how to make a USB-bootable network-enabled backup environment

By Madoshi
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Madoshi

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i was looking for an easy way to back up my ThinkPad a while back. i thought about it a while and until then, my only option for drive imaging was to boot to a CD in an external DVD drive (borrowed, of course). so i started thinking, what did i want:

  • a Windows-based solution - both the laptop's drive and the external hard drive were formatted NTFS, and i wanted to be able to copy individual files as well as image the entire drive
  • bootable from a USB hard drive - i wanted to be able to have local access to as much drive space as i needed
  • Ethernet networking - so i can access network shares not to mention the internet, while booted up to the backup solution
  • no limits on uptime - i want to be able to leave this running for days, should the (unlikely) situation arise. that means no Windows PE, no BartPE, etc
  • quick to boot

what i did not need:

  • for this to be universally bootable - i ONLY wanted/needed this to boot up my ThinkPad. i do not plan to use the same drive with the same install on other machines
  • most of the normal Windows features - i don't need audio support, i don't need to be able to print or scan, no instant messaging, no YouTube, etc
  • also didn't need wireless network access

one day not too long later, i found a guide to modify a Windows XP CD to accept installation onto a USB drive. wait... thats perfect! so i now have a USB bootable Windows install that can easily take on the specific device drivers for my ThinkPad, full support for any Windows app i could ever want, etc.

i am pretty sure the guide i followed is this one

i started with a Windows XP Professional SP2 OEM disk. if you are so inclined, a pirate XP could easily be used here but i prefer to keep it legit. well it doesn't turn out quite that, but whatever you will see later how i do it.

please note that i do not take any credit for the following. i shall quote the guide in case the site goes down or the link breaks:

Requirements

An existing Windows install for carrying out the steps in this tutorial

A USB2-compliant Hard disk drive (or a big USB2 stick, see remarks below)

An original Windows XP CD (tested only against SP1 so far, but reported to work on other versions)

A registered version of WinISO (or any other software that allows direct editing of ISO files)

The Microsoft CAB SDK

A CD-burning software that can handle ISO files. I like the free burnatonce

How To:

Summary:

We will dump the contents of your original Windows XP CD , extract a few files from the Image using ISO modification software, edit the files, and put the modified versions back on the ISO. The resulting ISO image is burnt back onto a CD media, and can then directly be used to install Windows on your USB drive.

I am also covering a few pitfalls that happened to me, in hope they will save you a bit of time.

1) Does your computer support booting from USB?

Usually, if its an option in your BIOS boot sequence menu, the answer to this is yes. If its not there, look for BIOS updates. If you are not sure, proceed and see what happens ;-)

2) Sorting out the "Bootability" of your USB-Drive

Connect your USB drive to your computer, directly, without a Hub. Then, shut down your computer, disconnect any other hard disk drives from it, and insert your original Windows XP CD into the drive. Start the installation, and proceed to the section where you are allowed to pick a hard drive. If it goes beyond the partition selection, your drive is already fine for booting Windows XP. If not (seems to be the cases with many of the Freecom USB HDDs for example), you will get an error like "Windows is unable to find your drive, partition, data etc bla". This is usually not a big problem. All you need to do is "properly" format the drive. Reboot into your normal Windows, and get this HP tool , and use it to format your HDD completely. I chose NTFS format, worked fine everytime i tried. After this, my drives are recognized as valid installation devices by the Windows XP installer.

(In fact, i did not manage to create a USB primary partition with FAT32 that was recognized as being installable)

3) Dumping the original Windows CD into an ISO File

Pretty easy one. Simply open WinISO, and select Actions -> Make ISO from CDROM, and save your CD image.

4) Extracting the files we need to work on

After the CD dump is done, close and reopen WinISO. Then, open the ISO file you just created using File -> Open.

Now, click the I386 folder, and select the following files (Ctrl key to multi-select)

TXTSETUP.SIF

DOSNET.INF

USB.IN_

USBPORT.IN_

USBSTOR.IN_

Select Actions -> Extract and put the resulting files into some folder to work on them.

