July 3, 200719 yr Hello, Thanks in advance for any help!I have an old Thinkpad 560Z that I am trying to install XP on. It has Windows 98SE pre-installed, and it has a working wireless card, so I can get files moved onto the hard drive.I want to upgrade it to XP, but have no CDROM, no ethernet boot, no floppy. I've read a bunch on these forums about multi-partition installs, multi-hd installs, etc, but here is what I have:INTERNAL HD WITH WORKING W98SEWIFI INTERNET CONNECTIVITYXP PRO CDIs there a way I can use these elements to upgrade the W98SE to XP Pro using just the internal HD? I am thinking about doing one of the following options:1. Copying the XP CD to the HD via wireless and running normal GUI setup. However, I know this will restart then try to pull files from a CD which doesnt exist. Probably won't work2. Copying the XP CD to the HD via wireless and running winnt32.exe /noreboot /tempdrive:C: Have no idea if this will install on same drive that it is grabbing files from3. Copying the XP CD to the HD via wireless and running winnt32.exe /syspart . This article says syspart option doesn't work on W98: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q234037/Please help when you get a chance!!! I am new, but really need it Cheers!! -- don't want to screw this up, only have 1 chance ; )
July 3, 200719 yr As long as you can copy the I386 folder from a XP disc to your hard drive via cd-rom or another hard drive, you can install it from your HD. Xp does not require a disc for it to be installed.
July 3, 200719 yr I have an old Thinkpad 560Z that I am trying to install XP on.If this is a 300MHz PII, I hope you can upgrade the memory to more than 128Meg, otherwise it will crawl.I also hope you upgraded the HDD (~4Gig ?) as XP will fill it as soon as installed. Speaking of which, everybody would rather advise a clean install over an upgrade. If applicable, take a backup, clean your disk, schrink your partition (with gparted or Ranish for instance) and make a 2nd one, then you can apply the "multi-partition install", which I've never done myself so my advise will stop here .
July 4, 200719 yr A CD drive and 1GB are so incredibly cheap these days... More or less so depending on where you get them (online store, local store, Ebay, or a friend willing to give you one )
July 4, 200719 yr A CD drive and 1GB are so incredibly cheap these days... Come on, ...this is a machine from about 1998, "memory expandable to 128 MB"http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss...cid=LWIK-3XSLNR
July 5, 200719 yr What I would do is to simply run WINNT32 from C:, without the Syspart command.Before that I would prepare, through the use of bootpart.exe, a dual-boot system, so that if anything goes wrong you should be able to boot in your old Win9x allright.And of course DO run the winnt32 /checkupgradeonly !Details are here:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316639/en-usDO NOT convert the filesystem to NTFS during install.The only drawback I can see is that you won't probably be able to install XP to the \Windows partition as that one is already taken by your Win98, you'll have to install to \WinXP or some other name.jaclaz
July 9, 200719 yr What I would do is to simply run WINNT32 from C:, without the Syspart command.Before that I would prepare, through the use of bootpart.exe, a dual-boot system, so that if anything goes wrong you should be able to boot in your old Win9x allright.And of course DO run the winnt32 /checkupgradeonly !Details are here:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316639/en-usDO NOT convert the filesystem to NTFS during install.The only drawback I can see is that you won't probably be able to install XP to the \Windows partition as that one is already taken by your Win98, you'll have to install to \WinXP or some other name.jaclazThanks for all your help! So I should copy I386 to the HD and run this command?winnt32 /checkupgradeonly /noreboot???Thanks!!!!!
July 9, 200719 yr Yep,FIRST you run:C:\I386\winnt32 /checkupgradeonlyIf no "strange" errors are reported, you LATER run:C:\I386\winnt32 (with NO parameters)The /noreboot is an optional parameter, it is only needed if you need to do some work on the files in the \$WIN_NT$.~BT or \$WIN_NT$.~LS directory or to the boot files (NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and BOOT.INI) from your currently running Windows 9x/Me.However, here is a complete list of WINNT32 parameters, in an easy to read format:http://www.quepublishing.com/articles/arti...qNum=6&rl=1Be VERY AWARE of Murphy's Law, it is not recommended to have NO way out if something goes wrong, for any reason... jaclaz Edited July 9, 200719 yr by jaclaz
July 9, 200719 yr Yep,FIRST you run:C:\I386\winnt32 /checkupgradeonlyIf no "strange" errors are reported, you LATER run:C:\I386\winnt32 (with NO parameters)The /noreboot is an optional parameter, it is only needed if you need to do some work on the files in the \$WIN_NT$.~BT or \$WIN_NT$.~LS directory or to the boot files (NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and BOOT.INI) from your currently running Windows 9x/Me.However, here is a complete list of WINNT32 parameters, in an easy to read format:http://www.quepublishing.com/articles/arti...qNum=6&rl=1Be VERY AWARE of Murphy's Law, it is not recommended to have NO way out if something goes wrong, for any reason... jaclazrisk and return my friend, greatly appreciate your reply, will do exactly as you posted and will report back
July 9, 200719 yr well...got to the install page but could only select 'new install' not 'upgrade install'also, is there a way to bypass the 64mb RAM requirement?can I install on 1 hd with the 'new install' or does that require a format?any advice on how to make the 'upgrade install' selection appear?thanks and cheers!!!
July 10, 200719 yr With a new, dirty (without formatting) install over an existing windows installation, your old windows will mostly be killed. All other Folders will stay where they are. But.. Ive never tried to do this from Win98 to WinXP (only WinXP German -> WinXP English, where you can't upgrade).So.. you can try, but i think theres no way back if something goes wrong.so long..AndyPS: You can use nLite to shrink you installation and make it suitable for lower PCs. But I'm not sure if you can get below those 64MB.. Edited July 10, 200719 yr by Black Sliver
July 10, 200719 yr is there a way to bypass the 64mb RAM requirement?nLite has an option to disable requirement. With your specs, I'd use nLite at a maximum (surely to gain HDD space), but you'll still end up with an unusable machine. If it's for the scientific side of it, you can do it, if it's with hope to use the pc in the real world... I think you are wasting your time.
July 10, 200719 yr Well, as specified in the page I referenced before, you need to add the "/unattend" switch, NOT hte "/unattend[num]:[answer_file]" one.But the problem is that your PC does not qualify for an upgrade, and cannot say if the nlite "remove limits" option will work or not in the case of an upgrade.However, as several people already said, installing XP on that machine is more like committing suicide than anything else (even if you succeed you will have a sloow death, you will die during sleep from boredom while waiting for system to boot and later, little by little, by each minimal but significant lag of time between any command you may give and the system response..... )What I personally find adequate (which does NOT mean minimum, but rather minimum to have acceptable responsiveness):32 Mb Win95 or lited 9864 Mb NT 4.00 and Windows 9x128 Mb for Windows 2000256 Mb for Windows XPjaclaz
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