29 replies to this topic

[jgibbard]

I was wondering if it would be possible to install XP on to a SD memory card. I've noticed when i've installed XP before that memory cards often show up on the format screen. If it is possible you could install XP on a 4 or 8GB SD card and then have the ability to chose whether to boot XP or linux.

[wxt38]

do a search and you find some answers.

[bfbf]

Yep it is possible, I think XP has a boot loader. I suspect it won't work with Linux so you would have to look into something like Grub....

Good luck :)

Please note: to check out the stuff you need to do in the Windows section of the guide to minimise writes to the SSD.

[silurius]

(This is a triple-post). I'll volunteer for some wiki documentation provided we can get some repeatable steps posted to the forum first. There seems to be some info already, but for various reasons it's very scattered and difficult to interpret (for me, anyway).

I suggest posting detailed walkthroughs to these two threads:

- How to install XP on a USB flash drive or USB external HD:
"Running Windows XP from a USB Drive / External Hard Drive"

- How to install XP on an SD or SDHC card in the SD slot:
"Installing Windows XP on SDHC card"

Edited by silurius, 04 November 2007 - 12:45 AM.

[jgibbard]

I'm still waiting to get an EEE but i decided to to attempt to install XP to a sd card connected via usb to my desktop pc. Setup detects the memory stick and copies the installation files across to it but just before it loads the GUI part of setup it crashes and displays the BSOD. I did a search and found that its actually a bit more complicated as installing to usb/sd cards is not officially supported and involves quite a bit of modifying to the XP install files.

Quote

Q: Can a USB storage device be the primary (and only) means of storage?
No. USB-based mass storage devices cannot be the primary hard disk storage solution on a regular system

I followed the instructions on this site and finally got it working. I haven't got an eee yet :( so i cant test if this method works for it but I can't see any reason why it wouldn't.

[mindless_fool]

Quote

I'm still waiting to get an EEE but i decided to to attempt to install XP to a sd card connected via usb to my desktop pc. Setup detects the memory stick and copies the installation files across to it but just before it loads the GUI part of setup it crashes and displays the BSOD. I did a search and found that its actually a bit more complicated as installing to usb/sd cards is not officially supported and involves quite a bit of modifying to the XP install files.

Quote

Q: Can a USB storage device be the primary (and only) means of storage?
No. USB-based mass storage devices cannot be the primary hard disk storage solution on a regular system

I followed the instructions on this site and finally got it working. I haven't got an eee yet :( so i cant test if this method works for it but I can't see any reason why it wouldn't.

how much space does it take on the sd card? if your willing to host the files i can try it on my eee to let you know if it works

[silurius]

Count me in for testing too. Can also provide very temporary hosting space.

[robcole84]

+1 :D I get mine tomorrow! I have several sizes and brands of SD cards as well!

[TheBronze]

Agh! there are just too many neato ideas with this thing. Maybe I will buy another SD card for an alternate boot. :)

[silurius]

Yeah, I nearly purchased an external hard drive yesterday for a Windows/Xbuntu dual-boot and had to stop myself, because I really don't need to carry around that much storage space with me. I'll be putting my secondary OS (or a dual-boot) on a 4 or 8GB SDHC as soon as I feel brave enough to give it a go.

[jgibbard]

I've put the modified XP files that you need to install XP to a SD card/usb hard drive/USB Memory Stick into a .zip file but i think that the files are probably specific to different versions of windows. The ones in the zip file are from XP Pro SP2, so they probably won't work if you put them into a XP Home disk for example(I havent had time 2 test this). The files that have to be changed are "TXTSETUP.SIF", "DOSNET.INF", "USB.IN_", "USBPORT.IN_", "UBSTOR.IN_" does anyone know whether these are specific to different versions of XP?? If you want to try it out copy the contents of your xp setup disk to a folder on your computer, open the I386 folder and paste the contents of the this zip file (If it asks you to overwrite files click yes). Then use NLite to create an iso from the xp files and burn it to a CD. If it doesn't work then it probably means that you will have to manually edit the above files following this tutorial. Good Luck!

[cheesemp]

Hey - no fair jgibbard. Your using precisely the same method I did and yours works - See http://forum.eeeuser...pic.php?id=1174.

I think I may have messed up a file editing somewhere. I'll try again.

[smgoller]

I used this method on an 8gb sdhc card and I get the corrupted hal.dll problem on the second reboot.

[jgibbard]

Sorry cheesemp i didn't mean 2 duplicate your thread! - And i haven't got my EEE yet so i only tested it on a normal desktop PC

[mindless_fool]

seems noone has been able to do it..so what about installing xp on the ssd and the EEE xandros software on the SDHC anyone got and idea for that???

[silurius]

Quote

seems noone has been able to do it..so what about installing xp on the ssd and the EEE xandros software on the SDHC anyone got and idea for that???

I think that's been proven multiple times and is even a supported option (e.g. Asus might have docs on it and might help you out if you get stuck).

[CorvetteZ0606]

I was just successful at getting XP pro FULL version (not a PE) installed on a SDHC card. I'm going to write a howto in this forum in a few minutes. :-)

[mindless_fool]

Quote

I was just successful at getting XP pro FULL version (not a PE) installed on a SDHC card. I'm going to write a howto in this forum in a few minutes. :-)

please do, btw how much space did it take up on the card?

[Ancalu]

Can Acronis OS Selector 8.0 be useful to make a dual boot with linux on ssd and Windows on a SD card in the sd slot?

More info on :

http://www.acronis.c...ltibooting.html

[CorvetteZ0606]

Quote

Quote

I was just successful at getting XP pro FULL version (not a PE) installed on a SDHC card. I'm going to write a howto in this forum in a few minutes. :-)

please do, btw how much space did it take up on the card?

I'm writing it right now. On page 6. I'm trying to be as detailed as possible. I ended up with a 4GB partition on my 8GB card with about 2GB free space.

I'm going to start a new thread about it, and I want to discuss it all there. Should be up in about 30 minutes.