Reinstall XP Home from Hardrive

[xpusrca]

The CDROM in my notebook has died and I desperately want to reinstall my XP
Home installation. Luckily, I had copied the installation CDs that came with
my notebook on the hard drive some time ago.

What I would like to know if it's possible, and safe, to reinstall Windows
from the Hard drive using the copied files from the CD?

 

[Patrick Keenan]

The CDROM in my notebook has died and I desperately want to reinstall my
XP
Home installation. Luckily, I had copied the installation CDs that came
with
my notebook on the hard drive some time ago.

What I would like to know if it's possible, and safe, to reinstall Windows
from the Hard drive using the copied files from the CD?

Often the answer is "no". This is because the intall routines *wipe the
hard disk* at the start of the process, so you lose the files you're trying
to install with.

Plus, you can't format the drive you are currently using, in particular the
system drive, which is what you would have to do with this method.

Your best bet is to find an external CD-ROM - or put one together from a
USB2 case and a $30 CD/DVD reader. This will likely be much less expensive
than getting an original replacement drive from the notebook manufacturer.
You'll need to check the BIOS settings first, to ensure that they do permit
booting from USB devices.

HTH
-p

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

The CDROM in my notebook has died and I desperately want to reinstall my
XP
Home installation. Luckily, I had copied the installation CDs that came
with
my notebook on the hard drive some time ago.

What I would like to know if it's possible, and safe, to reinstall Windows
from the Hard drive using the copied files from the CD?

In spite of your foresight you're in a bit of a bind. Here is why:
- If you run the installation program F:\i386\winnt.exe then you're told
that that the program won't run on a 32-bit version of Windows.
- If you run F:\i386\winnt32.exe then you're probably told that the current
version of Windows is more recent than the one you trying to install
(presumambly because of your current Service Pack).

If Patrick Kennan's suggestion does not work (perhaps because your BIOS does
not allow you to boot from a USB device) then you could try this alternative
method. This is a lengthy process that requires some patience. As an option
you could return your laptop to the nearest service point and have Windows
reloaded, probably for a fee.
1. Remove the hard disk from your laptop.
2. Install it in a 2.5" USB case.
3. Connect it to some other PC.
4. Back up all your files, including your EMail files.
5. Test your backups, especially your EMail files.
6. Use diskmgmt.msc to delete all existing partitions from
the laptop disk. This will destroy all data!
7. Create a primary FAT32 partition of 20..32 GBytes. 32 GBytes is the
maximum.
8. Mark this partition as "active" and set its label to "Laptop-C".
9. Format this partition.
10. Boot this machine with a Win98 boot disk or CD (www.bootdisk.com).
11. Find out which drive letter points to the label "Laptop-C". Let's assume
it's D:.
12. Type these commands:
sys D:{Enter}
copy a:\dos\smartdrv.exe c:\{Enter}
13. Reboot back into Windows.
14. Copy your WinXP CD to the USB drive.
15. Copy your drivers CD to the USB drive.
16. Re-install the disk in your laptop.
17. Reboot it. It should boot into DOS.
18. Type these commands:
c:\smartdrv.exe{Enter}
c:\i386\winnt{Enter}
19. Install Windows by following the prompts.
20. When finished, open a Command Prompt and type this command:
convert c: /fs:ntfs
21. Partition & format the rest of your disk. You will now have a system
drive (C and a data drive (D.

To avoid such problems in future I recommend that you look at an imaging
program such as Acronis TrueImage. If you had an image then you could
restore it on any other machine within a very short time.

 

[xpusrca]

I do have an external USB CD/DVD drive. I checked my BIOS and the only entry
for USB I see is :

=====
USB BIOS Legacy Support: Enabled
=====

Then, I checked the Boot Sequence in BIOS, which shows this:

=====
- Removable Devices
Legacy Floppy Drive
IC25NO40 ATXXX-0-(USB)
CD-ROM Drive
- Hard Drive
ST38XXI2A-(SM)
Boot to LAN
=====

Note that I had already attached my external CD-ROM in the USB but it
doesn't appear above.

Will this work for me?

Thank you very much.

 

[Jim]

In spite of your foresight you're in a bit of a bind. Here is why:
- If you run the installation program F:\i386\winnt.exe then you're told
that that the program won't run on a 32-bit version of Windows.
- If you run F:\i386\winnt32.exe then you're probably told that the
current version of Windows is more recent than the one you trying to
install (presumambly because of your current Service Pack).

If Patrick Kennan's suggestion does not work (perhaps because your BIOS
does not allow you to boot from a USB device) then you could try this
alternative method. This is a lengthy process that requires some patience.
As an option you could return your laptop to the nearest service point and
have Windows reloaded, probably for a fee.
1. Remove the hard disk from your laptop.
2. Install it in a 2.5" USB case.
3. Connect it to some other PC.
4. Back up all your files, including your EMail files.
5. Test your backups, especially your EMail files.
6. Use diskmgmt.msc to delete all existing partitions from
the laptop disk. This will destroy all data!
7. Create a primary FAT32 partition of 20..32 GBytes. 32 GBytes is the
maximum.
8. Mark this partition as "active" and set its label to "Laptop-C".
9. Format this partition.
10. Boot this machine with a Win98 boot disk or CD (www.bootdisk.com).
11. Find out which drive letter points to the label "Laptop-C". Let's
assume it's D:.
12. Type these commands:
sys D:{Enter}
copy a:\dos\smartdrv.exe c:\{Enter}
13. Reboot back into Windows.
14. Copy your WinXP CD to the USB drive.
15. Copy your drivers CD to the USB drive.
16. Re-install the disk in your laptop.
17. Reboot it. It should boot into DOS.
18. Type these commands:
c:\smartdrv.exe{Enter}
c:\i386\winnt{Enter}
19. Install Windows by following the prompts.
20. When finished, open a Command Prompt and type this command:
convert c: /fs:ntfs
21. Partition & format the rest of your disk. You will now have a system
drive (C and a data drive (D.

