Install XP (or 98se) without CD, floppy or USB boot?

[coolVariable]

I got this old laptop which is currently running a horribly screwed up installation of XP.
I would like to do a fresh install and even have a USB CD drive but the laptop does not support USB booting.

What can I do?

 

[kaborka]

No internal bootable CD either? No choice but to put the laptop hdd in another system and repair XP there. You'd need a 2.5 to 3.5" hdd adapter, similar to this. That one gets poor reviews, but search for a good one.

 

[corkyg]

That will probably not work because it would install XP using the booted system/s parameters - which would not work on the laptop.

Does the laptop boot at all, even in Safe Mode?

 

[kaborka]

Just sysprep the repaired XP before replacing the hdd in the laptop. Remove all drivers for the desktop system and install vanilla drivers. See here. As long as the HAL is the same the lappy should boot.

For that matter, create a FAT partition and make it active, install one of the many available free DOS boot images, along with a copy of the XP i386 directory, to the laptop's hdd and do a repair install entirely on the laptop.

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: kaborka
Just sysprep the repaired XP before replacing the hdd in the laptop. Remove all drivers for the desktop system and install vanilla drivers. See here. As long as the HAL is the same the lappy should boot.

For that matter, create a FAT partition and make it active, install one of the many available free DOS boot images, along with a copy of the XP i386 directory, to the laptop's hdd and do a repair install entirely on the laptop.

I have thought about going the FAT route ... but I fear that this will install windows on a D: drive instead of C:

Is there a way to get around that?

what happens if I start the install from within the installed XP?
Does that still require CD-boot?

 

[kaborka]

Good point. IIRC, if you do a clean install, you have to hide your other windows installations to force XP to install as C. WTF did MS never fix that! I have a dual-boot system with XP and Server 03, both boot as C. I used Partition Magic to hide the XP partition when installing Server, IIRC. I'm really not sure what it would do for a repair install. Safest solution would be to make the 2.5" hdd the only drive in your desktop when you do the repair using the desktop.

If you want to do the repair entirely on the notebook, you may have to use your desktop first to convert the existing 2.5" C partition to FAT, then add the DOS boot files to it.

 

[coolVariable]

The hdd in the laptop is one of those weird 1.8 (or even smaller) drives. Not a standard laptop HDD.
I don't have an adapter for it, so I am looking for a laptop only solution.

What if I:
- create an extra partition to copy the install files to
- start the installation from within the existing XP installation
- tell the installation to wipe the existing XP installation

That should work, shouldn't it?

 

[kaborka]

Ah, for some reason I was thinking you couldn't boot the lappy at all. Sure, if you can copy the i386 directory through the LAN to the nb, you can try doing an "upgrade" install from within the current setup by running \i386\setup.exe. To to a new install over top of the existing setup, or to install to a separate Windows folder, you might have to make the C drive bootable to DOS. See kb316941. I can't remember if Setup gives you the option of a clean install if launched from a running Windows installation.

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: kaborka
Ah, for some reason I was thinking you couldn't boot the lappy at all. Sure, if you can copy the i386 directory through the LAN to the nb, you can try doing an "upgrade" install from within the current setup by running \i386\setup.exe. To to a new install over top of the existing setup, or to install to a separate Windows folder, you might have to make the C drive bootable to DOS. See kb316941. I can't remember if Setup gives you the option of a clean install if launched from a running Windows installation.

Yes. I can boot to the current (slightly screwed up) installation of XP.
I would like to do a clean install over it.
I created a second primary partition (D: under the current install) which I formatted with FAT32.

I would love to make this partition a DOS bootable partition and be able to dual boot between the two (just in case something goes wrong). But I am unable to find any solution how to install the system/boot files on that partition from within XP (I cannot boot to DOS <= no CD, no Floppy boot)

I am now trying the XP install from the secondary partition.
If it doesn't work, I might have to try a net-install approach:
http://www.lockstockmods.net/2...y-to-pxe-boot-windows/

 

[kaborka]

IIRC, a DOS bootable partition has to be below the 2GB barrier. You might need to use PM to move your Windows partition up so the DOS part. can come first on the hdd. Get a DOS image here and mount it with Daemontools, etc.

After making the DOS partition active, if it doesn't boot you'll have no choice but to put the hdd in another system.

 

[coolVariable]

I don't see how running the image from a virtual CD drive is going to help me format the extra partition for DOS ...
I also have a USB cd drive ... the #$@%@#$% toshiba doesn't support booting from USB.

How can I run format d: /s from within XP?

 

[kaborka]

I just meant to mount it to copy the DOS files. You'll need Partition Magic to put the DOS part at the start of the drive and format it as FAT32.

 

[coolVariable]

Paragon Partition Manager doesn't seem to be giving me the option to create bootable Fat/Fat32 partitions ... any other (free) programs that can do this from within XP?

