Windows XP Install guide - USB flash drive

Posted Jan 23rd 2008 12:56pm by Cas in Asus EeePC, Guides /

windowslogo This is a easy and simple guide to installing Windows XP on the Asus EeePC, before we get started there are a few things we need to go over.

Requirements:

USB_PREP8
PeToUSB
Bootsect.exe
Windows XP CD with SP2
If using Nlite to keep the manual installation files.
A computer with Windows XP/Vista - x86
Download - eeepc-ppack-winxp.zip

Note: The following steps need to be performed on any system that meet the requirements before attempting this guide.

Step 1:

Extract downloaded files, Inside of the USB_prep8 folder double click the file

usb_prep8.cmd

Then Press any key to continue

Step 2:

Click start.
When the format is complete leave all windows open and open another cmd window from Start > Run > cmd

Step 3:

In CMD go to the directory you have bootsect.exe is located, example - cd c:\Pre-packed\bootsect\

Type:

bootsect.exe /nt52 G:

G: is the disk letter for the USB flash drive.

The correct boot sector will now be written to the USB stick, Now your pc can boot from the USB flash drive.

“Bootcode was successfully updated on all targeted volumes.” Will display when this task is complete.

Step 4:

Close the cmd window for bootsect and petousb windows, make sure the usbprep8 window is still open.

Step 5:

Press 1 and then enter. Browse to the location XP setup files, CD/DVD Drive with disk for example.
Press 2 and enter a letter not currently assigned to a drive on your PC, this is used for temp files and will be removed once the entire process is complete, default this is T.
Press 3 and enter the drive letter of your USB flash drive
Press 4 to start the process

You will be prompted to format drive T, Press Y then enter.

When the format is complete press enter to continue, The program will now copy files to the temp drive it created. Press enter to continue when files have copied.

You will be asked to copy the files to USB drive yes/no, click yes.

When prompted if you would like to USB drive to be preferred boot drive, click yes.

Click yes to un mount the virtual drive (Temp drive eg T:).

Close the usbprep8 window.

Step 6:

Make sure the USB flash drive is the primary boot device, Put the usb flash drive into your EeePC and boot from it.

You will have two options, Select Text mode setup.

Format the HDD using NTFS

When complete you will be prompted to reboot, If the GUI setup does not start first time reboot the EeePC and press ESC to launch the boot menu, select the USB flash drive and

boot from it…when prompted with the original menu with two options select GUI setup.

Finished!

This works perfectly and is a great way to install Windows XP without a external CD/DVD Drive.

operating system OS USB Windows XP XP

Comments:

jimbob Writes:
27.1.2008 at 12:21 am
I’ve got an external CD drive, but if it fails, I’ll give this a shot. Cheers!
daljits Writes:
29.1.2008 at 12:54 pm
will this work if I use a 4 G SD card instead of a USB flash drive ?

Daljit
Leca Writes:
30.1.2008 at 1:30 am
There are a few was you can do this, but one of the method would still would require a USB boot disk to launch a command line environment to execute the Windows install process.

By copying the I386 folder from your Windows CD to the SD Card (Must be FAT32), then launching winnt.exe from within the I386 directory you will be able to install windows to your SSD.

Something like the ultimate boot cd running from a USB drive, or any DOS environment.

This may only complicate things as you already have the means to install using the USB only method in the first place.

or….

Make a bootable SD card

Download HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool from
http://h50178.www5.hp.com/support/470035-692/more_info_local_17019.html

Download a boot disk image from Google
- Install HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool
- Insert SD card to a card reader and connect it to the computer
- Open HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool
- Choose the SD card that you want to format in Device box
- Type FAT32 in File system box
- Type a name of the Volume Label
- Select Quick Format and Create a DOS startup disk in Format options
- Select using DOS system files located at and locate DOS startup file
- Click Start to begin the format
- Once format is complete you will now be able to use the SD card to boot the computer
- Copy I386 Directory from Windows CD onto SD Card
- Boot EeePC From SD Card and from the command prompt run winnt.exe from the I386 Directory
In many ways this method, much like the USB Install could be used to run a large range of tools.
Installare windows xp da penna usb - Pagina 2 - EeePC4g.com Forum italiano Asus Eee PC Writes:
25.2.2008 at 6:06 am
[...] scrivo dal mio eeepc con windows xp installato tramite USB! questa ? la guida che ho utilizzato: ScaleGamer Blog Archive Windows XP Install guide - USB flash drive ? la stessa guida postata da lucaxy, ma a mio avviso pi? semplice.. inoltre trovate il pacchetto [...]
Errore installazione xp: disco non trovato!!! Help - EeePC4g.com Forum italiano Asus Eee PC Writes:
25.2.2008 at 6:13 am
[...] scrivo dal mio eeepc con windows xp installato tramite USB! questa ? la guida che ho utilizzato: ScaleGamer Blog Archive Windows XP Install guide - USB flash drive ? la stessa guida postata da lucaxy, ma a mio avviso pi? semplice.. inoltre trovate il pacchetto [...]
ScaleGamer » Blog Archive » Asustek expects Windows XP-based Eee PCs to account for 60% of shipments in 2008 Writes:
15.3.2008 at 12:06 pm
[...] Windows XP Install guide - USB flash drive [...]
Installare Windows Xp su Asus EEE PC tramite penna USB - EeePC4g.com Forum italiano Asus EeePc Writes:
28.3.2008 at 11:22 pm
[...] tradotta in italiano, sperando che possa essere d’aiuto a qualcuno. L’originale la potete trovare QUI Iniziamo: Scaricate questo file: eeepc-ppack-winxp.zip e decomprimetelo in una cartella a vostro [...]
Instalar Windows XP en el Eee PC 900 | HNKweb Writes:
11.5.2008 at 7:59 am
[...] El primer paso es preparar la memoria USB con los archivos de la instalación de Windows. Es recomendable que la memoria sea de tipo flash, es decir, los típicos pen y no los discos duros externos. NOTA: esta guía es una traducción de la encontrada en scalegamer. [...]