Reinstall XP from USB drive / network?

[Guest]

Hi.
My laptop has lost its CD & FDD. I would like to reformat and reinstall XP
pro.
Is it possible to do this via the CD of my other computer that is connected
via network cable to the laptop?
or...
Is it possible to copy the XP (OEM) CD onto a USB hard drive from the other
computer, then use the USB to reinstall on the laptop?

Thanks,

Neilo

 

[AJR]

XP can be "deployed" over a network. However to boot from USB - BIOS must
provide for USB boot and power must be applied to USB port at startup which
usually is not the case - natively XP cannot boot from USB -needs third
party boot manager.

 

[Guest]

Thanks AJR,
My USB drive has its own mains power supply. Is this sufficient? How do I
know if my BIOS provides USB boot?

How about via another computer?

Neilo

 

[Jim]

Thanks AJR,
My USB drive has its own mains power supply. Is this sufficient? How do I
know if my BIOS provides USB boot?

The fine manual should tell you.
Or
The BIOS must let you specify the USB as a boot device.
Jim

 

[Guest]

Thanks Jim,
my BOIS allows me the following..
IDE HArd Drive
Atapi CD-ROM - (CD ROM isnt working so its disbaled)
Remoavable Device - Legacy Floppy (not working -Disabled)
Other Boot Devices - INT18 Network, Realtek Boot Agent
Onboard LAN Boot ROM - Enabled

Will any of these work?? How do I do it?? Can you help?????

 

[RedFox8391]

Thanks Jim,
my BOIS allows me the following..
IDE HArd Drive
Atapi CD-ROM - (CD ROM isnt working so its disbaled)
Remoavable Device - Legacy Floppy (not working -Disabled)
Other Boot Devices - INT18 Network, Realtek Boot Agent
Onboard LAN Boot ROM - Enabled

Will any of these work?? How do I do it?? Can you help?????

I'm also having a problem installing a internal HDD connected to a
external enclosure through the USB2.0 port on my laptop, it has it's
power brick and works ok as a just a storage device, it's recognized as
a HDD by the Bios, but when I tried to install WinXp-Pro on it and came
to the first re-start to begin the final process of installation, it
gives me an error codes that someone told me that it meant not finding
the boot device for the HDD.
What can you tell me about this third party boot device and does it
work, if possible in detail, please? not much of a savy tech, that's for
sure.

Thanks

RedFox