acer aspire one: changing the operation system (OS) from linux lite to windows operation system?
hello i recently purchased an acer aspire one netbook that came with linux. Now i dont like it at all id prefer to have windows xp. and i know theres a version of this book with the same specs with windows xp. My question is how can i unistall the linux and put on windows tyvm please help me out

ps these are the netbooks that are from acer there is no disk drive.. so the only way of external installtion is through a flash usb drive

Or use a USB (external) CD drive!

You'll need to find all the XP drivers first then put them on a USB stick.

Then if you've got access to an external CD, just install as per normal. You can make do if you have an IDE external HDD then you can pull it apart and remove the HDD and plugin a CD-ROM drive (must also be IDE obviously - I assume the same applies to SATA drive/enclosure but I haven't checked).

If you don't have access to that, then you'll need a USB flash drive (or HDD should do it too). Have a google as there are numerous sets of instructions to install XP from flash drive online. There's probably already one here on msfn.org! Just have a search.

I had a similar issue with my ASUS EeePC when I first bought it, but I stuck with it and I've actually come to like Linux now. Its just different to Windows (ie what you're used to) and once you get your head around the different way of doing things, its not that bad. Although to be honest it was only through the active and supportive EeePC community that many of my questions got answered, which allowed me to persevere. And once I decided to give Linux a serious go I refused to give up. I'm not sure that the Acer Linux has the same support level and without it, it would be very hard for someone to stick with it.

Good luck with it!

okay so i have a version of windows called WINDOWS XP PE (performance edition) and also have the nec. drivers for xp. Now the iso is only 178MB's so is it possble for it to be put on a cd? and i can get an external cd drive and brun the disc and boot it via f2 boot menu external drive correct?

Sounds more like Pirate Edition to me (genuine Windows PE = Pre-install Environment, similar to BartPE, nothing like a normal install disk), but I'll ignore that for now...

An iso should burn to CD as long as it is below 700MB (or 650MB depending on the size of the CD). Your favourite burning app should have no problems with it.

As for booting from your USB CD using f2, without being familiar with Acer BIOS I would assume yes! If it doesn't work then you may need to play around in BIOS.

Good luck!

i used the bart pe thing and tried that method and it didnt work gave me a boot partition error or something

so what did i do? i did the same thng but formated the usb drive into a NTFS and guess what i was so happy that it didnt gve me that error.. this time it booted up in linux again when itried to examine the drive in linux it said cannot unmounted blah blah

lmao at the first line lmao. but anyway yea i need help idk whats wrong.

You'll need to use a USB CD/DVD drive and a genuine copy of Windows XP to install from. It should be as simple as putting the disc in the drive and then booting from it (should be an option in BIOS).

Otherwise, check out the Install XP from USB forum we have here on MSFN.



By the way - further discussion about downloaded ISOs or using illegal copies of Windows stops here. If this continues, the thread will be closed without further warning.

hey i got the cd-rw extenral usb drive. now im runnin into problems. i installed the drivers on my windows home computer and i had to obviously to use it.

I tried installin the drivers on my linux and it didnt work...

i downloaded wine and i still had problems..

and i put the cd disk in there and t shows its on and connected.. but linux doesnt seem to show it as being plugged in.. so i said any who.. i went to bios setting.. and change usb- cdrom to boot first in sequence.. and i saved and restarted... it didnt bot from there and still booted in linux mode... and then i went back to boot menu and put everything over booting from the ssd drive and it still didnt b oot from the cd-rw and ended up booting from the ssd drive.

i am able to use it with my windows xp home computer so i know it works.. but i need to get it set for my linux so i can install what i need.

id appreciate some help.

Can you disable all other boot sources from the BIOS and leave ONLY the USB-CD drive?

What model drive is it?

ITS AN HP 8200 SERIOUS EXTERNAL CD-RW DRIVE. and i dnt think so ts an a110 netbook btw

You said that you needed to install drivers before it worked? I am assuming that is with XP? If so that would concern me. When you say that it works on your Windows PC did you actually test to see if it will boot from it? Getting it to work in Linux (or within Windows even) is irrelevant as booting from it will happen before it loads any OS. It is reliant on your BIOS rather than any OS. If it won't boot from it on your Windows box can you please tell us the message that you get, or if it just ignores it etc?


Could you please try removing all other boot options (as suggested by Zxian) and see if that changes anything? Does it give any error message or simply ignore the drive? Does BIOS recognise the CD-RW drive? Perhaps also try any other USB boot BIOS options as well.

i dont believe it recongnizes it on the boot menu because it just says usb-cdrom: and blank it should say the make of the drive or w/e.

my bios version of the AOA-110 is v0.3190and it doesnt give me the option to disable any ones.

now on my desktop it is blank under usb-cdrom like on my netbook
and its in the excluded boot item list.. and theres no list to get it put into the main line up so i have no way of testing if it actually works from boot. But it does work once in the OS but it doesnt even work in Linux at all

wow everyone stop replyin i thought you guys were nice

I'm sorry mate, but it seems to me that for some reason it is not being recognised by your Acer. Any recent version of Linux should recognise it. Perhaps for some reason this drive is not compatible or there is something wrong with it.