To avoid such problems in future I recommend that you look at an imaging
program such as Acronis TrueImage. If you had an image then you could
restore it on any other machine within a very short time.

The last paragraph is the solution that I used. I use ATI. I set it to
make a backup of the system drive to a folder on a spare USB drive every
week.
Once per month, I move the USB drive to my desktop where I copy the current
backup file to double layer DVD disks using Easy CD Creator.

So, when the system drive on the laptop needed to be replaced, I first
bought another notebook drive and USB enclosure.
I found the latest monthly backup for the notebook, and downloaded the
backup file on the double layer disks to a folder on the desktop. This
operation took about 30 minutes.
I then placed the new laptop drive in my spare USB enclosure and connected
it to an available USB port on the desktop.
Now, I used ATI to recover the latest backup. This operation took about 15
minutes.
I then placed the new laptop drive in the laptop, an booted the laptop. As
you can see, in less than an hour the laptop was back up in full working
order.
The ATI backup copies all partitions to the backup file. The restore
operation replaces all partitions, and you need not do anything to the
restored contents.

As you can see, my method is based on having two computers at hand. If you
do not, then ATI can create a restore disk, and it will create a backup set
of disks. I have never tried this method and cannot vouch for how quickly
it works.
Jim

 

[xpusrca]

I had two disks from the manufacturer, labeled AS1700_D1 and RecoverCD, the
contents of their respective folders on my hard drive are:

\AS1700_D1\ACER
\AS1700_D1\APP
\AS1700_D1\Driver
\AS1700_D1\OTHERS
\AS1700_D1\STCD
\AS1700_D1\XPPERSP1
\AS1700_D1\XPPROSP1

RecoveryCD\ACER\IMAGE
RecoveryCD\ACER\TOOLS
RecoveryCD\ACER\IMAGE\WXPENPER.IMG
RecoveryCD\ACER\IMAGE\WXPENPER.LOG
RecoveryCD\ACER\TOOLS\GDISK.EXE
RecoveryCD\ACER\TOOLS\GHOSTERR.TXT
RecoveryCD\ACER\TOOLS\GHOSTRO.EXE

If I'm not mistaken, the RecoveryCD a Ghost Image and not a WINXP CD, right?
Can it still work for me with the steps you have described?

Thank you very much.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I had two disks from the manufacturer, labeled AS1700_D1 and RecoverCD, the
contents of their respective folders on my hard drive are:

\AS1700_D1\ACER
\AS1700_D1\APP
\AS1700_D1\Driver
\AS1700_D1\OTHERS
\AS1700_D1\STCD
\AS1700_D1\XPPERSP1
\AS1700_D1\XPPROSP1

RecoveryCD\ACER\IMAGE
RecoveryCD\ACER\TOOLS
RecoveryCD\ACER\IMAGE\WXPENPER.IMG
RecoveryCD\ACER\IMAGE\WXPENPER.LOG
RecoveryCD\ACER\TOOLS\GDISK.EXE
RecoveryCD\ACER\TOOLS\GHOSTERR.TXT
RecoveryCD\ACER\TOOLS\GHOSTRO.EXE

If I'm not mistaken, the RecoveryCD a Ghost Image and not a WINXP CD,
right?
Can it still work for me with the steps you have described?

Thank you very much.

It's unlikely that you have an image file on the CD - its capacity is far
too small. However, you might have an image on a recovery partition on your
hard disk. It might get used after the initial bootstrap process on the
recovery CD. Someone with experience in Acer recovery methods would be far
better qualified to advise you. Maybe googling will get you a little
further. And no, the method I explained before won't work with the recovery
CD.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I had two disks from the manufacturer, labeled AS1700_D1 and RecoverCD, the
contents of their respective folders on my hard drive are:

\AS1700_D1\ACER
\AS1700_D1\APP
\AS1700_D1\Driver
\AS1700_D1\OTHERS
\AS1700_D1\STCD
\AS1700_D1\XPPERSP1
\AS1700_D1\XPPROSP1

RecoveryCD\ACER\IMAGE
RecoveryCD\ACER\TOOLS
RecoveryCD\ACER\IMAGE\WXPENPER.IMG
RecoveryCD\ACER\IMAGE\WXPENPER.LOG
RecoveryCD\ACER\TOOLS\GDISK.EXE
RecoveryCD\ACER\TOOLS\GHOSTERR.TXT
RecoveryCD\ACER\TOOLS\GHOSTRO.EXE

If I'm not mistaken, the RecoveryCD a Ghost Image and not a WINXP CD,
right?
Can it still work for me with the steps you have described?

Thank you very much.

At second thoughts I think there is a chance that you can invoke the Acer
recovery process. It would be important to know what files exist in the root
folder of the recovery CD and what they contain if they are text files. You
can use notepad.exe to examine them.