5) Unpacking IN_ files

Use the Cab SDK (from the command line) for extracting the contents of the .IN_ files. Each of them contains exactly one .inf file. If you are unsure how to use the Cab SDK, here is an example command line: "cabarc x USBSTOR.IN_" . You should end up with three new files in the folder, called:

usb.inf

usbport.inf

usbstor.inf

You can now delete the .IN_ files.

6) Editing the files

This is the main job. i ll also try to explain a bit whats happening. Use a simple Texteditor like Notepad.

6-A) TXTSETUP.SIF

This file is loaded on the initial install step by the Windows XP CD installer. In this file, we will change the way Windows treats USB devices during system setup -- the default is to only treat them as input devices during installation -- we will change this to include mass storage driver support (which needs to be loaded into the installer much earlier in order to work).

First, move the following entries from [inputDevicesSupport.Load] to the [bootBusExtenders.Load] section , as shown here

[bootBusExtenders.Load]

pci = pci.sys

acpi = acpi.sys

isapnp = isapnp.sys

acpiec = acpiec.sys

ohci1394 = ohci1394.sys

usbehci = usbehci.sys

usbohci = usbohci.sys

usbuhci = usbuhci.sys

usbhub = usbhub.sys

usbstor = usbstor.sys

[inputDevicesSupport.Load]

usbehci = usbehci.sys

usbohci = usbohci.sys

usbuhci = usbuhci.sys

usbhub = usbhub.sys

usbccgp = usbccgp.sys

hidusb = hidusb.sys

serial = serial.sys

serenum = serenum.sys

usbstor = usbstor.sys

... now the same for [bootBusExtenders] and [inputDevicesSupport]

[bootBusExtenders]

pci = "PCI-Bustreiber",files.pci,pci

acpi = "ACPI Plug & Play-Bustreiber",files.acpi,acpi

isapnp = "ISA Plug & Play-Bustreiber",files.isapnp,isapnp

acpiec = "Integrierter ACPI-Controllertreiber",files.none,acpiec

ohci1394 = "IEEE-1394-Bus-OHCI-konformer Anschlusstreiber",files.ohci1394,ohci1394

usbehci = "Erweiterter Hostcontroller",files.usbehci,usbehci

usbohci = "Open Hostcontroller",files.usbohci,usbohci

usbuhci = "Universeller Hostcontroller",files.usbuhci,usbuhci

usbhub = "Standard-USB-Hubtreiber",files.usbhub,usbhub

usbstor = "USB-Speicherklassentreiber",files.usbstor,usbstor

[inputDevicesSupport]

usbehci = "Erweiterter Hostcontroller",files.usbehci,usbehci

usbohci = "Open Hostcontroller",files.usbohci,usbohci

usbuhci = "Universeller Hostcontroller",files.usbuhci,usbuhci

usbhub = "Standard-USB-Hubtreiber",files.usbhub,usbhub

hidusb = "HID-Parser",files.hidusb,hidusb

serial = "Treiber f�r seriellen Anschluss",files.none,serial

serenum = "Enumerator f�r seriellen Anschluss",files.none,serenum

usbstor = "USB-Speicherklassentreiber",files.usbstor,usbstor

usbccgp = "USB Generic Parent Driver",files.usbccgp,usbccgp

Next, we also have to write several keys into the registry. Convieniently, the txtsetup.sif allows you to specify files that are parsed and instered into the registry at install time. Insert the following in the [HiveInfs.Fresh] section:

[HiveInfs.Fresh]

AddReg = hivedef.inf,AddReg

AddReg = hivesys.inf,AddReg

AddReg = hivesft.inf,AddReg

AddReg = hivecls.inf,AddReg

AddReg = hiveusd.inf,AddReg

AddReg = dmreg.inf,DM.AddReg

AddReg = usbboot.inf,usbservices

and also in [sourceDisksFiles]

[sourceDisksFiles]

usbboot.inf = 1,,,,,,_x,3,,3

bootvid.dll = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2

kdcom.dll = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2

Finally, save and close TXTSETUP.SIF. We are done with it.

