Boot XP from a USB Harddisk

[kennygodness]

Hello every one, I'm encountering a problem when i try to boot the XP from my USB Harddisk

I want to know can i boot a XP from a USB harddisk?

I already installed a XP in the harddisk by a desktop, now i used a USB harddisk case to store it and want to boot from it

if anybody know what method or software can help me pls do me a favor~

thank you very much!!

[oftentired]

Usefull But Somewhat Complicated Information Here

One must also, if I recall correctly, set the BIOS to allow the system to Boot either specifically from USB or from Other Device

[jaclaz]

The above link is for DOS, and it is not related to actually booting.

If the BIOS supports booting from USB, then you can boot from it, if it does not, you don't!

Have a look at this thread:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=26612&hl=

Xp booting is the SAME process as PE booting.

jaclaz

[oftentired]

I wasn't thinking "DOSless XP" ops bad bad me...

You do mean booting an XP system right?. One can "boot" to DOS which is a legitimate Disk Operating System and one can launch Win9x from there. I've not tried it but I also suspect one could manage to get XP to launch from a DOS prompt.

I wonder if there is an easy to use guide anywhere online for the step by step process of setting up a bootable USB flash card or hard drive. I think I saw one a while back but it need some searching.

This link does not directly address booting from a USB hard drive it does discuss the BIOS settings which should be applicable to both a USB Flash card and a USB hard drive. http://www.weethet.nl/english/hardware_bootfromusbstick.php

[jaclaz]

You do mean booting an XP system right?. One can "boot" to DOS which is a legitimate Disk Operating System and one can launch Win9x from there. I've not tried it but I also suspect one could manage to get XP to launch from a DOS prompt.

Win9x is NOT an Operating System by it's own, the particular type of DOS you boot into (i.e. Dos 7.x) is PART of the Win9x OS.

The ONLY way to boot an NT based system (NT/XP/2003) is throught the process described in the above given link and here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=33030

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=25350

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=26185

To sum up things:

DOS BASED SYSTEMS (DOS6.22/Win95/Win98/WinME)

Have a bootsector that directly calls these files:

Command.com

Msdos.sys

Io.sys

Msdos.sys and Io.sys must be AT THE BEGINNING of the FIRST ACTIVE partition of the FIRST harddisk

AFTER having booted to PURE DOS, control can be given to the Win9x graphical inteface, either automatically or by typing WIN at the command prompt.

NT BASED SYSTEMS (NT/XP/2003) + BartPE/WinPE :

Have a bootsector that calls:

1) the file Boot.ini

2) depending on the contents of boot.ini and of the (eventual) choice of the user, control is passed to either:

3a) the NT boot files, NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM (and if you have a SCSI HD NTBOOTDD.SYS) These files MUST reside on the FIRST ACTIVE partition of the FIRST hard disk

OR

3b) a bootsector of another filesystem, such as the one for DOS BASED SYSTEMS

OR

3c) a secondstage bootloader, like Linux's LILO or BEOS bootmanager

You CANNOT load an Operating System (boot) and THEN pass control to another one!

jaclaz