installation usb drive

So I found a number of messages stating you cannot install/boot Vista to an external USB hard drive. Is this only for the Beta or are there plans to allow this with final release?
Either way, it would have been nice if the Setup team added a check for this so those of us unaware of this limiation wouldn't have wasted several hours trying to install this thing onto our USB drive. This is just plain careless of the Setup team for something as far along as Beta 2!

Which other operating systems are you booting off of a usb drive now?
"Captain Fox" wrote in message

So I found a number of messages stating you cannot install/boot Vista to an external USB hard drive. Is this only for the Beta or are there plans to allow this with final release?
Either way, it would have been nice if the Setup team added a check for this so those of us unaware of this limiation wouldn't have wasted several hours trying to install this thing onto our USB drive. This is just plain careless of the Setup team for something as far along as Beta 2!

Geez... And I get flamed!
-- Mark
Keeping the fun in dysfunctional! "Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message

Which other operating systems are you booting off of a usb drive now?
"Captain Fox" wrote in message So I found a number of messages stating you cannot install/boot Vista to an external USB hard drive. Is this only for the Beta or are there plans to allow this with final release?
Either way, it would have been nice if the Setup team added a check for this so those of us unaware of this limiation wouldn't have wasted several hours trying to install this thing onto our USB drive. This is just plain careless of the Setup team for something as far along as Beta 2!

I have to agree. Colin, what's your point. It's a legitimate feature request.
Tom "Mark D. VandenBerg" wrote in message

Geez... And I get flamed!
-- Mark
Keeping the fun in dysfunctional! "Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message Which other operating systems are you booting off of a usb drive now?
"Captain Fox" wrote in message So I found a number of messages stating you cannot install/boot Vista to an external USB hard drive. Is this only for the Beta or are there plans to allow this with final release?
Either way, it would have been nice if the Setup team added a check for this so those of us unaware of this limiation wouldn't have wasted several hours trying to install this thing onto our USB drive. This is just plain careless of the Setup team for something as far along as Beta 2!

Having something be a Feature Request is one thing, to say that the Installer designers should have a specific warning about something that is not available with any current available OS is another..
"Tom Scales" wrote in message

I have to agree. Colin, what's your point. It's a legitimate feature request.
Tom "Mark D. VandenBerg" wrote in message Geez... And I get flamed!
-- Mark
Keeping the fun in dysfunctional! "Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message Which other operating systems are you booting off of a usb drive now?
"Captain Fox" wrote in message So I found a number of messages stating you cannot install/boot Vista to an external USB hard drive. Is this only for the Beta or are there plans to allow this with final release?
Either way, it would have been nice if the Setup team added a check for this so those of us unaware of this limiation wouldn't have wasted several hours trying to install this thing onto our USB drive. This is just plain careless of the Setup team for something as far along as Beta 2!

I disagree there too. It's absolutely silly to allow the install to progress on a drive that then won't boot. Think about it.
The installer shouldn't even offer that drive as a choice. It's bad code, pure and simple.
Tom "Zapper" wrote in message

Having something be a Feature Request is one thing, to say that the Installer designers should have a specific warning about something that is not available with any current available OS is another..
"Tom Scales" wrote in message I have to agree. Colin, what's your point. It's a legitimate feature request.
Tom "Mark D. VandenBerg" wrote in message Geez... And I get flamed!
-- Mark
Keeping the fun in dysfunctional! "Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message Which other operating systems are you booting off of a usb drive now?
"Captain Fox" wrote in message So I found a number of messages stating you cannot install/boot Vista to an external USB hard drive. Is this only for the Beta or are there plans to allow this with final release?
Either way, it would have been nice if the Setup team added a check for this so those of us unaware of this limiation wouldn't have wasted several hours trying to install this thing onto our USB drive. This is just plain careless of the Setup team for something as far along as Beta 2!

