How to install both Windows XP and Easy Peasy (Ubuntu) on ASUS EEE Pc 900

What you need

• Two USB memory sticks. 2-4 GB is good for Windows and 2 GB for Easy Peasy. Sticks above 8 GB have been problematic for me.
• A Windows XP installation CD with SP2. If you don’t have at least SP2 included, the install will blue screen. To update your Windows XP with SP2, follow this guide. If you upgrade your Windows XP installation with SP2 in a directory on the hard disk according to the instruction, you don’t need to burn it back on a CD in order to get it in the USB stick. In the step where you should point out where the Windows XP installation is located, just point on the folder on your harddisk where you have your SP2 upgraded Windows XP installation. Note, sometimes the license key will work if you upgrade your Windows XP installation CD with SP2 but not SP3. To be on the safe side and save you some time, only upgrade your installation with SP2 which is the requirement for installing it on ASUS EEE Pc 900. The SP3 can be installed later using Windows Update.
• And a legal Windows XP license key.

Prerequisites

The ASUS EEE Pc 900 contains a 16 GB flash disk (SSD). It can be split into two partitions with enough space for Windows XP in one and Easy Peasy in the other. I have an additional 8 GB SD card which I have formatted in FAT32 where I save data. That way I can access it from both Windows and Easy Peasy. And I can easily insert a SD card from a digital camera in order to get pictures off it.

Howto

The easiest way to get both operating systems on the ASUS EEE Pc 900 is to start with Windows XP. This procedure will cause any existing operating system to be erased, including any valuable data you might have. Backup first!

Installing Windows XP

To create an USB installation stick with Windows XP, follow the instructions on:

http://www.eeeguides.com/2007/11/installing-windows-xp-from-usb-thumb.html

• If you are running the above instructions on a Windows Vista machine, the usb8_prep.cmd must be started from a command prompt with administrator privileges. This is done by finding the Command prompt icon, right clicking it and select Run as administrator. Then issue the command cd path_to_where_usb8_prep.cmd_is_located (replace with your path of course). Note, it doesn’t work if you find usb8_prep.cmd in the Explorer window and try to run it by right clicking and selecting Run as administrator.
• In my case, I first had to edit the usb8_prep.cmd with notepad (i e issue the command notepad usb8_prep.cmd) and replace all occurences of “vdk.exe” with just “vdk”, otherwise the command script didn’t find the vdk program.
• Then start usb8_prep.cmd by typing usb8_prep.cmd on the command line (running as administrator) and press enter.
• According to the above instruction, the PeToUSB should never be closed. For me, the usb8_prep.cmd did not show it’s main menu until I closed PeToUSB and it didn’t prevent the procedure from working.
• When issuing the bootsect command, it must be done from a Command Prompt running as administrator.
• When the USB installation stick has been prepared according to the above, insert the ASUS EEE Pc 900 support CD.
• Copy the content of the ASUS EEE Pc 900 support CD-rom to a folder on the USB installation stick, for example “eee”.

After completing the USB stick, it is time to install Windows XP on the ASUS EEE Pc 900 by following these steps:

1. Insert the USB installation stick into the ASUS EEE Pc 900.
2. Boot the ASUS EEE Pc 900 and press F2 to enter setup.
3. Find the Advanced tab and set the Os Installation to [Start].
4. Save and exit setup.
5. When the boot splash screen shows, press ESC to bring up the boot menu and select the USB installation stick.
6. Select the Text mode installation.
7. Delete all partitions on the 16 GB SSD disk. Did you back up all valuable data first?
8. Create a new partition with a size of 8000 MB (appr).
9. Format it using NTFS.
10. Do not remove the USB stick during the installation. The ASUS EEE Pc 900 will reboot two times during the installation and the USB stick should remain inserted all the time.
11. When the ASUS EEE Pc 900 reboots, press ESC to bring up the boot menu and select to boot from the USB installation stick again. If you fail to catch the reboot you will get a black screen with an error message. Just press CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot and press ESC to bring up the boot menu to select the USB installation stick.
12. This time select the GUI installation. The installation of Windows will now continue.
13. The ASUS EEE Pc 900 will reboot again during the installation. Repeat step 11-12.
14. When Windows starts after the installation, leave the USB installation stick in and use the Explorer to browse the USB stick and open the folder “eee” (or where you copied the ASUS EEE Pc 900 support CD).
15. Double click Setup.exe and select to install all drivers. This will take a while and require a reboot. Leave the USB installation stick in.
16. The USB installation stick can now be removed.

Installing Easy Peasy/Ubuntu

1. Go to http://www.geteasypeasy.com and download the Easy Peasy installation.
2. Follow these instructions to create an Easy Peasy USB installation stick.
3. Insert the USB installation stick into the ASUS EEE Pc 900.
4. Boot the ASUS EEE Pc 900 and press ESC to bring up the boot menu and select to boot from the USB installation stick.
5. When Easy Peasy starts, select to install it on the hard disk (not running as a livecd).
6. When you are asked to select what disk/partition Easy Peasy should be installed, select manual.
7. Now select the unpartitioned 8 GB part of the SDD (probably sda) and create a partition about 6,5-7 GB leaving about 1 GB unpartitioned.
8. The file system type should be Ext3 journaled, mounting point “/”.
9. Select the last unpartitioned 1 GB space and create a new partition. Select file system type “swap”.
10. Continue the installation as a normal installation.
11. After the installation has finished, the ASUS EEE Pc 900 will reboot.
12. The Easy Peasy USB installation stick can now be removed.

Finishing

1. Reboot your ASUS EEE Pc 900 and press F2 when the boot screen displays in order to get into the setup.
2. Got to the Advanced tab and set the Os Installation to [Finished].
3. Save and exit the setup.
4. When booting, the Grub boot menu will contain choises for both Ubuntu (Easy Peasy) and Windows XP.