Hey everyone,
I'm writing this up as an addon to the eeepc wiki. The information here was taken from the wiki and the forum so many props go to the original creators CorvetteZ0606, DonkeyBeliever, and all others.
This guide will install Windows XP to a SD card via Acronis and Nlite. Hopefully this will help solve some of the problems we all had to go through, to save you TIME, and to get you up and running. The guide is long as I put in every detail I went through. I will add more to it later.
Honestly, I made 6 XP CD's, and installed probably 10 times until I got it working. Yes, it finally works! Through my trials and errors, here's what I learned:
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What I used:
Asus eeePC 4G Laptop
40GB USB hard drive, I've tried a 16GB USB stick, and 2GB SD Card and they all work
Another PC Desktop referred to as Main Computer
Wiki method 2 and part of method 1 (http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:installxp)
Windows XP SP2
Microsoft Cabsdk EDITED cabsdk (http://rapidshare.com/files/92250474/cabsdk.rar) OR (http://download.microsoft.com/download/ … cabsdk.exe)
Nlite (http://www.nliteos.com/download.html)
Hitachi Microdrivers EDITED Hitachi Microdrivers (http://rapidshare.com/files/92250062/ed … 24_320.rar) OR (http://www.xpefiles.com//files/xpfildrvr1224_320.zip)
External USB CD-ROM
Acronis Home V11
Notepad2 (http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html)
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Problems I had before figuring this out:
BSOD right after seeing the Windows XP Boot Logo
The BSOD said windows has to shutdown to prevnt further damage bla bla bla. Something partition, virus, bla bla bla
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Method:
(you can substitute your USB device when I say SD card, ie USB stick, SD, hard drive)
Backing up Xubuntu, Xandros, etc. on your eeePC for later restoration
Connect your external CDROM
Boot eeePC and hold Esc
Insert Acronis Boot CD
Backup your SSD on the eeePC via Acronis Boot CD to your SD card using Backup
Name your file xubuntueeepc, xandroseeepc whatever
Save to your SD card
Close Acronis and reboot
Once safely rebooted, remove SD Card
Copy “xubuntueeepc” file from the SD to your Main Computer
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On your Main Computer
Put your XP CD into your main PC
Open up Nlite
Use Nlite to Copy XP to your main PC c:\xpsdhc
Leave Nlite open and minimize
I've compiled the USB cabsdk files here: http://rapidshare.com/files/92250474/cabsdk.rarOR do the following 4 steps
-Follow the wiki and edit the usb... files (download and use notepad2 to edit) (http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:installxp)
-Follow steps 2-23 on the wiki method 2
-Copy these edited files back to I386
-Go back to Nlite, which you minimized
Here are screen captures of my Nlite install for reference:http://rapidshare.com/files/92255558/nl … ptures.rar
Now create your ISO to CD
Burn your ISO to CD (my ISO was roughly 320 megs)
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Turn on your eeePC and hold Esc
Boot up to your external CDROM and boot off of the new XP CD you just created
Delete all partitions on the SSD
Install XP to the SSD
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Upon first boot into XP
Go into System Properties, Turn off system restore, paging file, and screensaver
I've compiled the Hitachi Microdrive files here: http://rapidshare.com/files/92250062/ed … 24_320.rar OR follow the next 2 steps
-Take a SD card and copy the Hitachi Microdrivers from your Main Compute to the Desktop of the eeePC WindowsXP
-Follow the instructions on the Wiki in Method 1 to edit the .inf file (http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:installxp)
Right click My Computer on your eeePC and go into System Properties
Go into Update Drivers and install the Hitachi Microdrivers to Cardreader
***Refer down below to Tommot's post***
When The Hardware Upgrade Wizard window opens:
1. choose, Yes, this time only
2. choose, Install from a list or specific location (advanced)
3. choose, Don't search, I will choose the driver to install
4. click, Have Disk
4. browse, point to the Microdrive filter folder on your desktop
5. the final window you will see is that the Hitachi Microdrive has actually been selected
and is ready for installation. you will also see the caution sign ...This driver is not digitally signed.
