Installing Windows XP from a hard drive

[bigbroantonio]

dont you think it wouldve been faster in the longrun to install from cd, i mean you wanted it to install faster but you couldve had it done along time ago lol

You are right, in terms of time, dcyphure. But forums like these are also needed to LEARN things, which we can use in the future, even if the short run another solution would've been much faster.

For example, when I learnt to install from hd, I managed to solve installation issues on an oldish laptop with broken usb and pcmcia (basically, nowhere to put the cd into). I took the hd out, plugged it into my pc, and once I'd placed i386 on it I put it back into the laptop and installed xp. So I managed to use the resources I had without having to buy another laptop, or a serial cd drive. That saved me money, but only 'cos I'd learnt how to do it that way.

There is another advantage to this type of installation, though, and I wouldn't say the time issue is really the best advantage (I mean, XP only really takes, let's say, about 30mins to install). The real advantage is that you won't need your original cd whilst using the OS. For example, when you install a driver or some software, at times the original xp cd is required to finish the installation. Now all you need to do is point to the i386 folder and won't need to fetch the cd each time. On the other hand, I don't remember ever having to fectch the cd myself anyway, and if you install from cd you could gain this advantage by just copying i386 after installing.

[kambui]

all this talking looks good but what do you know i install my winxp from my HD always its easier and faster but i have the original xpvol edition.

this is how i do it

1)copy the entire xp cd in a hadrdisk folder and the boot my system with a bootable Ms DOS disk then i run the setup from there it is as simple as that

2) it works for me i hope this will work for any one having the original windows xp volume licenced edition

[bigbroantonio]

Thanks, kambui, for you post. You method is NO DIFFERENT to what has already been said, but is MISSING the CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS that were asked in the first post.

[dcyphure]

i just use nlite and slipstream sp2,hotfixes,drivers and use unattended setup, still faster than any other method.

unless of course you use an image, 5 minutes and your done completely.