 

[kaborka]

It's possible some of the disk tools on the Ultimate Boot CD could do it, but you'd have to check the docs of the individual tools to see if any would run under XP.

Seems like finding the right hdd adapter to plug the nb's hdd into a desktop system would be easier.

 

[kaborka]

BTW, once you have a DOS partition, add it to the boot.ini on the XP partition. That way you can keep XP as the active partition.

 

[coolVariable]

Yay! I shot the XP installation when trying to install xp from the secondary partition (had previously copied all the files over.

With no other option left I gave tftpd a chance using the below guide and got pretty far (btw - it does not work under Vista)

http://www.hunke.ws/blog/2006/...ver-network-using-pxe/

Now I have a bootable FAT partition.
The only problem is that the NTFS partition is shot and DSL doesn't boot.
I am now trying to install ubuntu to see if I can use it to copy the windows installation files over the network / USB drive to the laptop to run an install

 

[kaborka]

Well, that's progress, I guess... I'll file your reference link away for future use. Good luck, and update the thread with your progress.

 

[coolVariable]

This morning the xubuntu install was finally finished.
Wow. People complain about the windows installation continuously asking for user input but that is nothing compared to ubuntu. The installation asks you for something every 2 minutes.
Why can't anybody create an installation routine where it asks all its questions at the beginning ... and then the OS simply installs itself without any more input until you are booted into the desktop?

Sorry for the rant.

Tonight I should be able to copy the windows intallation files over the network to the other partitions and install from there.
Might give 98se another chance since this is not exactly the fastest machine (750Mhz, 512MB RAM .... 98se should scream)

 

[coolVariable]

I got it to install win98se ... but I had forgotten how outdated the win9x series is.
Not even USB stick drivers ...

I guess I will have to install XP although 98se is really impressive fast on this machine.
Boot time to desktop: 24 seconds. Very nice.

 

[loup garou]

I don't know if you're going to try installing XP now, but if your laptop supports PXE booting (I can't imagine it doesn't), network install is way easier than the hoops you've jumped through so far.

Easiest method is to run something like Ultimate Deployment Appliance VM off another machine, hosting an iso of XP. You should be able to set up the appliance in a matter of minutes.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: loup garou
Easiest method is to run something like Ultimate Deployment Appliance VM off another machine, hosting an iso of XP. You should be able to set up the appliance in a matter of minutes.

I hadn't heard of that one, but if it does what it promises, that would be great. Much easier than setting up a RIS server and such. Thanks.

 

[coolVariable]

Ok - this has been a nightmare!
and I still don't have FUCKING XP installed.

I can install ubuntu without any problems through the netboot.
I can even boot a DOS bootdisk and set up FAT partitions.
I managed to install Win98SE.

BUT:
- 98se does not recognize any networking devices, USB drives (CD/flash drive) nor does it install the drivers for the WLAN.
- ubuntu allows me to copy files from flash drive to the FAT drives (ok - I copied the i386 folder to flash and then to the FAT partition ... start winnt ... hangs while copying files and then does not find the EULA [txtsetup.sif has the correct path])
- HOW THE FUCK CAN I INSTALL XP OVER THE NETWORK WITH TFTPD32??

 

[kaborka]

There are two approaches:

1. Do an upgrade install from Win98 to XP.
   
2. Boot Win98 to DOS mode , making sure you have Smartdrive and a working CD driver in the config.sys, and then run \i386\setup.exe off the XP CD.

Of these, #2 gives a clean install of XP, either to a separate folder or to a separate partition. If you install XP to the same partition as Win98, say in a folder named WinXP, the boot drive letter will still be C. You can then clean off the Win98 stuff and convert the partition to NTFS. If you install XP to your existing NTFS partition, it will boot as D.

This might be useful.

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: kaborka
There are two approaches:

1. Do an upgrade install from Win98 to XP.
   
2. Boot Win98 to DOS mode , making sure you have Smartdrive and a working CD driver in the config.sys, and then run \i386\setup.exe off the XP CD.

Of these, #2 gives a clean install of XP, either to a separate folder or to a separate partition. If you install XP to the same partition as Win98, say in a folder named WinXP, the boot drive letter will still be C. You can then clean off the Win98 stuff and convert the partition to NTFS. If you install XP to your existing NTFS partition, it will boot as D.

This might be useful.

I have tried #1 and #2.
Both DO NOT WORK.
XP just hangs while copying files. when I restart the PC and let it boot into the installation it says that the EULA file cannot be found and I can exit the installation via F3.
I have tried copying the I386 folder from an Upgrade CD I have and from an OEM CD of XP.
Same result for both.

I am ready to take an AXE to this computer.

 

[kaborka]

Bummer. If it hangs during the 'copying files' phase, I've no idea what's wrong. I'd try to verify that your XP cd is good by trying an install on another machine.