Getting Windows XP to work on modern hardware can be a challenge, specifically when it comes to driver support, even on the Dell Precision T3600 from 2012/2013 which arguably was released on the cusp of manufacturers dropping support for XP, so you’d expect there to be a chance of it working.

When I embarked on this, I spent countless hours trying to figure out how to get XP to installed in the most optimal way possible. I ran into so many pitfalls, but eventually got it working, with a compromise. I then came back 18 months later and needed to reinstall for one reason or another, but had forgotten the entire process. There’s also nowhere online that has a complete guide, so I thought I’d document it.

Note: whilst this guide is specifically focussed around the Dell Precision T3600, the process is roughly the same for others, but bear in mind driver compatibility will be your biggest issue. So try to choose hardware older than 2013 for this project.

The problems

Intel C600 Chipset XP support

The Dell Precision T3600 has an Intel C600 chipset, a fairly uncommon one only found in workstations and servers, which includes a storage controller, to which all the SATA ports on the motherboard map. To cut a long story short, I simply couldn’t find Intel C600 drivers which would reliably work with the XP setup. I tried everything I could think of to slipstream the drivers into an XP image, but nothing would work. I can only assume there’s either a misprint somewhere (as all the readme files seemed to suggest the drivers are compatible) or it wasn’t tested properly.

If you’ve found a way to make this work, do let me know!

If you’re not using a Precision with this chipset, you may be in luck, so do some research to find out whether your storage controller has drivers for Windows XP.

SATA ports

Only the first two SATA ports on the motherboard (closest to the front of the computer) support 6Gbps throughput. Additionally, the BIOS will not show you the boot option for the optical drive unless it’s connected to one of these ports. Windows XP does not like being transplanted between ports on controllers after it’s been installed, so ideally you’ll want to install it in the cabling configuration you’re going to be leaving it in. Which brings me onto my next point…

Installing from a USB flash drive

If, like me, you’re rightfully using the 6Gbps ports for SSDs and not wasting them on optical drives that get used once in a blue moon, your only option may be to install using a USB flash drive. This is also the case especially since you can end up wasting CD-RWs through numerous attempts at getting a working setup image. You also may not have access to a CD-RW drive and/or blank CD-RWs.

Two issues come with this; firstly, XP was never designed to be installed through a USB flash drive. XP was designed to be installed via a CD-ROM, accompanied by a floppy disk with extra storage controller drivers.

Secondly, there is a known bug where specific Dell computers (including this one) will not boot to the XP installer correctly via a flash drive, whether you have the correct drivers or not.

The easy way (but not necessarily the best)

There is an easy way to at least get Windows XP working on this computer, which is to change the mode in the BIOS from AHCI to ATA (IDE). However, I generally see this as a lazy way to fix this problem as it can cause performance issues since AHCI inherently introduced performance increases.

Also, if you dual boot your PC or have other drives connected, this may not be the best option.

If you still want to go ahead with this method, the quick and dirty way is as follows:

Obtain a known good Windows XP installation CD
Enter the BIOS and change the SATA mode from AHCI to ATA.
Ensure your optical drive is connected to one of the two SATA ports closest to the motherboard.
Connect your HDD/SSD to the other port closest to the front.
Boot from the CD (F12)
Windows XP installer should begin, your hard disk should show up and you should be able to successfully install Windows.
From here, most of the drivers on the Dell website for this particular model should work. Note: install the storage controller driver before the chipset drivers.

The hard (but better) way

My aim was to run multiple versions of Windows on the same computer, spanning from XP all the way to now. To do this, I had to rule out using ATA (IDE) mode.

Now, how I specifically achieved dual booting with many OSs is out of scope of this article, but I will explain how I got the drivers slipstreamed into an image and installed XP via a USB flash drive. This is the most optimal way, ensures your drives are able to operate at full speed and negates the need for the use of CDs.

You will need:

A PCI-E storage controller (you’ll only need this if your storage controller has no XP drivers). I used a cheap one with a Marvell 88SE9128 chip.
A SATA SSD or HDD
A compatible graphics card (another thing that caught me out!)
A Windows XP SP3 ISO. (I found SP3 to work reliably. Instructions can be found online on how to slipstream SP3 into an SP2 CD if necessary.)
A USB flash drive (a USB 3.0 one may make creating the drive quicker)
A copy of WinSetupFromUSB
A custom NTDETECT.COM file – see instructions at MSFN
The latest DriverPacks base release
The latest Mass Storage DriverPack

The Steps

1. Prepare a technician computer

This doesn’t need to be anything special. Just a computer with the XP ISO somewhere, an internet connection and a USB port. I did most of the work on Windows 7, but I expect anything up to Windows 11 will work fine for our needs. If you run into issues with the pesky ‘Program compatibility assistant’, you might want to choose an older OS.

