Possible to load OS with a USB stick? Maybe...

**willy** · 02-18-2012, 02:41 PM

When I bought my M200, the guy was fixin' up a bunch he'd got from a business. He had one that he was in the process of loading Win 7 with a USB STICK!! At the time I didn't know aboit the limitations imposed by Toshiba and thought nothing of it. Would love to have that option and was wondering if anybody knows how to do so. Don't have the phone number for the guy anymore and it would be a 400 mile round trip to see him. Anyone?

**Michelle Mastin** · 02-19-2012, 12:57 PM

I use the Windows USB tool to create my USB. http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/...usbdvd_dwnTool

You can find links to download the ISO here http://www.mydigitallife.info/window...-home-premium/
Digital River is the official download for folks who purchase a digital copy of Windows 7. These are clean ISOs provided by Microsoft. You can use the same licence number from your physical copy (provided it's not currently installed on something else) or purchase another licence number from Microsoft.

**willy** · 02-19-2012, 01:06 PM

So, you've been successful in loading an OS onto the M200 using a USB stick? If so, I'll give it a shot. I've got an ISO for the M200 already and a couple of USB sticks ready 'n waiting. Would be really nice If I could get Ubuntu to run off a stick on the M200 too. I'm kinda interested in seeing if it would run a bit smoother than Win 7. Stick waffling re. upgrading with a faster CPU, more RAM, and an SSD.

**Michelle Mastin** · 02-19-2012, 01:11 PM

I haven't done this on the M200 specifically, but since you mentioned you've seen someone doing it, that tells me the BIOS should let you boot from the USB stick. I've done this many times over with my TC1100 (among other machines), so I'm sure the M200 should work similarly.

For setting up Ubuntu or other linux sticks, I use unetbootin http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
It will download ISOs for you or let you use one you already have on your disk and then prepare the USB stick for you. I'm using it to put linux mint on a stick now to test some stuff.

**willy** · 02-19-2012, 01:17 PM

Well, the M200 has a really screwed up bios. One of the bugbears encountered is that, via USB, it's programmed to only boot from a Toshiba (maybe a couple of other brands) DVD. I'm kinda thinking that buddy developed a workaround which fooled the bios into thinking that it was booting from an external Toshiba DVD drive. My Ubuntu USB key won't work on the M200, though it does on my other laptops. Similarly, I've had no luck with my Windows OS USB installs.. yet again they work on my other lappies.

**Michelle Mastin** · 02-19-2012, 01:24 PM

Ah, I didn't realize it had a finicky BIOS. From a quick search, it looks like people have success booting from an SD card. I didn't dig really deep yet, but have you tried setting up an SD card?

**willy** · 02-19-2012, 01:31 PM

Unfortunately, all my cards are either SDHC (reader won't recognize it) or, if not, too small to hold a Windows install.

**Michelle Mastin** · 02-19-2012, 01:37 PM

I think there's a way to put boot information on the SD card, setting it up like a boot floppy, and then have it load files from a USB stick. I've only read about doing this kind of thing, but have never done it myself. Here are two that are specific to the M200.
http://ashleyangell.com/2011/06/how-...d-memory-card/
http://www.adebenham.com/laptop/toshiba-portege-m200/

From the second link: If you have a SD card you can boot of the SD slot by copying a floppy-disk image to the sd card (via windows or a USB->SD adaptor) as long as you name it $tosfd00.vfd