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“E: has NOT FAT FAT32 or NTFS Format and is NOT Valid”

Posted by DuncanM On July - 17 - 2009

***Arrived from YouTube? Skip down to “So how did I fix it?”***

A while ago I made a video on Installing XP to an Acer Aspire One via a USB Drive:

Unfortunately, I have had many messages with people having problems with this. One of them is “babyjoe00069” who says:

ive got an issue i was really excited when i saw the video on windows xp for the acer laptop well im following the steps n when i try to find a target path which would be the usb stick it tells me…
has NOT FAT FAT32 or NTFS Format and is not valid….., yet when i do the steps it is supposed to format it i dont understand what is wrong do i have to go find a kingston flash drive? im useing a cruzer disk 2 gb i went to wal mart all they had was a pny 2 gb im lost n really need this to wrk pls help

Yes, that is the type of poor spelling I receive on YouTube on a daily basis (no offense babyjoe, I assume you are young).

Anyway…

I have had this issue on my own 8GB Sony Flash Drive, whereby I would format with PEtoUSB and would get the following error:

error

and formatting the Stick through windows to FAT32 or NTFS would result in the following error when selecting “2”:

error1

So how did I fix it?

You may not know but there is a GUI (Prettier) version of this setup, and is called WinSetupFromUSB. Format your drive in Windows to FAT32 or NTFS (NTFS will be faster in the text mode of setup), and select your CD in WinSetupFromUSB, your window should look like this:

XPUSB

Go ahead and click the GO button.

At this point you may receive an error about the MBR (especially if you can only format your drive to FAT32), just ignore that and go ahead. All of your files will be copied to the memory stick.

Now when you go to install from the USB, the startup may look a little different, but has the same principle:

  • Boot to the USB and select “First Part of installation”
  • Format the drive you want to install to
  • let XP do the text mode setup of the install (that blue screen with the yellow bar), and reboot
  • Select “2nd Part of Installation” and it will go through the graphic part of the install
  • Reboot

Voila, you have now installed Windows XP via a USB drive. My recommendation would be to keep that drive as an install disc for the future, as they are cheap to buy now.

Did this work for you? leave a comment.

Last 6 posts by DuncanM

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Posted in: Computing, Software
  • pavan024
    hello might,
    I have a problem, i used winsetupfromusb. everything works fine till i reboot the system and initially windows files are loaded, but then I dont see my c drive (this is during the first part of the installation) to format. do i have to have a partition on my pendrive, i donot have a clue how to install windows on my acer aspire one d250 which came with a spanish version of windows. help me please. i tried both the ntfs, fat32 and also fat16 file formats. nothing but i come to the same point where i cannot see my c drive. and my pendrive is represented as U. what should i do. help me out please.
  • rr
    Hi. It looked good initially, but when I booted from my external HD, which was formatted with NTFS and then installed with XP, after choosing the "First Part of Installation" and some initial installation filing, a bluescreen appears saying

    "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. If this is the first time blahblahblah ...
    Technical information:
    *** STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF78D22524, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)"

    What to do here? Wanted to replace Vista on an Acer without CD-rom..

    Cheers
  • rojagegeo
    converted my acer aspire linux to xp thanks to the video and the above article....Thanks A Lot....after i installed xp,installed the wifi drives ,audio etc from this site
    http://www.notebook-driver.com/driver/Acer/Aspi.......
  • It Works, Thanks (:
    But My Wireless Internet Doesnt Work :(
    And Its Askin Me For A Wireless Network Card.. =|
    HP Mini 2133
  • Eric
    Oh my god, that was so beautiful... ;.;
  • Hugh
    I have tried 3 other packages to complete this procedure and this is the first one I have found that works! I want to thank you very much as I found this great utility based on this website and posting! I have spent 15+ hours troubleshooting all of the other methods and this one worked first time out of the gate and took only 16 minutes to install on my NetBook!
  • krr4k
    So easy, that is just hard to believe...

    Trying, i'll leave a comment if it worked

    Thanks anyways
  • Leonardo
    Im having the same problem like john and mufadda
  • John
    When I try to install the first part of the installation (Text Mode), it loads the files and all and then a blue screen appears saying "Windows shut down to prevent damage..."? What am I doing wrong? Also I did this from an SD card, but because my USB stick is a little broken. It seemed fine on a SD Card.
  • mufadda;
    i get a ntldr error after it finishes the whole thing, i changed booting sequence but still dint work, one more thing, i looked at a video in youtube about ntldr and they said just copy it from a cd in recovery mode (cd =usb) like the dos commands cop ntldr c:\
    all that but the funny part was i looked at the c:\ dir
    and i dint find the boot files (nldr,ntdetect.com,boot.ini) that was pretty strange i copied the files to my c drive via dos but still dint work
  • michael Ortega
    Hi Duncan. I followed your instructions for installing xp on a bootable usb. Everything went smooth until it was time to install on to my Aspire one. when I switched it on, it asked to choose an operating sys to start. it was on the second one, when I looked over to your video on another comp to double check, it started to load up off the second one on its own. Sadly I tried to reboot it but now the screen is black, I can't even get the bios up. I have no clue as to what could have gone wrong. Would the incorrect procedure in starting have modified the bios, maybe disabled the onboard vga? Please help as I have a bunch of teeagers who want to kill me.
  • alonet
    after all instalation my problem is that my laptop whont start windows whitout usb flash inserted....

