No CD windows install

[robcy]

I got a Dell SX270 with the floppy drive, and no CD. I have 3 other XP PRO machines on my home network (no AD, DHCP, DNS). I want to install WIN 2K PRO on the SX270, but it has no CD. I tried a external USB CD but I could not get it to boot. I tried a network boot disk, which allowed me to map the shared drives of the other machines, but WIN 2K PRO will not install from a DOS boot disk. I can copy the entire WIN2K PRO CD onto the SX270 with xcopy. How do I install it from an HD copy, or is there a way to install it while its connected to the network, or is there a boot disk that will allow me to boot from the USB CD. I am limited to working with what I already have.

 

[jr77ok]

there may be an easier way to do this but I ran into the same problem and did this..

installed 2000 + all updates and patches and nothing else on a secondary machine.
did a sysprep on that machine, Symantec ghosted it to the drive that was going into the new machine. Popped that drive into new machine, booted, installed all drivers and such and VOILA!

 

[robcy]

The thing is that the SX270 uses a 2.5" HD, while all of the other machines use a 3.5" HD's. I was going to try that until I opened it up, and well another opcion out of the window.

 

[jr77ok]

wish I could teleport you the adaptor that I have that lets you plug in a laptop HDD into a standard IDE cable. If no one can come up with a better answer that adaptor should only cost you a couple bucks at the local hardware store. comes in real handy since I work with a lot of laptops. I bought one here in San Antonio, TX @ Altex for like 5 bucks.

 

[Rottie]

you could buy external bantan backpack CD drive it comes with parellel port to your SX270.
It works for my old laptop without internal CD drive. Can install any programs perfectly.