On 7/6/06 7:56 AM, in article ODmpUxQoGHA.1208@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl, "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:

Which other operating systems are you booting off of a usb drive now?
"Captain Fox" wrote in message So I found a number of messages stating you cannot install/boot Vista to an external USB hard drive. Is this only for the Beta or are there plans to allow this with final release?
Either way, it would have been nice if the Setup team added a check for this so those of us unaware of this limiation wouldn't have wasted several hours trying to install this thing onto our USB drive. This is just plain careless of the Setup team for something as far along as Beta 2!

Does it really matter, Colin?
Why can't Microsoft be the FIRST to allow booting from an external device? What happened to the spirit of innovation which used to be a Microsoft watchpoint?
Why must Microsoft always be copying others (as they've done with Vista vis a vis OS X)?
Come on, Microsoft, let us boot from our external USB and Firewire devices under Vista!!!. Many motherboards now allow for external devices to be boot devices. Why can't Microsoft spend a little time and money (they have so much of it, after all) and develop something NEW for a change?
Man, we're so damned TIRED of Windows 3.1. Get with it, Microsoft.
And while you're at it, PUT EFI partitions in, so we can get rid of OS X on our Intel iMacs and MacBooks, and have the best OS (Vista) on the best machines (Intel Macs)!!! As it is, we have to waste beaucoup disk space keeping an OS X partition in place, and delete the Mac EFI partition just to INSTALL Vista in the first place.
Come on, Microsoft, GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!!
Donald L McDaniel Please reply to the original thread, so that it may not become broken. ========================================================================

Doesn't progress very far, first reboot and it stops. I couldn't get a Hitachi SATA II to boot either. Good data drive.
"Tom Scales" wrote in message

I disagree there too. It's absolutely silly to allow the install to progress on a drive that then won't boot. Think about it.
The installer shouldn't even offer that drive as a choice. It's bad code, pure and simple.
Tom "Zapper" wrote in message Having something be a Feature Request is one thing, to say that the Installer designers should have a specific warning about something that is not available with any current available OS is another..
"Tom Scales" wrote in message I have to agree. Colin, what's your point. It's a legitimate feature request.
Tom "Mark D. VandenBerg" wrote in message Geez... And I get flamed!
-- Mark
Keeping the fun in dysfunctional! "Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message Which other operating systems are you booting off of a usb drive now?
"Captain Fox" wrote in message So I found a number of messages stating you cannot install/boot Vista to an external USB hard drive. Is this only for the Beta or are there plans to allow this with final release?
Either way, it would have been nice if the Setup team added a check for this so those of us unaware of this limiation wouldn't have wasted several hours trying to install this thing onto our USB drive. This is just plain careless of the Setup team for something as far along as Beta 2!

Certainly it would be nice to allow for boot off of a USB. Those of us with laptops that want/need multiple OSes for client work don't have a lot of options now, especially since VPC with Vista is not that useful just yet.
Additionally, the fact that something works a certain way in XP is a moot argument since USB Drives were not as ubiquitous when XP came out. They are now, and judging by the number of posts here of folks who have tried to install onto a USB drive, it makes sense to do something about the issue.
So either support the feature or have a check in the Setup to prevent installation onto the USB drive. I know there are risks of allowing boot from a removable drive so I do understand the predicament of supporting this scenario. Listen, I am making a stink about this Setup issue mainly because until my recent retirement I worked over 13 years FTE on a team in the MS developer division (last 5 being GPM in charge of the team) so I know plenty about setup and Box PM work (you can probably guess which team from the title). I also know a lot about customer/community satisfaction.
"Captain Fox" wrote:

So I found a number of messages stating you cannot install/boot Vista to an external USB hard drive. Is this only for the Beta or are there plans to allow this with final release?
Either way, it would have been nice if the Setup team added a check for this so those of us unaware of this limiation wouldn't have wasted several hours trying to install this thing onto our USB drive. This is just plain careless of the Setup team for something as far along as Beta 2!

