HOW TO: Install Windows 2000 (or XP perhaps) from DOS without a bootable CDROM

Yea, it works great....except for format c: /s - that's the only thing that didn't work from the earlier instructions.

Thanks for your help!

i hope this works for me!

i did everything in the orignal post but it's still not working

I did all of it and looked good till i got here, I did this:

but it still says no drive detected. WHAT THE HELL SHOULD I DO?

Try my instructions... I didn't post them to be ignored

Hunny I did that. Do you think i like switching back one huge PC back and forth. I wrote down your instructions the problem is it's not detecting the "E" drive. It's not recognizing that i have a cdrom at all. I've tried yours, as well as everyones on this site. I think it has to do with the driver.
It's weird though because when my mom gave me this comp the cd rom she had in it didn't work either. so i put the one i knew worked in it and now the same thing. Is it possible that the cables connecting it are bad?
I didn't ignore you

When you boot with the Windows 98 startup floppy you have 3 options:

1. Boot with CD ROM support
2. Boot without CD ROM support
3. Boot to A: Prompt

You must choose option 1

Just before the Boot floppy finishes loading, the drive letter of the CD ROM will be listed. You must make sure you note this drive letter. It could be D, E or F. If your CD isn't detected by the Windows 98 boot, it will show "no cd roms detected" right away

One potential additional step. If you still can't boot your HD after formatting it and creating the config.sys and autoexec.bat files, you might need to create a master boot record.

If you previously had windows on the drive but just deleted the partition this shouldn't be neccesary, but if the drive was brand new, previously was used for linux, or was totally erased you need to tell the computer how to boot the drive.

from the dos prompt: fdisk /mbr

hi everyone, hope you could help me with my problem in installing windows xp with $OEM$, OEM and i386. here goes, i had my toshiba satellite a10 without internal cd-rom and floppy disk but that doesn't concern me cause i know how to install windows xp on my 2.5 HDD. But then, there's a lot of things i gone crazy and that was during installation lots of dll files have't copied such as FindTarget.dll, FindTarget.inf, LegitCheckControl.dll, MsVirtualCD.cpl,.cpi and i think Vs...or something so, i skipped those files everytime they showed up in a bluescreen where winxp is on the process. And after the installation, an error saying cannot locate C:\D\$OEM$\driversignup.cmd..or something like that...after that the window startup but in a classic theme.how does it happen??? pls...help me everyone. (i also made unattended file in winnt.sif but same result...)the windows xp did not upload the default theme. framedyn.dll could not startup same with ikernel. a lot of files also missing....does anyone knows how to fix it? thanks! or there's just something to add at the winnt.sif

cannot install 2000

Rick, I followed your instructions on installing windows 2000. Everything goes fine until I get to where I type D:\i386\winnt.exe then it says wrong drive specified. I know my pc is set to boot from cd rom. I even unhooked floppy drive, still no luck. I formatted my hard drive with windows 98 floppy. The windows 98 screen pops up, but when it goes to c promp, that's when everything stops. Any suggestions will be appreciated as I would like to have windows 2000. Thaks

i'm using netbook. no cdrom. no floppy. only available usb pen drive.

i'm using netbook. no cdrom. no floppy. only available usb pen drive.
so, how can i install new windows xp bootable from usb pen drive?
Someone please help me~~~~

Thanx for the post helped me a lot with my laptop

how to install xp without using cd rom

hi can u help me out in installing xp without using cd-rom

How to obtain Windows XP Setup disks for a floppy boot installation
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994

Otherwise, if this thread doesn't help, then just purchase an external USB CD or DVD Drive
You will likely need it for other things as well, anyway

We still require CD/DVD Drives until MS provide Windows Setup on USB Flash drive, which hopefully they do, one day (as standard)

Could someone help please?

I followed Rick's instructions to the letter - and got to the end with the Windows XP cd running and starting setup. But then I get errors saying certain .sys files not found (I know they are on the disk, I checked) - cdfs.sys for example. I would retry, same error and finally skipped each file.

Anyway it goes thru continuing to say these certain files not found. . . then copies a bunch of files then hangs with msg at bottom of the blue screen, "Loading files to your computer, please wait". Well I waited for an hour. . . repeated the whole process and same thing.

I am using a Windows XP cd that is a restore disk for a HP - the computer I'm trying to install it to is also an HP. Have the cd key. What am I doing wrong?

Try another geneneric OS install disc. Unless the HP OS disc was made for your model HP, it may not work as you are finding out

Boot from CD

Then boot from your Windows 2000 disc. The title is HOW TO:Install Windows 2000 (or XP perhaps) from DOS without a bootable CDROM.

Okay, so I tried a windows 98 disk -- (went thru whole procedure first). I've installed Windows 98 from this disk onto another machine before, so I knew that disk worked. It went thru the whole set up process even asking for CD product key - then suddenly I get this message on black screen/white letters:

NTLDR is missing -- what's that? Any help is appreciated

some additional info - the hard drive had Linux on it and nothing else - I wanted to get rid of linux. So that's why I formated and partitioned again accdg to Rick's instructions.

Windows 98 doesn't support the NTFS (NT File System) format. NTLDR is part of this. XP does support this file system, but you can always format XP installs in FAT32 compatible with Windows 98. Pay attention when you get to the partition screen. Installing XP you want to use the quick NTFS format

Okay the partition IS FAT32. . . only one primary partition. I don't think there was an option for "quick NTFS" format from the win 98 startup disk. It just asks (something like)

The HD has more than 512 mb (?) do you want to utilize. . .?? something like that. It's quite long. I chose .. .

"I don't think there was an option for "quick NTFS" format from the win 98 startup disk"...

Once again, Windows 98 does not have NTFS format options. Choosing "large" utilization was ok. Were you able to install Windows now