Creating XP SP2 boot disc

With Core2Duo 2.16Ghz, 2GB RAM and ATI X1600 128MB GRAM, my iMac is the most powerful PC at home. For gaming, I need to run Windows natively, not on Parallels. BootCamp is the only solution. To install XP over BootCamp, bootable disc with *XP SP2* is required. Since I only have a XP disc and license without any service pack, I need to create a XP SP2 disc myself. For steps, read "Slipstreaming Windows 2000 /XP SP1,SP1a,SP2 /Server 2003 SP1" from TackTech. Another article from HelpWithWindows.Com also help me alot.

It sounds a lot easier than it actually is. In fact, it took me two days and wasted 3 CD-R to create a workable CD. Slipstreaming part is very easy indeed. The burning part is hard. Nero Burning Rom 5 or 6 is no longer available. I gave up the Nero 8 as it took too long to download. I find Nero 6 (~26MB) from non-official website and I need a serial because the program is "expired" for demo purpose (even though I just need the demo feature).

If you have Nero OEM version, *do not* use it. It cannot take the boot image download from TackTech or extract by IsoBuster (IsoBuster help you to extract the file "Microsoft Corporation.img" from your original boot disc, and this feature is avaiable in its free demo). Two discs created this way are wasted as they cannot be read under Mac OS (Mac OS rejects them and Windows says they're 0byte). You must find the "Nero Burning ROM" from full version. You can run it as trial and still be good enough for you to create the bootable disc. If trial is expired (that's my case), you might have to crack it. May be Nero 8 will work but I can't wait for the long download (>150MB).

To make thing worst, Nero 5.0/6.0 cannot recoginize my CD writer on my IBM ThinkPad T42. So I cannot create the CD directly on my T42. My final step which work the best is:

1. create slipstreamed XP SP2 installation files.
2. prepare the boot image (download or extract from CD).
3. create the bootable ISO image by Nero Burning ROM. Every details as described by TackTech, except I do not burn to CD but to an ISO file.
4. transfer the ISO file to my Mac and test it under Parallels. Make sure it can boot up the Parallels, install and the Windows work well.
5. burn the ISO to CD using my iMac.

I'm now doing a clean install of my iMac from 10.4 and upgrading to 10.5 because BootCamp cannot install due to unmovable files. Next I'll have to create a 50GB NTFS space for Windows. The down side is the XP partition will be read-only under MacOS. I may also upgrade my Parallels 2 to Parallels 3 for advanced feature ($ again). Sigh, using Mac is as cool as Steve Jobs said, if you can afford the cost of money.