vista install with limited hard/software

[wibra]

Hi everyone,

As most newcomers, I have been googleing and browsing the forums, but I haven't find anything either suitable or humanly understandable for my specific situation.

------------

My tech level: pc savvy, but not particularly in the low level things you are discussing/developing here.

My situation:

I have a laptop with XP installed, this is my employer provided machine, I'm using it to find a solution . I'm mentioning it is corporate to imply I don't have a XP installation CD (to create bartpe for example).

I have a second desktop machine 32-bit machine where I want to install Vista Ultimate on a clean (new) harddisk. This machine currently has a very slow HD with Vista home premium installed. It is however so slow, I don't really want to boot into Vista to make use of it for a possible solution track (for example, use the vista diskpart utility). Note, this machine does not have a dvd drive.

I have a Vista Ultimate 32-bit image (legally acquired).

I have a 1-gig USB stick. My BIOS supports booting from it (I have tried with "WinSetupFromUSB").

I have an external harddisk, NTFS formatted, with lots of data on it. I can't format this disk because I have no space to put the data elsewhere. My BIOS doesn't seem to support booting from this disk.

--------------

So here is my obvious question: what is the most simple way to install vista on the desktop machine. No unattended install, no slipstreaming.

update: forgot to mention the desktop machine does not have dvd drive.

Edited April 29, 2009 by wibra

[wimb]

First you need to get a fast USB-stick of at least 4GB e.g. Corsair Flash Voyager

Follow 5. Install Vista from USB in

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=5306

You can try to prepare your Clean Harddisk so that it is able to boot with pe21.iso from RAMDISK.

Attach the Clean HDD as second HD to working system where you install pe21.iso as boot option on the clean HD

using BOOT_ISO.exe

Otherwise you can try to boot with pe21.iso from USB-stick and proceed with Install of Vista.

[wibra]

hmm, I thought I would give pe2.1 a try, but XP sources are required for it.

is there really no solution out there?

[wimb]

Yes, there is a solution in which you don't need NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM of the XP Source.

You can Install GRUB4DOS as BootLoader on your USB-stick by using grubinst_gui.exe

• Download and Run U_XP_SET.exe to get folder U_XP_SET in root of your Local Harddisk
  
• Run PStart.exe from folder U_XP_SET
  
• Run Make_USB.exe
  
• Select Target USB Drive and use Format Stick with NTFS Filesystem
  
• After format is Ready then close Make_USB.exe with Exit
  
• Open folder U_XP_SET\USB_XP_Setup\makebt in Windows Explorer
  
• Run grubinst_gui.exe and Select with Disk your USB-stick
  
• Be sure your small size USB-stick is selected and Press Install
  
• Close grubinst_gui.exe with Quit
  
• Copy files grldr and menu.lst from U_XP_SET\USB_XP_Setup\makebt folder to your USB-stick
  
• Open menu.lst on USB-stick and Edit menu.lst by removing leading # of preconfigured pe21.iso entry
  
• Copy file pe21.iso to USB-stick
  
• Make folder VISTA on USB-stick and Copy the Content of your Vista DVD to folder VISTA on stick
  
• Boot from USB-stick and Select pe21.iso to Boot from Ramdisk X:
  
• Run Vista Setup from folder on USB-stick by using e.g. Free Commander in PE 2.1 Environment
  
• Select and Format your Install Drive e.g. C:\
  
• Proceed with Install of Vista from USB (Copy + Extract)
  
• Disconnect USB-stick precisely at First Reboot (just at the BIOS Beep when the screen is black).
  Without Removal there is 10 min Extra Install time.
  
• Proceed with Install of Vista - Totally in about 18 min
  

menu.lst

title Boot pe21.iso - ISO into RAMDISK
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /pe21.iso
map /pe21.iso (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
chainloader /BOOTMGR

Good Luck

Instead of using pe21.iso to boot first into RAMDISK X: you can also boot directly with Vista Setup from USB-stick.

In this case Copy the content of your Vista DVD direct to the root of your USB-stick and use in menu.lst

title Launch Vista Setup from USB-stick
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /bootmgr
chainloader /bootmgr

Edited May 4, 2009 by wimb

[wibra]

thank you for your extensive reply.

Though I have been trying other means (without success), I will try yours now.

using the stick as the source for vista, doesn't work for me, since the stick is only 1 gb.

Edited May 5, 2009 by wibra