How to load Windows XP - no cd rom

[\(James]

So my old laptop hard drive crashed. The CD rom does not work on this pc,
but I would like to reinstall XP back onto it as I can't afford a new
laptop.

I do have the floppy drive and can boot from it. How do I create a network
boot disk and install XP. I assume I can copy the 386 folder onto another
pc and then network boot the laptop, just never done this before.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

So my old laptop hard drive crashed. The CD rom does not work on this pc,
but I would like to reinstall XP back onto it as I can't afford a new
laptop.

I do have the floppy drive and can boot from it. How do I create a
network boot disk and install XP. I assume I can copy the 386 folder onto
another pc and then network boot the laptop, just never done this before.

Creating a network boot disk is a big task unless you're
very experienced. Much easier to remove the disk from
the laptop, put it inside an external USB case and do this:

1. Create a FAT32 partition of suitable size.
2. Copy the WinXP CD to this FAT32 partition.
3. Put the disk back into the laptop.
4. Boot the laptop with a Win98 boot diskette
(www.bootdisk.com).
5. Run C:\i386\winnt.exe to install Windows.
6. When finished, convert drive C: to NTFS if desired.

 

[\(James]

Thanks, I'll try this

Creating a network boot disk is a big task unless you're
very experienced. Much easier to remove the disk from
the laptop, put it inside an external USB case and do this:

1. Create a FAT32 partition of suitable size.
2. Copy the WinXP CD to this FAT32 partition.
3. Put the disk back into the laptop.
4. Boot the laptop with a Win98 boot diskette
(www.bootdisk.com).
5. Run C:\i386\winnt.exe to install Windows.
6. When finished, convert drive C: to NTFS if desired.