Booting off USB thumb drive

derpdederp80

Honorable
Nov 21, 2013
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10,510
I have a X31 Type 2672 Thinkpad whose OS is corrupted and virus-infected. I want to re-install windows on it but there is no cd-rom drive. I have a usb key loaded with the windows XP installer, but there seems to be no way to boot off a usb device. IS there anything I can try apart from removing the hard drive and installing from another computer?
 

derpdederp80

Honorable
Nov 21, 2013
3
0
10,510


Thank you, if I boot a freedos floppy, can I read off USB devices then?
 

derpdederp80

Honorable
Nov 21, 2013
3
0
10,510


It doesn't boot because the viruses destroyed all the non-critical files ie screensavers, default wallpapers, etc. AND the access ibm boots off a linux partition (formatted with FAT32), which was also corrupted by the virus