an outdated bios would not affect it, as it must have worked at some point in the past. It could be the motherboard itself though, but if there is no harddrive detected, your computer would not start at all.

This guide is awsome!!!
 

I DIDN'T CHECK TO SEE THE DATE THIS GUIDE WAS POSTED,,,I MEAN A LAPTOP WOTH NO OPTICAL DRIVE,,,THAT WAS YEARS AGO! WELL I'M GLAD YOU DID THIS GUIDE AND THAT IT'S STILL HERE BECAUSE IT'S THE ONLY THING ON THE NET THAT SOLVED MY PROBLEM! oops caps lock, sorry. My laptop does have a dvd-rw drive but it would not boot up the windows cd so I have done it this way and it worked a charm, and despite sounding complicated it is actualy very simple.

I would point out that the DOS7.1 I downloaded already had smartdrv
so there is no need to find it seperately if you use this version of dos.
Also, for anybody who didn't know,,,,if you can not format your drive in FAT32 it is because FAT32 only supports drives up to 32gb, so you must first partition your drive and format a partition smaller than 32gb in FAT32 to use this method. Like the guide says, don't worry about the other partitions as you can use partition magic to sort them out later.

Turns out my dvd-re drive is broke as XP is installed and it still wont work!

Amazing guide,,,thanks!!!!!!

@ mWMA

Magnificent work, i followed your method but with out taking tha harddisk

out(i used a usb flash drive , i will post the method later).

Imagin i was trying to make it work for several days without result, but

after following the steps here it has worked.

Thank you very much, maybe i will post my modification method in this

days.

Alan

Have you ever done this on WIN2k?
 

Have you ever done this on Windows 2000 Professional? I tried it on WINXP but the laptop is extremely old and it hangs way more than the alloted 5-10 minutes. In fact i let it ride for about 2 hours. I am currently trying it on win2k but it seems to hang as well.

It loads smartdrv and then copies windows files....then it will reboot the laptop. Once it starts up it asks for DOS or windowsupgrade. I choose windows upgrade and it continues the installation...or so it seems. the first screen it comes to is "SETUP IS INSPECTING YOUR COMPUTER'S HARDWARE CONFIGURATION..." then it hangs there for eternity. I have read this post several times. What step and i missing here? What is it looking for in this step? HELP!

what type of laptop are you using? It may just take a long time...
also smartdv needs to be done manually, and only helps for the DOS section until the restart.

It is a Toshiba Portege 7020CT. I did the smartdrv manually before the winnt. That part loaded extremely fast. But after it copies the files, it requires a reboot then it will start installing windows. Once i reboot i dont go back into the DOS side but i choose the Windows Update/upgrade option. That is when the install resumes. It pops to the SETUP IS INSPECTING....... screen and then just locks. Zero HD activity at all. I did it again last night and let it run all night long. When i got back to the office this morning it is still hung on the same screen.

try starting over copying the the i386 folder, likely a bad or corrupted file causing an issue.

just some answers
 

William Have a presario X1000 followed your guide and had a problem when it rebooted "NTLDR missing" any suggestions

Peter

When I first format the notebook HDD in the PC I choose to make the partition Active but do I make it a system partition or not, so that it is ready to have Dos 7 loaded on it.

help please with details
 

Dear William,
Can i use this procedure for a desktop computer with only 1 ide slot on main board??only has HDD it has no place for cdrom or floppy disk. i can understand some steps for others pls cud you elaborate , assist with further details--thankyou v much

*If you have not burned a copy of DOS 7.10 yet, do that first, you will need it before moving the hardware!
>>>>>>:confused: How do i copy this/ burn it with nero is okay ? only the iso file or something else too ,


*With the DOS cd in the drive

- switch the laptop drive to IDE 1 channel 1 for best chance of detection, DOS is not the smartest OS ever made
>>>>>:confused: do i have to change the boot sequence in bios?
to boot from cd ? -


power up and install DOS 7.10 when prompted. IT is your choice to add or not add all the extras with DOS, these will not affect your installation either way!
>>>>>:confused: how to install dos i dont get prompted anything, only say remove disk and press any key
-

shutdown the computer and rearrange the laptop drive such that it is on IDE1, channel 2 again. so that you can boot into the OS (psobably XP) on your desktop.
>>>> by channel 2 you mean as slave drive correct?
I suppose if you reply questions above i cud follow the rest
-

thnaks a million in advance william

Start Nero Burning ROM
Close the screen that pops up
At the top select Recorder, choose Image Recorder, then burn the iso.

THe hard drive that you want to load with dos and subsequently XP needs to be on a PC that has a floppy drive and a CDRom drive.