1. choose, Yes, this time only
2. choose, Install from a list or specific location (advanced)
3. choose, Don't search, I will choose the driver to install
4. click, Have Disk
4. browse, point to the Microdrive filter folder on your desktop
5. the final window you will see is that the Hitachi Microdrive has actually been selected
and is ready for installation. you will also see the caution sign ...This driver is not digitally signed.
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Before rebooting!!! Confirm in My Computer that your SD card shows a Local Disk and not a Removable drive, if trying a USB stick, confirm that it's a Logical Disk
Confirmed: (If you want to use a USB thumbdrive or hard drive, for your XP drive instead of SD, you'll need to connect the USB stick up for windows to recognize it, and after windows XP installs the drive, instead of installing the Hitachi driver for the cardreader, do so for your USB thumbdrive)
Reboot
Let XP load
(If installing to a drive bigger than 4 GB +, then now's the time to resize your partition on your main computer. I used Acronis Disk Director V10)
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Put in the Acronis Boot CD to your External CDROM
Reboot XP
Hold Esc and boot to CDROM
Backup the SSD drive with XP and name it eeepcxp. Backup to your SD
Close Acronis and reboot
Once safely rebooted, remove the SD Card
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Copy “eeepcxp” from your SD Card to your Main Computer
Open up Acronis Home V11
Restore eeepcxp to your SD Card that you want to boot off of (restore all including the MBR)
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Go to your eeePC, change the background to something else
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Back to your main computer, once the backup is finished, stick it in your eeePC and reboot
Hold Esc
Boot off of your SD card
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If all is well, you can now restore your original drive with whatever was on it.
Copy xubuntueeepc you originally backed up to another SD or USB stick
Restore xubuntueeepc to the SSD
Once finished close Acronis and reboot
Hold Esc
Boot into XP
Grab your ASUS CD that came with your laptop
Install the drivers
(If you used a SD card larger than the partition of 4GB, and there's unpartitioned space, you can try using Acronis Disk Director V10 to resize the partition)
There we have it! Hopefully all is well. Good luck!
It turns out the 2GB SD install was too limited for my usage. After trying to install Adobe CS3 suite, the Shared Common Files blew up the installation past my 2GB SD card limitation.
I've now tried installing XP onto a 16GB USB Thumbdrive using the methods described above. I can confirm that it works.
First impression is that it loads a little slower, but this could be due to my USB Thumbdrive specs. Overall, I'm happy with the install, and with the extra space, think of the possibilities.
EDIT 2/15/08: I've run into some problems with the USB install, so until I figure this out, the USB thumbdrive install is unconfirmed unless another user can confirm it?
EDIT 2/17/08: Confirmed, by following the tutorial, the USB stick install was successful. I'm currently installing the asus drivers, windows update, and apps on a 16GB flash drive. EWF, Enhanced Write Filter, is the next feature I'm researching to limit the amount of writes to the disk.
EDIT 2/20/08: Productivity on an USB SD or Flash drive was too limited and slow for my use. I've changed mediums and have settled with a 2.5" USB hard drive.
I've now tried installing XP onto a 16GB USB Thumbdrive using the methods described above. I can confirm that it works.
First impression is that it loads a little slower, but this could be due to my USB Thumbdrive specs. Overall, I'm happy with the install, and with the extra space, think of the possibilities.
EDIT 2/15/08: I've run into some problems with the USB install, so until I figure this out, the USB thumbdrive install is unconfirmed unless another user can confirm it?
EDIT 2/17/08: Confirmed, by following the tutorial, the USB stick install was successful. I'm currently installing the asus drivers, windows update, and apps on a 16GB flash drive. EWF, Enhanced Write Filter, is the next feature I'm researching to limit the amount of writes to the disk.
EDIT 2/20/08: Productivity on an USB SD or Flash drive was too limited and slow for my use. I've changed mediums and have settled with a 2.5" USB hard drive.
.
