How to boot from a usb thumbdrive ?

[plainman007]

Hi,

Can i boot from a USB thumbdrive ? I have a .iso image of the xp installation disk. Basically i would like to use this iso but from a thumbdrive or something instead of from having to burn it to a cd ? Is this possible.

Just to clear the air. The reason i want to do this is that ive made a xp install disk (from my orginal XP disk) but ommiting elements like movie maker, networking, etc. Basically dropping out features i dont need to use. So this is a slim custom version of XP. Ive also made it into a .iso and have burnt to cd and it boots the slim version on fine. The main thing is i want to try different versions with different elements dropped out 1 at a time. So for each time id have to burn a cd just for testing purposes which would easily run into several times.

So id like to know a method where using this .iso, instead of burning a cd, if i can make a thumb drive into a bootable device instead.

Thanks a lot....

[rjs735]

Depends on the bios. If the bios support booting from a usb device. If it does select boot from usb device and reboot.

[plainman007]

Hi,

If the BIOS does show Boot from USB devices, I assume i should enable it and then ? What should i put on the usb drive ? The .iso or the actual files if the .iso were burned to a CD ?

Thanks

[rjs735]

Do a google search there are several good writeups about how to make a thumb drive bootable.

As far as the ISO you will have to burn the ISO as it were to the thumb drive . You might be able to do this with ISObuster a freeware prog. Again google for it .

Once you have done this then you should be good to go.

[plainman007]

I tried reading as much as i could so far on google. If its something that needs days of diligent study i think ill skip this. I found how to make the drive bootable. There seems to be a HPackard Utility that formats the USB into a bootable drive. Its fairly easy in ints interface it just ask format, format type, (as in your normal format dialog) and format into bootable drive using DOS system files located at ....x location. I only have a bootable CD and i want the same on a bootable thumb drive. I put the cd into the drive and tried picking it as the dos startup but it says no dos files found.

The reason im trying to do this (for clarity sake)....
This cd is basically a stripped down 'light' version of XP Home. I made it using the Nlite freeware. Ive also successfully made the light cd. Its prefectly booting when i restart the system with it inside the opt drive. But i need to try many options, which means burning 20 to 30 cds just to see what each option does. Painstaking !. So id like to burn the iso to a thumb drive. I thought i can just copy the files onto the ThumbDrive as they are on the cd and use the bios to choose boot from usb first. Is this supposed to work ? Or how do i do this. If this doesnt work will a rewriteable cd work as a bootable cd ? I dont mind getting one just to get out of this mess.

[rjs735]

When you burned the iso to the cd you should have made the cd bootable. Most burning software either Nero or Roxio or most of the freeware burners have this capability. I use CDburnerXP ( freeware) there is deepburner and some others.

If you don't set the cd bootable then it won't write the boot info to the cd. This is image equivalent of the old floppy boot files.

As far as the thumb youve already found how to make it bootable. HP is one way there are others. Copying the ISO cd files after they have been convereted back to data readable format from the iso format after burning should provide you a bootable thumb drive.

As far as testing all of your options it takes a s many tries as options you can think up.

The idea is to set up a procedure to fit as many scenarios as possible. Planning could save you a great deal of time.

[plainman007]

Hi,

With reference to your first para. I have no problems and have done that already successfully. I have created bootable cds. I know how to set it up from within Nero.

With reference to making my thumb drive bootable, im stuck, as it asks for bootable dos files before it even formats. I dont know how to do this ?? I dont know if there are some general dos boot files to be copied or its asking for the dos boot files pertaining to my windows xp cd. How do i get dos boot files from within the bootable cd have made and transfer them into the thumb drive is where im stuck now..

Thanks

[rjs735]

How to Create a Bootable USB Flash Drive or USB Key with Vista WinPE 2.0 » My Digital Life

Here is a step by step process to accomplish your task.

Hope this helps.

[plainman007]

Thank you for the link. I will go thru it and keep you posted on what i find.

Thanks Again....

[plainman007]

Hi, I read the article. But it seems more like creating a bootable thumb drive using a peculiar mini version of windows. So the tool is intended to create a bootable TDrive as long as its with its paired up with that verison of windows only. Its all a clustered set for use within their own types. Not an open application that can make any verison of bootable cd into a thumb drive version. What im looking for is ....if i have an actual bootable cd (might be even norton ghost recovery cd)..and if i have the iso image of this cd too. And i have a normal thumbdrive. How can i make the thumbdrive a bootable version of that cd.

Thanks...

[rjs735]

Try this Installing XP to USB Thumb drive on d945gclf2 - MP3Car.com

WinUSB - das kostenlose Windows auf dem USBstick also
http://www.ngine.de/index.jsp?pageid=4176
http://www.techsupportforum.com/micr...umb-drive.html

Langa Letter: XP On Your Thumb Drive -- USB Drives -- InformationWeek

Roderick van Domburg’s Cache » Installing Windows XP from USB

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/files/pe2usb101.zip

You might find this of some interest
Build the Ultimate USB Thumb Drive Toolbox | Maximum PC

If none of these which I found by google solves your issue then your on your own.