Install windows on a PC ...how? Challenge of sorts.

KdjaCL

Aha

Not as easy as you think......


I have a laptop that needs windows atm it has Windows 2000 thats borkled.

The laptop has no Floppy no CD no Network card, a USB port that cant be booted from.


What do you do ? What do you do?

I have the hard drive in my 2.5 bay so can access the windows on it via my own pc its unrepairable so logging into it and running xp install from USB HD is not on.

......



kdjac

Creamy Goodness

you're going to have to get a usb external cd drive but as you said if you can't boot from a usb device i doubt this will work,

failing that, surely the manufacturer of the laptop had a restore function as it's pretty stupid supplying a laptop with no cd/floppy drive and then without a restore partition.

KdjaCL

Its a dell that was made for win98 but guy who owns it put win 2000 on it.


So external booting a no no and restoring a bigger no no.


Sitting in the sunshine fixing a pc Or not as it seems.

kdjac

Ruu_Old

Get a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter (i think they are feck all) and format it (the lappy hd) from another pc, split it into two partitions and copy W2k setup files onto the 2nd parition. Set partition one as active and it should boot to the c:\ prompt when you put it back in the laptop. Go to the partition with W2k and install away.

KdjaCL

Ruu wrote:

Get a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter (i think they are feck all) and format it (the lappy hd) from another pc, split it into two partitions and copy W2k setup files onto the 2nd parition. Set partition one as active and it should boot to the c:\ prompt when you put it back in the laptop. Go to the partition with W2k and install away.

Have and dont have. Have Win XP, Vista install discs only



kdjac

Blowfish

this may work. It depends on the hardware differences though. Basically it creates a windows image which you can then use with different plug and play hardware. Just install windows onto the hard drive using your desktop, run the sysprep stuff, then you should be able to rip out the hard drive and stick it in the laptop, and away you go.

The one problem is that the hard disk controllers have to be the same. You may be able to get around it by editing the conf files manually though.

KdjaCL

Tried similiar with Nlite was a no go.


Anyone in D22 got a hard drive with w98 installed on it?

or other way to putting files onto a HD just so it can boot and i can get to C:/ or some sort of Dos on the hard drive.


Even a HD with Dos installed would do the job


kdjac

Blowfish

Does it have a serial port, and can you boot from it?

KdjaCL

Blowfish wrote:

Does it have a serial port, and can you boot from it?

No serial cable

kdjac

Civilian_Target

Well - eitherway, new OS is going to need a new MBR. However, the win2k bootloader is already on it, so if you can perform an upgrade with Win2k to some other OS you won't need to boot from CD...

Sam Vimes

get one of these:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=29505&criteria=usb%20pcmcia&doy=3m6

and a usb cd drive. should work (hopefully)

KdjaCL

Cant get into the windows at all thats on it, what i need is some sort of bootable files i can place on it so the laptop will boot to something. Then install Xp from there.

I can put the HD into my USB caddy and write anything onto it just need some bootable files


Even if i could extract the Winxp setup files and Ntldr and let the laptop complete the setup would be grand.


kdjac

KdjaCL

dum de dum....so many A+ers and what do we come up with nada




kdjac

Blowfish

KdjaC wrote:

dum de dum....so many A+ers and what do we come up with nada




kdjac

If it was Linux, I could do it:D

KdjaCL

Blowfish wrote:

If it was Linux, I could do it:D

yes that thought came accross my mind about 2pm today but finding the bootbale files to be a mean to install windows proved to be difficult.


The laptop must boot to stage where I386 can be access and windows setup ran.


kdjac

SouperComputer

Two ways of doing it:

1: PCMCIA CDROM, native boot support from them generally.

2:

Throw the drive in another laptop or desktop, begin the first part of setup, where it creates the startup environment and copies files. You may be able to to this through USB on your PC. When it goes to reboot, power off.

Boot again to your setup CDROM to command console, and copy the i386 folder to the hd.

Whack HD in the prospective laptop and install windows. Naturally after to HD scratching it will ask for the CDROM, just show it the i386 folder.


3: Use a "sysprepped" disk image.

MunsterCycling

Wouldn't that be 3 ways Souper? lol

KdjaCL

No CD rom on the buggered laptop. Xp knows what its being installed to and when i start setup one pc it craps out when in the next one.


Win98 doesnt do that , anyone got win98 lying around ? Or even Dos installed on a HD ....can i have an ISO of just the files


kdjac

subway

ive a windows 98 disc here,
what files do you need from it?

Mr. Presentable

http://www.bootdisk.com/

Is there help here?