I just wondered if you had experience booting from a usb drive or just assumed you could. I do boot Vista off of an external enclosure, but it is a SATA enclosure with a direct connection to the mobo via a passthrough anchored in an expansion opening in the back of the PC. I asked because your BIOS might support bootable usb devices and I wanted to know what you had done previously. It was a legitimate question. I wanted to know.
"Donald McDaniel" wrote in message

On 7/6/06 7:56 AM, in article ODmpUxQoGHA.1208@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl, "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
Which other operating systems are you booting off of a usb drive now?
"Captain Fox" wrote in message So I found a number of messages stating you cannot install/boot Vista to an external USB hard drive. Is this only for the Beta or are there plans to allow this with final release?
Either way, it would have been nice if the Setup team added a check for this so those of us unaware of this limiation wouldn't have wasted several hours trying to install this thing onto our USB drive. This is just plain careless of the Setup team for something as far along as Beta 2!

Does it really matter, Colin?
Why can't Microsoft be the FIRST to allow booting from an external device? What happened to the spirit of innovation which used to be a Microsoft watchpoint?
Why must Microsoft always be copying others (as they've done with Vista vis a vis OS X)?
Come on, Microsoft, let us boot from our external USB and Firewire devices under Vista!!!. Many motherboards now allow for external devices to be boot devices. Why can't Microsoft spend a little time and money (they have so much of it, after all) and develop something NEW for a change?
Man, we're so damned TIRED of Windows 3.1. Get with it, Microsoft.
And while you're at it, PUT EFI partitions in, so we can get rid of OS X on our Intel iMacs and MacBooks, and have the best OS (Vista) on the best machines (Intel Macs)!!! As it is, we have to waste beaucoup disk space keeping an OS X partition in place, and delete the Mac EFI partition just to INSTALL Vista in the first place.
Come on, Microsoft, GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!!
Donald L McDaniel Please reply to the original thread, so that it may not become broken. ========================================================================

I use an ExpressCard/34 adaptor for eSATA drives with one of my laptops. FirmTek makes the card http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-2sm2-e/.
I have not done it yet, but I understand that if you supply the driver (F6 for XP or Load Drivers for Vista, plus a contoller driver if not already in firmware on your laptop) you should be able to boot from external eSATA and SATA drives with it.
As I said, I have not done it yet, but the concept looks promising for laptop users.
"Captain Fox" wrote in message

Certainly it would be nice to allow for boot off of a USB. Those of us with laptops that want/need multiple OSes for client work don't have a lot of options now, especially since VPC with Vista is not that useful just yet.
Additionally, the fact that something works a certain way in XP is a moot argument since USB Drives were not as ubiquitous when XP came out. They are now, and judging by the number of posts here of folks who have tried to install onto a USB drive, it makes sense to do something about the issue.
So either support the feature or have a check in the Setup to prevent installation onto the USB drive. I know there are risks of allowing boot from a removable drive so I do understand the predicament of supporting this scenario. Listen, I am making a stink about this Setup issue mainly because until my recent retirement I worked over 13 years FTE on a team in the MS developer division (last 5 being GPM in charge of the team) so I know plenty about setup and Box PM work (you can probably guess which team from the title). I also know a lot about customer/community satisfaction.
"Captain Fox" wrote:
So I found a number of messages stating you cannot install/boot Vista to an external USB hard drive. Is this only for the Beta or are there plans to allow this with final release?
Either way, it would have been nice if the Setup team added a check for this so those of us unaware of this limiation wouldn't have wasted several hours trying to install this thing onto our USB drive. This is just plain careless of the Setup team for something as far along as Beta 2!

My Bios has options for Boot from USB CD, or Zip..but no hard drive option..
"Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message

I just wondered if you had experience booting from a usb drive or just assumed you could. I do boot Vista off of an external enclosure, but it is a SATA enclosure with a direct connection to the mobo via a passthrough anchored in an expansion opening in the back of the PC. I asked because your BIOS might support bootable usb devices and I wanted to know what you had done previously. It was a legitimate question. I wanted to know.
"Donald McDaniel" wrote in message On 7/6/06 7:56 AM, in article ODmpUxQoGHA.1208@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl, "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
Which other operating systems are you booting off of a usb drive now?
"Captain Fox" wrote in message So I found a number of messages stating you cannot install/boot Vista to an external USB hard drive. Is this only for the Beta or are there plans to allow this with final release?
Either way, it would have been nice if the Setup team added a check for this so those of us unaware of this limiation wouldn't have wasted several hours trying to install this thing onto our USB drive. This is just plain careless of the Setup team for something as far along as Beta 2!

