Anyone install Win7 to a USB drive on their rig?

[snoopytime]

If so, any quik details you can chime in with? Also, what size USB? 8gig or so?

Thxx!

[r00t$]

You don't need anything bigger than 8GB, just make sure it's a decent flash drive and not a cheap-o.

Use Rufus http://rufus.akeo.ie/ to make a bootable USB, and a good ISO of Windows 7. That's it!

[redtwitz]

You don't need anything bigger than 8GB, just make sure it's a decent flash drive and not a cheap-o.

Use Rufus http://rufus.akeo.ie/ to make a bootable USB, and a good ISO of Windows 7. That's it!

That's for installing Windows 7 from a flash drive.

If so, any quik details you can chime in with?

Installing Windows 7 on a flash drive (or even an external HDD) is not straightforward for a rather simple reason: Microsoft doesn't want you to. Can Windows 7 boot from an external USB or FireWire drive? gives a little bit of information on the topic.

Also, what size USB? 8gig or so?

The minimum disk space for 32-bit Windows 7 is 16 GiB. It's 20 GiB for 64-bit.

[crazyates]

Funny you should ask. The last 48 hours, I've been working on building a Win 8 PE disk. I have it on an old 1GB USB drive, and everything fits, but I'm still adding stuff so it could end up being larger. Once it's all nice and stable, I'll release the img with instructions on how to use it for yourself. Consider it a Windows version of BAMT, or an x86 Windows version of MinePEON - you plug it in, 5 min later you're mining.

What's working:
Wired NIC drivers are included with Win8.
Bundled Wifi drivers (3rd parth and Windows default).
Installed AMD 12.8 drivers/SDK.
CGMiner and BFGMiner both work with GPU mining (BTC works, haven't tried LTC, tho it should work).
MSI AB can downclock GPU memory, and undervolt.
GPU-z can read all GPU sensors, including verifying undervolt.
FTDI drivers install, and BFGMiner can mine on my BFL FPGA Single.

What's not working:
CGMiner cannot be used to mine on any USB devices (FPGAs or ASICs), as Zadig causes the OS to BSOD when it tries to install a driver (such as WinUSB). Using Zadig to export the driver and manually installing it doesn't work either, as "Windows\System32\drivers" is missing winusb.sys. I'm going to have to copy them from a Win8x86 machine, which I don't have, so if anyone is using 32-bit Win8 and wants to help out on that front, feel free to send me a PM.
Getting Miner.php to work is still a work in progress. That's low on the priority list, tho.
A lot of the things that work require a manual setup every time you boot from the disk. I'd like to work on packing it a bit more nicely.

[Oldie]

Would love to get a copy of the WinPE image crazy, keeping hard drives in mining rigs is a PIA, and Linux and I do not mix...

[cdog]

You can install from a flash drive, but not run windows on it, from my research and experience. Ubuntu can run off a flash drive.

[bitbryan]

STAP ET!  use a harddrive and boot windows normally! use a ssd if you concerned about power consumption lol

[crazyates]

"Windows to go" can be installed on a (good) usb device

Microsoft releases this since windows 8

Although it can be hacked onto a 16GB drive with some effort, Windows To Go is an Win8 Enterprise only feature, requires a certified W2G USB Drive at least 32GB (which all start at $70), and requires a MS account for you to sync with. Read: Expensive, and proprietary.

Win PE 4.0 is available for anyone, fits on any USB drive 1GB or larger, and is completely free. See the advantages?

[lbr]

Also there is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinBuilder
I've tried it with xp/2k3, running full blown windows from CD is amazing ; ))

[Jazkal]

Funny you should ask. The last 48 hours, I've been working on building a Win 8 PE disk. I have it on an old 1GB USB drive, and everything fits, but I'm still adding stuff so it could end up being larger. Once it's all nice and stable, I'll release the img with instructions on how to use it for yourself. Consider it a Windows version of BAMT, or an x86 Windows version of MinePEON - you plug it in, 5 min later you're mining.

What's working:
Wired NIC drivers are included with Win8.
Bundled Wifi drivers (3rd parth and Windows default).
Installed AMD 12.8 drivers/SDK.
CGMiner and BFGMiner both work with GPU mining (BTC works, haven't tried LTC, tho it should work).
MSI AB can downclock GPU memory, and undervolt.
GPU-z can read all GPU sensors, including verifying undervolt.
FTDI drivers install, and BFGMiner can mine on my BFL FPGA Single.

What's not working:
CGMiner cannot be used to mine on any USB devices (FPGAs or ASICs), as Zadig causes the OS to BSOD when it tries to install a driver (such as WinUSB). Using Zadig to export the driver and manually installing it doesn't work either, as "Windows\System32\drivers" is missing winusb.sys. I'm going to have to copy them from a Win8x86 machine, which I don't have, so if anyone is using 32-bit Win8 and wants to help out on that front, feel free to send me a PM.
Getting Miner.php to work is still a work in progress. That's low on the priority list, tho.
A lot of the things that work require a manual setup every time you boot from the disk. I'd like to work on packing it a bit more nicely.

Can you give us the commands you used to build this WinPE?

[crazyates]

Can you give us the commands you used to build this WinPE?

When I'm finished, I'll make the ISO available for download so anyone can burn it to a 1GB USB drive, and use it.

[legitnick]

Yes you can install it from a USB no problem.

[BitCointransfers]

Forget about running Windows from USB, it's extremely SLOW

[crazyates]

Forget about running Windows from USB, it's extremely SLOW

Once it's loaded, it's fine for mining purposes. I'm getting the same hashrate as if I were booting from a HDD.

[threeip]

Linux, or SSD?

[crazyates]

Would love to get a copy of the WinPE image crazy, keeping hard drives in mining rigs is a PIA, and Linux and I do not mix...

Been working on it all weekend, so tell me what you think: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=247537.0

[demontn]

Hello Bitcoiners ,
i just installed windowstogo in a 16Gb usb, it works, i installed drivers and everything but when i start reaper (I have 3 GPUs, i am using 1 reaper instance for 6970 and another for 6850 and 6770), so when i run the 6970 it works well but when i started the 6770/6850 it says that i don't have enough ram (but my system was running on a HDD with windows7 with 2Gb ram). My question is : Does this error shows because i am using a USB or i should add more ram  ? .
thanks

[Jazkal]

Here is a guide on how to install Windows 7 (or other versions) onto a USB drive, and run the OS from that device.

http://reboot.pro/topic/10126-nt-6x-fast-installer-install-win7-directly-to-usb-external-drive/

EDIT: My mistake, that is for a USB hard drive. oops

[reikokuko]

Linux ftw!! Have it boot from the USB, copy itself into RAM and use the USB as storage.  RAM is waaay faster than SSD/HDD and your rig will be harddriveless (so leet, awesome to brag about).

[crazyates]

Linux ftw!! Have it boot from the USB, copy itself into RAM and use the USB as storage.  RAM is waaay faster than SSD/HDD and your rig will be harddriveless (so leet, awesome to brag about).

Linux isn't the only one that can do that.