Installing win2k over win XP

[BigFatCow]

I got a used laptop that has XP on it now but its pretty old so i decided to put 2k on it, I have oto install it over the network because the CD rom on the laptop doesnt work so when i try it wont let me because 2k is older than XP, is there anyway around this?

 

[AverageMoron]

You have to reformat the hard drive.

 

[BigFatCow]

Originally posted by: AverageMoron
You have to reformat the hard drive.

ok, is it possible to do a network install in dos?

 

[AverageMoron]

I don't know that for sure. I know XP and W2K don't have true DOS but there may be some way to do it. Someone smarter than me might chime in on this one.

 

[Zolty]

yes its possible, basically you need to load network drivers for your network card from the dos boot disk. From there you can map network drives and install from the network.

as far as the specifics of this I am not 100%, but it gives you a place to start looking

 

[willstay]

This is off topic to your original thread but let me warn you. When you forcefully install Win2k on machine that alrady has XP, NTDETECT.COM and NTLDR get overwritten by older version and you no loger will be able to boot XP.

Use NTBackup (or anything you fancy) and backup those two files before installing Win2k. After you have installed Win2k, restore them and everything will work neat and clean.

 

[Evander]

there's a related thread here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=34&threadid=1687713

I suggested:

"Maybe a possibility (never tried myself though) is to use a 2.5 to 3.5 inch hard disk adapter, create a partition on this laptop drive big enough to hold the contents of an xp cd, hook up the drive as a slave to another comp and copy the xp contents onto that drive, reconnect 2.5 incher back to the laptop and install. I'm not quite certain though, if the computer will boot from this partition automatically and allow you to install. Maybe someone with more experience can advise. Maybe you don't even need to partition, just copy the xp contents onto the c: drive and delete the install files after installing"