Install XP without optical drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dennis
  • Start date Start date
D

Dennis

Hi,

Need help on my pc. After a virus scan, my computer crashed and needs to be
formatted with new OS. But my problem, is my optical drive also have reading
problems.

The goodnews is I have a copy of my WinXP OS cd. And I also have a second OS
that I use only for retreiving files incase my primary OS will crash.

I have a floppy drive as well.

I am thinking I can use my (copied) XP cd and floppy drive to build a new OS
but I dont know how to do it.

Please help.

Thanks in advance!
 
Dennis said:
Hi,

Need help on my pc. After a virus scan, my computer crashed and needs to
be
formatted with new OS. But my problem, is my optical drive also have
reading
problems.

The goodnews is I have a copy of my WinXP OS cd. And I also have a second
OS
that I use only for retreiving files incase my primary OS will crash.

I have a floppy drive as well.

I am thinking I can use my (copied) XP cd and floppy drive to build a new
OS
but I dont know how to do it.

Please help.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Is the machine networked? Is the hard disk removable? If it is removable, do
you have another machine you could connect it to?
 
Dennis said:
Hi,

Need help on my pc. After a virus scan, my computer crashed and needs to be
formatted with new OS. But my problem, is my optical drive also have reading
problems.

The goodnews is I have a copy of my WinXP OS cd. And I also have a second OS
that I use only for retreiving files incase my primary OS will crash.

I have a floppy drive as well.

I am thinking I can use my (copied) XP cd and floppy drive to build a new OS
but I dont know how to do it.

Please help.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I did the hard drive install method. I used an MSDOS floppy to do it.
I created two FAT32 partitions on the drive, using another computer, and
put the i386 folder from the install CD (all 5000 files), on the second partition.
Then I was able to start the install with the MSDOS floppy. So yes, you
can install without a CDROM drive. You have to be a little careful
about the creation of the partitions, because the first time I did it,
I managed to end up with D: being the boot drive :-)

If you don't like FAT32, once the install is finished, you can use "convert"
to make the C: into NTFS. Once that is done though, you won't be able to easily
access that partition from the MSDOS floppy any more (at least, unless
you use one of the free NTFS for DOS tools to do so).

Example of the procedure here.

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/578/windows-xp-installing-from-harddrive/

I wasted the better part of a day setting it all up, so it's a bit
of a time waster.

If you need help preparing aspects of an MSDOS floppy, this site
is convenient.

http://www.vfrazee.com/ms-dos/6.22/help/smartdrv.htm

Good luck,
Paul
 
Dennis said:
Hi,

Need help on my pc. After a virus scan, my computer crashed and needs to be
formatted with new OS. But my problem, is my optical drive also have reading
problems.

The goodnews is I have a copy of my WinXP OS cd. And I also have a second OS
that I use only for retreiving files incase my primary OS will crash.

I have a floppy drive as well.

I am thinking I can use my (copied) XP cd and floppy drive to build a new OS
but I dont know how to do it.

Please help.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Optical drives are not expensive, especially a DVD reader, not burner.

M
 
M said:
Optical drives are not expensive, especially a DVD reader, not burner.

M
Click to expand...

The OP did not say if this was a laptop or a desktop. Internal optical
drives for a laptop can be quite expensive.
 
Dennis said:
Hi,

Need help on my pc. After a virus scan, my computer crashed and needs to be
formatted with new OS. But my problem, is my optical drive also have reading
problems.

The goodnews is I have a copy of my WinXP OS cd. And I also have a second OS
that I use only for retreiving files incase my primary OS will crash.

I have a floppy drive as well.

I am thinking I can use my (copied) XP cd and floppy drive to build a new OS
but I dont know how to do it.

Please help.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Well, since your OS is on optical media, you will need an optical drive to
get the data off the disk and onto the hard drive. Borrow an old working CD
ROM drive from a friend, put it in your computer and install Windows. When
done, return the drive to your friend. Better would be to buy a brand
spanking new DVD drive for yourself, they are pretty cheap these days.
 
normally, if your system files became
infected then there were likely zapped
by your a.v.

so instead of doing a clean install you
may simply want to initiate a "repair
installation" or a

sfc /scannow with your xp cd.

the repair installation and the sfc can
replace missing or corrupted system files
with genuine ones from the cd.

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

unfortunately, one of the set backs with
a.v.'s zapping system files is that the system
files cannot be replaced except via the cd.

you could do a system restore, but it will
likely restore the infection as well.

so I wouldn't do the above.

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