Over the years I've come across many custom Windows XP ISO. Some impressive as all hell. With lots of work put into them. I have only a few actually downloaded. When certain file host owner was arrested. We lost a lot of files. Then rapidshare, filehost, jumbofiles sank. I'd love if anyone has custom iso burned or know of links. I'd love to check it out. Here is one of my favorites. I can watch Youtube and view webpages no problem. Check out this one. https://archive.org/details/Win-XP-FullMazaV2. I'll add more as I find them. It's all a part of Windows XP History.*False positives from installers, reg files etc are possible. I have this installed on my PC
Custom Windows XP SP3 ISO's
- Thread starter WindowsCP
- Start date
Archive.org is a wonderful place to explore "old" software! Personally am very grateful that website -- Archive.org -- exists as a repository of "ancient" software. In fact, I've been fortunate to find numerous driver utilities in there that have benefited efforts to revive various computers.
On the topic of Windows XP variations, did you notice the "Tiny XP" variation on archive.org?
Here is the link:
https://archive.org/details/WindowsTinyXP
And a brief summary of "Windows TinyXP":
"I clocked mine in Task Manager using only 39.5Mb of RAM. Windows XP usually uses 300Mb of RAM at the very least. This "TinyXP" takes up only 400Mb total space on your system hard drive. By using only 40Mb of RAM, this allows your PC to run fast, I mean VERY fast! All important hardware drivers and other essentials have been kept in this release..."
Notice the memory improvement? This XP variant runs at less than 50mb of RAM! Incredible! And now, imagine a machine with 512RAM or even 1GB of RAM running this XP variant? Undoubtedly this type of XP variant would perform wonderfully on an old laptop especially since there are Internet browsers such as MyPal and K-Meleon -- among others -- that make XP capable of browsing contemporary websites.
[Digression:
There might be some form of "Chromebook" competitor buried in within the idea of this "TinyXP". A "Chromebook" variant that is not entirely cloud based. A "Chromebook" Windows variation that is incredibly light, consisting of an Internet browser, a file manager, notepad, perhaps a firewall (for some security) and the option for the user to add whatever additional software programs they prefer; software that can be installed external from a cloud-based environment.]
An additional note on this topic:
A few months ago I came across an application that was specifically designed to enable a user that has XP on their machine, create an XP image with only the items they prefer -- similar to what the creator of "Tiny XP" has done. Fortunately the application's developers included a detailed tutorial explaining how to create lighter XP variants as an image of an XP currently installed on a machine. Unfortunately the specific application's name has slipped my memory at the moment. Perhaps I'll look for it...
What I do recall from the application when I was testing it, is that it is very detailed when creating an XP boot image. There are dozens -- if not hundreds -- of items to consider when creating the disk, and what's notable here is that additional non-XP specific items can be added!
For instance, look at what the creator of "Tiny XP" added to their XP variant:
"Installed Programs...
Standalone Internet Browser (OffByOne)..... (358Kb)
Standalone BitTorrent Client (uTorrent)..... (105Kb)
System Defragmenter.......................... (43Kb)
DLL Viewer................................... (36Kb)
Hard Disk Temperature Tool................... (59Kb)
HijackThis................................... (213Kb)
Shell Extension Viewer....................... (35Kb)
SpaceMonger.................................. (95Kb)
Startup Control Panel........................ (34Kb)
TCP View..................................... (46Kb)
WinRAR Corporate............................ (990Kb)
TOTAL space used for all programs............ (2Mb)
Full ISO size without these programs......... (110Mb)
Full ISO size with these programs............ (112Mb)"
Notice "WinRAR" and "uTorrent" were added to this light versin of XP? (These items are not included in a standard version of XP.) All one would have to do, is add a browser such as "MyPal" (and perhaps a firewall or another security feature) and they could have an incredibly light WindowsXP operating system! Again, the creator's description noted that they clocked their XP variant at less than 50mb of RAM!
Cheers for creating this thread on XP variants! I suspect there are numerous possibilities waiting to be uncovered here especially considering -- once again -- there are a few browsers that have enabled XP to browse the contemporary Internet.
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I just took a look into some files and found the software I was referring to above. It is called: "nLite." A brief search of this forum indicates that many users in here are familiar within the software. In fact, discussions on "minimising XP" have already occurred in this forum, such as this link here:
https://www.xpforums.com/threads/minimising-xp.932791/#post-3254028
Nevertheless, anyone curious, here is a brief summary of nLite from their website:
"1. nLite allows you to customize your installation of Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows 2003. You can integrate service packs and hotfixes from Microsoft directly into your windows distribution files without having to re-download and install them every time you need to re-install windows.
2. There is also the option to remove unwanted components from within windows. Many applications are automatically included every time windows is installed. Not every person needs or even wants all of these applications which Microsoft considers to be necessary. By removing these unwanted components you can free up space within your setup and ultimately save space on your hard drive after installation.
3. nLite also provides a way to customize your installation by allowing numerous tweaks to the way windows looks and operates after it has been installed. You can even bypass Microsoft's bulky unattended setup instructions and do it the easy way. The nLite way!"
And here is the link to the software website:
https://www.nliteos.com/index.html
https://www.xpforums.com/threads/minimising-xp.932791/#post-3254028
Nevertheless, anyone curious, here is a brief summary of nLite from their website:
"1. nLite allows you to customize your installation of Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows 2003. You can integrate service packs and hotfixes from Microsoft directly into your windows distribution files without having to re-download and install them every time you need to re-install windows.
2. There is also the option to remove unwanted components from within windows. Many applications are automatically included every time windows is installed. Not every person needs or even wants all of these applications which Microsoft considers to be necessary. By removing these unwanted components you can free up space within your setup and ultimately save space on your hard drive after installation.
3. nLite also provides a way to customize your installation by allowing numerous tweaks to the way windows looks and operates after it has been installed. You can even bypass Microsoft's bulky unattended setup instructions and do it the easy way. The nLite way!"
And here is the link to the software website:
https://www.nliteos.com/index.html
I've used nLite many times, and I've made lots of custom ISOs, usually of XP flavors. I kept most of them, and could share them with you. Here's a list of my OS Images folder, to give you an idea. Also, torrent sites have some very impressive custom ISOs, as you have noted. I've used Tiny's the most.