Booting from USB drive

[rswain]

Can someone tell me if it is possible to boot from a USB pen drive and how?

I have a 1 GB pen drive and have a PIV system with Intel 865 mobo, running WinXP. I format my hard disk and reinstall Windows once in three or four months and would like to make the job easier with Windows and all essential drivers in the USB dirve.

 

[vijay_7287]

i dont think u can put XP on a 1gb pen drive :roll: :roll: :roll:

 

[dIgItaL_BrAt]

He means the setup files for Windows XP,if i am not mistaken.

Go into the bios AFTER connecting your USB drive and then select ur USB device as the 1st device in the boot device priority list.

 

[vijay_7287]

^^^
well he can even do tht in a cd naa

why waste a pen drive for tht ???

 

[dIgItaL_BrAt]

maybe the size of the setup files+the drivers exceed 700 MB,that's why.

 

[rswain]

I am just curious. If I copy the CD contents to the USB drive, will I be able to boot from it and run Windows installation from it? I know about the BIOS setup to be done. What should I do to make the pen drive similar to a bootable Windows CD and run the setup from it? It's much more convenient to use than half a dozen CDs (including the drivers and stuff).

 

[dIgItaL_BrAt]

u just can't copy the contents to the drive and boot from it,you have to make the disk bootable first.you can find the rest of the procedure on this page----->*www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1676&page=2

 

[rswain]

Thanks. This works out to something like setting up Win95. Is there a way to make the setup autorun, like with WinXP?

 

[dIgItaL_BrAt]

yes u can,but only within Windows,u'll have to use software ike APO USB Autorun(*www.snapfilespro.com/gnomeapp.php?id=109615) and create a autorun.inf file for the same.

 

[gagan007]

vijay, i think u dnt look for the solutions properly in the forum. well it may not be here, but in the magazine this thing was quoted. it is not possible to put "installed" windows on a CD becoz the windows needs pagefile to operate, whose size increases/decreases or atleast if size remains same it needs to "write" it. which is not possible in CD (except for RW CD). well I along with my friends came up with that idea a long ago, but never got chance to do it using pen drive. but i think its do-able.......

rswain try it, and if u get some results, plz paste it bak here.

 

[rswain]

I am not trying to put installed Windows into a pen drive. I am just trying to use a pendrive to setup Windows XP instead of a the usual CD.

I'll try creating an autorun file and let you know if it works. Thanks for all the input.

I saw in another forum about running WinXP thorugh a CD (like a Linux Live CD) WITHOUT installing it. Didn't try it out, though. Will try and see if I can find it again.

 

[dIgItaL_BrAt]

I saw in another forum about running WinXP thorugh a CD (like a Linux Live CD) WITHOUT installing it. Didn't try it out, though. Will try and see if I can find it again.

that was'nt WinXP,it was BartPE-A Windows-like enviroment that can run of a CD.Great for troubleshooting!

 

[amitsaudy]

Hey
Also i had once come across a winXP live cd once.
How do u make it?

that was'nt WinXP,it was BartPE-A Windows-like enviroment that can run of a CD.Great for troubleshooting!

N im 100% sure it was WinXP.
I tried the ver command n it was win xp.

 

[dIgItaL_BrAt]

Check out this link,got some great info on creating a
live WinXP cd using BartPE.

*www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=95591