How to: Install XP from U3 USB key, easy!

Hello All,

I am hoping someone can help me here. I've followed the instructions but when I try to launch the universal customizer I either get the message that it can only customise one device at a time or that a device cannot be found. I'm using an 8GB Sandisk Cruzer on Vista. Any help much appreciated.

Cheers
B

 

what did you remove when you nlited? i just tried an nlited copy of xp sp3 and it still didnt work. im starting to think its going to be impossible to load xp on this thing

 

Didn't remove too much stuff. I actually add more stuff. Slipstreaming SP3, driverpacks, lots of apps like nero, photoshop, office, etc.

 

I've used this method before with TinyVista Rev 02 and it worked great. Now I'm trying to do a clean XP install using the Unofficial XP Recovery CD. It installs fine to the U3. When I reboot nd choose the cd, i get the "push any key to boot from cd" but nothing happens after I press the key. If I insert the U3 while in XP, it pops up the install xp window like it should. Any idea why it won't boot?

 

I get exactly the same. Has to be a driver issue, but where can SATA drivers for the AA1 be found?

 

anyone figure out the blue sceen yet???

 

Yes - for my problem, anyway.

I wasn't going to bother, as I have a long day at work today plus an early flight tomorrow, but I wanted it done so thought I'd give it one last shot. Installation from USB stick and external DVD drive had failed, same BSOD both times (setup loads files, but crashes before allowing selection of partition for install). I wasn't convinced that it was as simple as a hardware conflict because the USB ports are on the board, and I fail to see how that could interfere with the HDD.

Anyway, from reading stuff here and elsewhere, I gathered that my version of Windows XP might be too old. It is probably pre-SP1, and does not support the more advanced hardware of the AA1. Previously I had it on an old P3 Dell laptop.

So, not wanting to even think about buying XP again, I downloaded nlite os from http://www.nliteos.com. The latest version was good enough for me, and then follow the 3-part guide. I have to say though that the software's UI is pretty self-explanatory, so you should be able to work through ok.

You'll need your XP CD, and then you'll need to go and download a Windows service pack. I downloaded SP2, and you'll want the 'network installer' which is about 300Mb, and comes as an .exe package - don't run it. In nlite, after loading the OS, you have the option to 'streamline' in a service pack. Here, you'll select the .exe of the SP2 installer, and it'll do the rest.

Finally you have the option to burn an ISO or CD - I did neither. Instead I made sure I knew where the new version of the XP installer had been created (you're prompted to specify a location) and closed nlite. IMPORTANT: move the new version of the XP installer, created by nlite, to a folder whose path has no spaces in it, e.g. C:\temp\newxp\ or something.

Next I followed an online guide which shows you how to run the installation from a USB stick. I formatted my 4Gb USB stick NTFS. The guide is here, and is very good...



Follow the instructions, and rather than use a Win XP CD, point the utility at your nlite installer. You'll notice that the presenter on the video does the same, selecting the nlite folder that contains the I386 folder, etc.

From here I went on to complete the USB stick, ensuring it was bootable. Thankfully when I restarted the AA1 (ensuring I set it to boot from the USB in the BIOS) the installer started ok. I created a partition and got XP on there. A few files were missing during the install, but it still worked ok.

PROBLEM: For the time being, my AA1 will only boot with the USB stick in. If I try and start it without it, the OS won't boot from the HDD. I'm yet to solve it (ideas anyone?) but will update this thread when I have.

This may not be the solution to your BSOD, but then again it's worth a try. Feel free to post if you have any trouble carrying this out.

 

I also get the 0x0000007b BSOD when I try to install. I did an install with the same iso using another method, but since I ended up getting windows to D:, I wanted to try the U3 method and got a Cruzer Micro, but I get BSOD even though I'm sure I'm doing it the right way.

Anyone knows what might be wrong? (all other USBslots are empty...)

 

In order to banish the dreaded 0x0000007b BSOD when attempting to install Windows XP by the U3 method the solution is trivial: there must be an additional USB storage device plugged into one of the remaining USB ports.

The USB storage device can either be a non U3 USB stick or a USB hard-drive.

It is important that if a USB stick is used, as the additional storage device, that it is not a U3 one. The Windows installation routine when switching from real mode to protected mode attempts to enumerate the USB bus: if a USB mass storage device is not found the installation routine fails. The Windows installation routine will not initially recognise the data section of a U3 stick: the CDFS on the U3 stick has precedence.

