HOW-TO: Install XP via ANY USB Key

No, upgrade discs will not work at all, you need a disc that will completely install windows xp from fresh, PM me about it.

 

i have just bought two of these for my sons and need to install xp on one machine
it is the 8gb model and i have created the bootable usb drive
is this ok to use on the 8gb machine
i have ordered a 16gb card to go with it as well

 

Yes, the installation of winxp is fairly small, you can also download versions called tinyXP which are cut down and stripped out to leave a smaller install footprint on your hard drive.

Should be plenty of space though with the expansion you have planned.

 

Hi guys, sorry if I am being a bit stupid - but using this technique is it possible to install xp from the USB key to an SD Card?

 

I have completed the usb stick part of the process. I have used a recovery disc version of XP Home (I believe that a 'clean' installation can be made from this disc).

All is going well on the Acer until I get the following message on the blue Windows Set Up window:

The file iaStor.sys could not be found.

Press any key.

Can anybody tell me what I might be doing wrong?

Thanks again.

 

SWEET!

Followed your directions to the letter and I am just waiting for the drivers now.
After screwing around half the day with the stupid U3 enabled key instructions I figured I would give the 'old skool' way a try and it worked perfectly.

THanks again!

Oh and BTW I used a 4gb generic non-u3 key and it worked fine, didn't detect it at first but I just unplugged it and plugged it back in and refreshed the little program and it came up and copied fine.

Whoops! Somehow I saved this as a draft and it didn't get posted last night.
I now have all the drivers installed, only had to install 4 of them I think, windows took care of the rest (xp-sp3) and I have disabled prefetch, paging, useless services, d2d, and system restore.
I am super happy!
I just got this thing 2 days ago and it came with a fresh install of XP (bought it used) but he had installed it using NTFS
booooo, it was stalling all over the place. It is SOOOOO much better now.
Thanks for the tutorial!

 

Glad it was useful to you!
The exact reason why i shared my experience, to help people such as yourself out

What is the importance of it not being formatted in the NTFS format? Is FAT better? And why? And is this only better for the SSD aspire one?

 

As far as I have read, yes, it is mainly a windows/ssd problem.
Formatted to NTFS firefox had stalling issues while opening web-pages and tabs. I'm sure other programs would have had the same problems while processing but I didn't wait that long to find out. I didn't want to get everything all set up only to find out the stalling issue was still there and have to do it all over again.
The pages would literally freeze while loading and writing to the ssd and you couldn't do anything until it was done.
More annoying than anything but I couldn't live with it.
After reinstalling and disabling some of the windows 'features' it now runs like a computer should.
Mind you, this is my first 'new' laptop in about 8 yrs so to me, this thing flies!
I have had a newer desktop all that time and really just used the laptop as a surf box because that was all it was good for, but at times it even strained doing that!!!!!

 

I get a bsod when I try, but I am using sp1, cant afford sp2 or 3, helP!?

 

It must be with SP2 or above you can use your existing xp cd and upgrade this to sp3. This is what i had to do and it is working well. just a bit slow on the SSD drive but I haven't finished looking into that be yet.

To do this try this link

http://www.howtohaven.com/system/slipst ... ck-3.shtml

 

i did this yesterday using your guide james
thanks for the help
we now have two acer's running xp :mrgreen:
worst bit was installing the drivers afterwards
would be great if there was a quicker way of doing them all

 

Why do i seem to be having more of a headache with this than most other people...

Ok the flash drive is setup with the bootsect information etc... But i'm still stuck at pointing the usb prep program to my TinyXP. I made an iso of it and it is bootable as i have tried rebooting onto it.. But i think this usb_prep program is having issues with the fact that there is no Setup.exe for windows in the TinyXP iso and this is what it is asking to be pointed at.

It gives the following error message: "Error: The Path does not contain XP source files". which i suppose its right in say i have tried a normal XP disc in it and it works i'm pretty sure i could complete the guide using this version but i dont want a FULLxp version on my book hence wanting to install the stripped out "TinyXP Rev09 by experience version which i got from a well known torrent site.

I've heard Tinyxp mentioned all over the place on this forum and others so i'm sure lots of people are running it, So can someone tell me what to do next cus i'm all out of ideas.

 

I can't understand why it wouldnt work, i will have to check it out on my computer to be 100% sure.
/
I assume that you have the tinyxp in the cddrive or mounted iso right?

 

tried both ways mate pointed it to the drive got the error then mounted it as a virtual drive same. I think its looking for the original xp setup file when i installed my legit copy it worked first time. But some of the guys on here running TinyXP must know what i'm missing. Dunno if this is against the rules on here if it is i'm sorry but the version of tinyxp i'm using i got from piratebay its the rev09 version someone wanna enlighten me please?

 

i have this problem after the first step of installation

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<windows root>\system32\hal.dll
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

what i can do?
i can't continue by selecting gui installer...

 

re-make the usb stick and try again, make sure to completely wipe the usb stick.

if you ever forget to modify the windows boot.ini file and restart you get teh same error.

 

I tried this and got the system32 hal.dll error, but managed to figure that out (my husband was impressed ). The problem came when I entered my license key, from the bottom of the AA1, and kept getting error messages saying it's invalid.

It was suggested that it's because I used a builder version and not a retail version. Does this make sense? I have two CDs, one that says OEM software on the label and the other does not. I used the one without the OEM label.

Sorry if this is confusing; it is to me, too. Oddly, the only friends who claim to have a retail copy are out of town, and AA1 recovery disks are on backorder at Acer. Someone also said I could download it from a torrent, but I'm unsure whether that's legit, even though I have my own license.

So. Any ideas? Thanks much.

UPDATE: I just ended up installing Ubuntu from a USB stick and am now going to try again with a retail copy of XP.

 

I only got this error if I took more than 10 seconds at the first install screen. Try and select your option fast!

 

If there was a dictionary definition of newbie it would be ME

I apologise in advance for my ignorance...

After making the USB, does it have XP loaded onto it or would you have to download that and add it separately?

When finished do you have to dwnld ALL the drivers?

Thnx
Adilson

 

i have d: the internal hdd
and c: the usb drive with installer

if i format the d: hdd and it checks the drives

i became this error

Setup has determined that Drive C: is corrupted and cannot be repaired. To quit setup press F3

please help me i have tried 3 different windows xp sp3

i dont evan know how to get linux onto the acer aspire one a150

tell me whats the problem... i tried exactly like you said but nothing evan with usb hdd the samne error

i have firmware 3.114