How do I install XP without a CD-ROM?
June 27, 2008 11:19 AM Subscribe
Major computer issue: I have recently bought an ASUS EEE PC with Linux. I need to put XP on it but I have no CD-ROM drive. I do have three USB ports and wireless capabilities, however. How do I get XP on my computer?
I am currently traveling and have no way to return home and install XP. I am totally devoid of computer savvy people and I need XP to install some programs so that I can work from the road. Any suggestions?
I am currently traveling and have no way to return home and install XP. I am totally devoid of computer savvy people and I need XP to install some programs so that I can work from the road. Any suggestions?
Do you have a copy of XP to install? Do you have access to another computer with a cd drive?
You can install XP from a USB drive, but you need to have some means of getting the XP installer onto the USB drive. For example:
http://www.eeeguides.com/2007/11/installing-windows-xp-from-usb-thumb.html
The best place to get the info you need is eeeuser.com . The site seems not to be working for me just know but the wiki there will have all the info you need.
posted by Zetetics at 11:44 AM on June 27, 2008
You can install XP from a USB drive, but you need to have some means of getting the XP installer onto the USB drive. For example:
http://www.eeeguides.com/2007/11/installing-windows-xp-from-usb-thumb.html
The best place to get the info you need is eeeuser.com . The site seems not to be working for me just know but the wiki there will have all the info you need.
posted by Zetetics at 11:44 AM on June 27, 2008
I'd second le morte de bea arthur, the quickest easiest way to get your work done is to tell us what actual programs you need a linux equivalent for. Alternatively, there is a good chance you can use WINE to run your windows program on linux.
posted by jrishel at 11:58 AM on June 27, 2008
posted by jrishel at 11:58 AM on June 27, 2008
The eee is also available with XP already installed. You might be able to return your linux eee and get one with XP.
I´ve been hearing things about WINE, which supposedly lets you run XP programs under linux, but know very little about this myself, although I will probably look into it a bit more if I decide to keep this cute little computer I´m typing this on.
posted by yohko at 12:06 PM on June 27, 2008
I´ve been hearing things about WINE, which supposedly lets you run XP programs under linux, but know very little about this myself, although I will probably look into it a bit more if I decide to keep this cute little computer I´m typing this on.
posted by yohko at 12:06 PM on June 27, 2008
How about just going to a store and buying an external CD-ROM drive? It's not like they're that expensive. In most cases where paid work is involved, it would seem better just to be able to get on with it, even if it costs you a few bucks up front.
posted by dixie flatline at 12:36 PM on June 27, 2008
posted by dixie flatline at 12:36 PM on June 27, 2008
I've been traveling with an eeePC for the last two months. If you're abroad in europe or asia, shell out euros for time in a hippie-dippe internet cafe that'll let you reboot their machine. If you're in a country where you know the language fluently, just ask to borrow someone's machine for a bit. As a plan of action, look on Popular Bittorrent Sites for an xp iso, get a volume license key (or buy a copy -- XP's not that bad), do the steps mentioned in Zeletics' post and wind up with a direct path.
Or you might borrow a USB CD drive from someone and do the installation directly. Remember, the escape key gets into the boot menu from the BIOS.
Or you might install eeexubuntu or ubuntu-eee, both of which are excellent distros. Modern, even, in the case of ubuntu-eee. That's only in case you want to really use linux. You might get better performance out of it.
posted by electronslave at 12:52 PM on June 27, 2008
Or you might borrow a USB CD drive from someone and do the installation directly. Remember, the escape key gets into the boot menu from the BIOS.
Or you might install eeexubuntu or ubuntu-eee, both of which are excellent distros. Modern, even, in the case of ubuntu-eee. That's only in case you want to really use linux. You might get better performance out of it.
posted by electronslave at 12:52 PM on June 27, 2008
I did it with a USB drive - following the instructions above.
