USB external HDD - installing/booting winXP possible?

[thinkpadlover07]

Hello thinkpadders,

I'm trying to setup an external HDD w/ winXP on it, so I installed winXP this morning - no problems with the first stage of installation (where it loads the windows folders onto it) with external HDD as first bootup device and windows CD in the CD drive.

(I have USB BIOS support enabled in BIOS)

But, after I install winXP and the Setup restarts, on boot, the external HDD's winXP screen pops up - I see three bars run across before it blue screens. I have tried reinstalling windows on the HDD, but same thing happens.

I've tried searching on the forums for a related topic, but i didn''t find anything this specific. Has anyone sucessfully installed and booted XP from an external HDD?

Thanks,
-rob

Update: I've been luckless finding any hope booting XP off the external HDD. It seems that the USB BIOS Support setting in the BIOS is only intended for booting off a USB device, as long as you're not trying to boot windows. I've read posts by a few Microsoft MVPs saying that XP cannot be installed on an external hard drive. Bummer. If anyone can disagree, please do?

Edited by Moderator: Don't multi-post. Pick the proper forum, and post once. Duplicates will be moved and locked.

[vovan]

Have you made partition of hdd from WinXP installation? or you have made partition from other tools(include WinXP) before.

[storage_man]

ThinkPadlover07

You may want to look at Barts/PE http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/. This allows you to build a bootable CD that has a stripped windows environment. There are a large number of PE plugins that further broaden the scope of this environment. Check it out

Storage_man