Hi, 2 cases: a)I am working with a "legacy" laptop that does not have a cdrom drive. The hard disk is O.K at laest after booting with a floppy! I need to copy Windows installation files from CD, my present options does not include an external cd-drive. Any ideas?? b) This one has a cd-drive but boots to dos, NO CD DRIVER to enable the CD, any general purpose cd driver for notebooks??

I always have great success using a parallel port ZIP drive to copy Windows setup files to the hard drive and then install from there. Do you know the brand of the other laptop CDROM - depending on age of laptop, the cdrom driver may need to be proprietary. Otherwise, try ATAPICD.SYS Email me if you want me to send you that driver. Krystyna

Goto http://www.windrivers.com/company.htm and select manufacture of your laptop, and see if they have the correct CD-ROM driver listed. This is a good start point to obtain drivers for all kinds of computer hardware. Second place worth a visit is http://www.powerload.fsnet.co.uk and check his pages for bootdisks, info on cable transfer and CD-ROM drivers. Please let us know how you get on. If you can boot first laptop with a floppy, Try typing SYS C:\ at the A: prompt and transfer system files to the hard drive. (Has harddrive any DOS files on it? As you should SYS it with the same version of DOS as other available files)

Simple, easy. Find and download "laplink" otherwise known as "ll3.exe." It is posted here all the time. Get yourself a SERIAL "laplink/pcanywhere/direct connect/ null modem cable," known as a few other names. Make sure that your desktop has the CD rom DOS mode drivers installed, OR ELSE (if it does not) Copy the "win95" folder ON THE WINDOWS cd to your desktop hd, and FROM THERE to the hd of the laptop, using laplink and the cable. As far as the second unit, you can also do the above. GO TO THE manufacturer's webpage, if they are still in business, and see if they have the drivers there. IBM, for example, still has drivers and info of ALL KINDS for much of it's older gear. WHAT brand and model are these laptops?