Install XP from USB, the easy way with Sandisk Cruzer!

[mg.eggink]

Thanx,

this is 1.4.0.2 also:

http://www.verbatim.com/downloads/U3/u3upd...verbatim_us.exe

I believe almost all mentioned here:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/24/r...sh-smart-drive/

are 1.4.0.2 although they are named 1.0.5.5

MGE

Edited November 11, 2008 by mg.eggink

[Longhair]

I followed the instructions to the letter, changed my bios to boot using USB, CD/USB, Hard drive and it only reboots from the hard drive.

Is there a limit on how big the USB stick should be? I have a SanDisk Cruzer 16GB U3 Smart.

[mg.eggink]

Look here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=125138

I suppose this also is applicable for Sandisk-sticks.

"I managed to write a 1.5 Gb-ISO to the USB-stick 163/165-type. A Vlited Vista-image with additional

programs added with Magic Iso Maker.

4GB is the maximum possible because it is in CDFS-format"

So the ISO should not exceed 4Gb.

MGE

Edited November 14, 2008 by mg.eggink

[KiLLERHOLiC]

I tried this with my new Sandisk Cruzer Contour 16 GB.

Everything works fine except that the "HDD" part is only 4 MB after putting my iso file on the stick.

I tried to boot from the stick and it worked. But i can use only 4 megabytes of the ~13 gigabytes left.

You can use Launchpad Removal.exe to restore the full capacity but then the virtual cdrom is gone.

Any ideas?

I also tried to use LPInstaller from the Sandisk homepage. I managed to get small iso files on the stick (~5mb) but if i try a bigger file i just get an error message that the U3 launchpad setup failed.

[Nico-]

Thank you very much, this solution really rocks !

But when you have 2 HD partitions :

- C: hdd partition for system

- D: hdd partition for data

For the installing process, the USB drive is recognised as D:

- C: hdd partition for system

- D: USB drive

- E: hdd partition for data (this partition is "shifted")

How can we make USB drive as U: for example in order to avoid it to take an hdd letter please?

[jaclaz]

How can we make USB drive as U: for example in order to avoid it to take an hdd letter please?

You add a migrate.inf to the source.

Search for posts by me or cdob here or on 911CD with keyword "migrate.inf".

Please note that the "usual" migrate.inf is for assigning a letter to a partition, you will need to adapt the idea for the CD-ROM-like device (that is a "Removable" device, and thus it is identified in a different way).

jaclaz

[mg.eggink]

Hi Killerholic,

I finally have a 16Gb Sandisk and managed to install a 200 MB ISO ( XP-lite)

All works fine, 14.7 GB "harddisk" left.

Only difference is that I used a Sandisk Cruzer MICRO

MGE

[ZileXa]

isn't a NTFS usb stick a lot faster? Why would you prefer this method above multiboot method?

[jaclaz]

isn't a NTFS usb stick a lot faster? Why would you prefer this method above multiboot method?

• being sure that the read-only CD-like device (and the source files in it) cannot be tampered with?
  
• not needing any modification to a working CD/DVD?
  

jaclaz

[ZileXa]

isn't a NTFS usb stick a lot faster? Why would you prefer this method above multiboot method?

• not needing any modification to a working CD/DVD?
  

jaclaz

That's exactly what I suspected thanks. Then this method might be great for me but I wanna go for speed so I'm going to test further with the multiboot method.

Edited January 29, 2009 by ZileXa

[Romain37]

Hi all,

I would ask if the problem have been resolved ?

I have the same problem !

I tested with several ISO : Win XP or Hiren's boot CD !!

The process with universal_customizer works perfectly and i see my iso mount like a CR-ROM

I have set up my bios.

But i can't boot !! I have this error : MISSING OPERATING SYSTEM !!

[witcher]

I followed the instructions to the letter, changed my bios to boot using USB, CD/USB, Hard drive and it only reboots from the hard drive.

Is there a limit on how big the USB stick should be? I have a SanDisk Cruzer 16GB U3 Smart.

Am wondering if the gentleman with the 16gb sandisk managed to create a bootable OS in the flash drive while keeping the rest of the space available for storage?

so far the only option i have found requires changing a removable bit in order to fool the system to think the USB drive is a hard disk.

will this method work for sandisk contour 16gb?

will be nice to know if anyone has pulled this off.

[Longhair]

I finally got this method (post #1) to work with an untouched version of XP on a Asus Eee PC on the SanDisk Cruzer 16GB U3 Smart I mentioned earlier.

It makes me wonder if the other computers are not able to boot from the USB CD, even though it is set to in the bios.

witcher - I was able to use the rest of the stick as storage.

Since the stick had files in there, I ended up making a new folder, gave it a name and then stored all the other files in there so I wouldn't delete anything important when not paying attention.

I will be doing more tests when I have time and I will post my findings.

Many thanks mg.eggink

[Longhair]

Is there a way to assign a drive letter to it when booting?

My hard drive has 2 partitions - C: & D: - for a dual Windows XP boot (different languages) and when I boot up, the Sandisk automatically takes D: forcing me to install on a different drive letter.

[jaclaz]

Is there a way to assign a drive letter to it when booting?

My hard drive has 2 partitions - C: & D: - for a dual Windows XP boot (different languages) and when I boot up, the Sandisk automatically takes D: forcing me to install on a different drive letter.

You need a migrate.inf file.

Search for "mkmigrateinf.cmd", "mkmigrateinf2.cmd" "mkmigrateinf_b.cmd"

jaclaz