no cd drive so how to install xp ?

knowlesy · 10 Mar 2009 at 14:21

right ive got my mates fujistsu laptop and I wiped his hdd after his xp install was totally corrupt (i did this by removing the hdd) so i went to reinstall xp with a usb cd drive as the cde drive is broken and guess what no support for usb cdrom so

ive got the option of a drive image i just recently took of a laptop i did for some one and then try as hard as i can to load that onto it (no similar hardware mind) then reinstall xp over

or what ?

Theguy · 10 Mar 2009 at 14:26

you can install xp (or linux ect) using usb stick. there are a lot of guides based on the eeepc, but they would be fine to use in this case.

Sin_Chase · 10 Mar 2009 at 14:29

Copy the source files from the XP CD onto a secondary Hard Drive formatted in FAT32.

Plug in secondary hard drive as a slave in the PC you want to install on.

bootdisk.com for a Win98 Boot Disk.

Download Smartdrv from here - http://www.vetusware.com/download/SMARTDRV.EXE/?id=52

Copy it to the floppy.

Boot the system with this bootdisk with SMARTDRV on.

Once at a command prompt execute:

A: <enter>
smartdrv <enter>

Set focus to the secondary disk drive assignment and fire the XP install from the disk, if it was drive E: it would look like this:

E: <enter>
cd i386 <enter>
winnt <enter>

knowlesy · 10 Mar 2009 at 14:45

lol dont have the floppy ... however there is support for a usb floppy on the laptop and i do have around here at work so ill give that a shot after this usb xp install

bledd · 10 Mar 2009 at 14:49

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=120444

run that, you'll need UAC off, or better still, do it from an XP install

knowlesy · 10 Mar 2009 at 15:27

bledd. said:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=120444

run that, you'll need UAC off, or better still, do it from an XP install

cant be displayed

bledd · 10 Mar 2009 at 16:05

hmm, check later, will be back up

Bane · 10 Mar 2009 at 16:15

If it's a S-ATA model, try taking the hard drive out and connecting to main PC? Unless notepad HD's uses different cable size connections.

Partition hard drive using Disk Management and copy Windows CD contents to the small partition. Re-assemble then use some form of boot disk to get to C: prompt. Change to D: and run Windows setup.

knowlesy · 10 Mar 2009 at 16:48

bledd. said:
hmm, check later, will be back up

its up starting an image now ... heres hoping

malef!c · 10 Mar 2009 at 17:06

Will watch your results with interest - mighthave to do the same thing fairly soon!

bledd · 10 Mar 2009 at 17:59

use that tool from msfn..

i've used it a few times, awesome thing..

use the hpformat tool (that software has it included) to format the usb stick first.

knowlesy · 10 Mar 2009 at 23:47

it worked however i made the massive mistake of forgetting to check that my mate had professional where as he had home got to the coa input lol

, thankfully hes at the same uni and we get xp pro of the msdn from them

will have to make another image tommorow

SB118 · 3 Nov 2009 at 20:55

gah, was hoping this could help me out, but it doesn't see SD cards as usb

poxy netbook and it's lack of recovery partition!

Aod · 4 Nov 2009 at 07:53

SB118 said:
gah, was hoping this could help me out, but it doesn't see SD cards as usb

poxy netbook and it's lack of recovery partition!

how can it not support USB CD-rom? how OLD is this thing? :confused:

bledd · 4 Nov 2009 at 10:08

SB118 said:
gah, was hoping this could help me out, but it doesn't see SD cards as usb

poxy netbook and it's lack of recovery partition!

buy a usb pen/key

the Sandisk Cruizer Micro or Cruizer Micro Skin are awesome, really fast read speeds