Installing XP on a laptop without a cdrom or floppy?

[Praetor]

I'm trying to do a clean install of Windows XP Pro on a very old laptop that doesn't currently have a cdrom in it. It DOES have a floppy, but I don't have any floppy drives on another computer.

Can I do a network install? And how?

I've pulled the hard drive and installed it in my laptop and am trying to install XP on that and then move it back to the old laptop. I've been reading that this probably won't work very well either without access to a cdrom, but I'm still going to try it.

I can't boot off of USB either.....

 

[Praetor]

Is there a boot disk that will load drivers (in DOS mode) for an external USB cdrom?

 

[TechnoPro]

Sysprep will help you do what you want to accomplish. Load XP as you are doing on the newer laptop. Then use Sysprep; you will end up powering the PC down, swapping the drive into the older laptop, and when it powers up, Windows will go through hardware detection all over again, thus negating any issues arising from driver incompatabilities. It's not quite as simple as I am making it sound, but with a little light reading and some experimentation, the process is golden and works wonders.

Here's a great thread detailing the use of Sysprep.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: TechnoPro
Sysprep will help you do what you want to accomplish. Load XP as you are doing on the newer laptop. Then use Sysprep; you will end up powering the PC down, swapping the drive into the older laptop, and when it powers up, Windows will go through hardware detection all over again, thus negating any issues arising from driver incompatabilities. It's not quite as simple as I am making it sound, but with a little light reading and some experimentation, the process is golden and works wonders.

Here's a great thread detailing the use of Sysprep.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/838856/en-us

Keep in mind both of the systems must be using a compatible HAL.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Copy contents of i386 folder on the XP cd to a folder on the hard drive. Boot drive in working machine and load from the CD. Once the load is done, shut down. put drive in old laptop reboot. Windows should continue to load. When it asks for the folder, point it to the i386 folder you made.

 

[Praetor]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
Copy contents of i386 folder on the XP cd to a folder on the hard drive. Boot drive in working machine and load from the CD. Once the load is done, shut down. put drive in old laptop reboot. Windows should continue to load. When it asks for the folder, point it to the i386 folder you made.

Oh, really? Now THIS is what I was hoping for!

 

[MadRat]

JeffL hit the nail on the head. Its too bad you can't just get yourself a usb cd/dvd player for this kind of thing. They work well in systems that support usb booting.

 

[jameswhite1979]

Cheat put the HDD in another box and get XP to the point that you no longer need the CD on the restart power it off move the drive and there is a high chance it will work and then you can finish off with drivers etc

 

[Maxspeed996]

if the machine is that old , are you sure you want to put XP on it? you might be better off with 98 or even ME. How much RAM and what size processor does the machine have?

 

[Praetor]

Originally posted by: Maxspeed996
if the machine is that old , are you sure you want to put XP on it? you might be better off with 98 or even ME. How much RAM and what size processor does the machine have?

Do I WANT to put XP on this machine? No. Was I asked and given money to put XP on this machine, yes.

It's taking forever. Copying the files over to the drive, starting the install process on my laptop didn't work. I tried twice.

I just finished doing a "sys c:" with a 98 disc, copying the i386 directory to the hard drive, booting into dos and starting the install that way. Setup warned me that doing this without smartdrive was a mistake.... an hour later into just copying the files, and I'm realizing that it was right.