2. Prepare the ISO

Extract the ISO image to a folder. You can use various utilities for this. AnyBurn is usually a good candidate.
Ensure you have both the DriverPack and the base release in the same folder.
Open up the DriverPack base utility and on the Location tab, select the folder to which you extracted the Windows XP ISO.
On the DriverPacks tab, ensure the Mass storage pack is selected.
On the DriverPacks Method tab, select Method 2.
Leave the other settings on their defaults and click Slipstream.

3. Create the flash drive

Insert your flash drive. Connect it to a USB 3.0 port for the fastest transfer times.
Open WinSetupFromUSB. Ensure the correct flash drive is selected.
Tick the box next to AutoFormat it with FBInst and select NTFS.
Tick the box next to Windows 2000/XP/2003 Setup, and point the location to your XP installation files as created earlier.
Tick the box next to Advanced Options and then tick Custom NTDETECT.COM file for 2000/XP/2003 setup and select your custom NTDETECT.COM file.
Click Go.
Important: This is the part that caught me out and specifically relates to Dell PCs! Once the process is complete, replace the NTDETECT.COM file in the <Letter>:\WINSETUP\XPpSP3\]I386 folder (replacing <Letter> with your flash drive’s letter) with your custom version. For some reason, WinSetupFromUSB neglects to copy the file here too. If you don’t do this, you’ll receive a BSOD with the 0x0000007B stop code!
At this point, I’d also take the time to download as many drivers as you can for your model from the Dell website and copy them to the flash drive. Note: some drivers are compressed into an executable which XP may struggle to run, so I would recommend downloading 7-Zip and extracting the .exe files into individual folders before copying them to the flash drive.

4. Connect the Storage Controller and Drive

Fit the storage controller into the smallest PCI-E slot on the motherboard of the Dell Precision. I found using other slots caused issues when dual booting from other hard disks (this won’t necessarily be an issue for everyone). Connect the HDD or SSD to the first SATA port on the controller.

5. Install Windows

Insert the USB flash drive into a USB 2.0 port on the PC. This is important, as the BIOS will not allow booting from a USB 3.0 port. On the Precision, ports 2-4 on the front of the PC are USB 2.0 ports.
Switch on the PC.
Tap F12 until the boot menu appears.
Select USB Mass Storage.
You will see a menu with four options. The first two relate to the F8 driver installation options, you can ignore these. Go straight to option 3 and press Enter.
The text-based setup process should begin. Once you reach a prompt where the installer asks you to press ‘Enter’, you’ve made it through the hardest part!
Proceed through the wizard. I would recommend clearing the partition structure on the disk and letting the installer partition it for you.
Once the process completes (this should only take a few minutes), the computer will reboot. Important: don’t let it boot to the hard disk just yet. This will fail as the installer won’t be able to access the flash drive.
Tap F12 again to boot again to the USB. You should see the menu again with the four options.
Select option 4 from the menu and press Enter.
Proceed through the installation.
The PC should reboot and you should now be into XP, but you’ll almost certainly have no drivers installed other than some very basic ones.

What’s next?

Once you have XP installed and you’re able to access the desktop, you’ve completed the hardest part. You’ll still however need to install drivers and it’s recommended to install all the available updates for stability purposes if anything.

Install drivers from the USB flash drive.
Note: for the Precision, install the storage controller driver (Intel RSTe) before the chipset drivers.
Microsoft no longer offers the ability to update XP, so there are two projects which aim to restore this. Legacy Update or Windows Update Restored can be used to install all the available Windows Updates.

Troubleshooting

I can’t boot from the flash drive or the option is not showing in the F12 boot menu

Ensure the flash drive has been inserted into a USB 2.0 port not a USB 3.0 port.
Re-create the flash drive using the steps above. Check for any errors from WinSetupFromUSB.

I get a BSOD with the stop code 0x0000007B

This generally means the setup utility can’t access the USB flash drive once it loads in the drivers. This is usually due to the lack of a modified NTDETECT.COM file which is required for certain Dell computers. See the MSFN article for more details and to create the file. Ensure to follow the steps above to modify the USB flash drive with the new file.
Note: you’ll need to do two things here: specify the file in the WinSetupFromUSB Advanced Options and also manually copy the file to the path as above.

In some cases the storage controller drivers not being loaded can cause this issue. See the next point.

Setup reports no hard disks on which to install

This most commonly means the storage controller drivers have not been loaded. It could also mean the drive hasn’t been initialised correctly. There are instructions online on how to use ‘diskpart’ to clean a drive and create a partition. Ensure the drive is using the MBR partition table and not GPT.

Ensure that the DriverPacks bundle contains the drivers for your controller. Alternatively, you may need to use another method to slipstream the drivers, such as nLite.

I have another issue

Some of the most common issues have been documented on WinSetupFromUSB’s FAQs page.

If you’re still struggling, feel free to leave a comment below.

Installing Windows XP on a Dell Precision T3600 (and other modern PCs)