You will need a computer with a cd drive to burn the cd and thus run it, i have tried using virtual PC, but it seems to have issues creating a bootable partition.

it is a .iso file, this is an image file, basically it is a single file to represent an entire cd. Nero, Easy CD Creator or any other good cd burning software will allow you to burn the image. Do not burn it as a data cd with the .iso file.

Having only 1 IDE channel could be an issue, but you can work around it. basically by channel 1, it means the first hdd slot, the cd drive and hard drive shouldn't be on the same cable, but it sounds like this may be your case?
*Yes you need to change the boot order to boot from cd first

If the cd is burned properly and in the cd drive (which is connected) with the boot order starting with cd, you will be asked to boot from cd press a key and DOS will start loading.

Yes a standard IDE cable has 3 connectors, 1 for the mobo, and 2 channels, the first is the one on the very end is channel 1, and the other is channel 2, you re-arrange this time so that you can load your normal OS with the laptop drive as a slave, which is bootable, but should not be recognized as such during your desktop's boot.

firstly, thanks alot for a really good tutorial!

put as you proboably already suspected, i have a problem.

basically i got to the point where you type in 'c:\i386\winnt.exe' on dos, it then asks where the files are located again, and i type in c:\i386. It then says inspecting computer hardware...thats fine, it starts to install and gets to around 70% where it says 'setup was unable to copy the following file' basically from then on it refuses to copy any more...

...so im not sure whats going on...:confused:

..by the way my laptop is a sony vaio vgn-b1vp. (the reason i have to use this tutorial to install windows is because the cd drive is broken :( ).

edit: also, the OS im trying to install on it is xp profesional corporate edition.

The i386 probably copied to the dos HDD incorrectly. Put it back into the PC and copy i386 again. (My copy is 527Mb, 153 folders, 6,771 files obtained from Windows XP with SP2 slipstreamed into it). Yours may differ in size if you are using only SP1.

yer, i kind of already tried that....several times. Even tried formatting the HDD and doing it all again, still no joy.

its corporate edition, with service pack 2.

you could try a modification to the install, as i have come to like better:
-format the drive, and partition it with a small 500mb parition on the front of the drive. copy the i286 folder to it and then install dos to it as well. This will keep the install folders separate from the actual installation which will be on D:\ now.
This method also allows you to re-install without removing your drive again.

ok, that kind of worked. the MS-DOS part installed fine, then it got to the point where it said 'the MS-DOS part of the instillation is complete, press enter to restart'

..i pressed enter and it froze on the same screen...for ages? after a while i got fed up and held down the power button, it rebooted then said 'disc error - press any key to restart.'

why cant it just....work:( ?

check to see if DOS will boot on your desktop, if not, it is not installing correctly. I have to admit though it sounds like there is a corrupted file or 2 when you copy the folder over. Perhaps copy the folder to the desktop then move it from there?

Confused on converter application need help
 

I have converter what do you mean ide 1 channel two where are channels

WHAT TO BE SURE OF INSTRUCTIONS i FEEL STUPID
 

cAN YOU EXPLAIN THIS ALITTLE MORE DO NOT COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND MENTALITY OF SECOND GRADER:icon_wink: :icon_rolleyes:



:icon_redface: - attatch the drive to IDE 1, channel 2 and start up your computer.
- format the drive to FAT32 (you can always switch it to ntfs later, with a prog such as partition magic)
- shutdown the computer

*With the DOS cd in the drive

- switch the laptop drive to IDE 1 channel 1 for best chance of detection, DOS is not the smartest OS ever made

- power up and install DOS 7.10 when prompted. IT is your choice to add or not add all the extras with DOS, these will not affect your installation either way!

- shutdown the computer and rearrange the laptop drive such that it is on IDE1, channel 2 again. so that you can boot into the OS (psobably XP) on your desktop.

- remove DOS 7.10 cd
- replace with Windows XP cd after system has booted.
- Copy I386 folder from WinXP cd onto the laptop harddrive
*probably place this directly on the root of the drive to prevent confusion later.
- find and download smartdrv.exe and copy it to the root directory as well (speeds up dos transfers)

help sent two?'S

Arizona
IDE 1 and IDE 2 are the sockets on the motherboard where the ribbon cables from the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and Rom drives connect to. It is printed on the board which one is which.

