Computer Problems? Computing.Net has over 1,000,000 posts about all things technology related! Over 90% answered within 24 hours! Click here to start participating now! Also, be sure to check out the New User Guide.
Install XP with only USB cd drive
Name: nickjohn Date: August 3, 2005 at 07:46:09 Pacific OS: XP CPU/Ram: P111
Comment:
I am trying to setup win xp on a laptop that does not have a built in floppy or cd drive. I can use a usb drive but will not install as XP is alreayd installed.
Name: PC Bob Date: August 3, 2005 at 12:45:21 Pacific
Reply:
If XP is already installed, why do you want to install it?
If you wipe the disk to do a clean install, you won't have any USB drivers installed, which would probably only work in Windows, anyway. Unless you can get your USB port to work in DOS mode. That would be your only hope. Another possibility would be PC Link. This would let you acces the drives from another system; desktop, etc. Without a CD drive you are rather limited on what you can do and how.
Good luck.
:)
Bob
0
Response Number 2
Name: Ell2Cool Date: August 4, 2005 at 02:28:25 Pacific
Reply:
im not sure how but you can turn on the USB ports from the bios menu which i think will allow you to use them in dos mode. its either that or there is something specific for USB HDD's but im not sure where it is. sorry
Summary: Assuming that you have adequate HD space, the easiest solution would probably be to copy the XP CD onto the harddrive, boot with a bootdisk, then navigate to the I386 folder & run setup from the HD. O...
Summary: To install XP onto your USB Hard Drive you will need to load your USB drivers during the installation. The installation CD does not have USB drivers. Don't bother if your USB drive isn't USB 2.0. Wi...
Summary: I've got a laptop with a completely new hard drive (my old one crashed) ... I've got my XP Pro disk, but my internal CD-ROM drive is broken. I've got an external CD drive (connects with firewire to a ...