How to install WinXP on Laptop without CD player ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter BOOGIEMAN
  • Start date Start date
B

BOOGIEMAN

I don't know if I open laptop, could I attach my IDE CD player ?
I could copy files from WinXP CD to laptop over network connection,
but can WinXP be installed in that way (from a directory on a hard
disk) ?
 
BOOGIEMAN said:
I don't know if I open laptop, could I attach my IDE CD player ?
I could copy files from WinXP CD to laptop over network connection,
but can WinXP be installed in that way (from a directory on a hard
disk) ?
Click to expand...

You could but it would be messy. Your system partition would
have to be a FAT32 partition so that you can boot the laptop
with a Win98 boot disk and run the command c:\i386\winnt.exe
to start the installation. After the successful installation you could
convert the system partition to NTFS.

Opening the laptop and connecting the CD player is not an
option, because you would have only a single IDE controller.
 
BOOGIEMAN said:
I don't know if I open laptop, could I attach my IDE CD player ?
I could copy files from WinXP CD to laptop over network connection,
but can WinXP be installed in that way (from a directory on a hard
disk) ?
Click to expand...

In corporate environments, disk images are commonly installed over a
network.

In other words, if you have a similar computer with WinXP installed and
make an image of its hard drive, you can copy that image to the the
laptop with no CD drive over a network connection. Of course, in most
corporate environments, the hardware of the individual workstations is
identical. If you don't have identical hardware on the PC where the
image is created, you may have an unworkable system. However, you might
take a look at the following

"How to clone a Windows NT/2000/XP workstation" http://tinyurl.com/ak7g6

"Introduction to cloning a Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP
computer" http://tinyurl.com/8kjxc

Microsoft's sysprep tool also might be a help, but I'm out of my depth
here.
"Using the System Preparation Tool on Dissimilar Computers"
http://tinyurl.com/8we5w
 
Back
Top