Universal Windows Installer is a lightweight, fast, and versatile setup utility designed to deploy multiple Windows NT family operating systems — from NT 3.1 to Windows 11 — within seconds. It supports both modern and legacy systems, making multi-version Windows installation easier and more accessible.
- Supports a wide range of Windows NT versions: NT 3.1, NT 3.5, NT 3.51, NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP (x86 & x64), Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.0 via regular installation, and Windows 8.1, 10, 11 via Custom Installation, both vanilla and patched editions where applicable.
- Fast installation: Deploys OS setups in just a few seconds.
- Compatible with modern and legacy hardware: Supports numerous controllers and patches.
- Modern and Legacy boot modes: Choose between Modern and Legacy installer modes right at startup, before setup begins.
- Multiple bootloaders supported: Installs and configures BOOTMGR, NTLDR or FreeLdr as the MBR bootloader depending on the target OS.
- Built-in disk utilities: Includes an MBR/GPT converter, a CHS/LBA converter, and an MBR viewer/fix tool for inspecting and repairing boot records.
- Open Source: Licensed under GNU GPLv3 for maximum "open-source" freedom.
- Cross-platform ISO build: Supports building bootable ISO images using syslinux (vmlinuz + core.gz) that work on both Linux and Windows systems.
- Bootable ISO creation: The folder contents can be directly converted into a bootable ISO file ready for writing to USB or CD/DVD, and can also be deployed via Ventoy.
- All operating systems used, including Windows®, are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. This product is not endorsed or affiliated with Microsoft Corporation.
- This project is in BETA stage. Not responsible for any data loss, damage, or malfunction. Use at your own risk.
- Installer only supports Legacy Boot/CSM mode. If you want to use the installer in a computer which does not support Legacy Boot/CSM mode, look at the cool project CSMWrap made by FlyGoat. It enables CSM support even on UEFI Class 3 systems. But it's still beta and may not work.
- Readme file will contain more information in the future.
- Support for DOS-based operating systems is planned for an upcoming release.
- Regular installation is supported up to Windows 8.0. Deploying Windows 8.1, 10 or 11 requires Custom Installation mode.
- Don't hesitate to report any issues you find. I will try to fix them as best as I can, whenever I get free time.
- Original repository developed by ages2001.
- CPU: At least i486
- RAM: 64 MiB of memory
- Disk: MBR/GPT/SGI/SUN scheme and compatible hard disk controller supported by Tiny Core Linux
- Installation media: USB or CD/DVD at least 2.5 GiB
- Media writer: Rufus 3.10 and SysLinux 6.03 are required to properly prepare bootable media for Universal Windows Installer v0.3.0. Ventoy is also supported as an alternative to writing a dedicated ISO each time.
NOTE: For x64 OSes, x86-64 (EM64T) capable CPU is required!
- Controller: IDE or SATA (IDE)
- IRQ Assignment: Disk controller must be assigned to IRQ 14
- Position: Primary master (channel 0, position 0) for PATA IDE, SATA first port (port 0) for SATA IDE
- Filesystem: FAT12 or FAT16 CHS
- Disk Layout: Entire partition must be within first 8.3 GB (CHS-accessible)
- Controller: IDE, SATA (IDE) or NVMe
- Position: Primary or secondary master (channel 0 or 1, position 0) for PATA IDE
- Filesystem: FAT12 or FAT16 CHS
- Disk Layout: Entire partition must be within first 8.3 GB (CHS-accessible)
- Controller: IDE, SATA (IDE), NVMe or AHCI
- Filesystem: FAT12, FAT16 CHS/LBA, FAT32 CHS/LBA
- Patches Applied: UniATA, FAT32
- Controller: IDE or SATA (IDE)
- Filesystem: FAT12, FAT16 CHS/LBA, or NTFS
- Disk Layout: Must reside within first 137.4 GB of disk
- Controller: IDE, SATA (IDE), NVMe or AHCI
- Filesystem: FAT12, FAT16 CHS/LBA, FAT32 CHS/LBA NTFS
- Patches Applied: UniATA, FAT32, USB 1.x/2.0, SSE/SSE2, ext2/3, HPFS
- Controller: IDE or SATA (IDE)
- Filesystem: FAT12, FAT16 CHS/LBA, FAT32 CHS/LBA or NTFS
- Free Space: At least 650 MiB
- Controller: IDE, SATA (IDE), AHCI or NVMe
- Filesystem: FAT12, FAT16 CHS/LBA, FAT32 CHS/LBA, NTFS or ext2/3
- Free Space: At least 980 MiB
- Patches Applied: ACPI, USB 1.x/2.0/3.x, AHCI, NVMe, exFAT, ext2/3, HPFS
- Controller: IDE or SATA (IDE)
- Filesystem: FAT12, FAT16 CHS/LBA, FAT32 CHS/LBA or NTFS
- Controller: IDE, SATA (IDE), AHCI, RAID, eMMC or NVMe
- Filesystem: FAT12, FAT16 CHS/LBA, FAT32 CHS/LBA, NTFS, BTRFS or ext2/3
- Patches Applied: ACPI, USB 3.x, AHCI, RAID, eMMC, NVMe, ext2/3, BTRFS, AVX/AVX2 (x86 only), HPFS (x86 only)
- Controller: IDE, SATA (IDE), NVMe (for only patched ediitons) or AHCI
- Filesystem: NTFS
- Patches Applied: ACPI, USB 3.x, AHCI, RAID, eMMC, NVMe, ext2/3, BTRFS, HPFS (x86 only)
- Controller: IDE, SATA (IDE), NVMe (for only patched ediitons) or AHCI
- Filesystem: NTFS
- Patches Applied: ACPI, USB 3.x, AHCI, RAID, eMMC, NVMe, ext2/3, BTRFS, HPFS (x86 only)
- Controller: IDE, SATA (IDE), NVMe or AHCI
- Filesystem: NTFS, exFAT
- Patches Applied: ACPI, USB 3.x, AHCI, RAID, eMMC, NVMe, ext2/3, BTRFS, HPFS (x86 only), CPU Features Patch (x86 only)
- MBR Bootloader Selection: Depending on the target OS, the installer sets up BOOTMGR (Vista/7), NTLDR (2000/XP) or FreeLdr as the MBR bootloader.
