HOW TO: get Windows XP running well on the Eee PC

Tin (Regular user):

If you're switching to the classic theme, you can also disable the Themes service to save an additional 10MB or so of RAM being used.

junkmonkey (New user):

The easiest way to get to msconfig is probably Start->Run->msconfig.

I'd be interested to know if the Microsoft tool BootVis could shave off those few seconds by reordering the startup items for maximum efficiency...

djsflynn (APC staff):

[Smacks forehead] Of course, Run > msconfig would do the trick. I'm feeling a bit 'blonde' right about now!

(Oh, Tin, good tip on disabling the Themes service for this setup as well.)

Kevin108 (New user):

You should run services.msc instead of msconfig to disable services. A good way to shrink the Windows folder is explained at http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=80511 BootVis and Defrag don't make any difference on the Eee because of how SSDs work - every area of the solid state drive is accessed at the same speed so there's no optimization to be made.

junkmonkey (New user):

While that's true, Kevin, I would have thought there could be some speed increases to gain through the re-ordering it does - starting services in parallel when some are CPU bound and others disk bound. I'd be interested to know if it made a difference at least...

thepeoplegeek (New user):

This is the most important step in installing XP on the EEE PC!! http://thepeoplegeek.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/eeepc-xp-get-rid-of-virtual-memory/

capricornus (New user):

This kind of articles really makes me feel old and obsolete. The marketing machine of M$ runs like a hot knife in butter, and everyone seems to like it. Do you get the message? XP is for the lesser, the older, the tinier, the cheapo's. Vista is for the better. And Linux? It's even less than XP.
And that's not true. I've been experimenting with older and lesser cpu's, that's how I discovered the true power of a good Linux distro: it gives more value for your money, more return on the investment of installing it. And installing it is - nowadays - a pleasure, believe me. MEPIS or MINT give you a real and complete alternative that surfs, mails, prints and does all the stuff you need on a daily basis.

GoughLui (Cornerstone member):

You could also remove all the service pack uninstall files from your windows folder to get some good space back (unhide them) ... compress your files to save some more room, remove help files, remove tour files, disable pointer shadows, animations ... I can live comfortably with many many more apps than I would have imagined just by being careful to remove "unneccessary" bloat.

Disabling hibernate, keeping the swapfile off, upgrading the ram to say 1Gb makes a little bit of a difference. Start times seem to be more limited to intialising slow hardware ... slow SSD read speeds and slow ram/graphics performance

I did try nLite but the CD's I got from them tended to have errors about missing files and the installs usually pooped out fairly quickly. I tried XPLite (cleaning up after the fact) but that was also a detriment to the stability of the install...

feliduca (User):

Now that I have a new portable optical drive, there's no excuse for not installing Microsoft Windows XP on the Asus Eee PC. While I could have gone the route of using nLite to create a lighter, custom XP install to save on storage use, I opted not to do so for this go-around. Why? The simple reason is that most consumers won't have the knowledge, time or patience to run through that process. That means the results and impressions I'm seeing would likely get better with a custom approach, so consider this a "worst case" scenario in general. One tweak that's surely affecting my impressions for the better: I have a 1 GB SODIMM memory module in the Eee

Storage capacity: XP Professional SP2 takes up about 2.5 GB of the 4 GB on-board flash memory. I didn't have XP Home handy, but if you did, you'd probably reclaim a little more space. Still, having 1.5 GB of free space isn't that constraining to me. My mail and docs are all stored on-line, so I only need room to install applications. Considering this device is mostly used as a portable office, I don't anticipate using up the free space with applications. In a worst-case scenario, I could use one of the USB 2.0 ports for additional storage or for portable application installation.

Boot up, standby, and resume: here's where SSD really shines. Without any BIOS or registry optimizations, the XP boots up around 35 seconds after pressing the power button. When I again press the power button, which is configured to put the Eee in standby mode, the machine is idle in about 3 seconds. Pressing the power button again to wake it up: under 5 seconds.


