can i run windows7 from a usb?

ceoexec2

im currently running windows2000.

is it possible to run windows7 from a usb stick without installing it over my current os

PogMoThoin

What are the specs of the pc?

lucernarian

And regardless of specs, is it theoretically compatible with a PC with a USB port and a widely used USB controller card/chip on motherboard? I.e. can a USB drive be a boot drive?

caff

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2009/12/-the-usb-flash-drive.ars

PogMoThoin

If its an original Windows 2000 pc then its a dinosaur, not even worth talking about

Anti

Yes it is possible. But its just plain stupid to run a new OS on a ancient PC. It may indeed work, but it will be dog slow, and there will be no driver support for any of your hardware.

ceoexec2

thanks Anti, im plain stupid so.

can i run linux and ubuntu then from a usb over windows 2000 and how do i put these on a usb.

is it just a matter of downloading linux/ubuntu onto the usb?

Anti

Yeah you could do it, but the problem will be the same unless you can find a very very old distro as the newer ones just wont support the hardware properly.

To install it to use you will need to go into the bios, set the first boot device to external (thats if your motherboard supports this) then you will need to format the usb key then mount the image to it.

There are lots of guides on how to do this just google something like "Installing Os onto usb key" But i think the best option for you would be do download a live iso like knoppix burn it to cd and boot from that to see if it works.

ceoexec2

im basically just looking for an os that i can carry on usb so that i have it with me when traveling.

it doesnt have to run over win2000, its just that win2000 is the system thatsd on my pc at the moment.

can i simply purchase an os on a usb?

is linux or ubuntu a good option to have regardless

Anti

ubuntu is linux, its just a distro of linux.

Not sure if you can buy one with a OS already on it, but have a look here: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

Ive tried doing it myself, and unless you have some experience with linux your gonna get stuck alot.

Kinetic^

Get damnsmalllinux or puppy linux. Both have very very small installs and use very little resources when running.

Orion

Use unetbootin to create the bootable USB stick. Here are instructions. That page is for cruncheee but any linux iso will work.

ceoexec2

why are there so many linux versions and which ones are suitable for general usage.

on the pendrivelinux site which option do i choose to download for to run on usb. there seem so many

on the crunchee site is this type just for running over a eeepc netbook. whats the best option to choose

please pardon my ignorance. im not techie in any way as youve probably guessed

Anti

to be honest mate, unless you are a bit of a techie stay away from linux its fairly complicated one you are away from the gui unless you spent aot of time in dos in the past. Would you not consider putting something like windows xp on a usb key?

There are so many builds of linux as its freeware/opensource, you dont pay for it. People can even compile their own kernals to have it running how they want. The linux forum here on boards.ie would be a good place to ask questions if you do go with linux, but dont expect it to be a easy journey

ceoexec2

how do i put xp on the usb.

can i just download it from microsoft direct to the usb?

are there sites online where i can buy the os cheaper

thanks for all your help by the way. its not easy answering qs after qs

Anti

The problem with putting xp onto a usb key is that most people use a cracked/nlited copy of xp to bring the size down as much as possible and take out all the uneeded crap. Basicially you format the usbkey to make it bootable, select it as yoru boot device in the bios and then install onto that. There are lots of guides how to do it, just google ie

Bob_Harris

You cannot depend on any given computer to support booting from the USB drive.

With QEMU Puppy, you can run the operating system natively by booting from the USB stick if it is supported, or you can run it virtualized (on top of and independent of the existing operating system)

If you are using the OS for just browsing the net or word processing then you don't need any knowledge of linux at all.

Download the latest version here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/qemupuppy/files/QEMU-Puppy/QEMU-Puppy%202.17-1/qemu-puppy-2.17-1.tar.gz/download

I will post up simplified install instructions in a few minutes.

Bob_Harris

So once you have downloaded the file above, you need to extract the contents onto the root of your USB drive. (delete all the files off of the USB stick to make things tidier.)

If you have WinZip installed it should be able to extract the contents, otherwise use 7-zip

Once all the files are extracted onto the USB stick, there will be a file on the USB stick called "puppy.exe". Double click that and the OS will boot virtualized.

To run the OS natively, you have to install a boot loader onto the USB stick. To do this you need to find out what drive letter the USB stick currently plugged in has. Go to my computer and see what drive letter it has.

Go to start > Run (or windows key + r) type

cmd 

and hit enter.

When the command prompt is open, type

D:\syslinux D:

Replace (twice) with whatever drive letter your USB stick has and hit enter.

Now you have a bootable USB stick.

Bob_Harris

This post is coming from QEMU Puppy running natively, and running as sweet as a nut :pac:

To boot QEMU Puppy natively you need to set the boot priority of the USB drive higher than anything else. Either do this in the BIOS, or better yet do it using the quick boot menu if your motherboard supports it. Tap F10, F11, or F12 repeatedly as the computer is booting to see if it brings up the menu.

remus808

It irks me that so many people are trying to tell you off - Puppy Linux on a USB drive will do exactly what you want, don't mind them.

ceoexec2

great stuff bob. ill try that, is there any advantage in using the virtual instead of the native or vice versa

i found thes links below regarding xp on usb. is it safe to donwload it from rapidshare, megaupload etc

mini XP Live USB 2009 Search and Download » Megaupload & Rapidshare Links by TD

Windows XP Live USB 2009 « More Than Just A Blog

Bob_Harris

ceoexec2 wrote: »

great stuff bob. ill try that, is there any advantage in using the virtual instead of the native or vice versa

i found thes links below regarding xp on usb. is it safe to donwload it from rapidshare, megaupload etc

mini XP Live USB 2009 Search and Download » Megaupload & Rapidshare Links by TD

Windows XP Live USB 2009 « More Than Just A Blog

To be honest any pre-packaged XP on USB stick software is illegal. Personally I couldn't care one way or the other :pac: But just be aware of that.

QEMU puppy will run faster when running natively vs when running virtualized. Although with lack of proper support for modern graphics cards the native version might look strange, whereas the virtualized version will always look like it is supposed to.

Also like I said above, not all computers can boot from a USB drive, and the ones that do support it will probably have to be told to do so (i.e. changing the boot priority in the bios, which may be locked). With the virtualized verison you are pretty much guaranteed to be able to run it on any computer you sit in front of.

Bob_Harris

Another option is to use VMware Player (Free) and download a pre installed virtual machine (more advanced than Puppy, ubuntu or other) from the VMware website.

VMware will probably yield better performance from your OS compared to QEMU.

The only problem is you have to install VMware player every time you go to a new computer and you may not have permissions to install new software.

One way to get around that is to make VMware Player portable using VMware Thinapp (trail available) to give you a truly portable operating system.