My guess is that you actually want to install Windows on a thumb drive. If that's the case, the last time I checked, it wasn't possible. Mainly because Windows installs drivers that are specific to each computer, thus if you plugged it into another computer or laptop, you'd get a blue screen.
Here's a link to a good artice at tomshardware.com on how to install xp on a usb flash drive. You should tryout Ubuntu or some other free os. There is alote of articles on how to install ubuntu on a flashdrive and it will work flawlessly with any system you connect it to. Here's a good article at pendrivelinux.com on how to do it.
For the record, the link above doesn't actually install Windows on a thumb drive. You're simply using a popular program called BartPE, which is usually burned to a CD, and putting it on a thumb drive. It'll give you some of the features of Windows, but it's extremely stripped down and nothing close to a full install of XP. Also, you can only install certain applications and they have to be installed from the BartPE utility as opposed to running a setup.exe file. I don't want anyone to be confused and think they can get rid of their hard drives and replace them with a USB thumb drive.
Originally posted by silk42: For the record, the link above doesn't actually install Windows on a thumb drive. You're simply using a popular program called BartPE, which is usually burned to a CD, and putting it on a thumb drive. It'll give you some of the features of Windows, but it's extremely stripped down and nothing close to a full install of XP. Also, you can only install certain applications and they have to be installed from the BartPE utility as opposed to running a setup.exe file. I don't want anyone to be confused and think they can get rid of their hard drives and replace them with a USB thumb drive.
Your correct, Its very difficult to install a full fledged copy of windows xp on a flash drive, and if you are able to install it, it will only work with the machine that you installed it on, which would make it pointless to do. Although the idea of it is very intriguing.
