install xp on a USB Hard Drive

[premier4ever]

hello every one,

I got an 80GB romovable hard drive and ive been trying to install windows xp on it, so i can use it whenever i connect it to any pc .... i've tried every way ... been through every guide i found on the net ... but no luck.

is there a way to do this or what? help is needed

Best Regards all

[Kelsenellenelvian]

No it isn't possile. I am very sorry to say.

See XP looks for and attaches itself to your hardware...

SO then when you switch pc's it refuses to work due to all of the differetn hardware.

It was possible back in the days of 98 but no it can't be done. (I believe it is part of MS'es anti-piracy works)

[premier4ever]

No it isn't possile. I am very sorry to say.

See XP looks for and attaches itself to your hardware...

SO then when you switch pc's it refuses to work due to all of the differetn hardware.

It was possible back in the days of 98 but no it can't be done. (I believe it is part of MS'es anti-piracy works)

i can understand this, but i was talking about removable usb drives .. not fixed disks, ive seen and heared ppl using windows and installing it to their rmovable storage devices ... thats if the pc supports booting from usb, like mine.

its not like u are copying the whole operating system to the removable drive, u are doing a fresh new installation.

[Kelsenellenelvian]

whenever i connect it to any pc

^ You said

Thats the issue though. You can install on a usb drive and use it on that pc just not others...

[premier4ever]

thanx again for the response

[ilko_t]

It's possible and works in most cases, read Dietmar's guides as well as his posts in the long thread here, I know, it's pretty long, but if you manage to understand the details, you will be able to do all you have to and A LOT more.

Include BTS drivers pack to the installation too, at least chipset, mass storage, LAN and WLAN. Use File-Based Write Filter when necessary. Use the modified NTDETECT.COM as well.

[jaclaz]

Just for the record, and to keep things as together as possible, there is a good tutorial, derived from Dietmar's work here:

http://forums.ngine.de/viewforum.php?f=4

And an "automated" way here:

http://www.usboot.org/tiki-index.php

Of course the "amount" of the "any PC"'s that such an install will be able to boot to is proportional to the "amount" of drivers that will be included to the build.

And there might be the need to switch HAL's through BOOT.INI.

jaclaz

[Justin-Goldberg]

It was possible back in the days of 98 but no it can't be done. (I believe it is part of MS'es anti-piracy works)

Actually it is the HAL. It can work, but each pc it is moved to needs to be reinstalled over itself. Every different HAL type computer it is moved to would need an in-place reinstall, eg one a hal.dll type, one for halapic.dll, halmps.dll, halacpi.dll, halaacpi.dll, and halmacpi.dll.

A question, would using different hardware profiles for the different HAL's work? Eg call one hardware profile hal.dll, one halapic.dll, etc?

[ilko_t]

Incompatible HALs are switchable- have a look here and the follow ups:

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...st&p=136937

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/sysinte...s/bb963892.aspx

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309283

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/237556

OfflineSysPrep is changing HAL files instead, as far as I remember a few registry entries were added as well when switching from Standard to ACPI supporting ones in order to get the service running, details should be in the same thread.

Another way- Standard HAL is compatible with all machines, no ACPI functions, but who cares if portability is needed...

Another way- NTLDR from Longhorn beta can auto detect and change HAL:

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...st&p=144100

[jaclaz]

It seems like the myths:

1) it is not possible to install XP on USB devices

2) well, you can, but it won't be portable

are die-hard ones.

In a nutshell:

1) it is possible to install XP on partitioned USB devices

2) it is possible, with a few shortcomings, to make it portable between different machines

Points of note are:

1) the procedure is DEFINITELY complex, outside the "reach" of the average user, as it needs a deep knowledge of the internals and lots of tweaking/troubleshooting, exception made for the "automated" way supplied by the said USBOOT.ORG, which, if it works on your particular hardware, is reletively simple

2) Nonetheless, once having a build successfully running on a given PC, modifying it to make it "portable" has to be done manually and is as well fairly complex.

3) unless you have a VLK license, it may be an infringement of the EULA, expecially in the case of OEM licenses

4) it might be necessary to use files from beta's (like LONGHORN) or from other Microsoft products, like Server 2003 or XP embedded, which again, without an appropriate VLK or specific license, may constitute an infringement of the EULA

jaclaz

Edited September 10, 2008 by jaclaz