Install Windows On or with a USB Drive

Update 03/31/2012: Before you try all of this, you may want to try using WinToFlash, a utility designed to create a bootable Windows flash drive for Windows XP/Vista/7/Server. If this works for you, you can skip the section on preparing a flash drive and jump straight to the installation instructions. Many of these steps will apply for different computers, some of the commands may differ a little bit.


 If you’re trying to install Windows 7 on a netbook, Microsoft is making things even easier. Just use the Windows 7 USB tool.


Installing Windows XP or any other operating system is easy if you have a USB optical disc drive. But if all you’ve got is a USB flash drive and another computer with a DVD burner, you can still install Windows XP (or many Linux distributions for that matter) on a disc drive-less ultraportable like the HP Mini-Note or the Asus Eee PC. After spending most of Saturday installing Windows XP on my HP Mini-Note I thought I’d share my results with you. Remember, your results may very, so while these are the steps that worked for me, they may not work for you. For example, depending on the version of Windows XP you are using, you may need a different hotfix to install the audio drivers.


If you have no boot menu on your laptop and installation Windows 7 (or any other Windows) DVD was scratched.
try this:
1) download windows 7 installation ISO;
2) unpack it on flash drive;
3) boot from any installation CD/DVD (just to get close
to command promt);
4) format C: ;
5) copy contents of flash drive to c:;
(xcopy f:*.* C:);
6) reboot.
The PC will boot from C: as it was some DVD and will actually install Windows on itself.

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How to install and run a FULL Windows XP from a USB drive12 Apr 2008 The ultimate guide for installing and running Windows XP from a USB stick / HDD drive Find tons of help with installation issues on our Windows XP on USB Forum What is this about? To keep the introduction short, Microsoft denies that booting Windows off a USB drive works. See this page for example. It says: Q: Can a USB storage device be the primary (and only) means of storage? No. USB-based mass storage devices cannot be the primary hard disk storage solution on a regular system ... Or this one from the microsoft newsgroups: Windows cannot boot from an USB drive. If your computer supports booting from such device, you can load a boot loader to the USB device which starts Windows XP from the HDD. Anyway, the web is full of those. I was wondering about the same thing, as i did not want to put a Windows partition on my Linux.based work laptop, and thought it was a good idea to run Windows XP off a USB Hard drive that i just plug in when i need it, and boot from it. To put a long story short, this is exactly what i do now, thanks to the fantastic research of the people credited below. However, it took me significant time to figure out all the painful little problems, and i was not fully happy with the current official guide by Dietmar (no pun, he was the first to make ANYthing public). I wanted an easy guide that allows creating a modified version of the Windows XP CD, for painless and transparent installation to as many systems as you want. This page is the result of my work. Have fun! Credits ...must go to the people that made this guide possible in the first place. In recent months, a few blokes going by the handles of mkiaer, Dietmar andsisal and a few others from the 911.net forums came up with many good pieces of research on how to enable any NT-based Windows to boot from a USB-drive. Little of this guide would exist without them - in fact the only reason why i write this up is that my particular solution seems to be lower effort than any of the steps i saw before. Many of the steps here are the result of their research. Version History: v1.0 - 3rd Mar 2006 rewritten, tested and working against two different drives with my laptop. v0.9 - 29th Feb 2006 initial version, untested What works? Basically, everything as far as i can see. After completing this tutorial, your Windows XP install should directly boot off your USB-drive, and be fully upgradable, DirectX games will run, all apps i tested work like normal, speed is the same as with a real HDD (you need USB2 though) - so it is in fact a fine solution as far as i can see. Host Hardware USB hardware Successful Dell Latitude D820 WD Pocket Drive 80gb Yes DFI Infinity Ultra 2 Dane Elec 4GB USB Stick Yes Asus M2A-VM HDMI Adata PD2 4GB Stick Yes HP Compaq 6510b WD 2908A Yes Compaq nc6400 WD2500BEV Yes Compaq nc6400 Trekstore i.Beat 2GB No Compaq nc6400 Hitachi DK23EA-30 No Compaq