CD install of Windows Server 2003 without burning CD?

[lawmay]

Is it possible to do a CD install of Windows Server 2003 without burning the CD?

I have nLite patched source on harddrive partition E: and install Windows onto partition C: (both NTFS). I often modify source, wipe C:, and reinstall, but I want to avoid burning a new CD every time. I tried winnt.exe (from DOS) and winnt32.exe (from BartPE) but am not satisfied with either.

I want the same look and feel as a CD install, which creates a ramdisk, starts with a partitioning menu, etc. I tried grub4dos to start i386/setupldr.bin on E: but just got errors. Is this strategy possible? (I suspect Windows Setup fails when it detects that source is on HD not CD.)

If I use my source on E: to create a bootable iso, I've read that grub4dos can boot from that iso. But I don't have enough RAM for such a boot (RAM must exceed the size of the iso).

Is it possible to get Windows Setup into CD install mode (i.e. with ramdisk, partitioning menu, etc) using source on harddrive partition E: rather than CD?

Could one method be to map harddrive partition E: to CD so Windows Setup thinks source is on CD? Is that possible in grub4dos? I tried the following in menu.lst, but both just gave errors: map (hd0,1) (cd0) and map (hd0,1) (cd)

Thankful for suggestions.

[gamehead200]

A quick Google resulted in finding this article:

http://www.vandomburg.net/articles/2006/03...ows-xp-from-usb

It describes how to install XP using a USB drive. It MIGHT be possible to follow the guide to install Windows 2003 instead. I'm not 100% sure on this.

[lawmay]

Hi Gamehead200, thanks for your reply. The link you posted installs Windows via winnt32.exe started from BartPE. As mentioned above, I already tried and don't like that method.

I want to avoid winnt.exe and winnt32.exe. Instead I want Windows Setup to behave as if it were doing a fresh install from CD (i.e. with ramdisk, partitioning menu, etc) using source on harddrive partition E: rather than CD. Does anyone know if that's possible?

[gamehead200]

Hi Gamehead200, thanks for your reply. The link you posted installs Windows via winnt32.exe started from BartPE. As mentioned above, I already tried and don't like that method.

I want to avoid winnt.exe and winnt32.exe. Instead I want Windows Setup to behave as if it were doing a fresh install from CD (i.e. with ramdisk, partitioning menu, etc) using source on harddrive partition E: rather than CD. Does anyone know if that's possible?

Hmmm... In that case, why not try this?

http://www.weethet.nl/english/hardware_bootfromusbstick.php

You'd have to extract the bootsector from the XP CD and apply it to the USB drive. Not sure if it'll work, but I don't see why, since the XP CD's bootsector is basically a floppy file...