sqweebo
Newbie
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« on: September 08, 2010, 07:44:58 AM » |
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Hi,
I have been trying for over a week to install and run a full version of XP on a usb stick. I have read and followed numerous guides and I have yet to achive my goal. So I was very pleased to find the youtube guide quoted in the tilte to this post. I joined this forum (as instructed) and sent a request for the link(s) to the files. That was a week ago but I have had no reply. I know there is a link to an XPLive iso in this forum but that is not the same thing afaik.
So my question is:
Is it really possible to run a full version of XP off a USB drive or was I just dreaming? If so where can I find the link(s) to the files demonstrated in the video?
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Britec
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« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2010, 12:49:48 PM » |
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 sqweebo Welcome to the forum yes you can and all you need to do is make you usb pen drive bootable and take the files out of that XPLive iso and put them on the USB Pen and it will boot
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« Last Edit: September 27, 2010, 01:36:29 AM by Britec »
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sqweebo
Newbie
Posts: 7
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« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2010, 07:03:52 AM » |
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Hi,
Many thanks for the assistance. I am embarrassed to say that I am an experienced computer user!
What do you suggest as the easiest and best way to make the usb bootable? I have tried various ways by using various boot utilities. I format using the HP utility. The usb boots when testing but once I add the files it boots but does not go past the boot menu options in the boot.ini.
I am using a new 16gb usb thumb drive on a Dell 9400 laptop (2gb mem) with a dual XP boot i.e. I have two partitions which both boot into XP. They are the only two partitions as I have removed the extra ones orginally installed by Dell. The usb is formatted to FAT32 as I can't get it to format to NTFS? Not that I think that is an issue. The usb drive is visible and working correctly under XP. I read somewhere yesterday that there can be USB boot issues with dell machines. Not sure if that applies as it does boot, sort of! Will look into it...
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dannyjks
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« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2010, 08:10:10 AM » |
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you can use MakeBootable to make it Bootable |
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« Last Edit: September 09, 2010, 08:11:41 AM by dannyjks »
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sqweebo
Newbie
Posts: 7
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« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2010, 11:22:31 AM » |
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That utility will not work with my usb drive. Tried it on another usb drive one of 1gb capacity and it doesnt work on that either.
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dannyjks
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« Reply #5 on: September 09, 2010, 11:29:16 AM » |
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sqweebo
Newbie
Posts: 7
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« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2010, 07:40:56 AM » |
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Unfortuntely it does not work with XP! One for the future perhaps...
Any other suggestions?
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sqweebo
Newbie
Posts: 7
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« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2010, 09:08:16 AM » |
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OK, managed to get my 1gb usb drive to boot by using PEtoUSB to format it, and then I copied over boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM and ntldr from my c: drive. I could then boot from the usb drive into one of the XP partitions on my hardrive. Curiously, I could not boot into the other one though? I then copied over the files off the windowsxplivecd.iso onto the usb drive. I then tried to boot from the USB and the results were the same as the previous paragraph.
So how does the windowsxplivecd know how to boot? As it does not contain the boot.ini and ntldr files? Using the ones off my C: drive does not work even though I added the usb drive to the boot.ini file. Removing them, so that I only have the files from the windowsxplivecd.iso on the usb drive gives the error:
remove disks or other media press any key to restart
So making the usb bootable under XP is not compatible with the windowsxplivecd on my system. So where do I go from here?
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Britec
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« Reply #8 on: September 13, 2010, 12:50:48 AM » |
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sqweebo Sorry my misstake, I remember now  my xp pen drive with all tools added is to big to upload.
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sqweebo
Newbie
Posts: 7
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« Reply #9 on: September 15, 2010, 01:43:39 AM » |
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Sorry, you lost me there? Are you saying that it is NOT possible to run a full versions of XP from a USB drive? I assume your pendrive is a windows live version which I understand is not the same. As I understand it the windows live version has to have the apps installed before you create the boot cd/usb. As opposed to a full copy of XP running off a usb drive that you can use normal.
In the 2 weeks I have been trying to do this I have tried many different methods. In all of them they eventually fail. I appreciate that it may be down to me but despite the claims to the contrary I have yet to find a method that actually works. I now know it is not down to my system as I have successfully managed to get Hiren's Boot CD to run off my usb stick. This has a pseudo windows XP but it's not what I am trying to achieve.
When trying the various methods I have found that they were originally conceived years ago and I think that they fail due to the advancement in Windows itself which caused issues with the various utilities you have to use. I also think that there may be some pressure from Microsoft as lot of the links have disappeared. This is particularly so with the method outlined in your (Britect) youtube demo. As the links to the original directories are not available anymore. A search online finds numerous links but they have all been removed. This leads me to suspect that this project is doomed to failure and I may as well go the windows live route.
If I am completely off base then I would be pleased to be corrected on this. Just to clarify, I am trying to get a full working copy, of my own licensed version of XP, running off a usb stick.
BTW
Regardless of the outcome your help is much appreciated
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Britec
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« Reply #10 on: September 15, 2010, 11:48:53 AM » |
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Yes you can run Windows XP from a USB
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sqweebo
Newbie
Posts: 7
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« Reply #11 on: September 15, 2010, 01:44:22 PM » |
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OK, we are back at the begining. How, specifically?
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