I think I get it... what I have to do is this:
quote from OverFlow:
Quite simple to do
Just create a CD using method 1
PS its over 300 meg useing method 2 and around 500 useing method 1 with all packs selected.
PPS You can put the cab compressed drivers that are in the $OEM$ folder after method 1 on a CD by themselves for what you want, furthermore, fully extracting the drivers from the 7zip archives will result in over 1 gig of drivers.
So what I will try after finished is this:
1. After installing windows xp, I find in the device manager items without correct drivers.
2. click "Update driver" for one of those items
3. click "Install from a list or specific location"
4. checkbox "Search removable media" and click next
If instead I were to checkbox "Include this location in the search", could I choose the root folder for the drivers? I think this option will ONLY look in the one "location" selected, with no subfolders. Please confirm.
I believe USB 2.0 hi speed is faster than a 52x CD-Rom by about 5 to 10 times:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_device_bandwidths
Is it possible to put the DriverPacks on an external USB drive, and specify a specific folder for Windows XP to "Search for the best driver in these locations", that would include all the subfolders?
If not, does a USB thumb drive qualify under "Search removable media"?