"Paul" wrote in message
...
Norm X wrote:
Hi,
I've Xposted this to alt.comp.hardware because it might involve hardware
issues.
I have a flash based netbbook with two partitions on a 32 GB SuperTalent
internal PATA SSD. I use a 32 GB SDHC card as drive D:, formatted in
exFAT. Win7 has flash support so I didn't mess with fancy drivers. On the
WinXP partition I installed a Ph.D. written driver that makes flash
access even faster than for the Win7 partition. It works and I don't want
to mess with it or risk drive corruption. The freeware driver even
allowed me to play with installation of a pagefile on D:. It did not go
all the way and permit Windows to install a System Volume Information
folder. Windows recognizes the 32 GB flash drive as removable and imposes
Microsoft Corporation restrictions. However, under WinXP I was able to
install Microsoft Office on flash drive D: without and update problems. I
think the freeware driver convinced Windows that I did not plan to remove
the drive.
For some reason I forgot, I uninstalled the D: drive installation of
Microsoft Office from WinXP and installed it under Win7. MS Office needs
to be installed to work. This is not true of OpenOffice. It doesn't
matter from which OS I install OpenOffice on D:, it works on both
internal partitions.
MS Office works on Win7 but it is problematic. Office update does not
work. When I investigate I am told that update cannot write to a certain
file on D:. I think this is a corporate language mashup. It really means
that update willfully will not write to drive D: because of some kind of
anxiety.
I think the only solution is to find some means to permanently fool Win7
that the removable drive D: is a fixed drive like the internal flash
drive. I've spent time looking into this problem but at this late date
there may be some new ideas and solutions.
At some point in the future I will probably upgrade to a 64 GB SDHC, when
they are on sale. Drive copy is easy on an Acer Aspire One because it has
two SDHC ports. SDHC cards are also used in cameras & camcorders, which
is another convenience.
Thanks in advance.
You didn't state what version of Microsoft Office this is.
The restrictions likely change from version to version.
Contact the PhD who writes drivers, and see if there
is an "RMB" bit in the interface. Telling the OS the
device is not removable will do two things. Trash
hotplug. But also make the device look like a more
regular hard drive. You could add or remove the SD to
the machine, when the machine is powered off (not in
hibernate or sleep).
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbstick_e.html
"Removable or what?"
I don't really see installing licensed software on a
removable drive, to be a "good starting position" for
a company. You may be able to put OpenOffice or LibreOffice
on the SD, but Microsoft Office would be another matter.
Hacking the driver so it appears "fixed", might help.
Uwe lists a couple filter drivers, but they are for
very specific situations indeed, and not likely to work.
Paul
It is a long time ago and hard to remember details. For WinXP, I installed
two non Microsoft flash drivers:
cfadisk.sys, see:
http://portableapps.com/node/7181
"to make a flash drive local not removable" and
offire.sys by the flash Ph.D.
offire.sys has some management options but I think it is fully optimized.
Also exFAT support needs to be installed on WinXP.
I have MS Office 2007. Because I am disabled I worked for a disability
charity in 2010 and as a perk I got a sheet of Microsoft product keys. I
don't have more recent product keys, but I'm thinking of buying a $99 Win8.1
cell phone. Remote desktop works for me.
I think maybe I should try to reinstall MS Office under WinXP on top of its
file system on D: drive. I had MS Office installed under WinXP on D:, then I
uninstalled it for some reason I can't remember. When I changed my mind and
tried to reinstall it under WinXP it would not reinstall. Maybe after years
of registry cleaning any errors in the registry have been removed. Or maybe
If I try a different product key Microsoft will permit it.
At this point this is speculative and I am busy installing a version of Kali
Linux on a PC the bedroom. PC waste heat warms my apartment.
If I can get an installation to work on WinXP and if cfadisk.sys and
offire.sys work as they should, then maybe MS Office update will work. MS
Office update changes files and so it should make the install under Win7
work better. I have an installation of MS Office 2007 on my main server PC
and I still get security updates for it.
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