Booting Windows XP from external USB disk drive

I'm trying to get to some legacy applications on my old Windows XP hard drive. Is it possible to boot my iMac G5 iSight to an external USB hard drive which has an NTFS partition and Windows XP on it?

Hi Cobyflier;
No. That is not possible.
Allan

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Cannot boot to Windows disc from external USB DVD drive.

I have a MacBook Pro 17" Early 2011 8,3. I have tried to use bootcamp to install Windows 7 from a external USB DVD drive. All I get, like many people, is a black screen with a blinking cursor, as if it never makes it to boot. I tried restarting to the OS selection for holding alt, and tried the DVD again, did not work.
I saw a few posts claiming that this didn't work on some models of Mac because of a EFI problem that would not allow booting from a external USB, which is really stupid because it would seems some models can... And MacBook airs can... Can someone please confirm this for me? Has anyone found a resolution?
If not, APPLE PLEASE FIX THIS.

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. Yes the MBP is currently running Tiger, I want to flatten this with a fresh install of Leopard. I can view the install DVD when in Tiger currently.
I haven't tried what you have suggested, but I have seen various posts suggesting this approach. I've also seen several posts explain how to create a partition on an external firewire Harddrive and this seems to have worked for various people.
This would however mean that I didn't really need the external Lacie drive at all, as I've got access to my G5s DVD drive over the network. The more I search on this, the more convinced I am the USB drive was a bad idea.
Once again thank for the response.

Satellite L20-100 can be booted from external USB hard drive?

I recently bought Toshiba Satellite L20-100 and I wonder if:
1. is there any possibility to boot this machine from external usb hard drive?
2. it is possible to attach another internal hard drive?
Supposing that the both answers above are 'no', how can I solve the following problem: I need hdd space, I need to boot 3 separate Wxp Operating Systems onto the same machine (Toshiba Satellite L20-100).

Booting from external USB HD - "No" would be the official, mcrsoft sponsored, answer. However, it is possible. Not easy but it can be done. I've seen it done with my own eyes and there are guides how to do this. Just look for it with search engine. But if you have enough disk space you better do what was suggested here - create 3 partitions and use boot manager.

Boot from external USB disk

Is there any way to boot from an external USB disk formatted in NTFS or UFS (CD/DVD format)? Basically my idea was to be able to boot the Win7 install image from an USB device. I tried many different ways, I even have my old internal HDD with the boot camp partition in a USB case (I just upgraded to 500GB!! ;)) but I can't in any way boot from USB. Only OSX backup and its installation disk boot fine from an external USB source. Any idea?

It isn't well supported by Microsoft. The problem on Apple hardware is you can't even make changes to the BIOS boot manager.
I have 4 internal hard drives so it is rather easy to boot from one hard drive and run the installer.
You ran into the lack of support for UEFI though which adds another layer and meant most likely having to alter and reburn the ISO to disc with Imgburn or something (and can be done from Windows only so you need a VM).
I got tired of the trouble and work arounds needed though and in the end I just built my own custom PCs - one of which has native eSATA that are bootable (an Intel DX58SO board).
Oh, and it is easy to install Windows 7 on PC, then just move the drive into Mac Pro and boot from there!

C30: Booting from external USB hard drive

I carry my OS on an external portable USB drive, and then make use of whatever hardware is available where I visit.
I recently attempted to boot a Lenovo C30 Thinkstation with this external drive, and was unable to do so. In looking at the BIOS settings, there is no option to boot from USB (other than floppy(?!?) or memory stick).
Is it possible to boot from an external USB hard drive, and if not, why?
jerry

The boot sequence section of our setup menus has been troublesome to say the least (at least through the development phase). There are various reasons why it is the way it is now....from spec requirements to customer requirements. So long story short it really needs to be this way, even though situations like the one you encoutered is inconvenient.
The USB issue is actually done for security reasons. For example, many large customers don't want users to have the ability to just walk up and plug in a USB device and allow the system to detect that and attempt to boot to it right away as it is a risk to their image/security. For this reason, USB devices don't automatically get added to the boot order, and must be added throught he setup menu if needed.

How do install Windows 7 from a USB optical drive?

