Hello, I just got a second hand laptop, turned it on and it read "Operating system not found" the problem is that there is no CD drive on the laptop. So i cannot use the Windows Xp installation Cd from my Desktop on the laptop. I was wandering if there was any other way to install an OS on the laptop, prehaps using a thumb drive or ethenet Thanx in advanced

May be you'll need an external Cd rom on it. Also see the Bios of the computer if the hard disk is detected may it have been disabled. Want A Weekly Update on Latest System Security Problem http://www.systemsecurityinstitute.org

Basically you need a bootable device first then a way to access data. Boot devices are floppies, hard drives, cd/dvd drives, usb devices if supported, pcmica, and network if supported. Pick one and then search it. You can boot to windows and maybe run the install program if the files are on your hard drive. Might work if you mapped a drive also. For usb see either how HP makes a bootable usb flash to use for install. Or see Barts/ubcd4win PEtoUSB. Could even do it with barts network floppy to mapped drive. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10