EEEPC Windows XP Installation on USB harddisk, thumbdrive, SD card
I have a EeePC 1000, Linux SSD version. Since EeePC does not come a cdrom, the usual way is installing Windows XP through cdrom will not work.
After research for sometime on the internet, I have found some different fragmented sources about installing XP on this machine. So I will document my whole process of install XP on my EeePC 1000.
You will need an Original Windows XP CD(of course), a spare USB thumbdrive (atleast 1GB), and USB multiboot software. You will be able to install XP using external usb harddisk or SD card.
Follow these steps:
- Download and unpack usb_multiboot_10.zip to any folder.
*The path to the folder must be without space, i.e.: "c:\usb_multiboot_10\" - Insert your USB thumbdrive.
*Be sure to backup your data on the thumbdrive, it will be reformatted! - Run USB_MultiBoot_10.cmd from the multiboot folder
- The Format Utility will appear, choose NTFS and start format.
*If you are doing this from a Vista machine, you may need to run PeToUSB.exe as adminstrator in order for this program to recognize the jump drive.
*(Right click PeToUSB.exe > Properties > Compatibility > “Run this program as an administrator” checked.) - Set options 1 and 2. Set option 0 only if you want to use USB HDD instead of a USB thumbdrive.
- Choose 3 after setting all other options. It will create the image and write it to the thumbdrive as well as making the thumbdrive bootable.
- Answer Yes to all questions that come up (these vary depending on options selected).
- When it finishes copying, remove your usb stick and insert it in the EeePC to install XP.
- When you turn on the EeePC, hold down “Esc” to choose the boot device and select the USB thumbdrive.
*You’ll need to do this at each reboot until XP is fully installed and you’ve logged in. - Choose Text installation at first time and GUI INSTALLATION AFTER REBOOT TWICE!
- Choose step 1 to start installing
- After reboot, choose step 2
- After reboot, choose step 2 AGAIN to log into XP
*As soon as you arrive at the Windows XP Desktop you can safely remove the USBStick / SD card.
IMPORTANT! DO NOT REMOVE USB STICK UNTIL YOU SEE XP’s LOGIN SCREEN!
Known Problems
If you get the hal.dll not found error message, start again from your USB-Drive and choose option 2 "Gui-Installation" which should work now.
(If option 2 doesn’t work choose option 4 and "Windows XP from HD" on the next screen.)
Follow the installation process until you reach a usable windows desktop.
The error message is misleading, it’s nothing wrong with your hal.dll
- your boot.ini has a corrupted entry which is easy to fix:
- Search for boot.ini (normally it’s located on C:\)
- Open the boot.ini
- Delete the line that referres to “Windows-USB-Boot” - it should be the last line
- Save&Exit
Your Eee should now boot Windows normally without the pen drive.