Have you confirmed that you can boot from the Win XP CD you have? First just try it in a normal CD drive on another PC, then with the USB-CDROM.

Maybe you could try the USB stick route? If you have a USB stick (or HDD) try to see if you can get it to boot from that (you may need to format it first - have a read here: http://www.bootdisk.com/pendrive.htm

I can think of anything else that may be able to help you. Time for some on site tech support mabe? Perhaps you can take it to a local PC shop and see if they can help with it?

yup i think its the drive because it doesnt seem to be supported by linux just windows.. and the cd yea i tried it and installed it on my little bro and sis computer it works good except for so sm bus s***.. (what exactly is that) is it important cause i cant find the updated sm bus drivers for the controller

but anyway besides that bus stuff it works just fine no probs and runs real smooth.

so yea i think imma do the usb flash drive method

oh yea would a kingston data traveler usb flash drive (1gb) be okay for the method above?

I would guess so but you won't know until you try. Format the USB using one of the methods from the link I suggested (my personal suggestion would be method 2). Then make sure it boots ok before you bother going to the effort of making an XP instalation (if you can't get the USB to boot no point putting XP on it!) You could just use the USB after formatting and putting the boot sector on, but I prefer to put something like Memtest86+ on it so you can be 100% sure it all works well. Memtest86+ can be found here: http://www.memtest.org/ and there is a bootable USB image that you can download and put on your USB. Then reboot and run Memtest to make sure its all sweet, then put XP on it and install, Also don't forget to get all your drivers for XP (at least get your ethernet driver so you can connect to the net and get the rest!) Good luck!

so i listend to what u said i got the flash drive now.. and igot al the tools downloaded.. but in what order do i do the steps u gave me.. i even downloaded the memtest iso but do i need to use a blank cd and put it on it and do that??

i installed the two tools from method two.. and used all the recommend options and now i got some wierd files on my flash drive so now what do i do.



ao now what do i do.. like i said i got the mem test iso which is like 1.756 KB's and i got the working windows xp iso on a disk already... so im waitin on the next step.. i noticed the site u gave me didnt give me the alternative setup instructions for the different methods.

There is a specific version of Memtest for USB but it requires DOS and you already have Syslinux setup on your USB. The way your stick is setup you could download the bootable Memtest binary and edit the syslinux file to boot it.....but I don't think we need bother. The point of the exercise was not to get Memtest working but to ensure you can boot from your USB prior to any further work. In retrospect I probably should've given you some more specific instructions. I was giving you advice from memory (quite a long time since I last did it) and was a little vague. If you are interested I can provide info to help you setup a USB with Memtest on it but lets get back to the issue here....

Test your USB to make sure it boots ok. I'm not 100% clear on what your USB is setup to do, but assuming you got to where you are following my advice, I'm pretty sure that it should boot and get you to some sort of terminal prompt (sort of like a DOS environment). Try booting to it and see what happens. If this works then you know that your system is successfully booting from the USB. If it has errors post here and hopefully I'll be able to help you.

Once you have confirmed that your USB boots ok then you will have to set it up so you can install windows from it. There is tons of info have a read over here: http://www.msfn.org/board/Install-XP-from-USB-f157.html
Make sure you read and search for info before posting though. No one will mind clarifying information if it is clear you are trying but don't understand something. People will get annoyed if it looks like you haven't tried to help yourself.

Let me know how you go getting your USB to boot and good luck doing the next step with XP.

i will sayi apologize.. if u think im being lazy.. i actually prefer not to ask for help.. and i feel bad cause i dont want u thinking i havent search.. i have and alot of the terms and way people are doin it show lack of descriptons and how to exactly do it...

which is why i been releying on your help as u take the time out to help me which i appreciate a whole lot..

now i got it to boot to the dos like stage u talked about

now im waiting to figure out how do i boot the install now

im assuming since i got it into that stage my UFD is consider A usb key correct?

so what do i type in the dos like thing to get it starting to install a copy of the same windows cd i used on my lliving computer.. im so close i can smell it... i really can smelll.. i need u to help me close this out.

Now that you have confirmed that you can boot from your USB then you are ready to put the windows install files onto it.

I have never done this before so I can't help you with this part. I only know that its possible but I have only ever installed from CDROM or USB-CDROM.

In the subforum I directed you have a look at the FAQ http://www.msfn.org/board/FAQs-t116766.html. Right at the top is a link to a guide on how to do it with screenshots. Have a read and see how you go. I would advise making a new post in that subforum if you have problems or questions. I don't have the knowledge so I won't be able to help you with this.

Good luck