6-B) DOSNET.INF

Now, open DOSNET.INF , and change the second [Files] section to look like this:

[Files]

d1,usbboot.inf

d1,_default.pif

d1,12520437.cpx

d1,12520850.cpx

....

6-C) usb.inf

Change the bolded lines in the [standardHub.AddService] and [CommonClassParent.AddService] sections:

[standardHub.AddService]

DisplayName = %StandardHub.SvcDesc%

ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER

StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START

ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL

ServiceBinary = %12%\usbhub.sys

LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender

[CommonClassParent.AddService]

DisplayName = %GenericParent.SvcDesc%

ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER

StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START

ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL

ServiceBinary = %12%\usbccgp.sys

LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender

6-D) usbport.inf

Change the bolded lines in the [EHCI.AddService], [OHCI.AddService] , [uHCI.AddService] and [ROOTHUB.AddService] sections:

[EHCI.AddService]

DisplayName = %EHCIMP.SvcDesc%

ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER

StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START

ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL

ServiceBinary = %12%\usbehci.sys

LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender

[OHCI.AddService]

DisplayName = %OHCIMP.SvcDesc%

ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER

StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START

ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL

ServiceBinary = %12%\usbohci.sys

LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender

[uHCI.AddService]

DisplayName = %UHCIMP.SvcDesc%

ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER

StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START

ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL

ServiceBinary = %12%\usbuhci.sys

LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender

[ROOTHUB.AddService]

DisplayName = %ROOTHUB.SvcDesc%

ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER

StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START

ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL

ServiceBinary = %12%\usbhub.sys

LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender

6-E) usbstor.inf

Change / Add the bolded lines in the [uSBSTOR.AddService] section

[uSBSTOR.AddService]

DisplayName = %USBSTOR.SvcDesc%

ServiceType = 1

StartType = 0

Tag = 3

ErrorControl = 1

ServiceBinary = %12%\USBSTOR.SYS

LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender

6-F) new file: USBBOOT.INF

Create a new file called USBBOOT.INF in the same directory as your other changed files, and put the following content into it:

[usbservices]

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB Mass Storage Driver"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\USBSTOR.SYS"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","Start",0x00010001,0

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","Type",0x00010001,1

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller Miniport Driver"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbehci.sys"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Start",0x00010001,0

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Type",0x00010001,1

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB2 Enabled Hub"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbhub.sys"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Start",0x00010001,0

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Type",0x00010001,1

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"Microsoft USB Universal Host Controller Miniport Driver"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbuhci.sys"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Start",0x00010001,0

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Type",0x00010001,1

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"Microsoft USB Open Host Controller Miniport Driver"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbohci.sys"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Start",0x00010001,0

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Type",0x00010001,1

7) Repack the inf files into their original IN_ format

If you have not already deleted your extracted .IN_ files, do so now. They need to be replaced. Open a DOS shell again, and navigate to the folder with your changed files. Then exceute the following commands:

cabarc n USB.IN_ usb.inf

cabarc n USBPORT.IN_ usbport.inf

cabarc n USBSTOR.IN_ usbstor.inf

The three IN_ files should now exist again.

Congratulations. All out modifications are done.

8) Inject the changed files into the ISO

Open your Windows CD image again with WinISO. Navigate to the I386 folder, and delete the following files from the ISO, saving the changes to the ISO afterwards:

DOSNET.INF

TXTSETUP.SIF

USB.IN_

USBPORT.IN_

USBSTOR.IN_

Just to be sure all is updated in the ISO, cloase and repoen the ISO in WinISO. Now, again go to the I386 folder and select "Add Files". Now add your changed files, in detail:

USBBOOT.INF

DOSNET.INF

TXTSETUP.SIF

USB.IN_

USBPORT.IN_

USBSTOR.IN_

Save the ISO. You are done.

