Here is the step by step instructinos from my demo tonight, as promised. We probably need to find a better place for content such as this, but I figured that it was better to get it up than not. Feel free to move as appropriate.

Installing Drupal onto a Thumb Drive

Step 1) Download Necessary files.
Download the XAMPP ZIP archive (NOT installer) from:
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html#641

Download latest version of Drupal from:
http://drupal.org/

Step 2) Place XAMPP on USB Key.
Extract the XAMPP ZIP archive onto your local hard drive. It will create a XAMPP directory with a lot of files into it. Copy this XAMPP directory to your USB key. You should now have a directory on your key called XAMPP.

Step 3) Start and Test XAMPP.
XAMPP will work right out of the box, so give it a try. Open the XAMPP directory on your USB key and run xampp-control.exe
A XAMPP control panel window will appear.
To the right of Apache click start. A green “Running” should now appear to the left of that button.
To the right of MySQL click start. A green “Running” should now appear to the left of that button.
You have now started Apache (your webserver) and MySQL (your database server).
Open up your web browser and enter http://localhost/ as your location. If you see the XAMPP web page your web server is successfully running!

Step 4) Tighten up the security a bit.
After going to http://localhost/ click English, and then on the left hand sidebar click Security.
You should see several red “Unsecure” warnings.
Below the warning should be text that says:

To fix the problems for mysql, phpmyadmin and the xampp directory simply use
=> http://localhost/security/xamppsecurity.php <= [allowed only for localhost]

Click that link and enter a password for mysqk root. Remember this password!
After entering the password, click “Password changing”. You should get a message telling you that “The root password was successfully changed. Please restart MYSQL for loading these changes!”.

As it requested, you should restart MySQL: open your XAMPP control panel again, and click “Stop” next to MySQL. After it has stopped, reclick “Start”.

Back in your web browser re-click “Security” on the left side. You should now be more secure. It will tell you that your pages are accessible to everyone on the network – this is ok since you are likely behind a firewall so they are really only accessible to people on your local network. PHP Not running in “Safe Mode” is also OK.

Step 5) Create Database
In your web browser goto:
http://localhost/phpmyadmin
login with the “root” username and password you set above.
Scroll down to “Create New Database”, enter “Drupal” and click “Create”.

Step 6) Install Drupal.
First copy the Drupal files onto your USB Key. Do this by moving the Drupal directory that you extracted earlier into the /xampp/htdocs directory on your USB key.

Once this is done, you should have a directory called /xampp/htdocs/drupal on your USB key. If your directory is named something else (ex: Drupal5.1) rename it to “drupal” for the purposes of this demo.

Now, goto:
http://localhost/drupal/install.php
to Install Drupal.
Leave the database type as mysql, enter “Drupal” as the database name and enter “root” and the password you chose earlier in the username and password fields.

After a bit of thinking, you should get a message confirming that your Drupal Installation is complete!

Goto http://localhost/drupal/ to use your new site!

Step 7) Important to Remember!
Prior to removing your USB key you MUST turn off your web and database server first! If you fail to do this you run a high risk of corrupting your database.

To turn off your web and mysql server, open up your XAMPP control panel, click “Stop” next to Apache and MySQL and then click the “Exit” button.

It is then safe to remove your USB key.

So it sounds like I need to figure out what this means, and how to do it.

"When I started mysql and apached using the apache_start.bat and mysql_start.bat I didn't have that problem. After that I hit the install page, http://localhost/drupal/install.php and went from there."

Everything up to that point sounds the same as what I did.

Can I meet up with you somewhere and learn how you did this?
I'll meet you anywhere in metro Atlanta...

Would you be willing to do a meeting presentation on this?

Next meeting agenda is still open--June 19...??

Maybe we could get a video/podcast produced for the Web site

I put xampp on my thumb drive using the "Installation without the installer" method. http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html#521
Then I put drupal in the xampp/htdocs/drupal subdirectory. I tried starting xampp using the xampp-control.exe to start mysql and apache but apache always came up with the 'svc' checkbox checked and this seemed to be a problem. When I started mysql and apached using the apache_start.bat and mysql_start.bat I didn't have that problem. After that I hit the install page, http://localhost/drupal/install.php and went from there.