How To Install Windows Xp From A Usb Flash
read about how it happened to me, first. Sit tight, you’re in for a ride!Case In Point,You’ve got this Acer laptop with a malfunctioning DVD drive. Specifically, you removed it from its bay and now Windows XP crashes when you plug it back in. Knowledge Base article 310664 matches it to a tee.Provided solution: update to Service Pack 1, or disable DMA in the BIOS. Current situation: running SP2 and blessed with a “user-friendly” BIOS that doesn’t allow you to disable DMA.
Your luck just ran out, but – being the geek that you are – you don’t whine about it. Instead, you come up with this bright idea: let’s install Linux, that’ll work some magic! And so you get Gentoo Linux installed using a home-brewn LiveUSB distribution. And much to your dismay, proper hotplugging implementation for your laptop is lacking. Curses.
So finally, you call the support line to have them collect your laptop for repair. One problem here: you’re betting they won’t like seeing Linux boot up and, hoping to forego additional service costs, it’s up to you to reinstall Windows XP.
One problem here: you don’t have a working CD-ROM drive to install Windows XP off, and from experience you know that Windows XP won’t install from an external drive. Blasted!
Enter the cavalry.
Disclaimer
The procedure here is provided without any warranty or support whatsoever. It worked for me and so it might for you. It also might blast you and your laptop to pieces. Some of the procedures described here can wipe all of your data. Thought I’d warn you.
I don’t mean to be inventive here, either. In fact, all the technology has been laid out for us and is readily available. All I’m doing is wrapping it all up in writing. Shouts out to everyone who provided the technology!
That being said, let’s get down to business.
Ground Zero: Ingredients,read about how it happened to me, first. Sit tight, you’re in for a ride!
Case In Point
You’ve got this Acer laptop with a malfunctioning DVD drive. Specifically, you removed it from its bay and now Windows XP crashes when you plug it back in. Knowledge Base article 310664 matches it to a tee.
Provided solution: update to Service Pack 1, or disable DMA in the BIOS. Current situation: running SP2 and blessed with a “user-friendly” BIOS that doesn’t allow you to disable DMA.
Your luck just ran out, but – being the geek that you are – you don’t whine about it. Instead, you come up with this bright idea: let’s install Linux, that’ll work some magic! And so you get Gentoo Linux installed using a home-brewn LiveUSB distribution. And much to your dismay, proper hotplugging implementation for your laptop is lacking. Curses.
So finally, you call the support line to have them collect your laptop for repair. One problem here: you’re betting they won’t like seeing Linux boot up and, hoping to forego additional service costs, it’s up to you to reinstall Windows XP.
One problem here: you don’t have a working CD-ROM drive to install Windows XP off, and from experience you know that Windows XP won’t install from an external drive. Blasted!
Enter the cavalry.
Disclaimer
The procedure here is provided without any warranty or support whatsoever. It worked for me and so it might for you. It also might blast you and your laptop to pieces. Some of the procedures described here can wipe all of your data. Thought I’d warn you.
I don’t mean to be inventive here, either. In fact, all the technology has been laid out for us and is readily available. All I’m doing is wrapping it all up in writing. Shouts out to everyone who provided the technology!
That being said, let’s get down to business.
Ground Zero: Ingredients
You’ll be needing ample space on a USB storage device like a thumbdrive or external disk drive. 1 GB of storage will suffice. Possibly, you could access the setup files from a network share in which case you’ll only need a 256 MB thumbdrive, but I haven’t tried that.
Personally, I booted off a 512 MB thumbdrive and put the Windows XP setup files on an external disk drive. So a combination will do just fine, but just make sure that you’ve got sufficient USB ports: all USB devices will need to be plugged in and stay plugged in while we’re booted into BartPE later on!
You’ll also need a bunch of software, including a valid copy of Windows XP. The other software components can be downloaded freely:
You’ll be needing ample space on a USB storage device like a thumbdrive or external disk drive. 1 GB of storage will suffice. Possibly, you could access the setup files from a network share in which case you’ll only need a 256 MB thumbdrive, but I haven’t tried that.
Personally, I booted off a 512 MB thumbdrive and put the Windows XP setup files on an external disk drive. So a combination will do just fine, but just make sure that you’ve got sufficient USB ports: all USB devices will need to be plugged in and stay plugged in while we’re booted into BartPE later on!
You’ll also need a bunch of software, including a valid copy of Windows XP. The other software components can be downloaded freely:
windows xp from a usb flash …
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