Booting from USB Flash Disk SP1/SP2 what will work?

[Paul Cuthbert]

Hi

I want to boot my XPe image from a USB flash disk. I have read a number
of posts on this and other newsgroups and remain slightly confused over
what will work and what won't.

According to some posts here people have got XPe booting from various
suppliers of USB flash drive. Then I read a message from Sean Liming,
who seems to be a very respected user of XPe, that XPe can't boot from
a USB flash drive because the USB stack is loaded well after the OS has
flipped to protected mode and the kernel is loading from disk.

How can some here say they have it working and yet according to the
above it is not supported/possible?

Is it possible?

If it is possible what is the technique for making it work?

Is there support in SP2 for this that is not in SP1?

I know that M-Systems have the uDOC with a special driver to make it
work, but this appears to be a device that plugs into the pin type USB
header on your motherboard not the normal 'A' type connector on most
USB flash drives and on the back of motherboards?

All input would be appreaciated before I start work on getting this
running.

Paul Cuthbert
Viogem Limited

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

Hi Paul,

I'm not allowed to say much about USB boot. You can find some useful information's in this news group that will allow you to
overcome certain problems regarding the USB boot. With some luck you will be able to boot XPe from USB without additional drivers.

Then I read a message from Sean Liming,
who seems to be a very respected user of XPe, that XPe can't boot from
a USB flash drive because the USB stack is loaded well after the OS has
flipped to protected mode and the kernel is loading from disk.

This is only one of the problems that can be workarounded and you will find some answers here.

I know that M-Systems have the uDOC with a special driver to make it
work, but this appears to be a device that plugs into the pin type USB
header on your motherboard not the normal 'A' type connector on most
USB flash drives and on the back of motherboards?

There are adapters that allow you to plug it on external USB port, but this is basically for prototyping. Probably M-System would
offer uDOC in custom form for external USB connection if you request some larger amount, but you will have to talk to them about it.

If I may ask what is the embedded application that require you to need uDOC connected to outside port?

Regards,
Slobodan

 

[Paul Cuthbert]

Hi Paul,

I'm not allowed to say much about USB boot. You can find some useful
information's in this news group that will allow you to overcome
certain problems regarding the USB boot. With some luck you will be
able to boot XPe from USB without additional drivers.


This is only one of the problems that can be workarounded and you
will find some answers here.


There are adapters that allow you to plug it on external USB port,
but this is basically for prototyping. Probably M-System would offer
uDOC in custom form for external USB connection if you request some
larger amount, but you will have to talk to them about it.

If I may ask what is the embedded application that require you to
need uDOC connected to outside port?

Regards,
Slobodan

Hi Slobodan

Many thanks for the quick response.

I have done some searching on the NG and have a good idea of what the
situation is now.

Basically it looks like I need to do some testing on different flash
drives/motherboards to see what works.

Despite searching Google Groups I couldn't find the posts that
referenced your posts re: "usb reg fixes to push usbstor and other
drivers to load at boot phase" Could you point me in the right
direction?

I also found a comment saying that USB 1.1 devices won't work, do you
know if this is true?

Our application is a retail/pos advertising system, the idea is to use
USB disks to allow the systems to be used for different applications
simply by swapping the USB drive.

Unfortuantely our volumes won't allow us to get a custom unit made by
M-Systems, I've posted a message to them anyhow to check.

By the way is there a reason that you cannot say too much about this
subject?

Best regards

Paul

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

Hi Paul,

I also found a comment saying that USB 1.1 devices won't work, do you
know if this is true?

I have never tried this. Why would you like to go with painfully slow devices?

By the way is there a reason that you cannot say too much about this
subject?

NDA stuff :-(

Regards,
Slobodan

 

[Paul Cuthbert]

Hi Slobodan

Any info threads for your posts re: "usb reg fixes to push usbstor and
other drivers to load at boot phase". Still can't find anything.

Thanks

Paul

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

Hi Paul,

I have no idea what thread you are referring to :-(

Try:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group...blic.windowsxp.embedded&q=slobodan+usb&qt_g=1

Regards,
Slobodan

 

[KM]

Paul,

You are probably referring to this thread os similar:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.embedded/msg/a1e4b404865b4c15

Basically, the idea is to move usb* drivers to boot phase.

KM

 

[Paul Cuthbert]

Hi KM

That's the one. Many thanks to you and Slobodan for your help, I'm off
to test and see how I get on.

Paul