Installing XP without a CD drive

Misiowiec · 4 Mar 2007 at 09:58

I have a HP Pavilion laptop with a corrupt installation, and I want to reinstall XP. Unfortunately the optical drive is broken (why keep the laptop, you ask…).

Is there a way to install XP without the optical drive, and without access to a network installation? I was thinking of taking out the HD and placing it in a 2.5” USB2 enclosure. Could I then create a boot sector, copy the installation files from the original XP OEM CD and put it back in the laptop which would proceed to boot and install XP? Any ideas how to do this?

Many thanks.

Misiowiec · 4 Mar 2007 at 10:00

No, don't have access to an external optical drive and I don't really want to spend money on one either.

Misiowiec · 4 Mar 2007 at 16:35

Thanks for the suggestion Burnsy, I'm coping the files now. A few more things which are unclear though:

1. Will I only be needing the I386 folder?

2. The laptop does not have a floppy drive (nor do any of my PCs), but I do have a USB flash drive - which boot files will I need? Looking at www.bootdisk.com I'm not sure.

3. The harddrive I want to install on is in NTFS format as XP on this PC did not give me the option to format in FAT32. Will this be a problem, and do I need a special bootdisk that deals with NTFS?

Thanks,
Martin

Misiowiec · 4 Mar 2007 at 17:03

burnsy2023 said:
Copy the whole disc

Try formatting the flash drive and click the 'copy system files'

Yes, this could be a problem.

Burnsy

Formatting the flash drive disables the option of copying system files unfortunately. Other ideas?

Any any solution for the NTFS / FAT32 issue?

Misiowiec · 4 Mar 2007 at 17:21

burnsy2023 said:
Have a look at this: http://www.oreillynet.com/digitalmedia/blog/2004/10/utility_to_make_usb_flash_driv.html

You don't make this easy do you?

Burnsy

I've tried that utility, but it requires that I have a bootdisk (or the files for one). Any ideas which one I could use from e.g. www.bootdisk.com?

Unfortunately I don't have access to a floppy drive as my PC is currently broken, so I apologise if don't make it easy - it's only because it isn't :-)