Installing XP on a comp with no CD-ROM

[crisscross]

I need to install windows xp on a laptop with no cd-rom. Is there anyway i can install Windows XP on this system? It doesn't even have a floppy drive. But i do have a 512MB Flash Disk and an external hard drive on USB.

Thanks in advance

 

[slick230]

Copy the XP cd to the external hard drive, and run the setup program off of that? Can the laptop boot off of external drives, on USB?

 

[crisscross]

Hmmm i don't think it can boot off the USB drive, can i copy the setup files to one of the laptop hard drive's partition and run it from there?

 

[Gurck]

Copy the files to the drive, then in the uh... iirc i386 directory, run um... iirc winnt.exe. If that's not the one, try the other executables in that directory. Sorry, it's been a while.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Pull the laptop drive out, mount it as an additional drive on another system, copy the XP files to the lappy drive via the second system, re-install the drive in the laptop.

It could be a pain to put the laptop drive on a second system though.

What would happen if you drop in a copy in Win98 first to allow access to the external drive and then installed XP from that point?

Or just get rid of the lappy. If it has no optical drive, it seems like it is very old and probably not worth you time/effort to put XP on it.

What OS currently exists on it? Can that OS see the external drive?

 

[crisscross]

Hi,

It currently has WinXP but it's too damn slow so want to do a clean install. I can copy Win XP setup on one of the laptop's partition and run it from there, will it work ok if i do that?

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: crisscross
Hi,

It currently has WinXP but it's too damn slow so want to do a clean install. I can copy Win XP setup on one of the laptop's partition and run it from there, will it work ok if i do that?

It should, yes.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: crisscross
Hi,

It currently has WinXP but it's too damn slow so want to do a clean install. I can copy Win XP setup on one of the laptop's partition and run it from there, will it work ok if i do that?

Yes. You can install XP from your laptop hard drive if you copy the files over.

 

[Rottie]

or buy an external CD drive like Bantan CD Drive

 

[episodic]

sheesh this is easy


simply take the harddrive out of the laptop

if you don't already have it get a laptop harddrive to desktop adapter cable (like 3 bucks)

install the drive into a desktop

format the drive with a /s

move over the i386 folder

take it out

reinstall it into the laptop

boot with a floppy

nav to the i386 folder

install

done

 

[JW310]

Originally posted by: episodic

boot with a floppy

And how exactly do you propose he boot off a floppy if the system doesn't have a floppy drive?

JW

 

[episodic]

Originally posted by: JW310

Originally posted by: episodic

boot with a floppy

And how exactly do you propose he boot off a floppy if the system doesn't have a floppy drive?

JW

Ok boot with a usb key

Whatever.

You could also totally install xp on the drive with a desktop
then configure the drivers.

 

[nweaver]

one word (or acronym) PXE