9) Burn the ISO back to CD

Feel free to use any burning package you want. I used the free and simple Burnatonce

follow it up to step 9. it is at this point that you may also use nLite to remove stuff you know you won't need. though i didn't bother. i have never used "Burnatonce" however and i would recommend IMGBurn instead. Nero Burning ROM also works; burn it as a disk image

alright, so i have the ThinkPad with an external CD drive attached to a USB port, my external hard drive (with nothing on it) attached to another USB port. i remove the laptop's internal hard drive so that the Windows Installer cannot find it and screw with it's MBR. i have set the BIOS to boot from USB CD followed by USB HDD. i have removed all unneeded periphery and have confirmed both the SD-card reader and PCMCIA slot to be empty.

i turn on the laptop, and insert the modified Windows CD. i "press any key to continue..." and the installation process commences. at this point i would probably attempt to load any SATA or RAID drivers, even though there should be no internal drives (or maybe not, really because i didn't need any for my machine. these could probably be installed post-install if you need them, but its always fun to try anyway)

hit F8 to accept the EULA that you might end up breaking (more on this later). now you should be dumped to the partitioning screen. i just made one large partition and let it format that. you might want to do it differently. the following is how i wanted to do it but never actually did:

  • one small partition, maybe 2GB in size, created during Windows Setup; leave the rest as unpartitioned space. yes, Windows will install into a 2GB partition last i checked.
  • after install, creation of a second large primary partition, formatted as NTFS, to store Ghost images

that would allow me to keep the Windows seperate from the data, and also allow me to Ghost the USB Windows itself, in case i have to do this entire thing all over again. too bad, maybe next time?

so we let it format the partition, and let it copy itself to the drive. reboot and allow it to boot from the USB hard drive. leave the CD connected and inserted so Windows can copy more of itself to the hard drive. it goes along as if it were a regular Windows install. at some point it should (unless you are a theif :whistle:) ask you for yer Windows product key. since XP Professional was on a sticker on the underbelly of my ThinkPad, i just used that.

more on that [-]later[/-] right now:

now, what i did is use the serial # from my existing legit Windows XP Pro. now you might be asking, won't that cause my main installed Windows to become invalid, fail WGA, give me a hard time doing Win Updates etc? no silly, we don't plan on activating this copy of Windows. actually what i did was force it to boot into Safe Mode full time, because (1) it booted quicker on MY HARDWARE (YMMV) and (2) Ghost and networking both work fine under Safe Mode. and, it doesn't hound you about Activation or WGA. now this may be breaking Microsoft's EULA somehow but do i care? nah! i can't have both the laptop's install and the USB install running concurrently anyways so i think i can cheat there, legally speaking. waddevah

put in yer name/organization. i just type my first name and click NEXT. select time zone? i don't really think it matters but set it to the one you reside in anyway.

for the network dialog, if it shows one, if you have a custom workgroup to which all of yer machines are joined, i would enter it now. though you can do it anytime. i type in FUR and click NEXT. makes it easier to connect to my other machines including my fileserver all of which are joined to the FUR workgroup. for DHCP/DNS, i leave them as automatic or whatever. but if the machine you are making this for has static details, i would enter those here too. waddevah

at some point it will complain about unsigned USB drivers. "Continue Anyway" is all we need here. do NOT click on STOP on any of these USB-related dialogs, else you might find yer self up a creek upon next boot

it will be as if it were a normal install from here on, albeit maybe a bit slower; remember that we are working with USB 2.0 devices and yer patience should be equally longer. disk-intensive tasks might make it look and feel like the box is locked up, when it is in fact just suffering from low disk throughput. so be it

you should eventually reboot into the usual OOBE wizard (unless you modified the disc with nLite and played with some settings ahead of time as i know some of you will hehe). hmm lets see... click Next, no you do not want to register with MS, click next, no you do not want to activate, click Next, disable Automatic Updates, click Next, give yer self a name, click Next, click Finish. do not be discouraged if this silly blue-and-yellow screen seems to take MUCH LONGER than on a regular install. again, its USB and the machine has not yet got any device drivers