The Windows driver for the Acer's SSD will not be loaded until a USB mass storage device has been recognised by XP's installation procedure: once the SSD's driver has been loaded the install routine will continue.

Do not install Windows to the additional USB storage -it is possible (requires a different routine), I've done it! For the curious:

http://www.ngine.de/article/id/8

Oh, here are my system specs: A110; BIOS 3309; 8GB SSD (P-SSD1800); 1.5GB RAM; Windows XP Pro SP3 (Nlited).

PS. The USB ports should only be populated by storage devices: remove the mouse!

 

This was not a solution for me...the installer still crashed, a couple of seconds after the installer has loaded all the drivers. The Cruzer and the other USB stick (Corsair Voyager 8GB) flashes, the go dark, then BSOD with the cruzer flashing.

I've tried with two different non-U3 sticks, same result.

 

You're quite right. I happen to have two 1GB Corsair Flash Voyagers laying around; one of them formatted FAT32 and the other Linux EXT2: both 'bluescreen' while attempting to install Windows XP by the U3 method.

My successful install of Windows XP was accomplished by using a 8GB Sandisk U3 Cruzer Micro as the virtual CD-ROM, and a FAT32 formatted 4GB Cruzer Micro as the secondary stick.

A successful install of Windows XP was also achieved by using a generic (Chipsbank CBM2080 based) 512MB FAT32 formatted pendrive. The significance of this install is that initally the Chipsbank CBM2080 based flash drive consisted of a CDFS system and a conventional file system. By using the respective mass production tool I was able to remove the CDFS partition. Check out the link below

http://www.mydigit.cn/mytool/chipgenius.rar

If possible, use a conventional FAT32 formatted Cruzer Micro as the secondary stick. It's is vitally important that the secondary stick is compatible, and that it does NOT contain a CDFS file system. I know that it's possible to place a CDFS system on current Corsair Voyagers by using DMI Tool:

http://www.flashboot.ru/index.php?name=iflash (Use Google's translator if you're not a Russian speaker)

I also know that it is possible to place a CDFS system on some CONVENTIONAL Cruzer Micro - the ones with the orange flashing end.

 

Thank you very much for trying to help me out, I don't have the time to try this out right now, but I'll get back as soon as I've given it a shot!

 

No, I can't get this to work...I formatted one of my old sticks with a clean FAT32 and still get the BSOD.
I don't really understand the meaning of a 'compatible' USB stick, and how I find out whether a stick is compatible or no

Also I'm having a hard time understanding why not all A110's have this problem, since there is only one version of it around or?

 

Some A110s have an Intel SSD and others a Samsung one; I don't know if that is relevant though.

I would class a compatible USB stick as being a "SanDisk Cruzer Micro USB Flash Drive". For the secondary stick I used this:

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/1112155/S ... oduct.html

I've tried other standard brands - Corsair, PNY - but was only successful with SanDisk (and an IDE drive in a USB2 enclosure.)

 

I've got this to work using a EasyDisk 2g as the secondary USB device. A unbranded 512mb didn't work.

Hope that can help someone

 

It's good to have confirmation that the dual stick method works. Given time (hopefully) a list of secondary compatible USB devices will be compiled - to make the selection procedure less "hit or miss".

 

I'm having a problem. I have a U3 device with 4GB. I'm also using Ubuntu. But so far, no problem, since i'm using Wine to launch the Universal Customizer app.

The problem is when UC tells me that it can't find a U3 device. What to do?

 

I was using a U3 enabled Cruzer micro 8gb stick and I couldn't get this stupid thing to work after trying 5-6 times the customizer would always crash and say it couldn't communicate with the U3 device at about 51-52%.
I tired it on 3 different computers and all had the same effect.

I ended up using a generic 4gb stick and doing it the PEtoUSB method that lankyjames posted, worked perfectly.

 

Roll your own "Universal Customizer":

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?sho ... 273&st=40&

I too have used a "U3 enabled Cruzer micro 8gb stick" and have had no problem writing images under Windows XP or Vista to the U3 partition.

 

Now solved this by changing the windows path in the c:\boot.ini file to C:\WINDOWS, just in case anybody had the same issue.