KdjaCL

subway wrote:

ive a windows 98 disc here,
what files do you need from it?

All them I could install that on it from another laptop whip out the HD and put it into the borkled one and run Xp set from the 2nd partition on the HD.

Even a bootable CD with Dos on it would do the trick just need to get to a dos prompt on the borkled pc and run setup from there


kdjac

yoyo

KdjaC wrote:

All them I could install that on it from another laptop whip out the HD and put it into the borkled one and run Xp set from the 2nd partition on the HD.

Even a bootable CD with Dos on it would do the trick just need to get to a dos prompt on the borkled pc and run setup from there


kdjac

Wouldn't it be cheap enough to get a copy of Windows 98 on EBay? Also if you have a Windows 98 serial (Sticker on lappy like) would it be legal to download the CD and use the license which is on the laptop? I'd check that first mind you

good luck

Nick

TheJaff

Try this:

http://www.tech-recipes.com/windows_installation_tips870.html

seamus

www.freedos.org ?

Capt'n Midnight

If they don't have a win 2000 license remind them of the €127,000 fine for using dodgy software and walk away
it'll give you time too while waiting for the "proof"

As long as the user hasn't converted the FAT partition to NTFS - if they have game over unless you want to risk partition magic (license needed) or resizentfs on a linux boot disk to resize the ntfs partition so you can fit on a fat one to store the files on till you get windows install.

KdjaCL

I have a few W2k licences....least of my problems



kdjac

Alun

Could you put the laptop hard disk in your caddy, disable your desktop's hard disk temporarily, boot from the XP setup CD and start the XP install. (Not sure whether that'll work to a USB drive, but if not you could use one of the 2.5"-3.5" adapaters instead). When it gets to the bit where it reboots after the initial file copy, switch it off, transfer the hard disk back to the laptop, and let it carry on.

Would that work? Not sure whether the CD needs to be accessed during the second part of the install, but you could copy the contents of the install CD as well and point the installation at that if it complains it can't access the CD.

KdjaCL

Got ti sorted Xp wont allow you to whip out a HD...but 98 will

Stuck 98 and Xp on both fat32 partitions, put the HD into my laptop booted with my Hiren Boot cd started the 98 install. When it got to Key key i clicked cancel pc shutdown and then i whipped out HD into the POS. Finished the install on that and had win98 on it.

Then ran the Xp setup so it would be dual boot and if anything went wrong 98 was on it, it went well and now has Win Xp Pro on it 500mhz with 266 ram most of the services disabled so not too slow but never gonna be any faster.

€50 bleedin quid is all i charging for the heartbreak it caused me, feel sorry for the guy who intends to stick in a PCIMIA wireless card.....how you gonna get the drivers on??????


Job done and onto the next one

Thanks for replies and subway thanks




kdjac

Capt'n Midnight

KdjaC wrote:

feel sorry for the guy who intends to stick in a PCIMIA wireless card.....how you gonna get the drivers on??????

www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/msdos/comm5.mspx
Pin Connections for a Serial Cable
This section describes the wiring specifications for serial Interlnk cables.

Make a serial cable with either a 9-pin or a 25-pin female connector on both ends. Three wires are required for data transmission: Ground-Ground, Transmit-Receive, and Receive-Transmit. Seven wires are required if you want to use the remote copy feature. Wire the cable as follows:

9 pin           25 pin              25 pin          9 pin
=====           ======              ======          =====
pin 5           pin 7   \<------\>  pin 7           pin 5(Ground-Ground)
pin 3           pin 2   \<------\>  pin 3           pin 2(Transmit-Receive)
pin 7           pin 4   \<------\>  pin 5           pin 8(RTS - CTS)
pin 6           pin 6   \<------\>  pin 20          pin 4(DSR - DTR)
pin 2           pin 3   \<------\>  pin 2           pin 3(Receive-Transmit)
pin 8           pin 5   \<------\>  pin 4           pin 7(CTS - RTS)
pin 4           pin 20  \<------\>  pin 6           pin 6(DTR - DSR)

Interlnk /rcopy

Copies Interlnk files from one computer to another, provided that the computers are connected with a 7-wire, null-modem serial cable and that the mode command is available on the computer where you are installing Interlnk.

SouperComputer

Xp knows what its being installed to and when i start setup one pc it craps out when in the next one.

That should have worked no problem. Ive done it quite a few times. As long as the hardware isnt vastly different it should be fine. By that I mean doing from a dual CPU to single cpu etc. The first part of setup only creates a startup environment and extracts the cabinets for setup.

Anyway, glad you got sorted.