nc6220 TrackStore DataStation XU Yes HP Pavillion dv6700t InfoSafe USB with Toshiba SATA 250GB Yes Compaq nc6120 Lacie 80gb Yes Asus P5LD2-VM Vantec IDE to USB cable + Maxtor 60gb PATA Yes Thinkpad T42 WD HDD Passport 2 Yes Acer Aspire 5600 Ipod 20g Photo Yes Thinkpad T43 Generic 80gb USb2 case Yes HP Pavillion dv1000 Generic USB2 HDD Yes Thinkpad R61 Generic USB2 / Seagate 120 GB Yes Dell Latitude D620 PQI i221 USB stick Yes Fujitsu Lifebook E8410C Shintaro USB2 + 80GB Samsung Yes Dell Inspiron 6400 generic USB2 enclosure Yes Intel 945 GNT Kingston 4GB SDHC with USB adapter Yes HP nx6110 Sandisk Cruze 8gb Yes HP nx6110 OneTouch4 Mini No Dell Latitude D620 Seagate FreeAgent 500GB Yes Acer Aspire 5710G Adata 4GB stick Yes ...and LOTS more... Disclaimer This is a hobby project of mine. I will not assume ANY responsibility for the correctness of this guide, nor can I be made liable for any errors, hardware or software problems / loss that are caused by following this guide. Basically, if things screw up, its your own fault. Do not follow the guide if you fear data loss. Requirements An existing Windows install for carrying out the steps in this tutorial A USB2-compliant Hard disk drive (or a big USB2 stick, see remarks below) An original Windows XP CD (tested only against SP1 so far, but reported to work on other versions) A registered version of WinISO (or any other software that allows direct editing of ISO files) The Microsoft CAB SDK A CD-burning software that can handle ISO files. I like the free burnatonce How To: Summary: We will dump the contents of your original Windows XP CD , extract a few files from the Image using ISO modification software, edit the files, and put the modified versions back on the ISO. The resulting ISO image is burnt back onto a CD media, and can then directly be used to install Windows on your USB drive. I am also covering a few pitfalls that happened to me, in hope they will save you a bit of time. 1) Does your computer support booting from USB? Usually, if its an option in your BIOS boot sequence menu, the answer to this is yes. If its not there, look for BIOS updates. If you are not sure, proceed and see what happens ;-) 2) Sorting out the "Bootability" of your USB-Drive Connect your USB drive to your computer, directly, without a Hub. Then, shut down your computer, disconnect any other hard disk drives from it, and insert your original Windows XP CD into the drive. Start the installation, and proceed to the section where you are allowed to pick a hard drive. If it goes beyond the partition selection, your drive is already fine for booting Windows XP. If not (seems to be the cases with many of the Freecom USB HDDs for example), you will get an error like "Windows is unable to find your drive, partition, data etc bla". This is usually not a big problem. All you need to do is "properly" format the drive. Reboot into your normal Windows, and get this HP tool , and use it to format your HDD completely. I chose NTFS format, worked fine everytime i tried. After this, my drives are recognized as valid installation devices by the Windows XP installer. (In fact, i did not manage to create a USB primary partition with FAT32 that was recognized as being installable) 3) Dumping the original Windows CD into an ISO File Pretty easy one. Simply open WinISO, and select Actions -> Make ISO from CDROM, and save your CD image. 4) Extracting the files we need to work on After the CD dump is done, close and reopen WinISO. Then, open the ISO file you just created using File -> Open. Now, click the I386 folder, and select the following files (Ctrl key to multi-select) TXTSETUP.SIF DOSNET.INF USB.IN_ USBPORT.IN_ USBSTOR.IN_ Select Actions -> Extract and put the resulting files into some folder to work on them. 5) Unpacking IN_ files  For the Easy Way use a program called 7 zip (seven zip) to do it fast or try the other way: Use the Cab SDK (from the command line) for extracting the contents of the .IN_ files. Each of them contains exactly one .inf file. If you are unsure how to use the Cab SDK, here is an example command line: "cabarc x USBSTOR.IN_" . You should end up with three new files in the folder, called: usb.inf usbport.inf usbstor.inf You can now delete the .IN_ files. 6) Editing the files This is the main job. i ll also try to explain a bit whats happening. Use a simple Texteditor like Notepad. 