Install OS from SD Card?

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davidlg16 · #1 Post by **davidlg16** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 12:12 pm

I just received my X41, I do not have any external optical drives.

I"m not sure if I can install Windows over the network from my desktop.

For a quick fix, I was wondering if I can use the SD Card to fresh install Windows?

Thanks in advance for any insight
David

jones · #2 Post by **jones** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:04 pm

installing windows from the sdcard wont work as the sdcard is not bootable.
a usbstick would rather be possible but difficult as well as you need some kind of mbr and the install-os must support usbhdd... propably you can use the i386 directory from the cd, copy it to an usbstick and install out of a running dos... but there is always the usbhdd support

it will be easier if you buy an external cd drive...

gsuser · #3 Post by **gsuser** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:16 pm

I received mine a few days ago, the first thing i tried was copy on a usb key the whole xp cd, but it didn't boot !

jones · #4 Post by **jones** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:23 pm

did you copy the boot record as well?

davidlg16 · #5 Post by **davidlg16** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:29 pm

ok, I was gonna stay home during daylight. but it seems I have to stop playing around with it and go out to get a external burner.

Thanks for the fast reply.

syhead · #6 Post by **syhead** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 3:22 pm

how about using an external usb HDD?

davidlg16 · #7 Post by **davidlg16** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 10:46 pm

syhead wrote:how about using an external usb HDD?

I guess that'll work for ppl who already have their own copy of Windows CD.

As for me, I do have my own Windows XP CD, but I'd rather use the one that came with my X41. To do this, I need to burn a copy from the I386 folder.

Update: I got an external burner, burned a XP CD with SP2 and fresh installed Windows. Everything went great.

Surfrider · #8 Post by **Surfrider** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 4:45 pm

On flash drives:
I suspect the user who's flash drive did not boot had said problem becasue he didn't have an aproriate boot image on said flash drive (as was mentioned by a previous poster). That aside, not all flash drives are created equal. It is important to remember that not ALL flash drives are bootable, and some that are require configuration via their OEM's config utility before they can be used as bootable devices. Lastly, while flash drives are very convenient, flash memory DOES have a finite number of read/write cycles, and using these as OS installation media, or as a "portable OS" (ie, you have a working OS installed on your bootable flash drive) will eat up those cycles waaaaaay faster than you'd ever imagine.

Any geek worth his salt is well aquainted with Ars Technica, and they have an excellet flash drive article/review/roundup that, while a few months old now, will put you well on the path to being knowledgable about these handy little devices: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/flash2005.ars

As for me, I do have my own Windows XP CD, but I'd rather use the one that came with my X41. To do this, I need to burn a copy from the I386 folder.

Were I in your situation, I would burn myself a CD/DVD that looked something like this*:

Code: Select all

\i386     [base XP installation files]
\sp2      [Service Pack 2 installation files, if applicable]
\patches  [All other current patches/updates/hotfixes]
\x41_drv  [All neccessary drivers for my machine, ESPECIALLY network drivers]
\apps     [Any additional applications that I knew I needed, and could fit on
           the media (ie, CD or DVD) that I am using to create this volume]

I would also use the boot image from, say, an XP or ME setup floppy (like the ones that can be had at http://bootdisk.com0. I would NOT use a boot image from, say, a 98SE floppy, as NTFS partitions would not be readable.

This should be more than enough to get you started. And I must say that, while I do not mind contributing to the forum, the information you've requested (and what I've provided here) can easily be had with a research; Google is your friend! Finding this information on your own is much prefereable to simply asking for somebody to spoon-feed it to you; instead of following directions, you're much more likely to actually grok the subject, and be better equipped to handle future problems of a similar nature. Not to mention, you save the forums from being clogged with yet more posts asking the same old, tired, belabored questions. Seriously, the venerable "How to Ask Questions the Smart Way" document (http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html) should be required reading.

</rant>

Anyway, good luck. Let us know how you get along.

-Surfrider

*Actually, were I in your situation, I'd burn myself a slipstreamed CD/DVD that included all current OS updates, my machine's drivers, and any critical applications/utilities that I KNOW I'd be using. (If you have no idea what splistreaming is, I'd strongly recommend going here: http://unattended.msfn.org.) This would save a LOT of time and effort.[/url]

gsuser · #9 Post by **gsuser** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 5:23 am

Found that :
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operati ... 75584.html
but you need to subscribe to get the solution

Install OS from SD Card?

Install OS from SD Card?

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