You have to start the ntldr (NT-loader). Try it from the boot prompt of GRUB I'd suggest. Set root and Kernel parameters for your drive with the iso then chainload +1 and boot. See also here:

http://www.troubleshooters.com/linux/grub/grub.htm
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Linux+Win9x+Grub-HOWTO/
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...41#post1208741
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/
http://www.mcc.ac.uk/grub/grub_toc.html
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Multiboot-with-GRUB.html

This is uncharted territory as M$ do not have iso for download. The OS always comes as an installable CD. Earlier free downloadable versions would have exppired the sell-by date.

I am aware of that there has been people boot up a Dos (off Win9x) first and just run the setup.exe from the expanded filing system instead. The OEM version of XP is not transferrable but licensed to die with the PC. Moving it out to another PC is both technically impossible (activation) and illegal.

As far as I am aware Grub cannot read a NTFS partition. Grub can only boot a Win2k, XP or Vista by booting up its boot loader and hands over the control. This means the Windows must have been installed and has a boot loader sitting in the boot sector of the partition ready to be chainloaded.

Thus I doubt if Grub, or Lilo, can boot up XP held as a iso file in a hard disk, as technically it doesn't make sense to me.

right thanks, i'll see what i can do from the info you've given, i'd need to edit boot.ini to recignise the hdd partition as the cd drive too...

perhaps i could install 98 then install xp off 98? i know 98 would get unstable but i can drop my cpu speed