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

To format an 8gb Cruzer to full capacity thus removing the U3/CDFS partition use Launchpad Remover use:

http://www.sandisk.com/Assets/u3/launchpadremoval.exe

The U3/CDFS file partition may be restored via using the Universal Customizer, it's best to build your own:

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

A better alternative to using the "Universal Customizer", to write an ISO image to a Sandisk Cruzer U3 compatible USB device, particularly for devices over 4gb, is to use Sandisk's LPInstaller - as described previously :

viewtopic.php?p=66424&sid=5266ef43ceb44a756357299abd3dbe42#p66424

A cheap and quality compatible secondary USB device may be obtained from here:

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product ... 8a1d667605

 

launchpadremoval doesnt seem to work - during the formatting process the program hangs or it says in encountered a critical error and closes.the same happens with lpinstaller.....

any ideas? the drive is still useable and doesnt seem to show any changes - i do have a 'cd drive' showing in my computer now for somereason.....

update: i thot i would give HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool a try after the failed attempts and funnily enough the drive formatted to 7.49gb with 7.42gb available .....seems its used .07gb for the format, so wheres the remaining .51gb....

also i tried using lpinstaller and launchpadremoval again but now neither recognise a u3 drive. launchpadremoval also states that it only allows one u3 drive removal - what does that mean, does it only allow the app to be used once or something??

update 2: ok i think the reason why the sandisk tools arent working anymore is because for some reason a virtual cd drive has been asscociated to the usb drive - no idea how to unassociate that...yet

what a mess!

 

Hi

I am trying to install XP from an Iso and it gives a blue screen before any type of format is done ..

I am using the Universal application and have no other usb things in my Acer ..

??

 

Trying to install Vista, I used an 8GB Cruzer but was unable to get any of the options in this thread to work. Here is what I ended up doing:

1. Removed the Launchpad and the read-only portion of the key. You can do this in the Launchpad settings.
2. With the now storage-only key, I copied over all the files from my Vista Ultimate SP1 install DVD. Not that bad, only a little over 3GB. An alternative if you have an ISO is to just unpack it onto the drive.
3. Run cmd:

Code:

>*:
>cd boot
>bootsect /nt60 *:

Where '*' is the drive letter of the key. I used '/nt60' because it was for Vista and '/help' led me in that direction. I assume XP would use '/nt52', if it was required at all.

Doing that I was able to boot from the USB and install Vista with no BSoDs or other errors. Just another option for anyone having some troubles.

 

thats the best and most simple method there is - no messing about - just some simple commands, copy and paste over files thats it done!

quick favour - those who have 8gb Cruzer micros, how much freespace do you have after a format....im showing 7.49gb - sound ok?

 

That's normal.

On the packaging for any storage media, the manufacturer defines 1GB (for example) as 1,000,000,000 bytes. That is not accurate (1GB == 1,073,741,824 bytes (1024^3 bytes)), they do it for marketing purposes.

Multiply that 74MB by 8 and you have your difference (589934592 bytes, minus anything used for the filesystem (very minor)).

So yes, you got coned out of 590MB. We all do.

edit: 589934592 bytes is the exact difference, you can see that the OS isn't exact either. :twisted:

 

nice one! thanks

 

hi all,

me again, managed to get the instructions on post 1 to work with no errors so i now have a virtual cd with my xp iso. Now the only issue is that when i boot from the virtual cd i am returned to the windows vista/windows 7 start up boot menu - not the xp installation.

can someone advise plz...

 

Did you change the BIOS boot order (or hit F12 on the POST screen)?

 

Did you change the BIOS boot order (or hit F12 on the POST screen)?[/quote]

yep i changed the boot order so it boots from the usb cd rom, i.e the xp installer.

What i did do was get tidy things up a bit - i got rid of windows 7, as im not going to use regardless of how wonderfull the OS is, its pretty power hungry, and runs excessively HOT - so thats out. Vista on the other hand is pretty good, battery runs a bit longer, and runs cooler, obviously theres a reason why XP came as the optional OS for this netbook.

ok back on track - got rid of windows 7 and wiped its partition. Reinstalled vista (theres no repair function as im using tinyvista V02) - tried the xp setup by booting from USB and YES im into the setup. Now during the 'copying setup files' of the xp installer step i get the dreaded BSOD - i think this is at the end of the file copy step perhaps? - but yes i get the BSOD. So im getting there but not quite there yet!

so, reinstalling vista fixed the boot issue.

