Install Windows XP without floppy or cd drives

I will try to be as detailed as possible, including pictures as i go.
(My laptop is a Dell Latitude CSx, but this will work for any make or model with the same issue)

*Please be...

Click here to read the entire tutorial

William, thanks for the great information. I have a tablet PC with no CD drive or floppy disk and I can't intall from a usb CD drive. I installed XP onto the laptop HD using my desktop, then removed the drive before re-boot. I then reinstalled the HD back into the laptop and it booted to Windows and it started the setup. It then prompted me to insert Disk 2 with the tablet PC files on it. I have this disk but can't use it during setup for lack of CD drive. I can't go any further with the setup and have to cancel out of it. Any suggestions?

This is a fantastic tutorial and the best I've found yet however I seem to be hitting an ordinary wall. I was hoping someone could tell me why and perhaps a solution.

I have followed this tutorial exactly, installing Dos 7.10 using the IDE adapter in a tower (since the HD is a laptop). Then I copied the i386 folder in dos, moved the drive back to the laptop, initiated the install and everything goes perfectly until the computer reboots and starts the final installation (the first colored GUI) where it then prompts me for some asms file from the disc. It prompts me for the location $win_nt$.~LS which is on the drive (I checked) and in the correct spot but seems to be missing this file.

I'm using an OEM version of XP Home SP2. I can't think of a single other variable that makes my situation any different. I've tried a multitude of approaches and now I'm reinstalling dos, putting windows back on, only this time I'm going to include the entire disc. However, I have a feeling this asms file that is missing should be extracted during the initial file copy phase and my having the entire disc may still not make any difference.

Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Thank you.

$win_nt$.~LS is one of a couple compact files that are created during the install, could you post the entire error message?

To be honest it sounds like your disc is an upgrade version of XP, and not a full disc, or it is attempting to do an upgrade at the very least, where did you get the disc from?

hi everyone, hope you could help me with my problem in installing windows xp with $OEM$, OEM and i386. here goes, i had my toshiba satellite a10 without internal cd-rom and floppy disk but that doesn't concern me cause i know how to install windows xp on my 2.5 HDD. But then, there's a lot of things i gone crazy and that was during installation lots of dll files have't copied such as FindTarget.dll, FindTarget.inf, LegitCheckControl.dll, MsVirtualCD.cpl,.cpi and i think Vs...or something so, i skipped those files everytime they showed up in a bluescreen where winxp is on the process. And after the installation, an error saying cannot locate C:\D\$OEM$\driversignup.cmd..or something like that...after that the window startup but in a classic theme.how does it happen??? pls...help me everyone. (i also made unattended file in winnt.sif but same result...)the windows xp did not upload the default theme. framedyn.dll could not startup same with ikernel. a lot of files also missing....does anyone knows how to fix it? thanks! or there's just something to add at the winnt.sif

just wanted to add myself to the list of dozens and dozens of people who have benefitted from yout tutorial.....keep up the great work...

Ayoubtt

I was trying to install win XP directly on the laptop HD using another computer (without installing DOS), then I took it out when it was done copying everything it needed and was about to reboot. When I put this HD back into the laptop, it read the HD, but doesn't do anything. It just has a blinking cursor. The HD seems to be spinning so I assumed it was doing something? Anyways, I read this trick from another site that William_Wilson posted on: Windows Tutorials - Install Windows On A Laptop Without A Cd Or Floppy Drive | DreamInCode.net

William, any help with this? Thanks.

Also, another solution on the "No Operating System." On this particular Sony laptop, it autodetects the HD, but does not have it "enabled" for some reason. I had to go into BIOS and manually enable it by pressing [shift][1]. It will be different depening on your BIOS I am assuming. Hope this helps someone.

Could you give me the spec on both computers?
If the drive is spinning, it is likely at least trying to find an OS, but did not. How long did you let it sit with the cursor? Older laptops can take time to boot installers.

William, it is a Sony PCG-R505TSK laptop that has a dock with floppy and DVD drive. The floppy will boot, but the optical drive will not (I've tried using the floppy route to boot to floppy to try to find the optical, but this does not work for me either.) The laptop specs are P3 850MHz, 256 MB RAM, and 20GB HD (Sony consumer electronics guide: PCG-R505TSK - More Specifications) The Bios will not let me load to USB. I let the cursor blink for about 7 minutes before I turned it off.

The desktop that I used was a super old compaq that has pentium 300MHz with 64MB RAM and 7GB HD It has no problem installing windows on this desktop.


Also, after this method did not work, I tried the method in this tutorial that worked flawlessly on my fujitsu lifebook, but this time it gave me the dreaded "ntldr is missing press any key to restart" after setup. I 've tried reformatting HD with partition magic and making it primary, but doesn't seem to fix the problem.

Now it's giving me missing OS after I tried the same method. I am seeing the HD in the BIOS, so I don't know what is wrong now.

It is advisable to flash to the BIOS? It has PhoenixBIOS version 4.0 release 6.0. I read on their site that release 6.1 can boot USB. I couldn't find the release 6.1 file nor if they were compatable with this laptop. The sony website does not have an update for the BIOS to 6.1 so I'm guessing it is not compatable but I'm willing to try almost anything right now.

Yes your laptop clearly meets the minimum standards for XP, so that is not an issue.

flashing the bios will usually only replace with the default settings, etc, other than removing any custom settings and updates you may have, it does no real harm.

I would suggest trying a win98 boot floppy since that drive works. Use that to load the OS installation from the drive. It still avoids DOS, but it acts as if that step was present. If that doesn't work I came across this:
Simple "ntldr is missing" fix with boot floppy or CD, then fix HD
in my many searches to solve such problems. Perhaps this will help for you as well.