ponch - I have a USB drive which works on the machine, you can change the boot device in the bios and usb drive is listed. I have tried the compiled disks on two other PCs one laptop and one desktop - changed boot device in bios, again no joy. johnhc - Not quite sure what is meant by 'using source more than once'. I only have one XP disc so this is my only source which I amusing to try and generate a cut down version on the netbook. So I have used this disk as my source on each occasion. Your comments on the boot device are quite right. My first attempt was looking at the disk contents in Windows Explorer which came up automotically when I inserted the disk. Since then I have changed the boot device and tried startup with the disk inserted. Still can,t get it to work.