XP – No CD-ROM, no floppy, possible? [time lurker] [laptop]
Q: I have trouble with this. I am a long time lurker in the forums, but can not do this.
So heres the situation: I have a crappy old laptop that I want a fresh install of XP in places. This laptop is so crappy that it literally will not boot to a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM for some reason. I have a license for XP Pro, I would like to continue, but since there is no floppy, no option to boot from USB, and can not start for a CD-R or DVD-R, I copied the installation CD to the hard disk using an external USB drive.
Currently I have Windows 2K on the laptop. When I pop in the CD that I have with XP Pro on it, then ask to install, then try to install as an upgrade that I did not carry a license. I only have the license for the full install of XP OEM.
Is there any way I can install to run from the entire CD I copied to the hard drive? Any way to edit boot.ini to point to that folder, etc.?
Please help!
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Re:Notwithstanding the logistical problems, I keep thinking that if it's really that old and crappy, that it's going to run real slow and crappy with XP.
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Re:You'll need to get a Retail copy of XP, either Upgrade or Full. The OEM setup will insist on formatting your Windows partition, and you will lose access to the OEM setup files that you'd copied to your hard drive.
Or fix the laptop's CD/DVD drive.
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Re:Does it not give you an option to do a fresh install from W2K??
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Re:The easiest way is probably to take out the hard drive and put it into another computer and install XP that way. Not sure if it'll work though unless the hard drive controller is the same.
After doing that you could run sysprep, that should make Windows go back and reinstall all of the hardware and one would assume it would also force BIOS calls for the initial bootup so that it can actually succeed.
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Re:If it has a floppy drive, you could make boot floppies (Microsoft info page (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994)) and try that. Or set up a Windows Server 2003 domain, set up Remote Installation Services, and try an RIS installation (if the NIC is supported).
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Re:The easiest way is probably to take out the hard drive and put it into another computer and install XP that way. Not sure if it'll work though unless the hard drive controller is the same.
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Re:Originally posted by: guy
I'm not totally up on MS licensing but I thought an upgrade should still work with a full license key as long as the disc wasn't an upgrade disc, I don't even think OEM vs Retail matters although it's most likely not legal for you to put that OEM license on that device since you didn't purchase them together.
I did try installing as an upgrade, however it would not accept the license key. I have verified with MS that the license key is valid for OEM only installs.
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Re:I'm not totally up on MS licensing but I thought an upgrade should still work with a full license key as long as the disc wasn't an upgrade disc, I don't even think OEM vs Retail matters although it's most likely not legal for you to put that OEM license on that device since you didn't purchase them together.
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Tags: laptop, time lurker