Anyone tried to run XBMC on Windows XP Embedded or Windows PE?

Just curious to know if anyone has tried to create a HTPC by running XBMC on Windows PE (Preinstallation Enviroment) ... it's basically a stripped down version of windows (that can even be run of a CD if need be). I believe it's free if you already own a copy of windows. I'm trying to make a PC that does nothing but run XBMC ... the obvious choice would be to use Linux, however, I'm having issues with some of the drivers (can't get 1280x720 output no matter what I try) so I'm thinking of maybe doing things with Windows instead.

Thanks,
Harry

I think that you would want to run Windows XP Embedded (XPe) instead of Windows PE.

Microsoft designed Windows XP Embedded to run that way, Windows PE was not. So why not get a fast 1GB CompactFlash memory card (or larger) and a CF to IDE/ATA/SATA adapter to install Windows XP Embedded on and boot to and try? If you do then please let us know how it goes.

PS! Windows Embedded Standard 2009 (next generation of Windows XP Embedded) will probably be even better suited for this task as it will feature SuperFetch and ReadyBoost which should improve performance, however it has not yet come out on the market.

Other alternatives: use nlite to strip a standard xp cd down to its bare minimum that is needed to run xbmc (something I would be interested in, since you can use a standard xp licence - although I do have access to xp embedded from university) or try to find Windows FLP (stands for "Windows for legacy pcs) - an already stripped down xp version.
I haven't really gotten to try any of those things yet though, because I use my pc for different things also and don't really fancy rebooting all the time. And if I needed a standalone thing, I could just use linux

There is a serious downside with PE in this case. It will automatically reboot in 72? hours. Was 24 in the pe 1.X series.

XP embeded or WinFLP is more suited for this task.

another option is XSOS which is a striped down windows like OS I had a play with it on VMware but couldn't work out how to add GPU drives so Didn't get very far with XBMC. They have got A new version in beta apparently supported by MS which will incorporate DIRECT X10

I tried XBMC on two separate XPe machines I had laying around... It didn't want to work on either. I think the video card in it was not up to the task....

Well, i'm now downloading Windows Embedded Standard 2009 CTP through my account. So i guess I can try it out. Never messed with it before actually, but i'm sure i'll be fine. I have 4 gigs of ram (currently using 2 thanks to creative's lovely/crappy xfi drivers.) and x64 pro, gf 9600 card w/ 512 on board, and dual boot vista 64bit.

can you even load openGL drivers in the WinPE edition?

marlboroman1 Wrote:another option is XSOS which is a striped down windows like OS I had a play with it on VMware but couldn't work out how to add GPU drives so Didn't get very far with XBMC. They have got A new version in beta apparently supported by MS which will incorporate DIRECT X10

Got any link to more info about xsos? I found http://www.xtremesystems.com which seems to be related, but can't find any more info to an actual download or how to get the os, etc.

Thanks,
Harry

waldo22 Wrote:can you even load openGL drivers in the WinPE edition?

that was one of the problems I had with XPe