Installing XP from USB-stick the easy way


1) Buy a Sandisk Cruzer with U3 functionality

2) Download Universal_Customizer from here http://www.hak5.org/packages/files/Universal_Customizer.zip

3) Make a (Nlite slimmed) XP bootable ISO see www.Nliteos.com
Can be slimmed down to the bone. Manual install etc. can be removed.

4) Install Universal_Customize

5) Copy ISO in ../BIN directory where Universal_Customizer is installed

6) Rename the ISO to U3CUSTOM.ISO, it can be any size fitting your USB-stick

7) Run Universal_Customizer, follow instructions, be patient!

8) Boot from USB-CDROM and start installing XP

Works perfectly

Many thanks to the heros who programmed Universal_Customizer 1.0.0.8 and Nliteos!!

MGE

This post has been edited by mg.eggink: Aug 5 2008, 01:30 AM

Yep, the specific procedure is widely spread, but the actual wording of the snippet you posted undoubtedly come from the blog I mentioned, most probably it was "copied and pasted" on some other site/forum, removing the "brand" specific references, where you found it.

jaclaz

I managed installing windows 2003 server(with sp1) from USB (Sandisk Cruzer Micro 1GB) with the help from this post to my diskless Asus Eee Box b202 PC. For all you out there trying to figure it out (took me 3 days, and only the suggestions in this post worked!), I hereby paste the combined steps I did (the info is in this post, but is easier to have it all together).

Note: I used the ISO image from the MSDN website containing Windows 2003 Server Enterprise Edition with SP1. I had to choose the second USB Cruzer device provided in the Bios and set it to CD-ROM emulation, while the first instance I had to set to Auto emulation. I used the original U3 software first to clear the USB stick. Some lines in the Hacked Launchpad Updater are not similar to the provided steps, but in the end just type what is provided in the steps and you will be allright. Also lines containing: <productId value= might be double in the scripts. In this case just kill these lines and keep one; edit it accordingly the steps and it will work.

Asus does not provide drivers for windows 2003, but it is possible to enable the hardware by using the provided(or downloadable) drivers.
Sometimes you can just use the setup, but sometimes(e.g. display driver) you have to install it manually and browse to the inf file in the driverset.

Good luck...

Steps (many thanks to the people, which provided these steps earlier in this post):

*** For informational purposes only ***
*** Use at your own risk ***
*** I will not be responsible if you damage your drive ***
*** Backup Your Data ***

!!! The original instructions were found at http://usb.smithtech.us/projects/u3updater.php


1. Download the Memorex LaunchPad Updater v1.4.0.2
http://www.memorex.com/u3/upgrade_vista/

2. Download Universal Extractor
http://www.legroom.net/software/uniextract

3. Download Resource Hacker
http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/

4. Extract U3 Launchpad v1.4.0.2 Updater.exe to a folder with Universal Extractor

5. Open UpdaterCore.exe from the folder you extracted the LaunchPad Updater to
with Resource Hacker.

6. Expand "String Table". Expand "132". Click "1033". You should see

STRINGTABLE
LANGUAGE LANG_ENGLISH, SUBLANG_ENGLISH_US
{
2096, "Skip"
2097, "Skip All"
2098, "Retry"
2099, "Abort"
2100, "Wrong password"
2101, "%d attempt(s) before device is permanently locked"
2102, "Failed to set password. To try again, please remove your %2 and reinsert it."
2103, "%1 failed to format your %2"
2104, "Backing up your data..."
2105, "Updating the %2 firmware..."
2106, "Restoring your data ..."
2107, "Formatting your %2..."
2108, "Updating your version of the U3 Launchpad..."
2109, "1.0.5.17\n"
2110, "bin\\Launchpad.iso"
2111, "\\\\Launchpad.zip"
}

Change 2109, "1.0.5.17\n" to 2109, "_LP_VERSION_"
and 2110, "bin\\Launchpad.iso" to 2110, "bin\\U3CUSTOM.iso"
Click the Compile Script button

This just allowed you to update the drive over and over. This fools the updater in to thinking the firmware isnt updated

7. Expand "133", Click "1033", you should see
2123, "Memorex Inc."
2124, "Memorex Inc."
2125, "Memorex"

Change the values to:

2123, "*"
2124, "*"
2125, "*"
Click the Compile Script button

8. Expand "BIN", Expand "709", Click on "0", you should see

<vendorId value="2284"/>
<vendorName value="Memorex"/>
<productName value="Mini TravelDrive"/>
<productId value="22"/>

Change the values to:

vendorId value="*"/>
<vendorName value="*"/>
<productName value="*"/>
<productId value="*"/>

Click the Compile Script button

9. Click File and Save

10. Delete Updater.pdb

11. Delete the LaunchPad.iso file in the bin subdirectory and place to one of your own
Rename it to U3CUSTOM.iso

12. Run CoreUpdater.exe to install the U3CUSTOM.iso to your U3 Drive,
follow instructions, be patient!

13. Boot from USB-CDROM and start installing XP

you must configure your bios in order to select the CD-ROM Usb key found by the bios. This means that the key must be plugged in before entering bios. In my case, my computer shows the key as two differents element : USB HDD and USB CDROM. You must select USB-CDROM for booting on ISO image.
What may be confusing is :
- sometimes it just says USB Micro Cruzer .... (no info about HDD or CDROM)
- sometimes you will see twice the same label (so peek one and if it does not work try the other one)

This post has been edited by jjan: Nov 3 2008, 08:54 AM

It worked perfectly for me! BUT, how do I format back my SanDisk cruzer now?? It still starts the XP installation and I would liek my USB storage back;)!

