How to install winXp from HDD(not CD) ?

[univn]

I wan't to clean install winXP from HDD (not CD) (i'll copy install files into HDD).

Can you help me !

[czaja74]

I have asked that question before. I have a backup HDD in removable rack. I wanted to put all files there and make as a bootable HDD or boot from floppy and point to setup so it would install from HDD. I think it will be much faster to do HDD install than installing from CD. Well.... After many tries and no help I gave up

[Mike-C]

If you just moved the files across it would have nothing to boot from....maybe if you had the boot files of an xp cd it would work.

[DarkRats]

1. Make sure you have more than one partition on your HD.

2. Change the file system on the entire drive to FAT32 from NTFS.

3. Copy setup files from CD to a folder on any drive but C (say "winxp").

4. Save any documents and important stuff to any drive but C.

5. Reboot with a Windows 98 boot floppy (have "smartdrv.exe on the floppy).

6. Format C drive (format: c).

7. Run smartdrive (smartdrv.exe).

8. Run Windows setup (i.e. - d:\winxp\i386\winnt.exe).

9. Follow instructions, have Key ready, have drivers ready.

Using FAT32 allows you to use a Windows 98 boot floppy and some other nice

DOS utilities. You give up some security for more flexibility to play around with

your system.

Hope this is of some help.

[czaja74]

1. Make sure you have more than one partition on your HD.

2. Change the file system on the entire drive to FAT32 from NTFS.

3. Copy setup files from CD to a folder on any drive but C (say "winxp").

4. Save any documents and important stuff to any drive but C.

5. Reboot with a Windows 98 boot floppy (have "smartdrv.exe on the floppy).

6. Format C drive (format: c).

7. Run smartdrive (smartdrv.exe).

8. Run Windows setup (i.e. - d:\winxp\i386\winnt.exe).

9. Follow instructions, have Key ready, have drivers ready.

Using FAT32 allows you to use a Windows 98 boot floppy and some other nice

DOS utilities. You give up some security for more flexibility to play around with

your system.

Hope this is of some help.

Thanks I will give it a try.

[czaja74]

I have tried it. It started really promising but because I started from DOS it couldnt see my RAID 0 setup and all installation went to backup hdd. Looks like I will have to forget about installation from hdd. Shame it looked about 7 times faster

[Zuig]

Have you tried to add the drivers for your RAID-board during the installation?

If I'm not mistaken it is F8

[univn]

Thanks for all of you very much !

[MeDieViL]

if you do this, will you be able to select the partition to install xp on??

i mean when you run d:\winxp\i386\winnt.exe, is it totally the same like when you boot from the cd?

will it ask the partition?

thx, i allready solved a problem thx to gunsomkingman, but i like to know for future use

[MeDieViL]

oh no, it f***ed up everything, didnt ask anything, what a crap

that instractions arent very right, its some unattended thing

[likuidkewl]

If you really wanted to do this you could get a PE based boot disc and then boot up PE, then run a simple set of commands. This even allows for many 32bit OS tools to be utilized. hth

[DarkRats]

The instructions I posted were very clear (IMHO).

XP would have installed to C drive (assuming you formated C drive).

Unless you are running mulitple OSs or have something other than a simple format and install in mind, it should work fine.

[Kenny McCormick]

Im booting with WinPE, then I have a .BAT file to format and start the installation.

This will format your C: drive in NTFS.

FORMAT C: /fs:ntfs /q /V:Windows /y
cacls C: /p Everyone:F

This will start the installation.

start /wait D:\WXPPRO_EN\I386\winnt32.exe /s:D:\WINDIST\WXPPRO_EN\I386 /unattend:D:\WINDIST\WXPPRO_EN\unattend.txt /copysource:lang /tempdrive:C /syspart:C

[MeDieViL]

well, my situation

C drive --> 10GB (ntfs)

then D drive --> also 10 gb, with the iso on it (fat32)

when i boot in dos, it doesnt see drive c, and sees drive d as C

install installs everything on d then --> whats rwong, how can i fix this situation?

[ramian]

native DOS can't read NTFS volumes. you could try formatting C to FAT32 so that DOS will recognise it. Then when you're installing XP, you could use the pre-install format utility to format as NTFS.