Using I386 folder to install XP Pro

[oldrah]

I have had to replace my laptop's hard drive. I do not have any XP CDs;
the original hard drive had a recovery partition but it is inaccessible.
I have backups for all folders from the dead drive (except the recovery
partition) on an external drive. This includes an I386 folder that I
understand can be used to install WinXp Pro onto the new drive. I have a
bootable CD containing a Mini XP (Hiren's Boot CD) that I can boot the
system from and run under. The process steps to recreate WinXP Pro seem
to be:
1. Boot from Hiren's CD.
2. Format and partition the new drive as necessary.
3. Copy I386 folder from the external drive to the C: partition on the
new drive.
4. Run WINNT32 from the C:I386 folder and follow its prompts.
5. Boot from the C: partition.
6. Use Windows Update to get back to current maintenance levels.
7. Reinstall other software.
Is the above accurate and have I missed anything?
What sized partition does XP Pro SP3 need?
Dick

 

[oldrah]

I have had to replace my laptop's hard drive. I do not have any XP CDs;
the original hard drive had a recovery partition but it is inaccessible.
I have backups for all folders from the dead drive (except the recovery
partition) on an external drive. This includes an I386 folder that I
understand can be used to install WinXp Pro onto the new drive. I have a
bootable CD containing a Mini XP (Hiren's Boot CD) that I can boot the
system from and run under. The process steps to recreate WinXP Pro seem
to be:
1. Boot from Hiren's CD.
2. Format and partition the new drive as necessary.
3. Copy I386 folder from the external drive to the C: partition on the
new drive.
4. Run WINNT32 from the C:I386 folder and follow its prompts.
5. Boot from the C: partition.
6. Use Windows Update to get back to current maintenance levels.
7. Reinstall other software.
Is the above accurate and have I missed anything?
What sized partition does XP Pro SP3 need?
Dick

So I've gotten two votes so far; one says "Yes" the other says "No" and
gives me an alternative method. I think I'll try my original idea first
with the new drive formatted as FAT32 since some articles I found via
Google seem to say it should work. If it doesn't I can fall back to the
alternative method. Any other ideas/suggestions?
Dick

 

[oldrah]

Not speculation on my part
I've done it and it works

but remember you need to load smartdrv

WINNT says it can't run on a 32-bit Windows system. I've got a Win98
disk, maybe I'll try that. WINNT32 starts, asks for a product key, asks
if I want to convert to NTFS, runs through part of the install to a
point where it estimates the next step will take 51 minutes and then
stops with no indication of why. Is there perhaps something else besides
I386 that I need to copy from my backups to the clean hard drive?

 

[Paul]

WINNT says it can't run on a 32-bit Windows system. I've got a Win98
disk, maybe I'll try that. WINNT32 starts, asks for a product key, asks
if I want to convert to NTFS, runs through part of the install to a
point where it estimates the next step will take 51 minutes and then
stops with no indication of why. Is there perhaps something else besides
I386 that I need to copy from my backups to the clean hard drive?

The i386 folder I install from, has 6951 files and 153 folders.
If you right-click on your i386 folder and do "properties",
what do you get for a tally ?

Paul

 

[oldrah]

The i386 folder I install from, has 6951 files and 153 folders.
If you right-click on your i386 folder and do "properties",
what do you get for a tally ?

Paul

My I386 folder has 6935 files and 154 folders and has a size on disk of
614MB. Most of the files are dated 08/04/2004 but a very few are dated
in 2005 and 2006. Since this is a LENOVO laptop and the old drive had a
hidden recovery partition, I'm wondering if Lenovo/IBM used its own
install program to set the drive up.
Dick

 

[oldrah]

I've been able to order Win XP Pro recovery discs from Lenovo (got the
correct telephone number on their support forum) so am abandoning this
method. Thanks to all who replied with advice.
oldrah