    what and where should i made some change ... ?
  • Robchat
    I followed your video exactly and like you in the video at 20:32, I selected 'Windows XP Pro' and not the 'USB repair Not start Microsoft Windows XP' option.

    Windows XP starts no problem.

    BUT I cannot get rid of the message: 'USB repair Not start Microsoft Windows XP'

    It appears everytime I start up the laptop. Any ideas?
  • The NTFS AA1 guy
    Some other thing that you can (and maybe should) do on the installation (even with FAT32).

    Instead of choosing to boot with the USB Pen with the F12 option, go to the BIOS (F2), and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!CHANGE the BOOT ORDER!!!!!!!!!!!. Put the USB to the first place in the menu.

    I HAD TO DO THIS because in booting with F12 menu, the system didn't find the USB Pen.
    And as you have to boot twice via USB Pen (for option 1 first and for option 2 at the second time).

    After installing XP, you can then change the boot order again (F2).

    BTW, I used a 2GB ZEN (with speaker) to do the installation. It works like a typical USB Pen, but after doing the NTFS format, if you want to use it again with the speaker functionality, be sure to format it again with FAT32 format.
  • The NTFS AA1 guy
    THANKS MAN! It worked! 5 stars for your explanation!

    But, I've chosen some different steps from you: Instead of formatting in FAT32, I did the NTFS format and created a NTFS partition. I usually use very BIG files, so I needed the NTFS.

    AND GOOD NEWS: PERFORMANCE IS PERFECT!... for my average usage (images' and some movies' manipulation, and also, some extensive file copying from other hard drives).

    I did the DisableNTFSLastAccessUpdate=1 tweak: http://www.pc-speed-up.com/speed_up_ntfs.html
    and it's good! I'm working with it everyday for about a month!
  • Mark
    Hi there, i have a problem,
    i have a ACER - ASPIRE ONE laptop,
    i watched your video clip and i followed the instructions, but unfortunatly when the nootebook boots up windows from usb flash drive " kingston 8 GB" i get this error after formatting the HDD: Setup cannot copy the file: bootvid.dll -To retry press enter, -To skip, Press ESC, which follows couple of other files that can not be copied as well and i get nowhere with it! really need some help if possible! thanks in advance!
  • Kelvin Leong
    Hey bro!
    I have tried using your way of getting the XP on my AAOne and it was a breeze until coming to the 2nd part of installation.
    By the way, the boot screen in my com is different from yours. Could be due to the BIOS version? Is it recommended to update the BIOS before installing XP? Do I have to delete all partitions before installation?

    Here are the pictures of what I see.
    1. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/wetwetwa...
    2. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/wetwetwa...
    3. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/wetwetwa...

    1. Choosing to install XP.
    2. Choosing the 1st and 2nd parts of installation. No problems encountered in the 1st part. Then came the 'hal.dll' error, rebooted and chose 2nd part of installation. 3. However, I tried all selections and it did not go into the GUI part of the XP installation.

    Please help.
    I used an Nlited XP and WinSetupFromUSB.

    Thanks!
  • ANDREA
    pliz help me...I can t find an xp copy, I bought my aspire with win xp already installed but I wasn t given the installation...can u post me a download link??
  • Mitsis
    No, it did not work for me. Got "No previous version of Windows NT could be found on your computer Setup is unable to verify that you qualify to use this upgrade product" error even though my XP SP2 is not an upgrade but a full Enterprise version.

    Any ideas or is it back to the drawing board.
  • welshmaverick
    Hi all

    If i use this prog to intall XP an decide i want to reinstall linux, will the linux recovery disc still work ??

