Ok here's the scenario:

I have a pretty old DTK laptop that i wanna install Windows XP Pro on. The problem is, the cdrom that came on the laptop has quit running (it will show up like its there but doesnt spin the drive when you put in the cd) so i found this old cdrom transformer that i can put a normal internal cdrom in, and it makes it into a external cdrom that connects through parallel port. To get the cd drive you work i had to install DOS and then install the cd drivers. After i get the cdrom working I put in the Windows XP cd and run setup.exe from the DOS prompt. But it says "this program cannot be run in DOS". So i downloaded all the boot disks for Windows XP, but when it boots off the boot disks instead of the harddrive it doesnt load the drivers for the cdrom therefore it cant run setup from the cdrom...

so i decided i could install Windows 98 then upgrade to XP from that (because the Windows 98 setup.exe CAN be run from the DOS prompt). So i got 98 installed and the cdrom running under 98! yay. i stuck the XP cd in the drive and ran the upgrade form w/n 98 it went through all the "preinstallation" stuff and finally said "copying files needed for installation" then said it needed to restart. after restarting it went straight into XP setup instead of 98 and therefore the cddrive did not work, and setup could not be completed cause it couldnt find a cdrom!! NO!!! So thats where i ran out of ideas.
I figure somehow i could get the drivers to load in the autoexec.bat? if so will autoexec run before the XP setup on reboot? or is my situation looking hopeless?

Boy Riddler, you had a tough problem and have done a terrific job so far to trying to solve it!
I'm not a WinXP guru. I have it on one system but practically never use it. But anyway, the following is what I would try (if you are gonna use Fat32). I don't know about NTFS.
After the "copying files" finishes and when it starts to reboot, I would quickly insert a floppy and let it boot from the floppy instead of the hard drive. Then I would modify the C:\config.sys and autoexec.bat files with the cdrom drivers (using edit.com), pull the floppy and let it reboot from the hard drive. I think it should continue on with the install. With a little luck, it `might' use the Dos driver instead of it's built in driver.

Another option just dawned on me. Maybe if you copied the root folder and the I386 folder from the XP CD to the hard drive with win98. You could run the install that way.

But do you really want to run XP on a system with those specs? It will work but it's going to be really slow.

Good point Tom. That slipped right by me.

I didnt realize it would actually run that slow? i figured it would be better if anything. if its gonna run slow i will just leave 98 cause thats already installed :) thanks so much guys!

It will crawl XP, W2K acceptable just, also you can install XP from DOS:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307848