Installing XP from hard drive

[dorond]

Hello all,
The cd drive on my laptop is not functioning any longer. I was ale
to copy the XP set up files onto a second hard drive. How can I reboot
without cd access into dos and considering I will have to switch to a
different hard drive to install from. This is assuming I can install
from the hard drive. The installation files were installed using an
external cd drive which cannot be boothed from.
Thanks,
Doron

 

[Mac Townsend]

I'm not sure you can, especially if you formated the drive(s) as NTFS.
Because DOS (any version) can't see NTFS drives. Unfortunately, NTFS is the
right way to go, especially with big drives. My Dos6 box can't see >2GB. But
if you formatted as Fat 32, a Win98 boot disc should see it (again, with
drive size limitations. It won't see a 160>GB drive but might see a 40 or 80
(not partition size, but DRIVE size).

My suggestion would be to round up another CD drive. It's not like they cost
a million bucks (like they used to! My first CD drive cost $800 for a 1X
drive! Such a deal!<G>) Or borrow one.

Only one section/folder of the files on the XP CD would be needed. On Win98
it was the Win98 folder. sorry but I don't know what folder on the XP CD
would be needed. Nor if it could be installed from such (But I imagine it
could be!)

 

[karuzo]

Thanks,
I forgot to mention this is a laptop, so I cannot just switch a cd
drive. The drive IS NTFS. I have no idea how to persue this. I guess my
only option is to have the cd drive repaired.
Thanks,
Doron

 

[GreenieLeBrun]

If you have a functioning, bootable FDD then look at:-
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994/EN-US/
and
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;305595&spid=1173&sid=global

 

[Harry Ohrn]

You need a Windows 98 or Me Start-up floppy that has SMARTDRV copied to it.
Or use this d/l to create a bootable floppy you can use
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/tools/xpboot.exe

Boot with the floppy, change to the location of the i386 directory on your
second drive and run winnt.exe.

 

[karuzo]

This was very helpful. I will try soon.
Thanks

 

[Gordon]

This was very helpful. I will try soon.
Thanks

Jolly good. What did we do?

 

[Uncle Joe]

One correction. Plan on replacing your CD-ROM
drive, not repairing it. Today's drives aren't
repairable. It's cheaper and simpler to replace
a drive, whether it be a hard drive or a CD-ROM
drive. You'd typically get a faster drive for less money.