Make a bootable USB to install Windows XP from Linux

"Turns out that Windows XP actually does configure itself for a specific hardware configuration during the first phase of the installer.

So if the method of using VirtualBox, QEMU, etc. in conjunction with your real hard drive is to work, you really do need to make a second hardware profile. I was hoping you could bypass this by shutting the VM down before rebooting into the second stage and instead boot your real machine into it and let it configure for your real hardware. But it configures for hardware in the first stage, not the second stage.

So I definitely recommend imitating Rufus. Just copy the files on and make a few tweaks. See existing post. No need to deal with a second hardware profile. Even if you made a second hardware profile, how would you boot into Windows to install drivers for your real hardware under the second profile? And if you did find a way, wouldn't licensing stop you (it looks at hardware)?"

Since you didn't get UNetbootin to work, ask a friend with a Windows computer (they aren't exactly a scarcity, you know :) to prepare a USB stick with WinToFlash for you.

"It's also possible to install XP 32-bit from DOS. You just have to make a DOS bootable flash drive or other hard drive. Copy the i386 folder on to it and then:

C:> cd i386
C:\i386> winnt /b
Now Windows setup will load from your FAT16/FAT32 DOS bootable drive!

If you booted from the same hard drive that you're installing on, then you may be able to make use of the option to convert it to NTFS."