Hi, I am trying to installing windows XP on a compaq labtop, sounds easy enought , however... The CD/dvd drive is broken. There is no floppy drive There is a option to boot from LAN I can copy the winxp install files "I386"" folder on to the harddrive and have , I have a labtop harddrive adapter so I can put the labtop harddrive in one of my other pc, but I can't get it to boot. Any idea's? Thanks

Will it boot from a USB flash drive? If so, copy the contents of a Windows 98SE startup floppy to the thumb drive and boot up with it. From there, change to the C: drive and type: "C:\I386\winnt" (without quotes)and hit enter. You can download the needed boot disk from here: www.bootdisk.com Musky If the voices inside my head paid rent, I'd be rich!

If you can't boot to USB as musky suggested then you will need to use DOS installed on the harddrive first to boot the computer and then install from the I386 folder. DOS can be removed later or kept as dualboot option. To speed the process download smartdrv.exe from Microsoft or copy it from a W98 bootdisk from a desktop: Format to Fat32 install DOS then copy the smartdrv.exe file and the I386 folder. Reinstall the HDD to the laptop and boot to DOS. at the prompt : C:\smartdrv.exe hit enter C:\I386\winnt.exe hit enter Now sit back and let the operating system install which can take quite a while...upto a couple of hours. Once finished then you will have a dual boot system in which case you can remove the DOS. And if required you can change the Fat32 to NTSF format. Operating Costs = the cost of operating a business Profits = revenues over and above the operating costs. Taxes = operating costs mandated by gov. TaxPayer = what you are called by the gov.