is it possible to install xp on usb stick?

unwashed potato! · 8 Jan 2008 at 23:08

just wondering as they are getting so huge now, mine is 8gb but seen 16gb, is it possible to install xp on a usb stick and then move it around from one pc to the other? only thing i can think of why not is because a computer might not be able to boot from a usb drive but not sure.

oldbag · 8 Jan 2008 at 23:11

I would have thought you could duplicate a live-cd on there and have the advantage of read-write to it also.

steve258 · 8 Jan 2008 at 23:13

Should be able to, would take a while though.

uv · 8 Jan 2008 at 23:17

it's entirely possible, but iirc, it needs to be winPE.

There's a fairly huge thread on it with tutorials and everything on the msfn.org forums.

FatRakoon · 9 Jan 2008 at 04:04

Yes, the main issue with this, is that every time it boots, it finds all new hardware etc, and will need to be activated every time it boots.

That is of course, providing it can boot in the first place? - Even if every Motherboard you took it to, was fully able to boot from a USB Flash Disk, each one has a different USB Controler justy like the IDE / SATA Controler and it might get so ffar, but then fail on that step too??

I have installed a few O/Ses onto my Flash drives for various reasons, and the most useless OS to chose, is in fact XP for the very reasons I mentioned... 2000 isnt as bad, but its still not really a sensible option. A Few linuxes work just fine however.