- MBR/GPT Converter: Convert a disk between MBR and GPT partitioning schemes from within the installer.
- CHS/LBA Converter: Convert partition addressing between CHS and LBA where the target OS requires it.
- MBR Viewer/Fix: Inspect the current Master Boot Record and repair a damaged or missing one.
- Drivers for booting: Successful installation cannot be guaranteed in all cases, as driver-related issues may arise.
- CHS and LBA: CHS (Cylinder-Head-Sector) addressing is required for early NT editions and mandates small partition sizes.
- Boot Partition: Must exist and be a primary, supported filesystem (FAT12/FAT16/FAT32/NTFS).
- exFAT Filesystem: Windows 2000 Patched and Windows XP Vanilla/Patched (x86/x64) can read and write an exFAT partition but cannot boot from it because NTLDR cannot recognize exFAT partitions. So, you cannot install it to exFAT partition. However, you can create/delete/format exFAT partitions using Partition Editor/Formatter.
- A Linux or Windows environment capable of running ISO building tools supporting syslinux (e.g.
genisoimage,mkisofs,xorriso,mkisofs.exe). - Access to the required OS
.tar.gzarchives (see below).
The actual OS image archives (.tar.gz) are not included in this repository due to their large size. The ISO files can be downloaded from the Releases section.
Please extract these archives from the ISO files available in the Releases and place them inside the osfiles/ directory before running the installer.
To keep the repository lightweight, all .tar.gz files in osfiles/ are ignored by Git.
The installation process consists of booting the target PC from a prepared ISO file written onto a bootable USB drive or CD/DVD.
- Download the ISO file from the Releases section.
- Write the ISO to a USB drive (minimum 2.5 GB) using a tool like Rufus (Windows), Ventoy, or appropriate software on Linux.
- Alternatively, burn the ISO to a CD/DVD.
- Boot the target PC from the USB or CD/DVD media.
- Before the installer starts, choose between Modern and Legacy mode depending on the target system and OS you're installing.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to install the desired Windows NT version.
No additional setup on the target PC is needed beyond booting from the prepared media.
If you want to build or customize the bootable ISO yourself from the repository files, follow the guidelines below.
You need to have ISO creation tools that support the syslinux bootloader such as:
genisoimageandmkisofs(preferred)xorriso(alternative)syslinux(for bootloader binaries likeisolinux.bin,vmlinuz,core.gz)
-
Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/ages2001/Universal-NT-Installer.git cd Universal-NT-Installer -
Download and extract the OS files:
- Go to the Releases page.
- Download any ISO file available.
- Extract the ISO using any archive manager (e.g.
7z,bsdtar, or a GUI tool). - Copy the contents of the extracted
osfiles/folder into your localosfiles/directory in the repository.
Example:
cp -r extracted_folder/osfiles/* ./osfiles/ -
Build the ISO:
Once the folder structure is complete, run:
sudo mkisofs -o ../Universal_NT_Installer.iso \ -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin \ -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat \ -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \ -J -R -V "UNVNTINSTLR" .
This will generate
Universal_NT_Installer.isoin the parent directory using the current folder's contents.
For Windows users, an unofficial port of mkisofs.exe is available in tools like:
- Cygwin
- MinGW
- Standalone distributions (e.g. part of
cdrtools)
However, ISO generation on Windows using mkisofs.exe has not been fully tested with Universal Windows Installer and may result in boot or file structure issues. For best results, we recommend using a Linux environment or WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).
You may follow the similar steps as above in Linux/WSL to build the ISO.
- Use the ISO file from the Releases section.
- Minimum USB or CD/DVD size: 2.5 GB.
- For USB, tools like Rufus (Windows) or
dd(Linux) can be used. USB partition must be formatted with FAT16 or FAT32. - For CD/DVDs, use any standard burning software like UltraISO etc.
- Boot the target machine from the USB or CD/DVD to start installation.
This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3 (GPLv3) — see the LICENSE file for details.
“Universal Windows Installer makes old and new Windows setups easy and fast, all in one place.”