Installing Windows 2000 from a USB CD-ROM

[Colonel O'Neill]

Okay, I have a laptop without a working CD-ROM drive running XP. It needs to be re-installed, but it has no method of installing via disc. (I've tried PXE and it got overly complicated. ).

The problem now is that the Windows 2000 text mode install completes with no problems. However as it enters the graphical section, it asks me to insert the Service Pack 4 disc (which was strange as USP5 was slipstreamed). Then I attempt to direct the file copy path to the USB CD-ROM drive, but it did not show up as a drive.

I finished the install by telling it to skip missing files. The end result was bootable, but it was almost completely bare. Plugging in the USB CD-ROM did not find a proper driver. So maybe the USB driver should be slipstreamed?

A VMware install of this CD is successful, and letting VMware connect the same USB drive to the guest OS is successful; the guest 2000 recognizes and installs it's drivers properly.

[jaclaz]

Instead of the USB CD-ROM, won't it be easier to use a stick?

There are several methods documented for sticks, the following can be used for 2K allright:

simplest option would be that of either using the OLD method with WINNT.EXE (and later if needed CONVERT.EXE), along the lines of this:

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16713

or, if you have the availability of a PE of some kind, to use WINNT32.EXE, after having copied the whole \I386 to HD.

The other option is probably to change the settings for the drivers, but I don't seem to remember a documented procedure for CD's.

Most probably these methods:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showforum=157

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=111406

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=121446

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=121446

work for 2K also, though maybe some minor things need to be adapted.

jaclaz

[Colonel O'Neill]

Thanks for the response! I burnt a CD-ROM because I wanted to use it on an older desktop with no USB booting support.

Originally, I thought the Setup would copy the entire I386 folder out to the hard drive. Oo. I can just put the I386 folder into the destination drive and tell it not to format. Hoping it works.

[Colonel O'Neill]

Moving the I386 folder to the hard drive worked! I just let the text-mode setup run from CD, and when it started asking about files, I pointed it to the hard drive's I386 folder (which was repeatedly asked).

But all in all, great success!

[jaclaz]

Moving the I386 folder to the hard drive worked! I just let the text-mode setup run from CD, and when it started asking about files, I pointed it to the hard drive's I386 folder (which was repeatedly asked).

But all in all, great success!

Happy to hear a report of success.

jaclaz

[pointertovoid]

Hello!

Installing W2k from a Cd drive on Usb has a known bug, for which Microsoft has issued a post-Sp4 patch.

It's on my list here :

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=129829

My unpublished notes aren't very detailed, but the relevant patches seem to be :

KB838921, superseded by KB838417 but this latter is bugged

KB838417 creates a BSOD each time I disconnect any Usb peripheral...

KB823086

So the combination should be KB838921 +KB823086 - but you may put more, see the other topic. Addresses for the downloads are there as well; sadly enough, KB838921 isn't publicly available - not even at http://thehotfixshare.net

But for sure, if you can precopy the installation files on a hard drive, it's always faster. I keep my old drives for that purpose, in P-Ata, Fat32, with installation files for every Win I have. Very comfortable even with a 8GB 5400/min.