Installation options

[Jaz]

Does anybody know if it's possible to install windows XP on a laptop that
has no floppy drive or CD-rom?

My cd-rom is broken and I need to wipe the system. Can I do it through the
network? What are my options?

Thanks,
Jasper

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Does anybody know if it's possible to install windows XP on a laptop
that
has no floppy drive or CD-rom?

My cd-rom is broken and I need to wipe the system. Can I do it through
the
network? What are my options?

Thanks,
Jasper

The usual method consists of putting the laptop
disk inside an external USB case so that you
can connect it to some other PC to load up the
WinXP installation files. Post again if you need
further details.

 

[philo]

Does anybody know if it's possible to install windows XP on a laptop that
has no floppy drive or CD-rom?

My cd-rom is broken and I need to wipe the system. Can I do it through the
network? What are my options?

Thanks,
Jasper

No, you cannot do a network install.
you'd need a boot floppy with network support

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

No, you cannot do a network install.
you'd need a boot floppy with network support

The OP has no floppy disk drive.

 

[philo]

The OP has no floppy disk drive.

I know...that's why I said they could not do a network installation.

If the bios supports booting from a USB device...an external cd would be an
option

 

[Andrew]

Does anybody know if it's possible to install windows XP on a laptop that
has no floppy drive or CD-rom?

My cd-rom is broken and I need to wipe the system. Can I do it through the
network? What are my options?

Thanks,
Jasper

If you have a desktop that you can spare, see
http://defectivekit.com/2007/02/27/guide-install-windows-without-a-cd-rom-or-floppy-drive/
for a way to do this. However, since this is a laptop hard disk, you
will probably need a laptop-to-desktop IDE connection converter to
connect it to a desktop, such as the one found here:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2329310&CatId=68

Andrew

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Does anybody know if it's possible to install windows XP on a
laptop that has no floppy drive or CD-rom?

My cd-rom is broken and I need to wipe the system. Can I do it
through the network? What are my options?

The usual method consists of putting the laptop
disk inside an external USB case so that you
can connect it to some other PC to load up the
WinXP installation files. Post again if you need
further details.

No, you cannot do a network install.
you'd need a boot floppy with network support

The OP has no floppy disk drive.

I know...that's why I said they could not do a network installation.

If the bios supports booting from a USB device...an external cd
would be an option

A network boot might actually be an option - if the BIOS supports it and the
OP has the proper setup/knows how to setup one...
Then no floppy diskette drive or CD drive would be necessary. *grin*

Seriously - the OP has all the options given.

The easiest - if the computer will do it - is a USB CDROM drive marked as
bootable in the BIOS. Then the installation is a normal installation by an
end-user. Boot from CD, continue install.

If the computer will not allow that - then removing the hard disk drive,
putting it in an external case or another computer and formatting it FAT32,
copying the Windows XP installation files to it and making the drive itself
accessbile from a startup (bootable with DOS - like the one that came with
Windows 98) is an option. Then the drive can be put back in the originating
system and booted to - the setup can be initiated by command line.

The latter is the most likely to happen, however.

 

[Jaz]

Am I just connecting the hard drive to copy the installation files? Can I
just do that through the network?

Thanks,
Jasper

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Does anybody know if it's possible to install windows XP on a
laptop that has no floppy drive or CD-rom?

My cd-rom is broken and I need to wipe the system. Can I do it
through the network? What are my options?

The usual method consists of putting the laptop
disk inside an external USB case so that you
can connect it to some other PC to load up the
WinXP installation files. Post again if you need
further details.

Am I just connecting the hard drive to copy the installation files?
Can I just do that through the network?

I suppose that depends...

- How are you connecting the laptop to the network to copy these files?
- Are you trying to do this copy through a functioning Windows XP? (If so -
you left out that there is a working OS on the laptop now.)

If you are saying you have a working OS on the system now (Windows XP for
example) and you want to use that OS to connect to a network share and copy
the Windows XP CD to the local hard disk drive of the laptop so you can do a
clean install - you have one fundamental issue that I can point out
easily...

You stated you wanted to 'wipe the system'. You cannot do this with the
system running. It's like standing on a rug, refusing to move off the rug,
but insisting the rug get lifted and rolled up - by yourself only.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Have a look at the link Andrew gave you in his reply.
It appears to cover just about everything.

 

[Jaz]

I tried that run thing, it can get ugly!

Thanks!
Jasper

 

[philo]

If the computer will not allow that - then removing the hard disk drive,
putting it in an external case or another computer and formatting it FAT32,
copying the Windows XP installation files to it and making the drive itself
accessbile from a startup (bootable with DOS - like the one that came with
Windows 98) is an option. Then the drive can be put back in the originating
system and booted to - the setup can be initiated by command line.

The latter is the most likely to happen, however.

Correct...but if doing that also be sure smartdrv.exe is loaded of the
installation will take forever
(if it completes at all)


also...to start the install, don't try to run "setup"

from dos , "winnt" will need to be run instead

 

[Mr Jonz]

Am no good at posting bt pls i really need your help in solving a problem:
I made a clean installation of Win XP Pro and after going through the
necessary processes and copying the necessary files after formatting, the
setup stops responding. It hangs when its performing the remaining tasks
before rebooting and continuning the setup with the GUI interface. i have
purchased and tried different installation cd's but to no avail. Any
suggestions would be most welcome on how i will resolve this issue @
(e-mail address removed)