Vista Clean Install WITHOUT DVD drive??????

[mike]

I picked up the Vista Ultimate DVD at the "Heroes" seminar.
I'm trying to intstall it on my test machine.
The machine has no DVD drive.
I tried copying the DVD contents to a secondary partition,
but I can't find any .exe files that will run from a dos boot.
Is there any way to get Vista install started without a
bootable DVD drive?
I do have a CD drive on the machine...can I split the DVD into CD's?

Anticipating the most likely input...let me say these...
Yes, I have googled my ass off.
Yes, I have IDE DVD drives, I have external usb DVD drives.
What I DO NOT HAVE is a way to get THIS machine to BOOT from
any of them. Buying a new DVD drive won't help me.
I can boot from a CD or floppy or hard drive.
I want to do a CLEAN build without leftovers from previous OS.
Yes, you can order Vista on CD if you want to wait...and they
won't even tell you what it costs until you enter personal
information...sorry, but that really chaps my...

 

[Dominic Payer]

In your motherboard BIOS, set one of the DVD drives to be the bootable
optical drive and then use that drive to install Vista.

You may be able to specify the boot drive at boot time, usually by using F11
to override the BIOS setting.

 

[Nonny]

In your motherboard BIOS, set one of the DVD drives to be the bootable
optical drive and then use that drive to install Vista.

He clearly stated that the computer that he needs to install SP1 on
doesn't HAVE a DVD drive.

 

[Nonny]

HOW did you open the DVD to copy the contents? You are making no
sense.

He's trying to use a SECOND computer to make a workable copy for the
one without a DVD.

 

[AJR]

Come on guys - read his "entire" post.

Quote "..The machine has no DVD drive...." - then further on "...get Vista
install started without a bootable DVD drive?...". By "no DVD drive" he
evidently means he cannot boot from the drive.

Further along is his post "...Yes, I have IDE DVD drives, I have external
usb DVD drives...." and "...I DO NOT HAVE is a way to get THIS machine to
BOOT from any of them..." - note no reference to a second computer.

Simply put - no boot from the DVD - reply by Dominic only sensitble
suggestion.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

If your system features a CD drive but no DVD drive, you can order Windows Vista on CD-ROM:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/1033/ordermedia/default.mspx

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows Vista Enthusiast

---------------------------------------------------------------

:

I picked up the Vista Ultimate DVD at the "Heroes" seminar.
I'm trying to intstall it on my test machine.
The machine has no DVD drive.
I tried copying the DVD contents to a secondary partition,
but I can't find any .exe files that will run from a dos boot.
Is there any way to get Vista install started without a
bootable DVD drive?
I do have a CD drive on the machine...can I split the DVD into CD's?

Anticipating the most likely input...let me say these...
Yes, I have googled my ass off.
Yes, I have IDE DVD drives, I have external usb DVD drives.
What I DO NOT HAVE is a way to get THIS machine to BOOT from
any of them. Buying a new DVD drive won't help me.
I can boot from a CD or floppy or hard drive.
I want to do a CLEAN build without leftovers from previous OS.
Yes, you can order Vista on CD if you want to wait...and they
won't even tell you what it costs until you enter personal
information...sorry, but that really chaps my...

 

[mike]

Thank you very much for reading the original post.
It's amazing how far a thread can get off track and
how emotional people get about it.

I come to uesnet for imatinative approaches to solve
problems. Mostly what I get is "impossible, can't be done."
"Your an idiot!", is a popular helpful suggestion.

Took me a weekend of trial/error to figger it out,
but here's how I accomplished
it using free tools. Maybe others can benefit from the experience.
YMMV
It worked for me.

Install the trial vista on a machine with a DVD.
Boot the Acronis 7 CD and image the drive to a
usb hard drive.
On the target machine, boot the Acronis 7 CD.
Restore the image from the USB hard drive.
The target system won't boot, but there exists a bootable
CD that runs the Vista recovery environment; boot it.
It automagically figgers out how to make the system bootable.
Boot vista and let it reconfigure all the hardware/drivers.

I have zero Vista experience, so I can't tell if everything is
working, but it seems OK so far.

Acronis 7 plus the Recovery CD may well be the solution to the
backup/restore problem too.

I have no idea if there are any activation issues.
So far, I've learned that Vista breaks much of my software.
It breaks much of my hardware.
It takes up 3X the drive space (of 2K).
It appears to offer NO improvement in anything I need.
Whether or not it activates may be a non-issue...


mike