Running Windows XP on a system with no hard drive?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jjoensuu
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J

jjoensuu

Hi folks

does anyone know if it is possible to run Windows XP on a system
without a hard drive?

I was thinking of creating a 'hard-drive-less-system' running Windows
XP, but does the O/S require one, or can it be run purely from a CD?

Is this type of thing feasible?

Or if you know of any place that sells such a system I would be
interested.

JJ
 
It cannot be run from a cd, nor can it be run from an external drive without
some 'fiddling'
I have seen a card reader to IDE device that its info states can be used to
run an o/s from a card. A poster in a win2k group states he has used such,
allthough not without some problems
 
I think this kind of thing may be possible using some kind of PXE Boot
solution if you are in a networked enviroment.
 
Knoppix will do this from a CD, connects straight to the internet etc.

You may be able to do the same things using the built in apps.
 
Knoppix is a Linux distribution and runs Linux without installation to a
HD - It is an excellent "tool" for recovery. A "complete" version of XP
cannot be run from a CD - BartPE "copies" a minimum XP files to provid for a
troubleshooting environment.

Win PE (Windows pre-environment) can be used to provide XP and Vista
capability - it provides Vista's repair utility. However when prepared as a
XP/Vista OS it is "time bombed" to prevent continual use in place of a
normal XP/Vista installation
 
When someone asks "can I run Win XP without a disk drive", and you answer
"you can run Knoppix without a disk drive", you're not answering the
question.

You may as well have answered "you can eat ice cream without a disk drive."
 
Alfred said:
When someone asks "can I run Win XP without a disk drive", and you
answer "you can run Knoppix without a disk drive", you're not
answering the question.

You may as well have answered "you can eat ice cream without a disk
drive."
Click to expand...

linux has made him stupid, no?


--
sbb78247

resident redneck alt.os.windows-xp

you aint frum 'round here are ya boy!
 
Gordon said:
Not really - the thread was drifting in the direction of what COULD
be run from a CD...
Click to expand...

you must be some kind of ****wit like dobey - linux wasn't the question that
was asked.

do try and pay attention.

HTH, HAND, and GFIA
--
sbb78247

resident redneck alt.os.windows-xp

you aint frum 'round here are ya boy!
 
ASUS makes a laptop with a 7" screen that runs without a hard drive. It has
flash memory inside and comes with Linux installed but will also run Windows
XP it says.

It costs $399 new. I don't really remember any other specifications on the
system, but I was tempted to try it. I do remember it had built in Wireless
B/G.
 
Hi folks

does anyone know if it is possible to run Windows XP on a system
without a hard drive?

I was thinking of creating a 'hard-drive-less-system' running Windows
XP, but does the O/S require one, or can it be run purely from a CD?
Click to expand...

There's a pirate "windows XP Live CD", but a:It's pirate and b:it's
possibly horribly infected with malware

But that seems to prove it's possible to work.

I've never tried it. I don't have any need for a winXP live cd, and I'm
careful about what software runs on this machine.
 
Hi folks

does anyone know if it is possible to run Windows XP on a system
without a hard drive?

I was thinking of creating a 'hard-drive-less-system' running Windows
XP, but does the O/S require one, or can it be run purely from a CD?

Is this type of thing feasible?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. It's called a PE (preinstalled environment) and there are
freeware tools to build such a CD yourself. You must own a licensed copy
of an XP install CD to make it. One Bart-PE-based project is the Ultimate
Boot CD for Windows (http://www.ubcd4win.com) which includes a whole suite
of pre-installed applications - focused mainly on recovery of a failing
system, but useable for web browsing, file transfer, etc. Without a hard
drive you can even run (portable) applications from a USB flash drive,
since it has built-in mass storage drivers. Even on a 256 MB low-end
system you end up with ~120 MB of free RAM in which to run stuff, which is
plenty for single, no-install applications.
 
jjoensuu <[email protected]>, the tubby-arsed-pauper and nasty pouf
who likes extravagant jizz whizzin' with kittens, and whose partner is a
zipper-moraled Susie with a ripe catcher's mitt, wrote in
Hi folks

does anyone know if it is possible to run Windows XP on a system
without a hard drive?

I was thinking of creating a 'hard-drive-less-system' running Windows
XP, but does the O/S require one, or can it be run purely from a CD?

Is this type of thing feasible?

Or if you know of any place that sells such a system I would be
interested.

JJ
Click to expand...


What the **** for?


--
For my own part, I have never had a thought which I could not set down
in words with even more distinctness than that with which I conceived
it. There is, however, a class of fancies of exquisite delicacy which
are not thoughts, and to which as yet I have found it absolutely
impossible to adapt to language. These fancies arise in the soul, alas
how rarely. Only at epochs of most intense tranquillity, when the
bodily and mental health are in perfection. And at those weird points
of time, where the confines of the waking world blend with the world of
dreams. And so I captured this fancy, where all that we see, or seem,
is but a dream within a dream.
 
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