JP09

Ok couple of faults with this install, it hangs at the intial boot thus leading to sndvol32.exe not created, accessories folder not created both are fixed by obtaining msls31.dll from the XP source or from another XP install and putting it into system32 as this dll didnot copy during the txt phase of setup. This is required to run add/remove windows components from add/remove progs as well as other apps... I've been reading through the links and browsing the net think right now my head is going to split again.. the other issue i'm having is that I cant run usb multiboot on the laptop i get BSOD in order to create the migrate.inf and modify it. The other options would be to reinstall or run mkmigrate.cmd which i cant find and mkmigrate2.cmd in usb boot doesnt seem to do anything... then again would a partition (1st primary) on a usb hdd take drive U? as its seen as a 'fixed' disk (i have an inkling it won't).. JP09

Ah I just realised didnt mention this earlier; didnt want to edit over your edit jaclaz :lol, my bad for putting the link up for ntfs4dos iso. to change the active partition from the fat partition, copy the boot.ini, ntdetect.com, ntldr to the windows xp partition, then open up diskmanagement right click the windows xp partition and then active. For others just incase they have any concerns, i'm still testing the xp install will post up an updated tut later. JP

Thanks for the links , they are very intresting and full of useful info. The reason why I asked if the "safely remove icon" was removable; to avoid my siblings from removing the usb hdd by mistake. Then again if it was removed I realised by reading through the posts, what about the other usb devices such memory card readers etc. I'll just hide it for now doing no harm by just sitting there . Do you have a cache of techie links or something? lol because as I said they all contain alot of useful info, so thanks once again .

lol sorry about that I'm just kinda confused here as I have the "safely remove hardware" icon in the system tray. Also when I assign drive letters to both the fat\fat32 partition boot is noticeable longer namely a black screen before the logon screens lasting approx 10 to 20 seconds (i'm only guessing!) lol. Yes it does see it as a fixed drive evident in disk management and all drives are mountable/ partitions deletable. EDIT: I don't suppose cfadisk.sys or dummydisk.sys will remove the "safely remove hardware" icon from the system tray? . JP

Cheers jaclaz i'm reading through them now. I forgot to mention a bizzare pop up that came up. Right after the intial boot where setup changes the resolution It was a file download dialog box for oobe.htm with the save directy indicated as /system32/oobe. when clicking save it didnt go to system32 and when cancelled setup appeared to just hang and remained with "please wait" - left it like that for 20 minutes so im guessing it hanged. So I turned my laptop off and it went straight to login with just the admin account showing. However I just reinstalled XP as it appears installing my bluetooth drivers by selecting the inf files and clicking install via right click has caused XP to just hang after login. But this time there was no $win_nt$.bt~ folder in the fat partition. Previously it was there as I had turned it off a few minutes after it hanged as stated above. Also as XP detects the harddrive as removable - it appears to scan all other partitions as removable drives thus increasing boot time. JP

