My grandson has wiped out his laptop HD (again) and I want to send him another HD with XP loaded but not setup since he has the laptop and I have the drive and SYS.

Is this possible to do?
Since I do not want to send him the CD (due to past experiences) I thought it might be possible to partition the HD and copy into the partition, then provide him with a DOS startup floppy. Does this sound right?

Well yes it can be done this way but why not just send him a copy of the CD. He has his own license for it on his laptop. If not then you are perpetrating in piracy of the software.

You do not need the original installation CD. A good quality copy is all that is required. It just needs to be the same version that was installed on his laptop and that his COA (license) will work with!

I didn't think I could copy the original, but I will try this. I'll send him the HD for his laptop and a copy of the CD. Yes, COA is in his possession; on the back of his computer.

Thanks.