This document outlines a process for slipstreaming (i.e. integrating) the latest hotfixes and service packs for Windows XP into an updated installation CD. The process explained here is very minimal in the way of using automated tools. Whatever tools and utilities mentioned are freely available at the time of the writing of this document.
This document assumes some knowledge of the Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe).
The following tools (freely available at the time of the writing of this document) are required to follow the process outlined below on slipstreaming your Windows XP installation CD:
To facilitate keeping track of things, I recommend creating the following directory structure on your local hard drive:
This can be created using the following commands from the command prompt:
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600] (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp. D:\>mkdir XPSlipstream\BootImg D:\>mkdir XPSlipstream\OrigCD D:\>mkdir XPSlipstream\Slipstreamed D:\>mkdir XPSlipstream\Updates D:\>_
Insert your Windows XP CD into your optical (i.e. CD or DVD) drive. If autorun activates, feel free to close it. Then, copy the contents of the CD to your local drive using the following command (substitute E: with the actual drive letter of your optical drive and D: with the local drive you are using as your work area):
D:\>xcopy.exe E:\*.* D:\XPSlipstream\OrigCD\ /e /s /v E:\AUTORUN.INF E:\README.HTM . . . E:\VALUEADD\MSFT\USMT\ANSI\UNCTRN.DLL E:\VALUEADD\MSFT\USMT\ANSI\USMTDEF.INF 6882 File(s) copied D:\>_
Probably the most tedious part of this whole process is first downloading all of the service packs and/or updates that you want to get slipstreamed into your Windows XP install CD (later downloads should be much easier since you will be downloading only a few updates on the second Tuesday of each month i.e. Microsoft's "patch Tuesday"). Go to the official Windows Update website at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ (third party websites may or may not have the latest versions so it is recommended that you download the updates directly from the official Microsoft website) and download whatever service packs and/or updates you may need. When prompted, save them into the Updates folder created earlier.
If your Windows XP CD does not yet have Service Pack 2 (SP2) integrated with it, SP2 can be downloaded from the Microsoft website here:
To help you determine which post-SP2 hotfixes you need to download, you can try going to this forum thread:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=86450
First, copy the contents of the Original XP CD into the Slipstreamed directory using the following command:
D:\>xcopy.exe D:\XPSlipstream\OrigCD\*.* D:\XPSlipstream\Slipstreamed\ /e /s /v D:\XPSlipstream\OrigCD\AUTORUN.INF D:\XPSlipstream\OrigCD\README.HTM . . . D:\XPSlipstream\OrigCD\VALUEADD\MSFT\USMT\ANSI\UNCTRN.DLL D:\XPSlipstream\OrigCD\VALUEADD\MSFT\USMT\ANSI\USMTDEF.INF 6882 File(s) copied D:\>_
Now, slipstream the service packs and hotfixes into the image using the /integrate switch. For example, to slipstream SP2 onto a pre-SP2 image, do the following:
D:\>cd XPSlipstream\Updates D:\XPSlipstream\Updates>WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe /integrate:D:\XPSlipstream\Slipstreamed D:\XPSlipstream\Updates>_
You should get several progress dialogs while the process is running, one while it is unpacking files, another while it is actually integrating the service pack files into the image, and finally you should get a confirmation dialog saying that the integrated install has completed successfully (hit 'OK' to close this dialog).
The process for integrating the post-SP2 hotfixes is the same i.e. use the /integrate switch. For example, to slipstream Update for Windows XP (KB930916) use the following command:
D:\XPSlipstream\Updates>WindowsXP-KB930916-x86-ENU.exe /integrate:D:\XPSlipstream\Slipstreamed D:\XPSlipstream\Updates>_
Do this same process for all of the updates. Again, while this is quite tedious the first time, later updates should be much easier since you will only need to slipstream a small handful of updates on the second Tuesday of each month when Microsoft releases patches.