Overall system responsiveness: although the CPU is running at 630 MHz, it feels much snappier to me. Previously we could compare or provide impressions between two similar systems and know what to generally expect by looking at the CPU clock cycle. That goes out the window when comparing two systems that utilize different means of storage, i.e.: magnetic hard drive vs. SSD. Put another way: the Eee PC at 630 MHz appears much more responsive and faster overall than say my old Samsung Q1 running XP at the full 900 MHz CPU speed. I'm not finding myself waiting for apps to respond; everything is crisp and smooth.


Battery life: the jury is still out here because I'm having an issue with the ACPI driver; the driver from Asus isn't quite up to snuff from what I've read on the EeeUser forums. My fave battery monitor, Notebook Hardware Control, can't determine the drain on the battery as a result. I'll have to search for another option, but it's likely that no app will help me here until I get the ACPI driver sorted out. Running the CPU at roughly 66% of full speed will certainly help the battery life, but I can't determine how much as of yet.


Connectivity: one of the first things I did after installing XP and the bazillion updates to it was to get my USB727 EV-DO USB modem installed. Of course, there were no issues since the device is supported on XP. The Verizon software is managing my WiFi connections as well as my EV-DO, which is showing download speeds around 1250 kbps in my current location. Uploads are a solid 550 kbps.


Other functions: everything seems to be working just fine; I've installed Skype and the integrated webcam fires right up as expected. The trackpad still has the vertical scrolling functionality and all of the keyboard functions appear to be fine as well. It's not that I expected an issue here, but you certainly don't want to lose functionality when going from Linux to Windows on a piece of hardware. One key function that is lost is the handy Asus utility that lets you move windows that are off the screen. With the out-of-the-box build, you simply hold down the Alt key when your cursor is in a window. You can then move that window at will; you don't need to drag the window by the title bar, which comes in handy on the 800 x 480 screen. In XP, you lose that ability; the only way to deal with windows partially off the screen is to use a tray app that switches the res to 800 x 600 in a panning mode.


Although I've barely used the Eee PC with XP, I can already see that this is a good combo for me and my work habits. The custom build of Xandros Linux worked well for me and given that I can factory restore the device quickly, I like having both options. The benefits of XP? Fewer issues with device drivers for one; my new EV-DO card doesn't yet have a Linux driver, but works fine in XP. More third-party and mainstream application support is available in XP also. Not a huge deal for me, but to others, that's a must.

For $399, the device runs XP (and Linux) far better than I would have imagined. Right now, this is a great productivity setup for me: I've got connectivity practically everywhere in a relatively inexpensive device. More thoughts to come, but that's a brief summary of my first impressions. Drop your questions in the comments and I'll try to address them...




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Tin (Regular user):

Quoting feliduca:
The benefits of XP? Fewer issues with device drivers for one


Hardly the fault of Linux or a distro if a hardware vendor (almost certainly the chip manufacturer) doesn't want to provide information to developers. In general, that's all they ask for, BTW... The info. Not a driver.

Quoting feliduca:
More third-party and mainstream application support is available in XP also

Questionable... There's metric butt-loads of software out there for Linux. You also need to question how capable the Eee is of running most "mainstream" software. Given the screen constraints alone, many apps won't work very well.
That sort of use is also outside of the design scope for the device anyway.

Michael J (Frequent poster):

you can also start msconfig by going to start>run>"msconfig". it is much quicker because you will hardly ever have to use it.

The Big Baboo (Advanced member):

Hey guys ( or gals ) I was thinking of buying one of these ( don't laugh now ) just to play some games on. I don't think I'd ever bother with Internet access so would I really need Windows updates,Antivirus,
a firewall and a whole lot of stuff which I have on my regular PC? I use WinXP and I already have SP1 and SP2 on CD and SP3 as a download. Would I even need to apply these ? Or could I do without them ? Any help would be appreciated oooo And A Merry Xmas To All :)

Pazin (Frequent poster):

xp on an eeepc is mortally flawed in the sense that as soon as it gets too new or bloated it slows down again. which inevitably will happen really quickly like it has been shown lately with other products. like i will never beee able to upgradeee to windows 7 on my eee.

Dinglenutz (New user):

i have an Eee pc 900
i luv it 2 shreds it can go anywhere