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Possible to boot without floppy?

Alex

Diamond Member
Hi... just finished setting up my new rig to realize that i have no floppy drive... is there any way to boot, format the hd and install windows without getting the drive?

thx!
 
uhh well i dont really have access to a new operating system... can i make a bootable cd or something?
 
If you're installing Win98, you can boot to dos from the CD. If you're installing Win2000 or XP, you can boot from the CD, create partitions and fromat from the setup screens. If you're installing WIN95 or NT4, you may want to reconsider. AFAIK you can boot from the CD and install with Linux, but I'm no eggspurt on that. I don't see a need for a floppy to do an install, unless you're using an unattend.txt file.
 
Originally posted by: franguinho
uhh well i dont really have access to a new operating system... can i make a bootable cd or something?

OK, you're gonna need an operating system if you want to do anything more than POST and view the BIOS information.
 
Originally posted by: SpookyFish
Originally posted by: franguinho
uhh well i dont really have access to a new operating system... can i make a bootable cd or something?

OK, you're gonna need an operating system if you want to do anything more than POST and view the BIOS information.

what im trying to say is a have a corp version windows xp so the cd doesnt really boot up n stuff...
 
If you have XP - either Home or Pro - you don't need a floppy at all. I haven't had a floppy in my machine in over a year...
 
Originally posted by: franguinho
Originally posted by: SpookyFish
Originally posted by: franguinho
uhh well i dont really have access to a new operating system... can i make a bootable cd or something?

OK, you're gonna need an operating system if you want to do anything more than POST and view the BIOS information.

what im trying to say is a have a corp version windows xp so the cd doesnt really boot up n stuff...

OK, gotcha 😉

You have access to a cd burner?
make a DOS boot cd.

http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk/cdrom/

 
hehe sweet! 😉

btw have you ever used that site or did you just find it in google, cuz the same one just came up for me, funnily enough!
 
rolleye.gif
Corporate editions of W2K, XP, and 2003 boot off of a cd just fine.
 
Originally posted by: Spac3d
rolleye.gif
Corporate editions of W2K, XP, and 2003 boot off of a cd just fine.

Just a reminder . . . don't forget to set the BIOS to allow a boot from CD (first).

Howz things in Brasil? Or still studying in the US?
 
Originally posted by: apoppin
Originally posted by: Spac3d
rolleye.gif
Corporate editions of W2K, XP, and 2003 boot off of a cd just fine.

Just a reminder . . . don't forget to set the BIOS to allow a boot from CD (first).

Howz things in Brasil? Or still studying in the US?

i dunno why but my corp wxp cd just doesnt want to boot...

everythings goin good thx! im studying in canada!
 
Originally posted by: franguinho
Originally posted by: apoppin
Originally posted by: Spac3d
rolleye.gif
Corporate editions of W2K, XP, and 2003 boot off of a cd just fine.

Just a reminder . . . don't forget to set the BIOS to allow a boot from CD (first).

Howz things in Brasil? Or still studying in the US?

i dunno why but my corp wxp cd just doesnt want to boot...

everythings goin good thx! im studying in canada!

well the problem is! Was it a zip file before or did you get it from work. If you downloaded it and just burned it non ISO format than yes its not going to be bootable FYI.

 
I loathe this improper use of terminology. ISO is the International Standards Organization. One of their standards is called 9660 and defines an image for use with CD's. That's what we are talking about here, an image, which is not necessarily an ISO-9660 image either. So yeah, if an image of the orignal MS CD was made correctly then it is bootable. If someone just copied the folders containing the OS and made an image without specifically going through the steps to make it bootable then it shan't be. I have used such guides and boot image files as posted to make SP integrated CD's before.
 
well thx for all the input but i just decided to ask my next door neighbour (whom i'd never seen before) if i could borrow her floppy drive and she gladly complied! so its done! 🙂
 
Originally posted by: franguinho
well thx for all the input but i just decided to ask my next door neighbour (whom i'd never seen before) if i could borrow her floppy drive and she gladly complied! so its done! 🙂

Wow, that pretty nice of her... Did she let you come in and remove it? or was she computer savy enough to do it herself?
 
Originally posted by: bjc112
Originally posted by: franguinho
well thx for all the input but i just decided to ask my next door neighbour (whom i'd never seen before) if i could borrow her floppy drive and she gladly complied! so its done! 🙂

Wow, that pretty nice of her... Did she let you come in and remove it? or was she computer savy enough to do it herself?

hehe i had to do it, she didnt even understand what a floppy drive was...she was all like "you need a diskette?" and i was, umm well something like that hehe 😛

but it was nice of her to let a complete stranger open up her comp and take a part from it eh? 😀
 
do you have the cdrom set in the boot order in your bios? That will be your first show stopper, bootable cd or not
 
Originally posted by: buleyb
do you have the cdrom set in the boot order in your bios? That will be your first show stopper, bootable cd or not

uhh thx for the input but if you spent a lil time reading the thread youd see that im done already! 😉

 
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