15 replies to this topic

[timbobsteve]

OK, in a lot of other posts I made it pretty clear that you can't boot XP from an external drive. I humbly inform you that I am a f*cktard and that it is, in fact, possible to boot XP off of a USB Drive or External HDD. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but here is a guide on how to get it working:

http://www.ngine.de/...jsp?pageid=4176

Here is a second page that I only glanced at. It may also have additional information for getting this to work. It looks like it ops for the WinPE/BartPE method and may achieve a different set of results.

http://www.tomshardw...in_your_pocket/

Anyway... good luck to those that try this. I do apologize for my misinformed comments in other posts. I may have been a little biased because I prefer Linux over XP :P

[DonkeyBeliever]

It's been done before MiCiKu released a LiveCD of Windows XP SP2 a few months back. The underdogs also released a USB Bootable Live XP distro. Isn't the fastest thing around but works pretty well. Most are based on Microsofts BootPE enviroment.

[TheBronze]

I've used the bartPE environment extensively. While it works, its slower than molasis... not sure about Win PE

[robcole84]

I am going to try this because i want to keep linux as the main OS, but I have a question...

There has been alot of talk about booting from a usb drive but does the bios allow you to boot from an SD card?

I have a few 1 and 2gb sd cards i would much rather use then a pen drive so that nothing sticks out on it.

[Gadgetguy]

This sounds great - and I will try to install XP on a USB stick. However: would anyone know, how the drivers can be applied? If I am not mistaken, the supplied DVD wants to install the drivers on the SSD, right?

[Gadgetguy]

Quote

I am going to try this because i want to keep linux as the main OS, but I have a question...

There has been alot of talk about booting from a usb drive but does the bios allow you to boot from an SD card?

I have a few 1 and 2gb sd cards i would much rather use then a pen drive so that nothing sticks out on it.

You could install on a flash card reader (insert SD card in reader, plug reader in PC) - that would be considered a USB stick on the PC side and you could use it directly on the eee PC side.

As far as O know, you can boot from an SD card.

[webastian]

Quote

I have a few 1 and 2gb sd cards i would much rather use then a pen drive so that nothing sticks out on it.

It is possible. You can set the bios to boot from sd.

[CTHsieh]

Quote

OK, in a lot of other posts I made it pretty clear that you can't boot XP from an external drive. I humbly inform you that I am a f*cktard and that it is, in fact, possible to boot XP off of a USB Drive or External HDD. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but here is a guide on how to get it working:

http://www.ngine.de/...jsp?pageid=4176

I had try this method but fail.

In the last step, it need to remove all internal HD.
As we know, the SSD of eee PC is un-removable.
So I try to install XP Pro SP2 on SSD and use ghost to move to SD Card.
Then use recovery CD to restore default OS to SSD and let it boot on SD Card.
And then it will hang in the beginning windows (before login message shows) without any warning information.

Any one else use this method and success?
Can you describe the procedure?

Edited by CTHsieh, 02 November 2007 - 02:10 AM.

[bigmat1201]

@ CTHsieh: Could you try loading XP on the SD card from a desktop computer (disconnecting all the HDDs) and then change the boot order on the Eee to SD card first, then stick the card in and boot? Let me know if it works, I want to try the same thing on mine, when it comes in.

[CTHsieh]

Quote

@ CTHsieh: Could you try loading XP on the SD card from a desktop computer (disconnecting all the HDDs) and then change the boot order on the Eee to SD card first, then stick the card in and boot? Let me know if it works, I want to try the same thing on mine, when it comes in.

The system is for ee PC, so I think it won't work for other PCs.

By the way, even I disable the SSD from BIOS, it is still detected by the installation procedure of WinXP.
So I don't know if it (SSD) can't be remove physically, will the procedure work?

[playsccr]

so for a novice, who has xp on a disc, can i simply use a usb cd rom and install xp through the normal procedure, like i would any other hard drive or computer or is there another way...the thumb drive seems complicated to me...

[ta2cba]

Has anyone practically tried to boot and run win xp from SD on their eee pc? I am planning to to do so and keep the asus OS in SSD if possible.Any practical experiences on "eee pc SD Win XP boot" mostly welcome :-)

ba

[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 - 12:44 AM.

[eeexp]

I installed xp pro on my eee the first night it got here. Last night I rebuilt my xp iso using the guide at http://www.ngine.de/...jsp?pageid=4176 and it worked great. For the remove hard drive step I went into the BIOS---->Advanced---->IDE Configuration---->IDE Master----->and changed the type to Not Installed, saved my changes.
When I went to install XP pro it still listed the ssd, but it also listed my 40gb 2.5" usb hard drive. So I chose the usb drive and installed to it.
After the install was finished and the Asus drivers were installed I went back into the BIOS and changed the IDE Master setting back to Auto. This makes it so you still boot the ssd, but when you want to boot the usb just hold down Esc at bootup and choose your device.

[cheesemp]

I've been trying to boot from USB myself - look at this post http://forum.eeeuser...pic.php?id=1174

[jensen.nick]

I followed the instructions at http://www.ngine.de/...jsp?pageid=4176 using my primary box (Sager Laptop) and was installing to a 20GB partition on a 2.5" SATA hard drive in a USB2/E-SATA enclosure and was successful. It rebooted perfectly. The problems started when trying to boot it on my eeepc. It seems to "boot" fine, but when arriving at the Windows XP loading page w/ the progress bar, it suddenly blue screens and reboots. That reaction will continue infinitely until I hit F2 to enter BIOS and put the Silicon Motion SSD in front again or disconnect the external drive. Any suggestions would be appreciated. On a side note, during the first full boot post-install, there was an error dialog saying that there was a problem with the page file.