Dual boot from a flash drive?

[jdoon5261]

Mywife was just told not to use her company laptop for personal use. Is it possible to set up a dual boot system using a 32Mb USB flash drive? The only thing it needs is Windows installed.
John

[loki]

If the computer supports booting from a flash drive, then you can. Check the BIOS to see if it mentions USB or flash drives as available drives to boot from.

Does it need to be Windows? Another option would be a Linux Live CD, combined with a USB drive for permanent storage.

[jdoon5261]

It has to be something that the original configuation or "big brother" can't see .
The only things she's going to use it for is E-mail, facebook, surfing, and Solitaire. She was adament about not learning a new OS.
I have a 4Gb drive and my old copy of XP to install on it. Will that be big enough for a pagefile and Windows installation with all updates and Windows onecare installed? I don't remember how big a footprint windowsXP has.
John

[loki]

4GB is a bit on the small side, though it may be possible if you use nLite to remove any extraneous stuff. 8GB or more would be better (I've got Windows XP running in virtual machines on 8GB virtual drives).

It's too bad if she doesn't want to try Linux. The Live CDs of Ubuntu work on most any computer and wouldn't leave anything on the hard drive. At least as long as you don't save anything to the hard drive, hence the suggestion to use a USB drive for saving files if needed. FireFox and most email programs on Linux look and run much like their Windows counterparts and would require little learning.

[jdoon5261]

Thanks Loki. I'll look into the Linux option and show it to her. Free is the best option for me right now.
John

[loki]

I have my dad using a Linux machine for the moment as his old Mac is dying. Between FireFox and the Evolution email program (think Outlook), it's been working great for him. If the email can be accessed online, such as Hotmail or Gmail, then you just need a web browser.