I don't want to RUN Windows on my Flash drive I want to INSTALL it from the Flash drive.
Basically I want to use the Flash drive as if it were the XP Install CD.
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Installing Windows XP FROM a USB Flash Drive
I am trying to INSTALL Windows XP FROM a USB Flash drive.. I have been messing with this for over 2 days with no luck.
I have a PC that is able to boot from USB. I was able to boot Acronis True Image from USB flash drive. I was able to boot BartPE via pe2usb via the USB drive.. It MUST be possible to boot and install XP from USB drive..
I've tried using Flasboot using the "create bootable flash disk as a copy of bootable CD-ROM" but I get:
Loading boot sector...
Initializing destination media...
Disk geometry parameters for target USB disk:
Cylinders = 124
MediaType = 11
TracksPerCylinder = 255
SectorsPerTrack = 63
BytesPerSector = 512
Writing files...
*** Error: Specified CD-ROM disk or image file is neither ISOLinux-based nor floppy emulation mode bootable CD-ROM; thus it cannot be converted"
Any help to get this accomplished would be GREATLY appreciated. I see many have tried but have yet to find someone who has succeeded. Let's do it!
Thanks
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Answers
ok
Do this:
Go to any computer that has Xp on it or you can get it from the winXP disc, and copy the i386 folder and paste it to the usb flash drive.
Now if you can set the flash program to auto boot the file
X:\i386\winnt.exe
I assume X to equal the drive of your usb device.
Let me know how it turns out
For making a boot disc.. trying looking here:
http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk
Maybe the information can work same method on a usb device.
Also make sure you usb dev has ample space size
You could try making an .iso of the CDRom, like using MagicISO, and then use Ghost to copy it to the Thumb drive. Never tried it though...
http://www.magiciso.com
Also, had this in my favs...Again, Never tried it.....
What follows is a recipe on how to install Windows XP from USB
http://www.vandomburg.net/
Allegedly you can do it. You need a 512M USB drive, larger ones won't boot.
http://www.vandomburg.net/
see this, about 2/3 the way down (also note the false statement about Experts-Exchange at the top!)
the nu2.nu site has TONS of stuff that you could probably piece together. Including tools to extract the boot image from your XP install CD.
oops, forgot the second link http://www.msfn.org/board/
Cylinders = 124
MediaType = 11
TracksPerCylinder = 255
SectorsPerTrack = 63
BytesPerSector = 512
I think that means you have a 1G USB drive? 124*255*63*512 = 1,019,934,720
MSDOS, which is probably what the XP pre-install uses, will not boot a USB larger than 512. I don't know why, I suspect IO.SYS gets confused. You just get a single flashing cursor. Other operating systems, including FreeDOS, work fine. You'd think someone would have a fixed IO.SYS by now, since bootable thumb drives are getting popular, but I couldn't find one.
JohnB, this works AWESOME:
http://www.vandomburg.net/
And it's not true that it won't work with a 1gb drive because that's what I'm using. I've taken it a step further and I'm using nLite and silent / unattended installs.
D:\i386\winnt32.exe /unattend:winnt.sif /syspart:C: /tempdrive:C: /makelocalsource
I added the /unattend:winnt.sif and that's what adds the unattended part..
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by: KCTSPosted on 2007-04-26 at 06:59:41ID: 18981475
Have you looked at http://www.informationweek