Baked_Bean
When you copy the i386 folder use this DOS command ......
xcopy d:\i386 c:\i386 /s/e
where d:\ is the cdrom drive and c:\ is the hdd. The switches at the end will ensure that ALL folders will be copied, regardless.

hi i have a usb enclosure for the laptop harddrive, can i copy the files and dos 7.10 over to it by plugging it into working pc by means of usb cable/ usb mass storage device method. instead of ide adaptor method. thks

theoretically this is possible, but i would not advise it. The MBR would be located on the computer you are connected to, and there is no guarantee that DOS will boot once the drive is in the laptop.

hi, i forgot to mention that my laptop has bios password and is not set to boot from cd 1st so how would i install dos 7 onto the harddrive if i need to use from the cd of dos 7. i seem to get some sort of dos wen using those win 98 bootdisks, could i just copy the i386 files to the HDD using your pc method and wen i get some dos prompts type the commands you mention at later stages . many thanks 4 help
i used to install win98 from my pc onto the laptop HDD using my old win98 pc factory restore disks and then popped hdd back into laptop and it loads win98 with minimal drivers then i install win xp from there but this method not workin again some how whiches why i am trying your method thks and i'll let u know how i get on.

it should work. the problem you're having is not the one addressed by this tutorial, as it is aimed at laptops which lack all drives, dos is only required because there is not drive to boot from. It isn't dos, but yes you could boot the 16bit installer directly from the cd using the win98 boot disc

thank-you it works well

I have been trying this method, and I get to the point where windows XP says " The MS-DOS portion of this setup is complete, reboot to continue" and I reboot, and it tells me that the "ntdlr is missing" I don't understand why it keeps doing this, and i've tried this method of 3 different laptops (HP, Sony, and IBM's) and I keep getting the same thing.

Theres been three other people posting on here with the same problem but no one has addressed it!!! Please someone give us a clue.

an ntldr error can be caused by many things, including a floppy in the drive. Another common issue is a faulty cable or a corrupt MBR file.

I will need to know the drive setup, eg: location of the i386 folder, etc and partitions on the drive.

Hey there! Thanks for the response!

Everything that I did, I did to the tee on the website below:

Guide: Install Windows without a CD-ROM or floppy drive « this is my defective kit.

The only difference is that I am using a Dell Latitude C640 for the host machine, which has an external floppy drive.

Also, I am using a windows 95 disk instead of 98 to boot and format the drive.

Also, I am installing Windows XP Corp edition

still no success
 

Hey guys,

I have done everything in this tutorial exactly. I am using Windows XP Home genuine disc, IDE adapter, on a Dell desktop.

I install everything and it works great on the desktop, but when I transfer it to the laptop, it says "Invalid system disc"

I have tried this on 3 different hard drives and with 3 different ultraportable laptops. Still no success. There has to be something going on here, something that I am missing. I have looked into the MBR problems and tried everything that the previous person was trying with no success. Should I try a different desktop?


I am installing windows half-way right now and am going to shut it down and transfer the drive over to the laptop on reboot. Hope this works.

I hope I can get some support on this.

Arg, still no success. NTdlr is missing.

This just seems impossible for me. There has to be another method that I can try, maybe something more advanced.

are you installing dos and windows while you are on the desktop, as this will not work. Windows sets up the hardware on installation, thus if they are different...

Great instructions
 

This worked perfectly for a Toshiba laptop that the DVD-ROM had stopped working. Already had the IDE converter so just installed DOS from my desktop with the laptop hard drive as drive 1, then copied the i386 and smartdrive, then back into the laptop and off it went. Great instructions and the reason I joined SysChat.

Portege 3110
 

Great got my little Tashiba Portege 3110 working!!!

thx, for the newbe outlook on things.

Toshiba Portege R100
 

Thanks!!! Thanks!!! Thanks!!!

There are not enough words to show my gratitude for this valuable information.
I spent numerous sleepless nights to solve my problem and this procedure worked as charm.

I bought a Toshiba Portege R100, which is known to be problematic for installing a fresh copy of windows XP on a new hard drive. I tried everything using the PCMCIA Port Noteworthy CD but nothing works. I tried any driver possible but its just didn’t work for me.

Thanks again!!!

Thank you Thank you!!!
 

Hey William,

you are a dude - I've been banging my head for ages trying to figure out how to fix a friends laptop with broken CD-drive - you are da man ;-)

Never thought of using DOS and another computer with adapter!!!

Helped a lot. thx
 

Just one thing. Instead of ide converter u can use usb interface and laptop computer, but your laptop has to have possibility to boot from usb disk.

Of course like there is in article, DOS is not the smartest one, so it will not install under usb drive but what i did is the following:

boot from win98 and start computer with cd
format this disk with a command format [letter]: /s /q (where letter is a drive letter)

later on i moved files to this partiotion like
smartdrv.exe
himem.sys
emm386.exe

end created config.sys:
device=himem.sys
device=emm386.exe noems
dos=high,umb
files=30
buffers=30


then just copy i386 and move prepared disk to other laprtop

Anyway many thanks...