XP Installation 1

[MrSinister]

I have 2 Dell Laptops. Both with in-built nics. One laptop is running win2000 pro and the other is running win98se.
I want to format the win98se laptop and install win XP onto it.
The problem lies with the fact that the win98se laptop does not have a floppy drive or cd-rom. So is there a way of me linking this laptop up to the win2000 laptop via a x-over cable and somehow get the install of win xp running by sharing the cd-rom on the win2000 laptop. btw, this all has to be done via dos as i do not want to upgrade the win98 laptop but instead perform a clean install !
so networking via dos to a win2000 laptop to use its CD which is shared out ?
any ideas people ?

 

[Snickle]

I'd think you're pretty much stuck, mainly because without a bootable device other than the hard drive there's not much you can do. There has to be an Operating System somewhere on the computer even if it is a minimal set of files. Plus you'll need enough files on the computer/boot device to access the network. Another issue is that most external/parallel port/USB drives aren't recognized as boot devices by the BIOS [it may be coming soon].

 

[Marcs41]

Network the 2 PC's with a crossover cable.

On the Win98, create a directory c:\SETUP\XP or something.
Copy the files from the CD on the 2000 through the network in that directory.
Reboot the WIN98 in command line mode.
In C:\Windows\Command there should be a file named deltree.com or exe.
Copy it to C:Next, on C:\ type attrib *.* -s-h-r
This will make all files visible.
Next use this deltree to delete all directories EXCEPT the setup one you created.
Last, delete all files from C:You should be left with 1 directory, the Setup.
Type CD setup\XP (or the name you gave it) and type setup.exe
BEWARE ! This does not work with an upgrade vesion!!
The solution is out there.

 

[fuunstatic]

delete drives on win98 laptop and create a new primary partition and format it also (fat/fat32 is fine)

Create a share on your win2000 pro eg XP and copy the XP files to it

create a network boot disc (loads of help on the web for this)

boot with this to dos and connect to you XP share by using the "net use" command. run the winnt.exe file under i386 directory (make sure you run smartdrv.exe first from the floppy, this will speed up the copy process)

 

[Marcs41]

I almost forgot to tell you why to copy the files to the win98 disk.
If, one day, Windows prompts you to insert the disk, you would not be able to. This way, the files are always there. You loose some space though... The solution is out there.