Does it really matter, Colin?
Why can't Microsoft be the FIRST to allow booting from an external device? What happened to the spirit of innovation which used to be a Microsoft watchpoint?
Why must Microsoft always be copying others (as they've done with Vista vis a vis OS X)?
Come on, Microsoft, let us boot from our external USB and Firewire devices under Vista!!!. Many motherboards now allow for external devices to be boot devices. Why can't Microsoft spend a little time and money (they have so much of it, after all) and develop something NEW for a change?
Man, we're so damned TIRED of Windows 3.1. Get with it, Microsoft.
And while you're at it, PUT EFI partitions in, so we can get rid of OS X on our Intel iMacs and MacBooks, and have the best OS (Vista) on the best machines (Intel Macs)!!! As it is, we have to waste beaucoup disk space keeping an OS X partition in place, and delete the Mac EFI partition just to INSTALL Vista in the first place.
Come on, Microsoft, GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!!
Donald L McDaniel Please reply to the original thread, so that it may not become broken. ========================================================================

Fully acceptable and reasonable point.
Silly not to check that the install target is a device on which the OS will not boot...
"Captain Fox" wrote in message

So I found a number of messages stating you cannot install/boot Vista to an external USB hard drive. Is this only for the Beta or are there plans to allow this with final release?
Either way, it would have been nice if the Setup team added a check for this so those of us unaware of this limiation wouldn't have wasted several hours trying to install this thing onto our USB drive. This is just plain careless of the Setup team for something as far along as Beta 2!

Just to have a look see one of my systems does indeed have an option to boot from a USB drive. I have nothing to do really, and its doing to rain all day, maybe I'll try something, here...
-- Mark
Keeping the fun in dysfunctional! "Zapper" wrote in message

My Bios has options for Boot from USB CD, or Zip..but no hard drive option..
"Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message I just wondered if you had experience booting from a usb drive or just assumed you could. I do boot Vista off of an external enclosure, but it is a SATA enclosure with a direct connection to the mobo via a passthrough anchored in an expansion opening in the back of the PC. I asked because your BIOS might support bootable usb devices and I wanted to know what you had done previously. It was a legitimate question. I wanted to know.
"Donald McDaniel" wrote in message On 7/6/06 7:56 AM, in article ODmpUxQoGHA.1208@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl, "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
Which other operating systems are you booting off of a usb drive now?
"Captain Fox" wrote in message So I found a number of messages stating you cannot install/boot Vista to an external USB hard drive. Is this only for the Beta or are there plans to allow this with final release?
Either way, it would have been nice if the Setup team added a check for this so those of us unaware of this limiation wouldn't have wasted several hours trying to install this thing onto our USB drive. This is just plain careless of the Setup team for something as far along as Beta 2!

Does it really matter, Colin?
Why can't Microsoft be the FIRST to allow booting from an external device? What happened to the spirit of innovation which used to be a Microsoft watchpoint?
Why must Microsoft always be copying others (as they've done with Vista vis a vis OS X)?
Come on, Microsoft, let us boot from our external USB and Firewire devices under Vista!!!. Many motherboards now allow for external devices to be boot devices. Why can't Microsoft spend a little time and money (they have so much of it, after all) and develop something NEW for a change?
Man, we're so damned TIRED of Windows 3.1. Get with it, Microsoft.
And while you're at it, PUT EFI partitions in, so we can get rid of OS X on our Intel iMacs and MacBooks, and have the best OS (Vista) on the best machines (Intel Macs)!!! As it is, we have to waste beaucoup disk space keeping an OS X partition in place, and delete the Mac EFI partition just to INSTALL Vista in the first place.
Come on, Microsoft, GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!!
Donald L McDaniel Please reply to the original thread, so that it may not become broken. ========================================================================