Jump to content

My plan to preinstall XP on a drive.. will this work?


betamax

Recommended Posts

I have a secondary system that I put together with spare parts, but it doesn't have a CD-ROM. Here is my plan for getting XP on there. Let me know if I'm setting myself up for failure:

Temporarily pop the HDD of that system into my main system running win7. It will get a drive letter. Let's say it's "F".

First I will quick format the drive in NTFS:

format f: /fs:ntfs /q

Then I will make it bootable:

bootsect /nt52 f:

Then I will drag and drop the i386 folder from the XP CD to the F: drive. At this point I should be done with the XP CD.

Then I will run

f:\i386\winnt32.exe /syspart:f: /tempdrive:f: /makelocalsource /noreboot

syspart:f should make that drive the system drive, tempdrive:f should make Setup use that drive for temp files, not sure if i need /makelocalsource, /noreboot will prevent my main machine from restarting

The initial part of setup should complete, then I can just shut off my main system, pop the drive back into the secondary system, start it, and continue.

Am I in for some real disappointment or what?

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Yes, the approach works.

Do you use XP SP3 files?

Which partitions exist at hard disk? Which start sector do you use?

However this result to letter f: as XP systemdrive.

If you prefer letter c: , then adjust or delete the file f:migrate.inf.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alternatively, you can use WinSetupFromUSB to install XP via a bootable pendrive.

Link -

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/120444-how-to-install-windows-from-usb-winsetupfromusb-with-gui/

Steps to Install Win XP via USB -

http://myeeeguides.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/winsetupfromusb-install-windows-xp-from-usb-flash-drive/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If both systems don't have the same 'hardware' then you could have a boot problem moving the drive to where you want it - this problem is usually repaired by booting from an install CD and doing a "repair" install - this allow the install routine to detect the 'new' hardware and update things accordingly. If you can boot from a flash drive - this will suffice to do a repair install. Have fun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If both systems don't have the same 'hardware' then you could have a boot problem moving the drive to where you want it - this problem is usually repaired by booting from an install CD and doing a "repair" install - this allow the install routine to detect the 'new' hardware and update things accordingly. If you can boot from a flash drive - this will suffice to do a repair install. Have fun.

No. :no:

The:

f:\i386\winnt32.exe /syspart:f: /tempdrive:f: /makelocalsource /noreboot

Prepares a hard disk to boot and install to the *whatever* hardware it is next booted on.

Nothing of the "old hardware" is "kept" if not the drive letter (see the note by cdob about migrate.inf).

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/241803/en-us

There are no limitations as to the hardware in the target computer.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/winnt32.mspx?mfr=true

/syspart:DriveLetter : On an x86-based computer, specifies that you can copy Setup startup files to a hard disk, mark the disk as active, and then install the disk into another computer. When you start that computer, it automatically starts with the next phase of Setup. You must always use the /tempdrive parameter with the /syspart parameter. You can start Winnt32 with the /syspart option on an x86-based computer running Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows XP.

The only issue may be if the source has not integrated the correct drivers for the SATA/AHCI disk (if any) which may force to install in "IDE compatibility mode" (if available).

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...