i'd like to upgrade my friend's computer from 98se to either ME or XP, but she doesn't have cd-rom drive.. is it possible to just run a set up in 98se, that would copy all the files it needs and then possibly reboot, and load the setup from the hard drive?

thanks.

Yes, it is possible to start an XP install from DOS and hard disk based files (WINNT.EXE), problem is HOW you put the XP files on the hard disk?


jaclaz

i ran into this problem with a old cdromless laptop so i used direct conect to move files over.

Wouldn't it be easier to just bring a cd-rom over and swap it in for the install? Than bringing a whole pc...

maybe an usb thumbdrive or an external hdd?

Take the hard drive, put it into a computer that has a CD-ROM and copy the files to it.

Many things are possible,,,you could shoot yourself in the foot, or dye your hair day-glow-green, but why on earth would you want to?

ME is a total piece of crap,,,,everyone knows that, so why on earth would you want to upgrade to That???

That 98 machine was never built for an OS the size and weight of XP. If XP would even load, the performance would be absolutely Horrible.

Today, any PC without a CD drive is like NO PC at all. Nothing but a piece of junk, a door stop, a boat anchor.
You'd never be able to install any software that you couldn't download via your ISP connection.

Scrap it, junk it, or whatever, but forget upgrading it to a larger and more demanding OS.

If it had a working CD rom drive, I might suggest doing an upgrade to 98/SE w/Sp2.
I have a few tweaks for 98/SE that can also make it run a lot more efficient.

Good Luck and have a great day,
Andromeda43

I had the same problem and I adchived it.I downloaded a little Bootdisk from http://www.bootdisk.com read some more at thier site

Interesting,
how did you manage to fit the installation files on the "little bootdisk", WITHOUT USING A CD-ROM ?


jaclaz

easy...I copied my XP on to a flash Stick and then loaded up the Boot Disk (It has a Driver for the memory stick) and then Loaded it with the file winnt.exe

Didn't think You could do that did u.....

Sure works well for me. This Windows ME installation has been going strong for over five years without a single major problem or a single instance of malware.

Is the pc networked? put the files in a shared folder on a different computer and copy them to the cd rom less computer. I would suggest windows 2000 xp would slow the computer to a grinding halt just about. Im not saying ME is crap because it has good points but I strongly advise against it.

I have a bit of experience with USB mass storage and/or Windows NT based OS installs, and I CAN do it, even WITHOUT the floppy, the difference is that when I make a suggestion, I actually EXPLAIN it:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16713



jaclaz

Sure you do