Download Bart's Boot Image Extractor and extract the contents of the downloaded zip file into the \XPSlipstream\BootImg directory. Then, insert your Windows XP CD into your optical drive and run the following command to extract the boot image from it (substitute E: with the actual drive letter of your optical drive):
D:\XPSlipstream\BootImg> bbie.exe E: BBIE - Bart's Boot Image Extractor v1.0, (c) 2001, Bart Lagerweij http://www.nu2.nu Reading boot record from sector 17 (0x11) Reading boot catalog from sector 19 (0x13) CD-ROM manufacturer/developer: "Microsoft Corporation " 1) mode "no emulation". Sector is 258 (0x102) Writing 1 block(s) to "image1.bin" D:\XPSlipstream\BootImg>_
For convenience, you may wish to rename the boot image from image1.bin to something more easily recognizable in the future e.g. XPCDBoot.img:
D:\XPSlipstream\BootImg> ren image1.bin XPCDBoot.img D:\XPSlipstream\BootImg>_
Download and install ImgBurn. Once you are done installing ImgBurn, run it and you should be presented with a screen similar to the following:
In ImgBurn's Mode menu, select Build (or hit Ctrl+Alt+B to switch to Build mode) and ImgBurn should switch to the following screen:
Go to the 'Options' tab and select 'ISO9660 + Joliet' as the 'File System':
Go to the 'Advanced' tab and select the 'Restrictions' sub-tab and under that select 'ISO9660' and check the checkbox labeled 'Allow More Than 8 Directory Levels':
Check the 'Auto' checkbox on the information tab to automatically calculate the size of the compilation, then hit the folder icon in the 'Source' box to choose a folder to include files from.
Select the folder which has the Windows XP slipstreamed image (e.g. D:\XPSlipstream\Slipstreamed) and hit 'Yes' when you are presented with the confirmation dialog asking if D:\XPSlipstream\Slipstreamed represents the root of the directory for image content.
After selecting 'Yes' a progress dialog will be briefly displayed which it calculates the size of the image. Afterwards, ImgBurn should look similar to the following:
Go to the 'Labels' tab and set the volume label of the CD (you may want to keep this the same as your current Windows XP CD):
To make the image bootable, go to the 'Advanced' tab and select the 'Bootable Disc' sub-tab. Check the box labeled 'Make Image Bootable', set the 'Emulation Type' to 'None (Custom)', set 'Boot Image' to point to the boot image extracted earlier (e.g. D:\XPSlipstream\BootImg\XPCDBoot.img) and set 'Sectors to Load' to 4. Once you are done, ImgBurn should look similar to the following:
Finally, in the 'Destination' box, select an output filename (e.g. D:\XPSlipstream\VX2PFPP_EN.iso) and then hit the 'Build' button at the bottom to start creating the image:
ImgBurn will again present the confirmation dialog asking if the selected folder represents the root directory for the image content. Hit 'Yes'. ImgBurn will re-calculate and present a summary. Hit 'OK'.
After hitting 'OK', ImgBurn will start creating the ISO image. After a few minutes, you will be presented with an 'Operation Successfully Completed!' message. Hit 'OK' to dismiss the message.
At this point, if you have virtual machine software such as VMWare or Virtual PC you can mount the generated ISO image and test to see if the image works. Or, you can go straight to burning a physical CD.
In ImgBurn, select 'Mode', 'Write' (or hit Ctrl+Alt+W to select Write Mode) and hit the browse button to open the dialog to select the file to burn:
Select the generated ISO image from earlier (or the accompanying .mds file e.g. ) and hit 'Open' to select the file. Once the file has been selected, insert blank media into your burner and give ImgBurn a few moments to recognize that blank media has been inserted into the drive. Once it has recognized that some blank media is present in the optical drive, you should be able to hit the 'Write' button to start burning the image onto the blank media:
Assuming no errors occur while burning the physical media, ImgBurn should be done burning the physical media in a few minutes (actual time will vary depending on the media, capabilities of the burner, etc.). Once the burn is done, ImgBurn should show a message indicating the operation was successfully completed. Hit 'OK' to dismiss the message. You should now have a bootable Windows XP install CD with the latest available service packs and hotfixes integrated into the installation.
See the following links for further reading on slipstreaming Windows XP:
This document first published: 2007-05-08.