Have a copy of XP Embedded, would like to set up an install on an SD card

[batteriesnotincluded]

I have a copy of XP Embedded (and CE 6.0 embedded) thanks to the MSDN access that the campus grants me.

I have 3 laptops, but if I could get XP to load off a flash drive w/ basic internet and word processing functionality, I could eliminate the need for the R60, which I keep around primarily for support w/ the 32 bit environment the campus has. It's a lot easier to pop in an SD card and reboot than it is to pull a harddrive to go from 64 to 32 bit.


But, I have no idea where to start. Are there any tips or links anyone can give me on how to build my own XPe installation?

[gtg465x]

That's not what CE and XP Embedded are for. You can just install regular XP to a USB stick or SD card. Just google for instructions.

[batteriesnotincluded]

I know XP can, but reading online, it looked like it was meant to be booted from small flash drives. I know I worked with a W2K embedded system that ran off a 64mb CF drive.

[Mithent]

XP Embedded is not designed as a general-purpose operating system though, and it doesn't have a setup utility, for one, and won't use Windows Update. You have to build an image using the SDK, it seems:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/mobile/funtocode.aspx

Windows CE is not the same as Windows, and it's not likely to be of any use to you.

[gtg465x]

I know XP can, but reading online, it looked like it was meant to be booted from small flash drives. I know I worked with a W2K embedded system that ran off a 64mb CF drive.

XP Embedded isn't designed for that purpose and getting it working will be a somewhat complicated process. Also, do you realize that XP Embedded has very limited functionality compared to regular XP and most regular Windows programs won't run on it?

I suggest you install a compact Linux distro such as Damn Small Linux on your flash drive. The default Damn Small Linux installation only takes up 50MB.

You could also use nLite to make regular XP as small as possible.

[Grentz]

There is no install. XPe is meant to be compiled especially for the hardware.

There are no drivers, etc. either, those have to be made and compiled in as well.

[heatlesssun]

Why not just setup a VM for your environment? That's a much better solution it it will support what you need it to.

[Rhughes103]

A little misinformation in here, just for the record, XP Embedded is just as fully capable as XP Professional and has a few new tricks up it's sleeve as well. It runs with same precompiled drivers and software used with Pro. But it is dependant on wether the proper support has been added into the image created with the toolset.

That said, if you have never dabbled with it it will be more trouble than it's worth for the purposes you described. It is not installed in the same way the consumer OS is, an image tailored to the target hardware has to be created with the toolset and placed on the target boot media by your own means. And to even make a runtime image that will not expire in 90-120 days you would need a valid product id. An XP Pro key will not work here.

If you are interested in learning how it works however here are a few relevant links.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/embedded/aa731409.aspx
The newsgroups can be helpful in getting questions answered here.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms913700.aspx
And the MSDN contains plenty of walk-thru's to start you out.

http://www.xpefiles.com
A good place to find pre-componentized drivers/software ready to be imported into the component database.

[gtg465x]

A little misinformation in here, just for the record, XP Embedded is just as fully capable as XP Professional and has a few new tricks up it's sleeve as well.

Interesting. I've only worked with CE Embedded and figured XP Embedded would be similarly stripped of features to be able to fit on and have decent performance on an embedded device. Either way, I think heatlesssun's idea of using a virtual machine suits your needs much better than an OS on a flash drive.

[batteriesnotincluded]

I've done the virtual image option with pretty good success, mostly this was simply an option that became available to me...but looks like it will be more trouble than what it's worth. Hell, I'm still not even sure I can boot off the SD card slot yet.

Guess I'll stick with regular XP. I figured CE wouldn't do me any good and would likely never be that useful to me, but hell, it was just a 4gb download...never know when it could become useful.

[smileypaul]

XP Embedded isn't designed for that purpose and getting it working will be a somewhat complicated process. Also, do you realize that XP Embedded has very limited functionality compared to regular XP and most regular Windows programs won't run on it?

I suggest you install a compact Linux distro such as Damn Small Linux on your flash drive. The default Damn Small Linux installation only takes up 50MB.

You could also use nLite to make regular XP as small as possible.



Damn Small Linux is based off of the 2.4 kernel i believe, its very old. I think there are probably better distro's for this..

[Rhughes103]

Interesting. I've only worked with CE Embedded and figured XP Embedded would be similarly stripped of features to be able to fit on and have decent performance on an embedded device. Either way, I think heatlesssun's idea of using a virtual machine suits your needs much better than an OS on a flash drive.

Yea CE is a bit more of a bear that I haven't tackled yet. But XP Embedded is literally nothing more than XP Pro. They just divided it up into the procompiled binaries for each feature of the operating system and allow you to decide what you want in the OS image. The size of the image will vary on what you need in it, but I've made images as small as 200mb before with a fully useable explorer interface booting from a flash card. Can be even smaller with just command line interface. Or you can go the other way and put just about everything under the sun in the image, blow your image up to about 6-700mb.

But back to the OP's situation, I agree a VM is a much simpler solution.