Clean Install Of XP Pro

[Kevin]

Hi, I've got a dual boot setup with XP on both a C and D partition - is it
possible to run a CLEAN install (meaning formatting the entire hard driev)
with all the xp setup files in an i386 folder on my D drive? I dont have the
XP cd and cant boot from CD....

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

No, you'll need a Windows XP installation CD.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| Hi, I've got a dual boot setup with XP on both a C and D partition - is it
| possible to run a CLEAN install (meaning formatting the entire hard driev)
| with all the xp setup files in an i386 folder on my D drive? I dont have the
| XP cd and cant boot from CD....

 

[G.Beat]

Hi, I've got a dual boot setup with XP on both a C and D partition - is
it
possible to run a CLEAN install (meaning formatting the entire hard driev)
with all the xp setup files in an i386 folder on my D drive? I dont have
the
XP cd and cant boot from CD....

Kevin -

This scenario is most common with a manufacturer (OEM) that pre-installs
Windows XP for you, and then does not give you a CD to go with it.
Some believe that is a bad practice, but it does save the manufacturer, and
ultimately you, a little bit of money.
Hopefully what that manufacturer has done is copy the Windows XP CD-ROM
image to your hard disk. (HP does this with a hidden partition on the hard
drives). Hard disks are so big these days that doing so takes up very
little room, and has some advantages I'll talk about in a second.

To find out if the CD-ROM image is on your machine, search for a folder
named I386. There may be several, but the one we care about will contain
close to 7,000 files, two of which will be winnt.exe and winnt32.exe. The
I386 directory is typically one of the top-level directories on the
distribution CD-ROM, but most importantly, it is the directory that contains
the distributed copy of Windows XP. Winnt.exe and winnt32.exe are the DOS
and protected mode setup programs, respectively. (You'd only need those if
you were planning to re-install Windows XP from scratch - I use them here as
an easy way to identify that we have the right directory.)

So now that you know you have the CD-Rom image, what if some later
installation asks for the CD-ROM?

Not to worry, it's actually pretty simple. Typically the "Insert CD" message
has only an OK and Cancel button. Press OK, allowing it to fail. The next
dialog will typically ask you to provide the location of the CD-ROM; just
type in the full path of the I386 directory you discovered above.

That's it. But luckily Windows remembers the path that you entered.

Now that you've told Windows where your installation CD image is, it'll
remember that. The next time you're in a situation that might require your
installation CD, Windows will look there first; if it finds what it needs,
it won't bother to ask you for it.

Some find this approach to be handy - so much so that even though they have
legitimate retail or OEM Windows CD - they don't have to think about it, or
insert the CD, again. This technique works for many other CD-ROM based
products, including Microsoft Office.

You can also create a bootable CD, if your WinXP is an image or directory on
your hard drive
http://old.bink.nu/xpbootcd/

gb

 

[G.Beat]

Hi, I've got a dual boot setup with XP on both a C and D partition - is
it
possible to run a CLEAN install (meaning formatting the entire hard drive)
with all the xp setup files in an i386 folder on my D drive? I dont have
the
XP cd and cant boot from CD....

Kevin -

You can also request the Recovery CD from the Customer Service of several
mfg (e.g. HP, Dell) .. if required.

gb

 

[Kevin]

Hi, I'm not sure if you understood my question....I dont have a CD ROM drive
to boot from and I dont have a floppy to boot from...I do have a Win XP CD
and have copied the i386 files onto the D partition of the hard drive. I
want to run a CLEAN install of windows 'WITHOUT booting off of a cd or
floppy. Can I install XP Pro from a separate parition with the cd i386
files copied to a partition....while installing..can I DELETE the two
partitions and just create ONE with ONE copy of xp??

thanks..

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

No, you cannot perform a clean install of Windows XP
without a CD. If you were to delete all partitions and create
a new partition, you would end up deleting all XP's files you copied
to your D: partition and installation will come to a sudden cessation.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| Hi, I'm not sure if you understood my question....I dont have a CD ROM drive
| to boot from and I dont have a floppy to boot from...I do have a Win XP CD
| and have copied the i386 files onto the D partition of the hard drive. I
| want to run a CLEAN install of windows 'WITHOUT booting off of a cd or
| floppy. Can I install XP Pro from a separate parition with the cd i386
| files copied to a partition....while installing..can I DELETE the two
| partitions and just create ONE with ONE copy of xp??
|
| thanks..

 

[Patrick J. LoPresti [MVP]]

The short answer is "no".

The longer answer is that if your C: and D: drives are FAT32
partitions, you could install DOS, boot it, and run D:\i386\winnt.exe
to install Windows. You will not be able to clobber the D: drive
until after the installation finishes, at which point you could use
Windows itself to convert the C: drive to NTFS and then use
third-party tools to resize the C: partition to occupy the entire
drive.

But really, by the time you are done, you would be better off
connecting a temporary floppy or CD-ROM drive. Or just booting from
the network and installing that way.

- Pat
MVP, Windows Server - Setup/Deployment
http://unattended.sourceforge.net/

 

[Patrick Dunford]

Hi, I've got a dual boot setup with XP on both a C and D partition - is it
possible to run a CLEAN install (meaning formatting the entire hard driev)
with all the xp setup files in an i386 folder on my D drive? I dont have the
XP cd and cant boot from CD....

You will need a boot disk according to whatever OS is installed on the D
drive. Once you have booted, go to that I386 directory and enter WINNT to
start XP setup.

 

[Patrick Dunford]

No, you'll need a Windows XP installation CD.

A CD is not required in a number of circumstances such as installing from
network. In such a case, you start setup using WINNT in the I386 folder.

 

[Patrick Dunford]

Hi, I'm not sure if you understood my question....I dont have a CD ROM drive
to boot from and I dont have a floppy to boot from...I do have a Win XP CD
and have copied the i386 files onto the D partition of the hard drive. I
want to run a CLEAN install of windows 'WITHOUT booting off of a cd or
floppy. Can I install XP Pro from a separate parition with the cd i386
files copied to a partition....while installing..can I DELETE the two
partitions and just create ONE with ONE copy of xp??

Yes
How did you copy the files? Over a network?
You can install XP off a CD ROM drive shared on another computer over the
network.

 

[Patrick Dunford]

No, you cannot perform a clean install of Windows XP
without a CD. If you were to delete all partitions and create
a new partition, you would end up deleting all XP's files you copied
to your D: partition and installation will come to a sudden cessation.

If he doesn't delete the partitions, which is not compulsory, there is no
problem.

As you can install XP from a network share, without requiring a CD, I
don't see why he can't install it from another partition.