Hi,

http://www.u3.com/support/default.aspx

par 7 and 3 may work..

or : http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/24/r...sh-smart-drive/

I saw that the Memorex-site changed, I can not find the Memorex LaunchPad Updater v1.4.0.2 .

MGE

This post has been edited by mg.eggink: Nov 11 2008, 11:58 AM

Courtesy of The WayBack Machine:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.me...2%20Updater.zip
http://web.archive.org/web/20071011003648/...0.2+Updater.zip

00 byte missing at the end:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=2681&st=24


jaclaz

Thanx,

this is 1.4.0.2 also:

http://www.verbatim.com/downloads/U3/u3upd...verbatim_us.exe

I believe almost all mentioned here:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/24/r...sh-smart-drive/

are 1.4.0.2 although they are named 1.0.5.5

MGE

This post has been edited by mg.eggink: Nov 11 2008, 12:57 PM

I followed the instructions to the letter, changed my bios to boot using USB, CD/USB, Hard drive and it only reboots from the hard drive.

Is there a limit on how big the USB stick should be? I have a SanDisk Cruzer 16GB U3 Smart.

Look here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=125138

I suppose this also is applicable for Sandisk-sticks.

"I managed to write a 1.5 Gb-ISO to the USB-stick 163/165-type. A Vlited Vista-image with additional
programs added with Magic Iso Maker.

4GB is the maximum possible because it is in CDFS-format"

So the ISO should not exceed 4Gb.

MGE

This post has been edited by mg.eggink: Nov 14 2008, 05:02 AM

I tried this with my new Sandisk Cruzer Contour 16 GB.
Everything works fine except that the "HDD" part is only 4 MB after putting my iso file on the stick.
I tried to boot from the stick and it worked. But i can use only 4 megabytes of the ~13 gigabytes left.
You can use Launchpad Removal.exe to restore the full capacity but then the virtual cdrom is gone.

Any ideas?

I also tried to use LPInstaller from the Sandisk homepage. I managed to get small iso files on the stick (~5mb) but if i try a bigger file i just get an error message that the U3 launchpad setup failed.

Thank you very much, this solution really rocks !

But when you have 2 HD partitions :
- C: hdd partition for system
- D: hdd partition for data

For the installing process, the USB drive is recognised as D:
- C: hdd partition for system
- D: USB drive
- E: hdd partition for data (this partition is "shifted")

How can we make USB drive as U: for example in order to avoid it to take an hdd letter please?

You add a migrate.inf to the source.

Search for posts by me or cdob here or on 911CD with keyword "migrate.inf".

Please note that the "usual" migrate.inf is for assigning a letter to a partition, you will need to adapt the idea for the CD-ROM-like device (that is a "Removable" device, and thus it is identified in a different way).

jaclaz

Hi Killerholic,

I finally have a 16Gb Sandisk and managed to install a 200 MB ISO ( XP-lite)
All works fine, 14.7 GB "harddisk" left.

Only difference is that I used a Sandisk Cruzer MICRO

MGE

isn't a NTFS usb stick a lot faster? Why would you prefer this method above multiboot method?

• being sure that the read-only CD-like device (and the source files in it) cannot be tampered with?
• not needing any modification to a working CD/DVD?

jaclaz

That's exactly what I suspected thanks. Then this method might be great for me but I wanna go for speed so I'm going to test further with the multiboot method.

This post has been edited by ZileXa: Jan 29 2009, 05:50 AM

Hi all,

I would ask if the problem have been resolved ?

I have the same problem !
I tested with several ISO : Win XP or Hiren's boot CD !!

The process with universal_customizer works perfectly and i see my iso mount like a CR-ROM
I have set up my bios.

But i can't boot !! I have this error : MISSING OPERATING SYSTEM !!

Am wondering if the gentleman with the 16gb sandisk managed to create a bootable OS in the flash drive while keeping the rest of the space available for storage?

so far the only option i have found requires changing a removable bit in order to fool the system to think the USB drive is a hard disk.

will this method work for sandisk contour 16gb?


will be nice to know if anyone has pulled this off.

I finally got this method (post #1) to work with an untouched version of XP on a Asus Eee PC on the SanDisk Cruzer 16GB U3 Smart I mentioned earlier.

It makes me wonder if the other computers are not able to boot from the USB CD, even though it is set to in the bios.


witcher - I was able to use the rest of the stick as storage.

Since the stick had files in there, I ended up making a new folder, gave it a name and then stored all the other files in there so I wouldn't delete anything important when not paying attention.

I will be doing more tests when I have time and I will post my findings.

Many thanks mg.eggink

Is there a way to assign a drive letter to it when booting?

My hard drive has 2 partitions - C: & D: - for a dual Windows XP boot (different languages) and when I boot up, the Sandisk automatically takes D: forcing me to install on a different drive letter.

You need a migrate.inf file.

Search for "mkmigrateinf.cmd", "mkmigrateinf2.cmd" "mkmigrateinf_b.cmd"

jaclaz