Turn flash drive into Windows XP CD

[WileCoyote]

Is this possible? I was looking for a fast way to install Windows XP onto a computer. If the motherboard and flash drive support USB booting, is there a way to make a flash drive become just like a Windows XP CD?

 

[kamranziadar]

No, i did not hear any thing like that.

 

[MiniDoom]

yes make your flash drive bootable and add your xp cd files.

 

[logicmaster2003]

I think theres something called "BART-PE" that got something to do with this..

so far..

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20050909/

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=166401966

 

[randomlinh]

bart-pe is for booting up into a windows environment when your system is hosed.

if the board supports bootable USB, and you have a usb flash drive that is bootable, it should be possible in theory.. i have yet to see it happen

 

[MiniDoom]

I used this to make the flash drive bootable. Then copy your cd over and boot to usb device. No need to reach around your back to scratch your arse. It?s not that hard.

 

[logicmaster2003]

i was able to download and run that HP program, then formatted my usb key. But it wasn't booting up ! maybe i should try another usb port.

im very interested in this scenario --> if sometimes u just want to boot up from a really fast mini-OS such as linux with firefox webbrowser and simple wordpad. And yet enable you to access your winxp ntfs drives.

this is sometimes a "wish" if you hate to have to wait for win xp to load plus all your startup programs / antivirus.

 

[Trevante]

DamnSmallLinux

I was able to get DSL to boot off my 128MB Lexar Thumbdrive a while ago. It seemed a bit slow to load, but it worked great.

 

[logicmaster2003]

hey Trevante... could you post us a brief step-by-step on how to get DSL boot from ur mini usb key ?

and I have 2 questions for u...

question #1.... after downloading that HP program, I've successfully formatted that USB key with (A:\) bootdisk in place. But then when I check the content of myusb drive.. does it supposed to show files ? and what files are these ? cuz mine shows blank ! although it says "formatted successfully"

question #2.... how do you get DSL into your usbdrive ? do u have to extract the iso from and into the usb drive ? And is it true that firefox browser is already included ? if not, how do u include it ?

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: logicmaster2003
question #1.... after downloading that HP program, I've successfully formatted that USB key with (A:\) bootdisk in place. But then when I check the content of myusb drive.. does it supposed to show files ? and what files are these ? cuz mine shows blank ! although it says "formatted successfully"

They're hidden system files. So if you uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" in Folder Options you can see them. It's kinda nice how they're hidden by default, so you won't accidentally delete the boot files.

 

[JJU357]

My former roomate got a windows xp install minus a lot of functionality to take up only a few hundred megabytes and to boot from a flash drive...i don't remember how he did it but I may be able to find out and post back.

 

[logicmaster2003]

oh okay thanks and post back if u dont mind

 

[logicmaster2003]

Originally posted by: JJU357
My former roomate got a windows xp install minus a lot of functionality to take up only a few hundred megabytes and to boot from a flash drive...i don't remember how he did it but I may be able to find out and post back.