Run XP from a USB memory stick is it possible?

st999

Because my grandson's parents don't have a landline and don't intend getting one and do not get all that a reliable signal for mobile internet anyway, we tried it, Asda's return policy is wonderful,:A he comes to my house 2 or 3 times a week and stays at the weekends so he can use my internet access.

I don't mind, that is what grandad is there for:rolleyes:.

However he keeps dowloading a load of rubbish and cluttering up my computer, why does he need all these toolbars and download managers anyway:eek:, so far I only need to clean the viruses and !!!!!!, just kidding he is only 13, off once he has gone.

I do actually have a separate user profile for him but of course when he installs stuff it affects my user profile as well and I don't want to go down the road of preventing him from doing things and anyway he could probably get round anything I did.:eek:
So I thought of a brilliant idea, at least to me it is, of installing XP on a USB memory stick, I have a 4Gb one, and he could just plug it it and away he goes, laughing his head of at all the things on utube he watches and playing his Sims game.

So is it possible to install XP on a memory stick along with various games and just plug it in when required?

Another idea I have is to install a separate hard drive and he boots from that, I can do that OK as I already do it to boot between XP and Vista but I would have to spend money on that:eek: whereas I have the 4Gb memory stick.

Stan

ABH_3

You can't do the former, but you can do the latter with the seperate harddrive. Alternatively you could use something like Acronis to create a restore disk which you could run after he had left, it would return your computer back to the time\date that you took the image. So if you took the image before he came, you could restore it when he left

But it would be easier to just relegate an old HD and dual boot.

HTH

456789

a lot of linux distros can run from a memory stick (assuming pc can boot from usb) should be fine for general internet

kwikbreaks

Why not set up a separate user account for him? His toolbars etc. won't appear on the browser in your account (at least I'm pretty sure they won't - my grandkids just surf pr0n and don't download junk)

P.S. make it a user account not an administrator account too.

robt_2

456789 wrote: »

a lot of linux distros can run from a memory stick (assuming pc can boot from usb) should be fine for general internet

Chances are his games won't run on a USB stick under Linux.

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Why not set up a separate user account for him? His toolbars etc. won't appear on the browser in your account (at least I'm pretty sure they won't - my grandkids just surf pr0n and don't download junk)

P.S. make it a user account not an administrator account too.

The OP says he already has one, doesn't say whether it is a user or administrator though.

Aother vote for using Acronis or other imaging software here. As soon as he goes restore the image of your 'perfect PC' with all your settings etc and all his junk will be gone.

Donnie

st999 wrote: »

Because my grandson's parents don't have a landline and don't intend ......

Sent you a PM.

andy2004

IF you change you grandson account to user only, believe you've got it on admin, he shouldn't be able to install toolbars and downloaders, acronis or image xml would be a good idea it will restore it back to how you had it before he arrived, if you remember to take a image before he turns up.

kwikbreaks

I'm still not at all convinced that two different accounts are in use. If there is no password on the Grandad account then he may just be using that. One of the reasons for having different accounts is to permit different appearances.

This netbook is XP but I can't believe Vista would be different - I just set up a different account (as an admin too) and changes to the browser toolbars on that don't impact my own settings.

Jaffa.

kwikbreaks wrote: »

toolbars on that don't impact my own settings.

Chances are if you install toolbars on the computer and you're an administrator, the toolbars will be installed for everyone. Sometimes even limited accounts can install toolbars

Personally what I would do is enable the guest account and use K9 Web Protection to block the sites that download rubbish, make sure your Antivirus is password protected so he can't go turning it off in a malicious act < that, is vital!

Windows steadystate is something you can look into

bat999

Well, the title of this thread is:-
Run XP from a USB memory stick is it possible?

The answer is 'YES'.

There are articles on the www that explain how to do it.
It's probably not stuff for a nooby to attempt, but it looks like an interesting project if you've got time and patience.
Here's one such article that explains about it:-
How to install and run a FULL Windows XP from a USB drive
:cool:

Djinn

Stedystate or sandboxie would be useful to turn back any installed progs but, youll need to get your PC clean first - remove all the junk he has already put on the pc. Run CCleaner, Spybot, Malwarebytes, etc. Then install stedystate or sandboxie end off problems. Or run off LiveCD when he assesses the PC put in a USB stick so he can save docs.
Google sandboxie/stedystate