    Cheers
  • Xingo
    heyy, i followed ur video and did it all untill i reached a point where it said, windows could not start becuause the following file is missing or corrupt: \ststem32\hal.dll. now i did as you said about reboot and chosing 2 and 3 contiune with GUI mode setup windows xp..... but it is still the same. please help!
  • Andrew
    Got Internet now and its fantastic
    Thanks
  • Andrew
    Thanks for this I now have XP on my Acer It all worked as your video.
    The built in wireless does not work so will I need to use a USB wireless or can I get this working on here. I am impressed to get XP up and working Cheers.
  • Great video. Way in the video didn't work for me due to the error message but the WinSetupFromUSB worked a treat. Nice work mate.
  • Android 7
    Yes!! Finally this is what i have been looking for too bad i already sold my dell mini 9 just putting xp for my sister....but great job and thanks again!!!!
  • Ty
    I've been getting what seems to be a unique problem. I prep the flash drive with the option in WinSetupFromUSB (formatting to NTFS), I copy my XP install files to the flash drive, but my computer doesn't even detect the flash drive on boot up, and I have the boot order configured to boot from USB drives first. But that's not all, my stepfathers computer WILL detect the flash drive on boot up. So, I don't understand what's going on.
  • Shaun Roberts
    Hey,
    you my friend are a legend! I almost drove myself insane getting this to work, your guide was spot on. Maybe worth mentioning tho that you do need a copy of windows XP with SP2 for the A150. This is due (as far as i am aware) to the netbook having a SATA connected HDD. If you use a copy of XP with SP1 you will get a BSOD just after the 'Starting windows' message when u first boot the USB pen.

    To ammend this you need to slipstream SP2 or greater onto your copy of XP. To do this use Nlite. There are loads of tutorials for this out there.

    If you get stuck contact me and ill write some instructions. I know the frustartaion it can cause. I now know the jubilation from having windows back!!

    Cheers again,
    Shaun.
  • Tom
    It Gets So Far And It Times Out On //i386/IPV6P.CH_
  • Asad
    hey duncan

    nyc w0rk mate !!! and an incredibly helpful video there !!!

    i have on lil issue though

    when we boot the windows, it asks for a choice between the windows xp and another one saying boot NOT from xp (dnt really remember the xact wording) in the dos mode.. can the windows not boot directly as it does on the normal PCs !!!???

    hope to hear from u s00n !!! =)
  • Barry
    HELP!! I have got as far as starting to load the usb onto the laptop, 9:48 on the video, but when it gets to setup is starting windows i get a blue screen with the message "Session3_initialization_faile d"
    Has anyone else had this problem and can a solution be offered?
    Everything had worked fine up to this point.
  • Rick
    is it normal that it seds (bootfont.bin not found)when everything is starting to copy to the flash drive?
  • I haven't experienced that before, could be a read error on the CD or iso image you have? Try it anyway.
  • Jamie Robertson
    Sorry - fixed it, set up again but with FAT, seemed to work fine!

    Wonderful page - thanks

    Jamie
  • Jamie Robertson
    Hello, thanks for tips, just what I am after - xp on my netbook instead of Linux!

    My Aspire One seems to struggle to find drive to boot from after doing this. Which of the three drives should I write to? I used the first one, I had to delete it then select it? I have the Aspire One ZG5 (160gb)

    Many thanks
    Jamie
  • rooby
    Ta muchly for the most excellent tutorial, and esp. this update!! I was pointed towards your YouTube video from an Acer reseller when I wanted to drop XP onto my newly acquired Aspire One (A150) which originally came with Linux. I was a bit concerned about the problems with the missing DLL mentioned in the original tutorial, but I used the GUI version of the USB utility and just followed the screen prompts etc., and it all went through smooth as a baby's bottom. (I had a 1GB Maxell stick, which proved to work just swell.) So, what I dreaded was going to be a bit of a nightmare turned out to be a piece of cake. Thanks again, and take care!
  • Great video.

    It can be good for those that dislike the Lunux OS that's already on the netbook.
    It can also be a great project for someone to do in thier spare time.
  • Yeah i did think it could be something i 'nLited' that caused the problem. the driver and the hardware are definitely communicating so i think you are right. I might check the services and see if anything is going on there.

    Thanks for the thoughts.

    Dan
  • It could have been something you removed or disabled that could have stopped it. The Lan driver wouldnt be an issue in this case (it would be an unknown device or not shown up at all). Thats as far as I can help at this point.
  • I used an nLited version of XP but put the drivers on afterwards so i could monitor all the installs. It was from the above link. It was for my girlfriends netbook, she uses wireless so it's not a major issue. Just things like that bug me lol. As i remember, last time i looked at it, it was saying limited or no connectivity.
  • @Danofmayz it was a long time since i had the netbook, but my assumption was that it worked. Did you integrate the driver using NLite or install it afterwards from here:

    ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/netbook/aspire_one_110/driver/Lan_Realtek_v5.702.806.2008.zip
  • I used your tutorial to put xp on a A110 using USB multiboot 10 and had no problems. One thing i'd like to ask you though, did you get the LAN driver to work because, as yet, i havn't. It's not a major problem just wondered if it worked for you.
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