you should end up at a desktop. what i did was bring in my display drivers (Intel GMA900), network card drivers (some kind of GigE) chipset driver, and i think a couple Lenovo-specific drivers. not all of them though, just enough to make the machine run stable. TrackPoint driver i did install also, makes it easier on my paw if i can lessen the required-pressure setting. you install whatever you want, but i would leave out stuff like audio, modem, and wireless, and stuff for specialty features such as integrated webcam and whatever other crap you won't be needing while Ghosting under Safe Mode. reboot as required by the driver installers, and when you are done, reboot again just for luck

now, open services.msc and start disabling everything you can think of that relates to multimedia, Windows Updates, and other useless (to our application) services. reboot, and the result should be a very speedy system that accesses yer network and has a proper display driver (not nessesary, just easier to use)

now grab a copy of Ghost32.exe from yer legal legit purchased copy (yeah, right :rolleyes:) of Norton Ghost. i recommend version 8.0. i put a copy of the executable into the Desktop as well as on the root of the C: drive.

(if you have a pirate copy and want to boot to regular mode Windows, or are using a seperate license and do not need to circumvent/already defeated the need for Activation, skip this step)

edit boot.ini and add /SAFEBOOT:NETWORK to the end of the bootline corresponding to the USB Windows install. great, but what if you don't need or want network access? /SAFEBOOT:MINIMAL takes out the network component and possibly makes you boot faster. waddevah ya want

disable virtual memory on all drives. yes, i did in fact say cut out the swapfile. reason? because for some reason swapfiles can't reside on the external USB drive (if i remember correctly) and it might try to put it on the internal drive, interfering with any Ghost operation. besides, if you have enough memory to run Windows satisfactorily under normal conditions, you certainly have enough to run Explorer and Ghost on a Safe Mode boot AND without virtual memory

so now if you followed my instructions to a T, you should have the computer booted to the USB external hard drive, with no internal drive connected. great! shut down and disconnect the USB hard drive. reconnect any internal drives and boot up as normal, and make sure everything is how you left it (not that anything should be different). shutdown, reconnect the external drive and go back into yer BIOS and confirm the external drive has higher priority than the internal one. it should boot up into yer stripped out, Safe-Mode forced, network capable Windows install. yer internal drive will probably come up as D: in my case (no internal CD) or E: or F: depending on yer existing configuration. open Disk Manager (diskmgmt.msc) and take a look at how everything comes up. can you tell the drives apart? i seriously hope so, you wouldn't want to be playing with the wrong drive during backup/restores!

ready to make yer first image? great!

now open Ghost32.exe (you didn't steal it did you? oh admit it already, you got it right off a torrent didn't you!)

you will be presented with the Ghost DOS interface, but in a window. if yer display is set to 640x480 for whatever reason, Ghost will go full screen, or at least appear to do so.

now you do Local -> Disk -> To Image and it will ask for a source drive. select the one you identified as yer internal drive, and click Continue (or is it OK?) and then it asks you for a destination file. i recommend making a new folder for each time you image the drive (if you keep multiple backups) so that Ghost won't accidentally overwrite a previous image. i say this out of personal experiance. Ghost splits images and names the extra parts by the DOS 8.3 naming format, so you can easily overwrite old part-files without realizing it.

it will next ask you if you want to compress the image. now depending on what you have on that drive, it might take a shorter time (just MS apps and Word docs) to a very much longer time (yer music collection, LimeWire save folder, and anything else that doesn't compress well or is already compressed by nature). it gives you three options, which are: None, Fast, and High. select the one you like best, experiment if you like too. YMMV

to restore an image, say after you ****ed up yer Windows install or got shagged by a virus, boot up to the USB drive and load Ghost as you did creating an image. except this time you do Local -> Disk -> From Image. it now asks you where the image is. well you go and find yer latest backup in the place you saved it, and click on it, and click Continue (or is it OK? i forget). then it asks you for a destination drive, you select the internal one. it will ask you if you really want to overwrite the drive, you MAKE SURE IT IS THE ONE YOU WANT, and click Yes.

when it is finished, it asks "Continue" or "Reset Computer". DO NOT SELECT RESET COMPUTER! instead, hit Continue and then hit Quit. then shut down Windows properly.

