Is there a way I can install Windows from a harddrive?

[erwin1978]

There's gotta be.

 

[imported_michealo]

create two partitions and copy contents of windows install cd to one of them via network.
boot from DOS floppy, kick off windows installer
install windows to larger partition.

an ide to USB connector makes this process real easy.

 

[Smilin]

Yea, run winnt32.exe /? for info.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: michealo
create two partitions and copy contents of windows install cd to one of them via network.
boot from DOS floppy, kick off windows installer
install windows to larger partition.

an ide to USB connector makes this process real easy.

that's the gist of it. However, you can install with just one single partition. The partition must be fat32, but then you can convert it to NTFS after installation.

 

[Steve]

Copy CD to hard drive, boot to DOS from floppy, cd to i386 folder, run winnt.exe

 

[erwin1978]

I created a dos boot disk and restarted. I still can't access the harddrive. Care to tell me how to make a proper dos disk?

 

[13black]

You can get an image file from bootdisk.com to make a bootable dos floppy. If that hard drive is formated in NTFS you can't access it from dos.

 

[gsellis]

Better still, get Bart's PE and create a Windows XP PE CD and run Winnt32. Much faster and similar to how we do it (we use MS PE). Supports NTFS volumes of any size, networking, and USB/Firewire devices (not plug and play - must be attached at boot - PE for Vista supports PnP).

Bart's PE Builder

 

[erwin1978]

I gave up. I put the winxp content on FAT32 partition and used dos boot disk to start the winnt.exe; however, the installation could not continue and tells me "unable to install Windows boot loader."

I did install win2000 via CD. Boot up does give me an option to boot to either winxp or win2000. The problem now is I can't load winxp. What's my problem? Do I have to reinstall winxp?

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: gsellis
Better still, get Bart's PE and create a Windows XP PE CD and run Winnt32. Much faster and similar to how we do it (we use MS PE). Supports NTFS volumes of any size, networking, and USB/Firewire devices (not plug and play - must be attached at boot - PE for Vista supports PnP).

Bart's PE Builder

But if you can boot to a CD, than why not just install Windows XP from a CD?

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: erwin1978
I created a dos boot disk and restarted. I still can't access the harddrive. Care to tell me how to make a proper dos disk?

Are we talking a SATA hard drive here? From your symptoms, it's sounding like a non-IDE hard drive.

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: Brazen

Originally posted by: gsellis
Better still, get Bart's PE and create a Windows XP PE CD and run Winnt32. Much faster and similar to how we do it (we use MS PE). Supports NTFS volumes of any size, networking, and USB/Firewire devices (not plug and play - must be attached at boot - PE for Vista supports PnP).

Bart's PE Builder

But if you can boot to a CD, than why not just install Windows XP from a CD?

imaging, source on larger/faster media.