What you need to do after starting the program is point to the Windows XP folder you copied from the CD. Download and install it or use the portable version and you’re ready to slipstream your own Windows CD. NET Framework v2 or higher is required to use nlite. The program will then use that as the working directory. Nlite only really needs one thing to make an optimized or “slipstreamed” disc, and that is you need to copy over the whole contents from a standard XP CD (Windows MCE, 20 is also supported) into a folder on your hard drive. While this software is quite easy to use considering its power, you still need a reasonable amount of knowledge and common sense because over zealous use could cause Windows not to install at all or create problems during its use. The good thing is the nlite program works and behaves a bit like a wizard style interface that guides you through the process in a number of easy steps. This might sound quite difficult to achieve. A little piece of software called nlite can do all that and more basically transforming your ordinary Windows XP disc into something that is fully tailored to your needs.

Add to that, the ability to automatically add a number of common Windows tweaks, or remove parts of Windows altogether. Thankfully, there is a way to get things like drivers, hotfixes and newer software components onto a standard Windows XP install CD without having to manually edit the files yourself. While this makes the install quicker because there’s less data being moved around, it also makes the final size of your Windows folder smaller and less bloated with junk. In actual fact, there are a number of components that can be removed from the XP CD without losing functionality. Not good if you don’t own a floppy drive!Įven though the XP SP 3 install CD is under 600MB, you would think that means there’s not much on the disc that you don’t need.

This is mainly true for mass storage drivers because you might have to press F6 during install and load the drivers from a floppy. Also, these days the default drivers that come with XP are often not compatible with newer hardware. NET Framework, Internet Explorer 8 and many others that have never been integrated into a standard Windows XP install CD, and you have to spend hours after a new install updating just the Windows software and hotfixes alone. Compared to Windows Vista, 7 and 8, XP is still a great performer on older desktops, laptops and netbooks.īecause of it’s age, there are software components such as Microsoft. Even though Windows XP has not been generally available to the masses for several years now, it’s still a hugely popular operating system that’s installed on hundreds of millions of PC’s.

Windows xp lite iso 72mb