I am entirely new to this. I need to be able to start Windows XP (I also have a Vista installation disc I can use) and then have it load Office 2010, as well as a couple of portable apps (FastStone image viewer and VLC) to show pics and videos.

I assume I can use the BartPE program to install XP onto my USB drive.

1. Do I have to get a certain type of USB drive, or just any? The one I've bought from BestBuy is an 8 gig drive.

2. Is there a way I can minimize the files for installing XP? Like I said all I want to do is run Office 2010 and portable media apps. I don't even need to get online (from the usb drive).

3. Any advice for a complete newbie? The reason I'm doing this is b/c I need to run powerpoint and show media from a USB drive; I've been just connecting my laptop to whatever computer/display is in the room I'm in, but lately they have been making it harder and harder to twist off the cables from the computers in teh rooms, so I just want to plug what I have into the computer that is already there.

Would I even need to install XP on this USB drive? Could I simply install Office 2010 onto it, and run it from whatever computer (running XP, most likely) that I had access to, once I plugged in the USB drive?

Bad assumption.

Bart's PEBuilder will allow you to create a Windows XP PE system on a USB drive but a PE system is not a full fledged XP system.


You don't need Office to run PowerPoint to view PowerPoint presentations. MS's PowerPoint viewer is all you need: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=6 Whether it will run stand alone on a USB drive I don't know. If you try it and it does please let us know.

You should look at PortableApps.com's system: http://portableapps.com/ . It runs from USB drives and is independent of the the host machine's OS. It doesn't include the PowerPoint viewer but it may have other apps that will display them. Check it out. http://portableapps.com/apps/graphics_pictures

...but maybe you can use it to run WINNT32.EXE and install a XP.... (though dubtly ona USB target)


@prr
If your goal is to install a "full" XP on USB there are known ways (NOT using BartPE), if your goal is to have a way to view PowerPoint slides all you need is the Portable PowerPoint Viewer:
[Removed link]

You may also think about converting your Powerpoint presentation to video.

jaclaz

I've tried their powerpoint viewers and they choke on the files I make, which have a lot of links back and forth inside the ppt file.

And the only thing that looked like it was in teh same leage as Powerpoint was OpenOffice, which also doesn't display the files right.



I looked at that page you linked to, but the files had been deleted from the hosts.

Are you sure?

Admittedly, out of three files two have been, but this one seems like still being there.....
[Removed link]

But if the "normal" (in the sense of "installed") MS Powerpoint viewer chokes on the files you make, a portable version of it will choke exactly in the same way.

Another reason to make them into a video and this make them more or less "viewer independant", IMHO.


jaclaz

There are some who consider that site a warez site.

Yes, that one has been taken down as well. The link takes you to a page that gives you an option, free or pro download. I'm not a subscriber, and at least the free d/l (they're probably the same link, but I don't know that), after clicking on that button, says it has been taken down.

Naaah, seemingly they are only more sneaky than the other sites, that tell you that the file is not there anymore since the first page.
Sorry for sending you on a wild goose chase.

There are a few .scripts for winbuilder (at least for the 2003 version(:
http://reboot.pro/8945/
http://reboot.pro/8898/
which means that the viewers can be run in a PE 1.x, but still:

you could see if you can run the "whole" Office Suite on a PE still for the 2003 version there is something:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=12182
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=18155


I don't get it.
That site either is a WAREZ site (then sorry I didn't realize that, I will anyway remove posted links to it) or it is not (and then the posted links are OK)

Anyway no harm was done , even unintentionally, since the files are not there anymore.


Wonko

I'm not sure the OP said the MS viewer didn't work, rather the PortableApps ones.


The opinions of some don't make something right or wrong, IMO.

And the only way to spread the word about a site is to spellout it's domain name not hide it.

It was the conventional ppt viewers that weren't working, but I see now that they came out with a new ppt viewer in 2010, that works with files made with Office 2010, that does in fact work. So that's nice--there's nothing wrong with my file, it was just made with a newer version of the program.

Now I have to see if I can get it working on a USB stick. Someone mentioned just copying the files from the viewer's installation folder in the C:Program Files directory. I'll see if that works later on when I get that USB drive. This would be a major major help if this works.

IMHO you should be very careful during the testing (if you plan to execute the app on other people's PC's).
I mean, if the app is not made "portable" (and checked to be so), it may when executed, make modifications on the OS Registry.
These may be "permanent" so that once you take away the stick with you, the computer where you used it will have (just as an example) file associations pointing to the .exe on the USB stick, but it may theoretically do something worse than that, like register a .dll that will vanish together with the stick.

The obstacle is the redistribution of a modified package, but since you won't redistribute it, you can modify the package allright, I presuem that makig a .sfx thingy should not be that difficult:
http://portableapps.com/node/10486


jaclaz

I have tried doing what someone else recommended--simply taking the installed folder for the PPT viewer and copying it onto my USB drive. It will work only when that USB drive is connected to that original laptop, but not when I connect the USB drive to any other computer.

Oh well.

Apparently the viewer installs files in the Windows folder and probably Registry entries. Bummer.

Does the other computer have Office installed on it?

Yeah at this point it doesn't look like I'll need the ppt viewer after all. I'm logging on to a network and Office 2007 is installed.

But I will keep the installation files on the USB drive, regardless, in case I end up with a computer that doesn't log in to a network.