disconnect the USB drive and it should boot normally, into the state that it was in when you last imaged the drive.

disclaimer (gotta cover my ass somehow):

this is what worked for me. no guarenties it will work for you or anyone else. neither me nor Neowin take any responsibility to anything that might happen while following this guide. please try to understand what is going on. this is not for the faint-hearted, even though the detail in which i explain Ghost and OOBE makes it look like i intended it for newbies. i don't really know why i did that, sorry

this is my very first tutorial released on the internet, so please try to be nice in commenting on it, and let me know if it worked for you please! give me tips on how to make it better or easier to read if you want too... i mean honestly i nearly fell asleep reading it over before posting it. looking it over, it didn't really come out as intended. if anyone wants to help me make it neater or better, i would greatly like that

thanks!

Grand Master

Subject Delta

Posted
Posted

Installing Windows to a USB stick is both slow, and notably unreliable, on quiet a lot of configurations it bluescreens. Annoying really because it would be better than using a bootable CD which is even slower still

Proficient

Madoshi

Posted
  • Author
Posted

i always liked using a BartPE disc

however the CD drive i used to do this and that was borrowed, and i am too cheap to buy my own. this has not given me any issues whatsoever, i am quite surprised to hear that it isn't often stable

i suppose different chipsets or motherboards might affect the stability of this setup, but on my old Centrino it works fine and has never blue screened

Proficient

Madoshi

Posted
  • Author
Posted
https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?show...t=0&start=0

^ Far simpler and works faster as you can boot PE and live environments easily.

this boots in under a minute and i can install whatever i want. YMMV and i got lucky i guess

never liked PE but i see most people do

i think i kinda failed in this tut. i am planning to write another much shorter one, on a different subject though

What ThinkPad do you have ?

Man I love those things

somehow i think you are jerkin mah chain, but alright

IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet - 1.5GHz Centrino, 2GB memory, 60GB iPod drive, 12.1 inch Wacom-enabled LCD, Windows XP Professional. bought 2nd hand, get 5 and a half hours battery across two battery packs. previous owner kept the Tablet PC 2005 COA and i am too cheap to get another license

Grand Master

TEX4S

Posted
Posted
this boots in under a minute and i can install whatever i want. YMMV and i got lucky i guess

never liked PE but i see most people do

i think i kinda failed in this tut. i am planning to write another much shorter one, on a different subject though

somehow i think you are jerkin mah chain, but alright

IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet - 1.5GHz Centrino, 2GB memory, 60GB iPod drive, 12.1 inch Wacom-enabled LCD, Windows XP Professional. bought 2nd hand, get 5 and a half hours battery across two battery packs. previous owner kept the Tablet PC 2005 COA and i am too cheap to get another license

No jerking - I have had a few, and will only use ThinkPads --

Grand Master

Panacik

Posted
Posted
this boots in under a minute and i can install whatever i want. YMMV and i got lucky i guess

never liked PE but i see most people do

i think i kinda failed in this tut. i am planning to write another much shorter one, on a different subject though

somehow i think you are jerkin mah chain, but alright

IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet - 1.5GHz Centrino, 2GB memory, 60GB iPod drive, 12.1 inch Wacom-enabled LCD, Windows XP Professional. bought 2nd hand, get 5 and a half hours battery across two battery packs. previous owner kept the Tablet PC 2005 COA and i am too cheap to get another license

Thinkpads are good solid machines dude. I dont think he was joking (Y)

Grand Master

aussiefloyd_fan

Posted
Posted
why i repack the battery packs for my 600X every 3 months :) ThinkPads are def awesome machines!

oh i see

what do you mean by repack the battery packs.... you mean you buy rechargable cells and solder them together and such?? and if so what size battery works?

Proficient

Madoshi

Posted
  • Author
Posted
what do you mean by repack the battery packs.... you mean you buy rechargable cells and solder them together and such?? and if so what size battery works?

standard 18650 lithium-ion cells

do not try this at home

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