6-A) TXTSETUP.SIF This file is loaded on the initial install step by the Windows XP CD installer. In this file, we will change the way Windows treats USB devices during system setup -- the default is to only treat them as input devices during installation -- we will change this to include mass storage driver support (which needs to be loaded into the installer much earlier in order to work). First, move the following entries from [InputDevicesSupport.Load] to the [BootBusExtenders.Load] section , as shown here [BootBusExtenders.Load] pci = pci.sys acpi = acpi.sys isapnp = isapnp.sys acpiec = acpiec.sys ohci1394 = ohci1394.sys usbehci = usbehci.sys usbohci = usbohci.sys usbuhci = usbuhci.sys usbhub = usbhub.sys usbstor = usbstor.sys [InputDevicesSupport.Load] usbehci = usbehci.sys usbohci = usbohci.sys usbuhci = usbuhci.sys usbhub = usbhub.sys usbccgp = usbccgp.sys hidusb = hidusb.sys serial = serial.sys serenum = serenum.sys usbstor = usbstor.sys ... now the same for [BootBusExtenders] and [InputDevicesSupport] [BootBusExtenders] pci = "PCI-Bustreiber",files.pci,pci acpi = "ACPI Plug & Play-Bustreiber",files.acpi,acpi isapnp = "ISA Plug & Play-Bustreiber",files.isapnp,isapnp acpiec = "Integrierter ACPI-Controllertreiber",files.none,acpiec ohci1394 = "IEEE-1394-Bus-OHCI-konformer Anschlusstreiber",files.ohci1394,ohci1394 usbehci = "Erweiterter Hostcontroller",files.usbehci,usbehci usbohci = "Open Hostcontroller",files.usbohci,usbohci usbuhci = "Universeller Hostcontroller",files.usbuhci,usbuhci usbhub = "Standard-USB-Hubtreiber",files.usbhub,usbhub usbstor = "USB-Speicherklassentreiber",files.usbstor,usbstor [InputDevicesSupport] usbehci = "Erweiterter Hostcontroller",files.usbehci,usbehci usbohci = "Open Hostcontroller",files.usbohci,usbohci usbuhci = "Universeller Hostcontroller",files.usbuhci,usbuhci usbhub = "Standard-USB-Hubtreiber",files.usbhub,usbhub hidusb = "HID-Parser",files.hidusb,hidusb serial = "Treiber f�r seriellen Anschluss",files.none,serial serenum = "Enumerator f�r seriellen Anschluss",files.none,serenum usbstor = "USB-Speicherklassentreiber",files.usbstor,usbstor usbccgp = "USB Generic Parent Driver",files.usbccgp,usbccgp Next, we also have to write several keys into the registry. Convieniently, the txtsetup.sif allows you to specify files that are parsed and instered into the registry at install time. Insert the following in the [HiveInfs.Fresh] section: [HiveInfs.Fresh] AddReg = hivedef.inf,AddReg AddReg = hivesys.inf,AddReg AddReg = hivesft.inf,AddReg AddReg = hivecls.inf,AddReg AddReg = hiveusd.inf,AddReg AddReg = dmreg.inf,DM.AddReg AddReg = usbboot.inf,usbservices and also in [SourceDisksFiles] [SourceDisksFiles] usbboot.inf = 1,,,,,,_x,3,,3 bootvid.dll = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2 kdcom.dll = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2 Finally, save and close TXTSETUP.SIF. We are done with it. 6-B) DOSNET.INF Now, open DOSNET.INF , and change the second [Files] section to look like this: [Files] d1,usbboot.inf d1,_default.pif d1,12520437.cpx d1,12520850.cpx .... 6-C) usb.inf Change the bolded lines in the [StandardHub.AddService] and [CommonClassParent.AddService] sections: [StandardHub.AddService] DisplayName = %StandardHub.SvcDesc% ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL ServiceBinary = %12%\usbhub.sys LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender [CommonClassParent.AddService] DisplayName = %GenericParent.SvcDesc% ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL ServiceBinary = %12%\usbccgp.sys LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender 6-D) usbport.inf Change the bolded lines in the [EHCI.AddService], [OHCI.AddService] , [UHCI.AddService] and [ROOTHUB.AddService] sections: [EHCI.AddService] DisplayName = %EHCIMP.SvcDesc% ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL ServiceBinary = %12%\usbehci.sys LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender [OHCI.AddService] DisplayName = %OHCIMP.SvcDesc% ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL ServiceBinary = %12%\usbohci.sys LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender [UHCI.AddService] DisplayName = %UHCIMP.SvcDesc% ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL ServiceBinary = %12%\usbuhci.sys LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender [ROOTHUB.AddService] DisplayName = %ROOTHUB.SvcDesc% ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL ServiceBinary = %12%\usbhub.sys LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender 6-E) usbstor.inf Change / Add the bolded lines in the [USBSTOR.AddService] section [USBSTOR.AddService] DisplayName = %USBSTOR.SvcDesc% ServiceType = 1 StartType = 0 Tag = 3 ErrorControl = 1 ServiceBinary = %12%\USBSTOR.SYS LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender 6-F) new file: USBBOOT.INF Create a new file called USBBOOT.INF in the same directory as your other changed files, and put the following content into it: [usbservices] HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB Mass Storage Driver" HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1 HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved" HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\USBSTOR.SYS" HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","Start",0x00010001,0 HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","Type",0x00010001,1 HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller Miniport Driver" HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1 HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved" HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbehci.sys" HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Start",0x00010001,0 HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Type",0x00010001,1 HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB2 Enabled Hub" HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1 HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved" HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbhub.sys" HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Start",0x00010001,0 HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Type",0x00010001,1 HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"Microsoft USB Universal Host Controller Miniport Driver" HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1 HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved" HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbuhci.sys" HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Start",0x00010001,0 HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Type",0x00010001,1 HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"Microsoft USB Open Host Controller Miniport Driver" HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1 HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved" HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbohci.sys" HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Start",0x00010001,0 HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Type",0x00010001,1 7) Repack the inf files into their original IN_ format If you have not already deleted your extracted .IN_ files, do so now. They need to be replaced. Open a DOS shell again, and navigate to the folder with your changed files. Then exceute the following commands: cabarc n USB.IN_ usb.inf cabarc n USBPORT.IN_ usbport.inf cabarc n USBSTOR.IN_ usbstor.inf The three IN_ files should now exist again. Congratulations. All out modifications are done. 8) Inject the changed files into the ISO Open your Windows CD image again with WinISO. Navigate to the I386 folder, and delete the following files from the ISO, saving the changes to the ISO afterwards: DOSNET.INF TXTSETUP.SIF USB.IN_ USBPORT.IN_ USBSTOR.IN_ Just to be sure all is updated in the ISO, cloase and repoen the ISO in WinISO. Now, again go to the I386 folder and select "Add Files". Now add your changed files, in detail: USBBOOT.INF DOSNET.INF TXTSETUP.SIF USB.IN_ USBPORT.IN_ USBSTOR.IN_ Save the ISO. You are done. 9) Burn the ISO back to CD Feel free to use any burning package you want. I used the free and simple Burnatonce 10) Install Windows XP from the CD Shut down your computer. Disconnect ANY internal and external hard drives (so Windows cannot find them during installation and mess up their Master Boot Records hehe). Some computers will have trouble to boot without an internal HDD attached, check in your BIOS and, if possible, remove the HDD from the boot sequence and set the USB Harddisk as the first boot device, and the CDROM as second. Also, now connect your USB Harddrive directly to the computer, without any Hubs in between. Windows should install just fine, with the exceptions noted below. Issues you will encounter during installation: During driver installation, the USB drivers will prompt you, as they are "not certified" - This is normal. Our changes invalidated the checksum, and therefore the driver is no longer signed. Just press "yes" a couple of times. Upon completion of the install, the system will complain once on the first bootup that the pagefile does not exist. You can ignore this for now, as Windows will work fine without it. People are looking at fixing this issue, but its not critical for now. Once everything is up and running , shut down and reconnect all your drives. This version of the guide has been tested successfully on the follwoing hardware configurations - please email me your infos if you have successfully completed the guide, so I can add your configuration as well: If you have troubles, please visit the forum dedicated to this tutorial. have a lot of fun! Emanuel Schleussinger http://www.ngine.de