WTH , Cannot install win XP on USB Flash Drive or external HDD ...

Hello I just starting freaking out !!
Why the hell i cant install xp on flash drive ??? even on external hdd i cant why?? its pisses me off !!! really!

 

I don't think you can install any windows OS on external (i.e. USB or firewire) HDD. It is possible if it is SATA.

The problem is that the loader in general cannot see the external device until the supporting layer is loaded(i.e. usb/firewire driver).

Even in the world of linux, the appropriate driver needs to be included inside the kernel or the initrd in order to do this.

There may be some tricks to do it but Windows is not designed with that in mind.

 

Methinks that the OP primarily needs to be pissed at his own knowledge level of the native driver capabilities and design points of a 10 year old OS.

All of which are well-documented via bing or google.

 

LOL @ newsposter.

Yes, search the web for the procedure. It can be done but requires modification to the setup. Google "XP on stick" or "run XP from flash drive." Or go to mydigitallife's website and forum for a couple of how-to articles.

It is a hassle. You might want to look into running Linux on a flash drive with persistence.

 

Microsoft OSs are so damned 'chatty' (constant writes back to the boot device) that they will likely burn out cheap USB sticks.

There are more than a few reasons why running an msft OS from usb flash isn't a good idea, none of which are flattering to design points made by msft.

But to be fair, there really wasn't all that much flash memory (say: none) around when XP and Vista hit the market.

One of the early attractions of Linux was that it could easily be configured to boot from a consumer-grade flash device (CF card, etc) and run from a ram disk with minimal writes back to the boot device. I've run plenty of NAS and proxy server boxes that way, it's pretty easy to do.

With an msft OS, not so much.

 

Keep in mind also that it'll install drivers and whatnot specific to the system used to "install" it onto the flash drive, and you'll get a BSOD on boot if you try to run it on another computer.

 

yes
I think i need nLITE to configure ..
One guy said I cannot install win vista or win 7 so i need to try win xp
but microsoft made it that it wont be possible ..

 

one thing you can try is VM.

boot with a linux live cd/usb then start say virtualbox which run a copy of XP. obviously, you cannot run games but is otherwise usable for all other tasks.

 

I arrived at this forum looking for a similar solution. There is a lot of confusion out there between creating a bootable USB drive with an installation virtual CD on it and an actual USB stick or drive with XP fully installed on it.
Having researched this subject for two days, I feel compelled to mention the following URL and the first tutorial at the end of it. I have not yet tried it, but will do so tomorrow.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4853554_install-xp-external-hard-drive.html