Link or help needed

[iUSERMike]

Hi all,

Is it possible to install XP on a small drive at about 128 mb big? I tried the search but to no avail. So can you provide a link, or help. If XP won't go what about old 98SE? Would like to make a surfing machineusing a just a browser and hopefully run Winamp as well, without the consumption of a hard drive. I can do it with linux, **** Small Linux, but the wife just bought a Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse and Linux doesn't recognise it.

Happy NewYear

Mike:)

[iUSERMike]

**** ( nmaD) Small Linux. No swearing.

[Nuno Brito]

LiveXP is a good option but if you want audio support I'd recommend trying out naughtyPE.

You can go as low as 31Mb for a running XP OS with the Explorer shell.

Take your pick, both projects are legal and available here: http://winbuilder.net/download.php?list.5

Good luck!

[iUSERMike]

Hi Nuno Brito, I've tried that with a walkthrough on http://www.instructables.com/id/Create-a-B...e-with-VistaPE/

For whatever reason, it didn't work the same. Can't remember what I did. Using nLite, I can drop the size down. I have it at about 80mb, was hoping for it to install on my 128mb USB stick, but I think the unpacked size will be probably 400mb, or thereabouts. Then XP says theres a minimum size to install on.

I don't know, what do you think?

Mike:)

[Nuno Brito]

I'd say play on the safe side and ignore tutorials for other projects.

All you need to do is follow the instructions inside each project that I've mentioned before.

For NaughtyPE for example.

- You will need the Windows XP source files somewhere on disk

- Download and unpack NaughtyPE and run winbuilder.exe

- There's a tab called Paths - click and select the path where your XP source files are placed.

- Click the Play button (big blue button)

This should provide you a good boot disk below the 100Mb.

To make a bootable USB pendisk I'd recommend this nifty tool from codebeetle: http://gocoding.com/page.php?al=petousb

It was made with bartPE in mind but it should be compatible with NaughtyPE too.

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You don't need nlite for anything, these projects are best used with full XP sources to ensure that all files are present to copy the necessary files.

VistaPE is also simple to use but it doesn't come (yet) with full sound support and it is a bit slower and bulkier to load, so I really recommend going with XP for this purpose.

[iUSERMike]

Hi Nuno Brito, I got it to work, Naughty PE that is, got an ISO at 140mb. However, at gocoding.com, I couldn't get PEtoUSB read my Easydisk, are all drives supported? This ones 128mb big, I bought it 3 year ago. It says in the readme, that it should be FAT 16? I can only do FAT, FAT 32 or NTFS. Please help.

Thanks Mike

[iUSERMike]

Doh! Missed the minimum Stick size requirement. Will need to go shopping.

Thanks Mike

[Ponch]

Does your stick get a drive letter ? (it shouldn't make a difference but just to be sure it is properly recognized by the OS)

FAT16 is the system that will be on your stick after PEtoSB has formatted it, not a pre-requisit.

On a side note, what kind of PC do you plan to run with that ? Is a dualboot (taking 500Meg of a partition) not doable ? Has it got no HDD at all? It would be 100 times faster. (Is that stick even USB2) ?

[Naki]

1 GB drives are under $10, go buy one (or even 2 GB or more)...

[[[i can only do FAT, FAT 32 or NTFS]]]

FAT = FAT16.

Edited January 2, 2009 by Naki

[Ponch]

Doh! Missed the minimum Stick size requirement. Will need to go shopping

"USB Disk Minimum Size of 256MB (dependant on size of PE build)"

That's because the typical size of a BartPE is more than 200MB, it's not a requirement of the software. I don't know about NaughtyPE but if it adds sound and other features, it might be quite bigger. 1Gig are beginning to get quite difficult to find. Go for 2Gig, it starts at 5.5€ here (and it's the maximum for PeToUsb).

[iUSERMike]

Hello everyone, Happy New Year.

It would be 100 times faster. (Is that stick even USB2) ?

Mmm, yeah, I'd like it fast. And do away with a Harddrive. I havn't decide what mobo/system I will use. I like the idea of having portability of taking my OS away from my PC to make it secure, not that I need to, maybe its the "Geek" inside of me:)

Thats the 4gb version, but they look the same.

But at 128mb, I'm not fitting anything on it. Probably get a speedy 95 or 98 on there. Don't mention M.E. : I got it running in VMWare 5, so I know it works. So until I buy a better stick, I'll be Virtual.

Regards

Mike:)

[Nuno Brito]

However, at gocoding.com, I couldn't get PEtoUSB read my Easydisk, are all drives supported? This ones 128mb big, I bought it 3 year ago. It says in the readme, that it should be FAT 16? I can only do FAT, FAT 32 or NTFS. Please help.

This isn't very usual..

Don't worry about the filesystem being FAT16 or anything else, the tool will help formatting.

I'd try using another computer as some viruses often intercept this sort of things.

Also, you can try a tool called HP USB Storage - http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197 that should be enough to make your pendisk bootable.

However, you will still need the PEtoUSB tool to prepare the OS for being booted from the USB drive.

One idea to bypass the annoyance that you're experiencing would be formatting a second drive and then just copy the OS files from one pendisk to another, guess you can quickly find someone to borrow a pendisk or even get another one as you say.

But beware that pendisks above 2Gb aren't well digested by PEtoUSB tool.

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USB Disk Minimum Size of 256MB (dependant on size of PE build)"

That's because the typical size of a BartPE is more than 200MB, it's not a requirement of the software. I don't know about NaughtyPE but if it adds sound and other features, it might be quite bigger.

Well.. BartPE is old and packed with a lot of bloat by default.

Comparing it to NaughtyPE or any newer project is a bit like thinking about the Ice Age of PE boot disks: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=6616

If you look closely at how bartPE works, it will blindly follow the guidelines of txtsetup.sif and copy everything over to the target location without caring if the files are needed or not.

Some years ago, I've even made a small tool that slimmed bartPE down from 220Mb to 36Mb while keeping the drivers and a command line - http://nunobrito.eu/download.php?view.2

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These new techniques you find today are the state of the art on this field and have grown so advanced to a point where it is possible to automate the build of a barebone XP ISO sized in 31Mb that would use the full explorer shell.

NaughtyPE is based on the NativeEx project which by default builds XP PE OS's at ~50Mb.

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How to reduce below the 128Mb size limit with full sound support?

To reduce the size of your NaughtyPE, simply enable the autoUPX script at the "Finish"-->"Optimizations" subfolder inside the project window.

This should slim down about 40% in overall size but will consume more memory, at least 380Mb of RAM are advised when running these OS's with full UPX compression.

In alternative, try disabling some of the freeware programs that come included by default inside the OS as they also take up some considerable space.

[iUSERMike]

Hi, The ISO fits on my USB with 20mb to spare:) By the way, XP still wouldn't fit though. Not once its unpacked.

Mike

[JatinBeniwal]

Remove all components through nlite. Then the size of iso is about 90 mb. Then use USB multiboot 10 to make usb bootable

[Nuno Brito]

Remove all components through nlite. Then the size of iso is about 90 mb. Then use USB multiboot 10 to make usb bootable

You should have read the previous topics.

We are talking about creating a XP OS running from a 128Mb pendisk with sound support.

You suggest that nLite will produce a 90Mb ISO but these are the installation files for windows and we need a running Windows XP, do you understand the difference?