Setup Problem in XP Pro 2

[cmahon]

I'm having some trouble installing Windows XP Pro on a second PC at home and I was wondering if anyone could help me out or offer any advice. The PC had Windows 98 on it and I tried to install XP but I got loads of errors and I thought the best thing to do would be to format the C drive and start again. I did the format without a problem and I then booted with CD Rom support, I then went to the CD Drive (D drive in my case) and tried to run the setup but I got an error message saying "Cannot run this program in DOS Mode". I did a dir on the folder and I'm definitely in the right folder.

I tried to put the Windows 98 CD back in and did the same thing and it ran the Setup program correctly without a problem.

I read in another article about setting up Win 98 to create a new folder on the C Drive and copy all the folders from the WIN98 folder into this and then to CD to the new folder and run the SETUP from there. This is for Win 98 though - thread615-341345

Does anyone know if this would work in XP Pro as well? I haven't tried it yet as I am still in work and won't be at home for a good few hours yet

I've was thinking of creating the XP setup floppy disks and trying it from there but would that make a difference?

Any tips or advice would be greatly received

Thanks

cmahon

 

[TimUK]

Are you booting from a Win98 floppy disk? That may be the issue. Just let the PC boot from the WinXPPro CD (change the PC BIOS to allow this) and follow the prompts from that.

Tim

 

[cmahon]

Thanks for the reply, I tried booting off the Win XPPro CD but I get the same problem - "Cannot run this program in DOS Mode

 

[TimUK]

Odd. When you boot from the CD does the WinXP pro setup automatically start - loading drivers etc etc etc - you'll see them scrolling across the bottom of the screen.

You shouldn't have to double-click on anything to initiate setup.

Is this CD 1) legit 2) full or 3) upgrade?

Tim

 

[cmahon]

It is a full legit CD. Maybe I'm doing something wrong when I reboot after the format? I put the CD in just before I reboot, then reboot. It then reboots from the CD, asks if I want to install it and then goes off to install it. It displays a message saying that it is analysing the installed hardware and then freezes. Any ideas?

 

[TimUK]

You don't actually need to format anything before the install as the WinXP installer will ask you if you want to create and size partitions on any disks it finds.

It doesn't sound like you are doing anything wrong at all.

Maybe try booting from a Win98 floppy, running fdisk and destroying any partitions that are there. Then try the WinXP install again.

Freezing during the hardware analysis isn't the same as "cannot run in DOS Mode" though.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;

[ln];winxp&product=msall might be a useful place to look too.

Tim

 

[TimUK]

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/default.mspx

might be even better...

Tim

 

[bcastner]

All of the above confuses me. Either you start install from the XP CD as a boot device, or you start the installation from a previous version of Windows, or you start the installation from a DOS command prompt. Mixing the setup command required in a different OS setting is ill-advised, and leads to the error message you received. See:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307848

 

[TimUK]

That's the article I couldn't find! There are lots of /switches to that winnt command to speed the whole thing up.
Nicely played sir.

 

[bcastner]

If using the DOS prompt command verion of setup, do not ignore the pre-requsite use of Smartdrv.exe. Without this command you can expect the process to take up to four hours longer.