New problem, BSOD during setup. Who can solve this one for me as i see theres a few ppl who have encountered this....

P.S i get BSOD on both full version xp and nlite'd.

Thanks!

 

WAHEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Success!! Reading up on previous posts on BSOD funnily and oddly enough, i plugged in my Sony HD5 mp3 player via usb and the installer went ahead no problems! Strangeness! In the end im glad i got there in the end, and to top it off, universal customiser works great too! wooooooooooot.

a nice n cool-er aspire one! phew!

 

Ive tried this many times with many different setting on my 10in aspire one with the same results. It starts loading files for setup then blue screens errors. I either get unmountable boot device, or Hard drive errors??? HDD is set to IDE. Ive made multiple winlite boots. Any suggestions???
Here is one of the errors.

 

hi mate,

have you tried plugging in another usb device like an mp3 player then running setup - for me this cured the BSOD!...

 

i am using the sandisk 8gb micro cruzer with tinyxp. I was able to put tinyxp on the usb, but when i set it to boot from the usb cd rom, it stuck on the tiny xp rev 09 screen. i left it there for a good 15 minutes, and it won't go pass that. any suggestions?

 

is that the boot menu ? i.e. to choose the OS you want to boot into?

if thats the problem, then i had this problem many times - probably from having so many OS's installed and messing about.

what i did in the end was got rid of all but one OS - i.e. left vista, then reinstalled vista to correct any boot loader issues, such as the one your having, and then i was able to boot from usb (the same drive as you) with no problems - with an mp3 player plugged in during install.

hope you have success,

thanks

 

I would guess he's getting stuck on the splash screen with the big red circle with "tinyxp rev09" because thats what i'm geting at the moment. I'm trying to get into recovery console to repair the boot file. I haven't touched the cruzer since i installed xp but it won't get to the installation choices menu now for some reason. :twisted:

 

I tried all last night with no luck to load xp w/SP3. I am not getting a BSOD. It is just sitting there with the cursor blinking in the upper left corner. Boot up was changed to the sandisk cd.

I am using a sandisk 8g cruzer. The installer program worked good on it. I also saw the extended load time between 50 and 51%. I am assuming the cruzer is working as the windows installer program starts up when the stick is inserted in normal windows.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

I'm wondering, will using this method work with the Tiny XP Christmas 2008 Edition of Windows(it works great with my desktop)? I have a ZG5 for what it's worth. I'm only able to find a 1 gig U3 drive from Future Shop, apparently they're not too common here in London, Ontario. :|

Edit: I picked up an 8 gig SanDisk and here's what I did. I think I screwed up. :shock:

Extracted the contents of Universal Customizer and copied it over to my 8 gig SanDisk.

Copied the ISO, TinyXP.Christmas.2008.Edition.eXPerience.iso over and renamed it U3Cusom.ISO after renaming the original U3Cusom to U3Custom_Original.iso to the 8 gig drive.

Went through the prompts, set up my password to back up the contents of my 8 gig drive(which was empty prior to this). Then it created two drives, a virtual CD drive which can't be accessed, and another virtual hard drive which is only 2.8 gigs. The back up of the contents of the 8 gig drive went into a rar containing of course, the folders as well as the TinyXP iso.

I'm afraid to reboot now because I'm afraid I'll screw something up. :?

When the OP says to remove all USB devices, would this include an internal card reader? I'm assuming that's hooked up via an internal USB connection.

Sorry for the retarded questions, just I've never really had to do something like this. Normally I'm fairly competent when it comes to computer related stuff.

 

Another question from a retard!!!
I have installed Windows as per your instructions and everything OK upto and including selecting GUI installer but, after that PROBLEMS:

Re-booting I get the message
‘Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.
Could not read from the selected boot disk Check boot path and disk hardware’

My boot priority order is now

1. IDEO : P-SSD1800
2. USB HDD
3. USB CDROM
4. USB FDD
5. IDE1
6. NETWORK Boot LEGACY PCI DEVICE

I have tried each as the first priority, to no avail.

Not being able to get beyond the above message I cannot carry out your instructions re edit the boot.ini file, or even take a gander to see what drives are in place.

Help please

 

ignore my message above. I now have win instlled. Ian