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...

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Dear William,
Can i use this procedure for a desktop computer with only 1 ide slot on main board??only has HDD it has no place for cdrom or floppy disk. i can understand some steps for others pls cud you elaborate , assist with further details--thankyou v much

*If you have not burned a copy of DOS 7.10 yet, do that first, you will need it before moving the hardware!
>>>>>> How do i copy this/ burn it with nero is okay ? only the iso file or something else too ,


*With the DOS cd in the drive

- switch the laptop drive to IDE 1 channel 1 for best chance of detection, DOS is not the smartest OS ever made
>>>>> do i have to change the boot sequence in bios?
to boot from cd ? -


power up and install DOS 7.10 when prompted. IT is your choice to add or not add all the extras with DOS, these will not affect your installation either way!
>>>>> how to install dos i dont get prompted anything, only say remove disk and press any key
-

shutdown the computer and rearrange the laptop drive such that it is on IDE1, channel 2 again. so that you can boot into the OS (psobably XP) on your desktop.
>>>> by channel 2 you mean as slave drive correct?
I suppose if you reply questions above i cud follow the rest
-

thnaks a million in advance william

Start Nero Burning ROM
Close the screen that pops up
At the top select Recorder, choose Image Recorder, then burn the iso.

THe hard drive that you want to load with dos and subsequently XP needs to be on a PC that has a floppy drive and a CDRom drive.

You will need a computer with a cd drive to burn the cd and thus run it, i have tried using virtual PC, but it seems to have issues creating a bootable partition.

it is a .iso file, this is an image file, basically it is a single file to represent an entire cd. Nero, Easy CD Creator or any other good cd burning software will allow you to burn the image. Do not burn it as a data cd with the .iso file.

Having only 1 IDE channel could be an issue, but you can work around it. basically by channel 1, it means the first hdd slot, the cd drive and hard drive shouldn't be on the same cable, but it sounds like this may be your case?
*Yes you need to change the boot order to boot from cd first

If the cd is burned properly and in the cd drive (which is connected) with the boot order starting with cd, you will be asked to boot from cd press a key and DOS will start loading.

Yes a standard IDE cable has 3 connectors, 1 for the mobo, and 2 channels, the first is the one on the very end is channel 1, and the other is channel 2, you re-arrange this time so that you can load your normal OS with the laptop drive as a slave, which is bootable, but should not be recognized as such during your desktop's boot.

firstly, thanks alot for a really good tutorial!

put as you proboably already suspected, i have a problem.

basically i got to the point where you type in 'c:\i386\winnt.exe' on dos, it then asks where the files are located again, and i type in c:\i386. It then says inspecting computer hardware...thats fine, it starts to install and gets to around 70% where it says 'setup was unable to copy the following file' basically from then on it refuses to copy any more...

...so im not sure whats going on...

..by the way my laptop is a sony vaio vgn-b1vp. (the reason i have to use this tutorial to install windows is because the cd drive is broken ).

edit: also, the OS im trying to install on it is xp profesional corporate edition.

The i386 probably copied to the dos HDD incorrectly. Put it back into the PC and copy i386 again. (My copy is 527Mb, 153 folders, 6,771 files obtained from Windows XP with SP2 slipstreamed into it). Yours may differ in size if you are using only SP1.

yer, i kind of already tried that....several times. Even tried formatting the HDD and doing it all again, still no joy.

its corporate edition, with service pack 2.

you could try a modification to the install, as i have come to like better:
-format the drive, and partition it with a small 500mb parition on the front of the drive. copy the i286 folder to it and then install dos to it as well. This will keep the install folders separate from the actual installation which will be on D:\ now.
This method also allows you to re-install without removing your drive again.

ok, that kind of worked. the MS-DOS part installed fine, then it got to the point where it said 'the MS-DOS part of the instillation is complete, press enter to restart'

..i pressed enter and it froze on the same screen...for ages? after a while i got fed up and held down the power button, it rebooted then said 'disc error - press any key to restart.'

why cant it just....work ?

check to see if DOS will boot on your desktop, if not, it is not installing correctly. I have to admit though it sounds like there is a corrupted file or 2 when you copy the folder over. Perhaps copy the folder to the desktop then move it from there?

I have converter what do you mean ide 1 channel two where are channels