Windows – How to install Windows XP from an external hard drive

external hard driveinstallationusbusb-flash-drivewindows xp

I'm trying to install Windows XP Media Center edition by copying the install disc image to an external hard drive and making it bootable.

Has anyone had success getting this to work on systems that can't boot from dvds/floppies?

I'm basically working from this guide: http://www.dl4all.com/other/21495-install-windows-xp-from-usb.html

Update – 2/15/10

I used WinToFlash on my laptop to format my usb hard drive from my install dvd (Windows XP Media Center Version 2005 with Update Rollup 2 from Dell) and selected "boot from usb device" at the boot selection menu and the windows installer started up.

However, an error message came up saying that:
"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer."

Originally on my desktop machine, I had 1 150Gb SATA drive, and 2 150 Gb SATA drives striped together using RAID. From the hard drive diagnostics, it appears the windows install on one of the RAIDed disks lost a block and this has been preventing me from booting up.

I replaced the standalone drive with a new 1Tb SATA drive and disconnected the other hard drives. Could the message be indicating a virus is on the unformatted drive? or the usb hard drive?

Update 2 – 2/15/10
The external hard drive didn't find any viruses when scanned.
I tried installing Vista Home Premium 64bit SP1 using WinToFlash and that installed successfully onto the new 1Tb drive.

WinToFlash was really easy to use and helped a lot, thanks!

Best Answer

This guide is well over a year old ... times have changed :)

Use WinToFlash to prepare the USB Hard Disk Drive.

Note: All data on this drive will be lost.

Related Solutions

Windows – How to setup Windows from an external hard drive

Follow the directions here:

Plug-in your USB flash drive to USB port and move all the contents from USB drive to a safe location on your system.

Open a Command Prompt with admin rights. Type "cmd" into the Start menu search box and hit CtrlShiftEnter.

Type DISKPART and hit Enter … Next type LIST DISK and note down the Disk number (e.g. "Disk 1") of your USB flash drive.
Next type all the below commands one by one.
SELECT DISK 1
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
SELECT PARTITION 1
ACTIVE
FORMAT FS=NTFS
(Format process may take few seconds)
ASSIGN
EXIT
Don’t close the command prompt as we need to execute one more command at the next step. Just minimize it.
Next insert your Windows7/Vista DVD into the optical drive and check the drive letter of the DVD drive. In this guide I will assume that your DVD drive letter is “D” and USB drive letter is “H” (open my computer to know about it).

Maximize the minimized Command Prompt in the 4th step.Type the following command now: D: CD BOOT and hit enter.Where “D” is your DVD drive letter. CD BOOT and hit enter to see the below message.
Type another command given below to update the USB drive with BOOTMGR compatible code.
BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 H:
Where “H” is your USB drive letter. Once you enter the above command you will see the below message.

Copy your Windows 7/Vista DVD contents to the USB flash drive.

Your USB drive is ready to boot and install Windows 7/Vista. Only thing you need to change the boot priority at the BIOS to USB from the HDD or CD ROM drive. I won’t explain it as it’s just the matter the changing the boot priority or enabling the USB boot option in the BIOS.

Windows – Install Windows XP to USB Hard Drive and Run from It

The Old New Thing: Why can't I install Windows on my USB drive? (April 15, 2004)

[...] Another reason not mentioned in this paper is that during any hot-plug operation, the USB bus is completely reinitialized. Windows really doesn't like it when it loses access to its boot device. [/...]

The whitepaper mentioned there is Recommendations for Booting Windows from USB Storage Devices.

Possibly related: A Deep Dive into USB Boot (MSDN)

Related Question