The problem is... with a 4gb SSD, you have to use nLite to reduce the image size and even then Office 2003 barely fits.
posted by jkaczor at 1:32 PM on June 27, 2008
The problem is... with a 4gb SSD, you have to use nLite to reduce the image size and even then Office 2003 barely fits.
posted by jkaczor at 1:32 PM on June 27, 2008
Another idea---
Use VirtualBox (open source) or VMWare (free download available) to emulate XP. The advantage is that you can have the XP installation on an external drive; the disadvantage is the overhead of emulation, which may make things too slow to be usable.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 1:45 PM on June 27, 2008
Use VirtualBox (open source) or VMWare (free download available) to emulate XP. The advantage is that you can have the XP installation on an external drive; the disadvantage is the overhead of emulation, which may make things too slow to be usable.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 1:45 PM on June 27, 2008
Im not sure if your 'devoid' comment means that you are saying you are not a technical person, but all these suggestions may be a little difficult for a non-techie and may leave you with an ubootable doorstop.
Any XP scenario will involve buying the retail XP license which floats around 150-200 dollars. That's a lot of money for a 300 dollar laptop. Your best course of action would be to return that linux eee and get the XP one.
posted by damn dirty ape at 1:58 PM on June 27, 2008
Any XP scenario will involve buying the retail XP license which floats around 150-200 dollars. That's a lot of money for a 300 dollar laptop. Your best course of action would be to return that linux eee and get the XP one.
posted by damn dirty ape at 1:58 PM on June 27, 2008
what are the programs you need to run? maybe there are linux equivalents.
posted by canoehead at 3:06 PM on June 27, 2008
posted by canoehead at 3:06 PM on June 27, 2008
My guesss is that, unless his/her work necessitated the immediate switch, keeblerte6 (wisely) picked up the Linux EEE PC to get the significantly larger disc space with the intent of installing XP on it at a later date.
There may be a way to make the internal 16 gig SD card bootable so that you could download a copy of XP onto it, but that wouldn't exactly be legal. Do you own an unused copy of XP? Maybe someone could digitally send a copy of your ISO to you (while you're at a hotel or internet cafe), along with the necessary registration key, etc. It would take some finesse, and you'd definitely need to be in Advanced Mode, but I'm pretty sure you could install it this way without ever needing external media. Search around the aforementioned eeeuser and eeguides for relevant articles.
As others have said, please let us know which programs you need, as you may not need XP as much as you think. Also, you may want to seriously look into ReactOS. It's a free (and legal) recreation of the Windows XP OS; very much a work in progress but many Windows programs work on it quite well. You could download VirtualBox and an ISO of ReactOS to try it without risking messing around with partition stuff.
(I just picked up an EEE PC two weeks ago. I'm currently running Ubuntu EEE and couldn't be happier. I love this thing.)
posted by kryptondog at 2:23 PM on June 30, 2008 [1 favorite]
There may be a way to make the internal 16 gig SD card bootable so that you could download a copy of XP onto it, but that wouldn't exactly be legal. Do you own an unused copy of XP? Maybe someone could digitally send a copy of your ISO to you (while you're at a hotel or internet cafe), along with the necessary registration key, etc. It would take some finesse, and you'd definitely need to be in Advanced Mode, but I'm pretty sure you could install it this way without ever needing external media. Search around the aforementioned eeeuser and eeguides for relevant articles.
As others have said, please let us know which programs you need, as you may not need XP as much as you think. Also, you may want to seriously look into ReactOS. It's a free (and legal) recreation of the Windows XP OS; very much a work in progress but many Windows programs work on it quite well. You could download VirtualBox and an ISO of ReactOS to try it without risking messing around with partition stuff.
(I just picked up an EEE PC two weeks ago. I'm currently running Ubuntu EEE and couldn't be happier. I love this thing.)
posted by kryptondog at 2:23 PM on June 30, 2008 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
What programs do you need? It might be more useful to ask if there is anything that will run under Linux that will allow you to do your work...
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 11:33 AM on June 27, 2008