installing OS over a LAN

[Guest]

Hi all,
my question is if I am connected to a simple peer-to-peer LAN can I format
and re-install an OS from one pc to another?
For example: two pc's are connected via ethernet peer-to-peer LAN. PC2
has no floppy or CD-Rom and is using W98. Can i format and reinstall the OS
of
PC2 entirely from PC1? PC1 is using XPsp2
If so; how?
I know i could just install a CD-Rom and boot from the disk...but that
would be to easy, would'nt it?
Thanks in advance
mark

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi all,
my question is if I am connected to a simple peer-to-peer LAN can I format
and re-install an OS from one pc to another?
For example: two pc's are connected via ethernet peer-to-peer LAN. PC2
has no floppy or CD-Rom and is using W98. Can i format and reinstall the OS
of
PC2 entirely from PC1? PC1 is using XPsp2
If so; how?
I know i could just install a CD-Rom and boot from the disk...but that
would be to easy, would'nt it?
Thanks in advance
mark

If you wish to install Windows on PC2 then you must be
sitting in front of PC2. You cannot do it while operating
PC1.

If PC2 has no CD drive then your easiest option is to buy
and install a CD drive. They are cheap.

If this is not an option then you must temporarily install its
hard disk as a slave disk in some other PC. You can then
do the following:
1. Format its disk as a FAT32 partition.
2. Mark it as "active".
3. Make it bootable under Win98. You will need a Win98
boot disk for this (www.bootdisk.com).
4. Copy the i386 folder of your WinXP CD to an i386 folder
on that hard disk.
5. Return the disk to PC2.
6. Boot PC2 into a Win98 DOS prompt.
7. Run these commands to start the WinXP setup process:
smartdrv
i386\winnt
8. Convert the partition to NTFS if desired.

It's a lot of trouble compared to buying a CD drive . . .