I want to install XP onto a USB hard drive

[Guest]

I am looking to install Windows XP, along with other OS's, onto external hard
drives. I have read that it can be done, but need the drivers for my device.
However, the manufacturer will not provide them. Is there somewhere I can
get a universal USB Mass Storage Device driver for my SimpleDrive USB drive
enclosure? I have the txtsetup.oem file ready, it is just that the drivers I
have found will not allow me to install to the drive. Any help would be
excellent.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Windows XP can only be installed on an internal drive.
External drives are designed for file storage only.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

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:

| I am looking to install Windows XP, along with other OS's, onto external hard
| drives. I have read that it can be done, but need the drivers for my device.
| However, the manufacturer will not provide them. Is there somewhere I can
| get a universal USB Mass Storage Device driver for my SimpleDrive USB drive
| enclosure? I have the txtsetup.oem file ready, it is just that the drivers I
| have found will not allow me to install to the drive. Any help would be
| excellent.

 

[Art]

I am looking to install Windows XP, along with other OS's, onto external
hard
drives. I have read that it can be done, but need the drivers for my
device.
However, the manufacturer will not provide them. Is there somewhere I can
get a universal USB Mass Storage Device driver for my SimpleDrive USB
drive
enclosure? I have the txtsetup.oem file ready, it is just that the
drivers I
have found will not allow me to install to the drive. Any help would be
excellent.

BowlerMonk:
To the best of my knowledge you cannot install the Windows XP operating
system directly onto a USB external hard drive. It is not a matter of
"drivers". XP will simply not recognize an external USB device for the
purpose of directly installing the OS onto that device. Using a disk imaging
program such as Ghost or Acronis, you can clone the contents of an XP OS
from a hard drive to a USB EHD, however, the EHD will not be bootable. Yes,
you will hear and read comments that if your motherboard's BIOS supports USB
boot capability you can boot to a USB EHD containing the XP OS. I've worked
with a large variety of motherboards presumably having this capability,
however, I've never been able to do so. And I've never come across a single
definitive and documented instance where a USB EXH containing the XP OS is
bootable.
Art

 

[Yves Leclerc]

As for the universal drivers, the mass storage drivers should be in Xp.

However, it is impossible to set up XP onto an external drives. The drivers
do not load during XP boot but at the end.

 

[Richard Urban]

Go back to where you read "it can be done" and find out how to do it.

Hint: IT CAN'T BE DONE!

--

Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

 

[Guest]

Unless the message hasn't sunk in: One simply cannot load or boot off an
external USB device alone.

Try dooing a Google if you want to properly understand 'Why not': other just
accept the facts and forget about the reasons.

 

[Richard Urban]

I believe that's what I told him! (-:

--

Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

 

[The Hat]

I believe that's what I told him! (-:

--

Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

How about XPE it runs off a CD (bootable) (see Barts boot disks) loads
USB drivers and LAN, so you can boot xp but is a cut down version you
can add any programs needed as long as they run in allocated memory
space,(which can be a RAM disk)not sure if it can be a USB device,
(I'm working that angle at the moment) NOT any integrated windows
products IE, Explorer etc same as recovery mode.