bootable memory stick?

[propman]

Howdy all.....

Looking for any information on prefered method for installing XP and/or
Vista *to* a USB (8 gig) memory stick. The stick is to be used for
troubleshooting purposes (ie booting up and scanning inoperative systems).

Any pointers, url's etc would be most appreciated....thanks!

 

[Richard Urban]

That is NOT installing Vista on a USB memory stick - at all! All you're
doing is placing the install files on a memory stick.

Note to OP. You can not install Vista on a memory stick, or any other USB
connected drive and have a bootable operating system.

Vista must be installed to an internal hard drive.

 

[Curious]

AFAIK if you have a HDD or equivalent that your MOBO bios will recognize at
boot time over a USB interface as a bootable device then you should be able
to install on it,
The problem is that very few MOBO BIOS have this support,

 

[Gordon]

AFAIK if you have a HDD or equivalent that your MOBO bios will recognize
at boot time over a USB interface as a bootable device then you should be
able to install on it,
The problem is that very few MOBO BIOS have this support,

Most modern BIOS's have the facility to boot from USB.
That's not the point - Windows will not install on an external USB anything.

 

[Richard Urban]

Windows will not install on a USB device. Many have said that they have done
so, but when you press them for evidence of such - they disappear!

 

[Peter Foldes]

You cannot boot from a USB device. Period

 

[Gordon]

Thank you Richard for the correction. I missed the "TO" part some how.

I agree. I do not believe that you can install a OS to an external USB
drive and have it is has a bootable OS on the computer.

Not quite correct. You cannot install WINDOWS on a USB device and boot
from it. There are other Operating Systems "freely" ;-) available with
which you CAN do such a thing.

 

[Thomas Wendell]

WRONG, Peter Foldes!

Most "new" mobos have that capability, although no Windows version will
install to or boot fromone, as they all reset the USB controllers during the
bootup process (kludges do exist, invoking adding files from WServ2k3
ResKit) . The nearest you can get is installing to an (e)SATA connected
external HD

For example, most Linux distros can be installed and booted from a USB
device, be it a memory stick, USB HD or a memory card in a card reader...

 

[Thomas Wendell]

Oops, this was the Vista groups.. I don't know about installing Vista on
USB devices, but with XP it can be done, using kludges

Here's an example: Windows In Your Pocket
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-pocket,1113.html

 

[Martin Stein]

For example check out damn small linux (DSL).

 

[Aldo]

I didn't follow this thread from the beginning, so hope I'm not out of place

You can boot Windows XP from USB. Check out
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-pocket,1113.html and
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-22_11-5928902.html for examples.

 

[Peter Foldes]

No problem Thomas