they take up a certain amount of CD space. Through the method described in this article, we can make a Windows XP installation disk that is less than 100 megabytes less than the original CD. With this 100 megabytes of space, we can add a lot of utilities to make the Windows XP installation disk more powerful! Below, we take Windows XP Pro as an example, and use the installed Windows XP Pro as the operating platform.

■ Step 1 Prepare the required software

Windows XP Pro installation CD, WinHex (a very good hex file editing and disk editing software), CDImage (Microsoft produced A small tool for making CD image files, Bbie (a small software for getting CD boot files, download address: http://public.www.planetmirror.om/pub/nu2files/bbie10 .zip).

■Step 2 to get the files needed for installation

First put the Windows XP Pro installation CD into the CD-ROM drive, then enter the path of the Windows XP Pro installer in the Windows Run dialog box. And then install the installation parameter "/noreboot", that is, "X:Setup.exe /noreboot", where X is the drive letter of the installation CD. It should be noted that the selected installation type must be “new installation”. In addition, when the installation is to select the installation option, you should click the “Advanced Options” button in the window to enter the custom Windows XP options window, which will “from the installation. The check box in front of the CD Copy All Installation Files option is selected, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Setting Installation Options

Since the /noreboot installation parameter is used, the installer will automatically return to the desktop after the file is copied. At this point, two folders named $WIN_NT$.~BT and $WIN_NT$.~LS can be found in the system root directory.

■Step 3 Adjust the files required for installation

In the system root directory, rename the $WIN_NT$.~LS folder to Install and rename the $WIN_NT$.~BT folder. Be BOOT (uppercase) and move the folder to the Install folder. Now enter the Install folder, delete the SIZE.SIF file, then enter the BOOT folder, delete the two files Migrate.inf and Winnt.sif. Of course, in order to achieve unattended installation of Windows XP, we can also use our own Winnt.sif file to replace the original file.