I have a 27" 2013 iMac with no optical drive so I borrowed an Apple USB portable optical drive. How do I install Windows on BootCamp from the USB Optical drive?

iirc, you won't be able to or at least you shouldn't, it will take much longer than using a usb install
CHECKLIST
use only a +8gb USB2 flash drive
disconnect ALL devices except kb, mouse
STEPS
do a PRAM reset
open disk utility, confirm you have 1 partition (‘mac HD’ unless you renamed it) and repair permissions TWICE
dl a windows ISO
insert your usb flash drive and open boot camp assistant, choose all options making sure you used the new ISO just dl'd
if you get an error that the windows support software is unavailable, manually dl it here, put it on a separate USB2 drive and install by clicking setup.exe after windows is installed
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5634
w7 ISOs
http://techverse.net/download-windows-7-iso-x86-x64-microsofts-official-servers/

Windows installation from external usb cd rom for portege 2000

[b]how can i install windows forom an external usb cd rom on my portege 2000

Hi
this is a common situation for users without an internal optical drive.
My main hint is to install from the HDD instead of installing from a CD or DVD.
How you reach that goal depend on your possibilities.
The most common solution is to boot the machine into the already installed OS, copy the contents from the install media into a temporary folder on the local harddrive.
Start the installation from there.
If you have a clean machine (no OS) then you need to be able to boot from one of the supported devices:
USB FDD (not USB HDD or USB CD).
PC Card CD/DVD
LAN
BR
Tom

Can't Import From External USB Optical Drive

I have an External USB cdrom drive that I want to use to rip my music collection to my iTunes library. When I put in a CD, iTunes looks up the information and offers to import it to the library. I click okay and it goes ahead. It takes a whooping 5 seconds to rip the whole cd . The files are only 51Kb or 80kb in size and are unplayable. The built in DVD Burner in my laptop works fine for ripping cds but I don't want to put the un-needed wear on it because portable drives don't last long. The drive inside the enclosure is brand new and has previously worked fine at everything else. Has anyone else encountered this problem? Any solutions?

hmmmm. do you have "Error correction" switched on in your Importing preferences? if so, does switching that off help with the importing issues?
if no joy there, perhaps some of the other usual suspects from the following document are worth checking on:
You can't import or play music from an audio CD in iTunes for Windows
... and these resources might be helpful with that:
Using CD Diagnostics in iTunes for Windows to troubleshoot CD/DVD drive issues
iTunes for Windows: Updating the firmware on your CD or DVD drive
Updating the drivers on your Windows PC
Where to find firmware for your CD/DVD drive

Booting a DMG from a USB Flash Drive?

Is there anyway I can boot from a USB flash drive? I don't have a DVD burner to burn the image onto, so I have to resort to this. I'm running an Intel iMac (late 2006) on Tiger.
Any help is appreciated.

If you mean boot up your Mac then the answer is no. If you mean open a .dmg file then the answer is yes.

Windows 7 from external USB Optical or Thumb Drive

Hi,
I recently got a new 2011 17" MBP and swapped the optical for an SSD. Now I have been trying to install Windows 7 from an external DVD reader via USB....when I attempt this and boot from the device, it spins for about 15 seconds and then stops while the screen is black with just a blinking cursor. I am in the process of trying to put together a bootable thumb drive to see how that will work. Is there anything I should know here, am I wasting my time? I have seen various posts regarding various install issues on the internet, but most refer to XP or older computers.
Any advice?
Thanks,
Chris

First and foremost: Are you using OPTION to try to select the USB-DVD to boot from?
The MacBook Air has to, and has to place a set of Apple supplied drivers on USB I think or has USB DVD support.
http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp
one feature Boot Camp Assistant has been broken never worked part of 10.6.6, to download drivers to put on CD/USB. So that is 5 months status: broken and unacknowledged officially.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4407
A nice normal walk-thru install, what I think most expect -
http://www.simplehelp.net/2009/01/15/using-boot-camp-to-install-windows-7-on-you r-mac-the-complete-walkthrough/

Having trouble installing Windows 7 on external optical disk drive

My internal optical drive doesnt work so i ran out and bought and LG external Optical drive. I Reinstalled mac os 10.6 and created a 45gb partition in bootcamp. When i try to install windows, at the gray screen it flashes a folder symbol and a circle with a line through it like it cant find the boot up disk in the external disk drive. The version of windows 7 im using is a burned .iso that i got from my boss so i could work on my laptop, i have tried an official windows 7 disk and that produced the same error. Im really not sure what to do other than go to the apple store and the nearest one is 100 miles away so i preferably dont want to do that. Any help would be appreciated. thanks.