Wooot! finally I've got it working the only problem now is XP is on E...and a slight issue with the page file... Ok for others that may be willing to try... I Have Not Tested the xp install extensively.. so if anyone else trys and finds anything let us know . Will try to be as straight as possible for those not so tech-savy people appologies if its to looong to read! What you need: 1) Winimage 2) Your XP CD (or XP Source) 3) Windows98se_img bootable floppy image (here: http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/98.html - this img does not contain smartdrv i have included that with the files or u can use the images from here http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm shouldnt make much difference) 4) usb hdd with sufficient space (i have not tried this on a usb stick) 5) ramdrive.sy_ or ramdrive.sys & setupldr.bin from the windows 2003 service pack 1 (here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en ) 6) service pack 2 (here:http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/xpsp2.html or 3 (here: http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/windo...ce-pack-3.html) for xp incase any errors occur (they did for me) 7) modified files (usb.in_, usbstor.in_, usbport.in_, dosnet.inf, txtsetup.sif, usbboot.inf) from here techspot files (http://www.savefile.com/files/1883181) my files here (http://www.savefile.com/files/2163480) 8) Easeus Partion Manager (optional) to resize partitions - disadvantage it treats logical partitions as primary partitions..be weary when wanting to create an extended partition use the diskmanagement console instead via right clicking my computer I have attached the files they are inside the usbboot.rar archive Note: I am going to refer the fat format partition as I for the purpose of this tutorial.. also I am presuming there are only two partitions on the usb hdd when you have reached step 3 1) Prepping the usb hdd & source make sure all your data is backed up if u try this as it means completely restructuring the partition table!.. Make a primary partition of 700 - 1 gb in fat format. (This will hold your xp source and windows98se bootfiles) and make this active! Make another partition also primary in fat32 format at around 700 mb *note* at this point you can create your windows ntfs partition but it maybe safer not to.. take a note of the partition letters assigned. copy the modified usb.in_, usbstor.in_, usbport.in_, dosnet.inf, txtsetup.sif, usbboot.inf into the i386 folder along with setupldr.bin and ramdrive.sy_ *NOTE* (the txtsetup.sif files in the usbboot.rar contains these lines under [setupData] SetupSourcePath = "\" SetupSourceDevice = \device\harddisk0\partition2 I dont know if this helps or not... most probably not but I have not tested without these lines) where as the txtsetup.sif from techspot does not. 2) Copying / writing the files Double click the windows 98se.img then "disk" at the top then select your fat format partition (drive I:) and then choose write at the bottom. Copy over smartdrv.exe (drag n drop into drive I:) this helps speed up the copying phase i think but not necessary. Copy over your XP Source (i copied over the entire contents of my xp cd just to be sure but copying over i386 should suffice if not copy everything from the cd..) 3) Booting & installing If done successfuly you will get a win 98 se boot up screen, choose either option 1 or 2 (doesnt make much difference just the load time). Note you may want to extract the service pack 2 or 3 I used winrar then right click extract to (name of service pack 2 or 3 files) Type smartdrv or just type the command below if you havent copied smartdrv to drive I: Type i386\winnt.exe /t D: (press enter on the screen to confirm installation file location) If you have other partitions as fat32 You can cycle through D:, E: etc Setup will copy the files at this point you may get errors (I got 3 - plugin.ocx, flash.ocx, sp2.cab) hopefully setup will not halt if those files are skipped (setup continued for me) If you have encountered any errors I recommend you to power down and disconnect the usb hdd after setup has restarted and copy the skipped files into D:$WIN_NT$.LS~\i386. *Hint* if you wish to keep these files copy the $WIN_NT$.LS~ folder into drive I: or anywhere you prefer. Setup will restart and reboot with the following options: previous operating system on C: microsoft windows/upgrade Choose the 2nd option as the 1st will load dos Create the windows partition when at the partition screen (which will list all the current partition and setup should continue.. (but you may get errors) skip (take a note of the files and add them into D:$WIN_NT$.LS~\i386 from sp3 or sp2 should setup halt..(didnt for me but i quitted setup and copied the files over) After you have reached the graphic part of the installation you will be prompted by setup saying the usb drivers are not valid (click yes at all prompts) they were made "invalid" by the modifications made to prevent xp from bsoding due to the usb reseting.. And there you have it after setup completes a fully working xp with a few bugs maybe running from your usb hdd! BUT XP will be drive E!. You can easily hide (in the basic sense) the other drives by removing the drive letters by using the disk management console but XP will be drive E so be weary may cause some incompatability.... You can use the D drive for the page file maybe or resize it to hold your data though I prefer to use it as a pagefile just incase something happens.... Further more when I started up you might get framedyn.dll not found etc etc and getting the same prompt when you do pretty much anything this can be resolved by checking if the path under environment variables is the same as this: %SystemRoot%\System32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot\System32wbem Environment Variables can be found by right clicking my computer, properties then advanced then environment variables and in the system variables - path when double clicked is %SystemRoot%\System32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot\System32wbem or alternatively going to windows\system32\dllcache and copying framedyn.dll into the wbem folder also found in System 32 You can add ntfs capabilities by using avira's ntfs4dos by merging the contents of the windows 98se img and ntfs4dos files which cant be in a folder but in the root of the drive BUT! do not replace command.com cos it appears to be faulty...ntfs4dos has to be launched by typing (drive letter:ntfs4dos.exe) if you are in dos it will look like this C:\ntfs4dos.exe. However smartdrv will no longer work. If successfull you will get 3 options 1) ntfs4dos 2)defrag ntfs 3)ive forgotten.. this option oops Other Tools: Ntfs4Dos Files with bootable Iso REMOVED LINK. EDIT by jaclaz: You must be joking , READ RULES, and Rule #1a, particularly: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=18408 I have not tried this iso but used the files as indicated above: The source of this file was a torrent I have scanned it my anti virus (symantec corporate ed) its clean. Method Used - credits go to the poster http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16713 A gazzillion thanks to jaclaz and this forum for its rich info source and my goood friends - they know who they are : References: 1) http://www.vandomburg.net/installing-windows-xp-from-usb/ 2) http://www.ngine.de/article/id/8. 3) http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic105734-6.html 4) http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library...372(WS.10).aspx http://labmice.techtarget.com/articles/winntcmd.htm 5) http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=129454 6) http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=14181 7) http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=2254 8) http://tips.vlaurie.com/2006/05/23/recover...out-an-xp-disk/ and a whole others which i didnt bookmark... Edit: can any of the mods change the topic name from "Installing XP onto usb hdd but unable to boot!, installing into partion 2 from source in partion 1" to "Installing XP onto usb hdd from source in partition 1" or "Installing XP onto usb hdd but unable to boot!, installing into partion 2 from source in partion 1 (solved)" ? which ever you feel is apt Many thanks JP

thanks again Jaclaz, I had a good read through Forcing setup to copy to another partition using the /t command appears to have worked though its gonna be slooow. As I have forced the setup to copy to the fat partition lol. I just hope they arent any file conflicts . Will update again. Regards JP09