Installing from Network and/or Floppy?

[Guest]

Good Day,

OK, here is all the pertinent info:

I, as others have, purchased a laptop on Craigslist with a copy of XP Pro
that will not allow me to upgrade to Sp2. I would very much like to purchase
a version of Windows to put on the laptop but I have 1 problem: The laptop
does not have a CD drive and I don't intend to buy one for it.

It does, however, have a floppy drive. The laptop can also connect to my
desktop through a LAN connection.

I do have a few older versions of Windows hanging around, so can I buy an XP
Pro Upgrade CD to upgrade the OS by way of connecting via LAN? Or am I going
to have to perform a clean install using a full version and who even knows
what method? Sure, I can muster enough IT IQ to boot from floppy, but then
what?

I am not concerned at all about the data on the laptop as it is pretty
easily backed up and doesn't amount to much. The laptop is mainly used for
surfing at hotspots.

Thanks, in advance, I always get good advice here.

-Sken

 

[Newbie Coder]

Do you only have an A & C driver or a small partition for D?

If you do have a small partition D for example, copy the contents to there,
format C drive, use the floppy so you can change to D drive
(D:\i386\setup.exe for example) & then run that

Another way is to make a netork boot disc with your network card drivers &
then you can chare your CD ROM from your Desktop & use that or better still
share a folder with the CD contents in there. Make sure you make it 8:3
naming compatible too & put it in the root of you Desktop's machine for easy
access

Example:

C:\WINS (WINS folder in C:\ drive)

Know the name of your Desktop & access it like so:

'\\[name here]\c$' & press enter or better still

'\\[name here]\c$\wins\i386\setup.exe'

Ebay is a good source for cheap licensed versions of Windows XP CD's, as
long as you get one that states unused COA & never buy from someone less
than 100%

I hope this helps,

 

[Guest]

Wow, that was super helpful!

Thanks!