Sorry, it is not clear to me if you are trying to install Windows on an external optical drive or what. Read the Bootcamp installation and help manuals http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/
Windows needs to be installed on the internal hard drive drive.
Also, Bootcamp questions are better posted in the Bootcamp forum where the Bootcamp gurus hang out. https://discussions.apple.com/community/windows_software/boot_camp

Booting windows vista from a usb?

hp pavillion dv6500. i want to change my windows 7 to windows vista. I have the cd for vista but my cd rom drive doesnt work, so what i was thinking was booting it from a usb is this even possible? is so can i get a step by step? thanks

Hi:
Yes you can. If you can read the 25 character vista product key on the bottom of your PC, you can follow the guide at the link below to make a bootable vista flash drive--starting on page 289.
http://philipyip.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/windows-reinstallation-guide-03-03-2013.pdf
Otherwise you can google how to make a bootable flash drive copy of your Vista installation DVD.
http://anyutilities.blogspot.in/2009/11/copy-bootable-cd-and-dvd-to-usb-flash.html
You will not be able to make one with a recovery disk set.

Boot MacBook Pro From External USB HD

I have a 20 GB external USB HD. This drive started life as a replacement drive for my 3rd generation iPod. I could not get the drive to work in the iPod so I bought a USB enclosure for it and planned on using it as an emergency boot drive. (I could not find a reasonably priced FireWire enclosure for this 1.8" Toshiba HD.) The drive enclosure is USB 2 and has the small triangular shaped USB port, like you would find on a camera. I have installed Mac OS 10.4.6 and some diagnostic apps on the drive. However, I cannot seem to boot from the external drive. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.
PowerMac G5 Dual 2.5 Bluetooth Mac OS X (10.4.4) ADC Select Member

I don't believe this is possible with USB.
The official name for this is "Firewire Booting", which shows that FW, rather than the hard drive, is a necessary part of external booting. Same with Firewire Target Mode.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58606
MBP 2.0, 2GB Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Transfering data from a Windows XP/PC external USB hard drive to MBP.

I recently purchased a 15.4" Macbook Pro and it is my first Mac computer. I have a USB 2.0 external hard drive currently attached to my Windows XP based PC and I am hoping to a.) get the information currently on this drive on to my Macbook Pro and b.) use this drive--even if reformatting is necessary--as an external device on my Macbook Pro.
Both computers are connected to the same wireless network (via a Linksys Wireless-G hub) and both have USB 2.0 ports--but my PC has no firewire ports.
I am simply wondering: what is the best way to get the information from the external harddrive to my Macbook Pro? The MBP didn't seem to "recognize" the drive initially when I plugged it into the laptop's USB port.

oh yes, you are unfamiliar with windows sharing. no prob.
First off you have to set up a network on your windows PC. I don't know how savvy you are with your PC, but basically you have run the network setup wizard. You might also have to set up a protocol in your network properties (usually IPX will do the trick). If you click on the windows start button and see a network button near the my computer button you are most of the way there.
Once you have your computer set up for networking you need to enable sharing, which you also do in the network properties (there is a checkbox somewhere).
Lastly, you need to specify which folder(s) you want to share! Just right click on the drive (D: for example) in my computer and click 'sharing'. Naviagate the menus and enable sharing.
Your MBP is already set up for talking to windows networks, so just go to finder and click on networks, pick the workgroup that you specified when you set up your network on your windows machine and click ok. A connection to your external drive should appear. Now you can drag and drop all the files you want.
Sorry if this is confusing, but I can't really rememeber all this stuff off the top of my head.
If you want more clarification, search for 'how to share in windows XP' or something like that.
Good luck

Is it possible to install leopard from external USB DVD drive?

Hi all,
I've read through the various posts on the subject and there doesn�t seem to be a definitive answer on this. I've got a Lacie USB2 DL DVD drive which I'm trying to use to install leopard on an earlier MacBook Pro (core duo 2.0ghz). I've tried the various suggestions (hold c on boot, hold option key on boot, set dvd as startup drive), and so far been unsuccessful. The drive is just not recognized.
The DVD media is fine(I've got family edition of Leopard), I've successfully installed it on my G5. The Lacie drive recognizes it fine, when I'm in tiger on MBP and insert the disk it is mounted as I would expect. I did try dbl-clicking the install icon as well (in case you were wondering)
So, does anyone have any other ideas for me to try, or should I go and get a refund on the Lacie drive? The guys in the store (Apple authorized reseller, not Apple Store) assured me it would work, so I don't want to look like a clown if it is possible and I'm just doing it wrong
Anyway, thanks in advance for any replies.

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. Yes the MBP is currently running Tiger, I want to flatten this with a fresh install of Leopard. I can view the install DVD when in Tiger currently.
I haven't tried what you have suggested, but I have seen various posts suggesting this approach. I've also seen several posts explain how to create a partition on an external firewire Harddrive and this seems to have worked for various people.
This would however mean that I didn't really need the external Lacie drive at all, as I've got access to my G5s DVD drive over the network. The more I search on this, the more convinced I am the USB drive was a bad idea.
Once again thank for the response.

Booting Windows XP from external USB disk drive

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