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Issues installing Windows XP without drives

I am starting this thread on behalf of Brie987, so that others with similar issues will be able to find this information.

Previous conversations:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brie987

Quote:

Originally Posted by William_Wilson

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brie987

Hi, I came across your tutorial of "Install Windows XP without floppy or cd drives" and it was helpful to the extent that I got all the parts to do it. I am using a Dell 8100 desktop. When I boot it recognizes the laptop harddrive in the Bios but not the primary, I am new to this but do you keep a primary hardrive with an OS in the desktop? I had the impression that this would install an OS as if the laptop harddrive was the primary drive.
I hope you do get this as the posting was awhile ago. Thank you for your time with this matter.

You can keep a drive in the desktop, but if you are installing DOS, I would suggest unplugging it. This will prevent you from possibly damaging any data on it and should force the desktop to use the laptop drive as the primary. Feel free to start a thread in the forum if you have any further issues.

Hi William sorry for writing to you privately but I am just stuck on the last "run" at the end with my hhd is back in the laptop. the final two run command lines are c:\smartdrv.exe goes thru, I get a disc cache status but the final command line c:\i386\winnt.exe will not load I keep getting "Bad command or file name". It boots perfectly in the desktop. Thanks for your help and sorry about not writing this in the forum I just dont know where to start and I have come all this way. Thanks again. If you could send me a link to the forum thread that I should be in that would be great too.

Make sure you are using the correct path to the I386 folder, did you install it on the same partition that DOS is on?
To check if you are trying to load from the correct location type:
cd I386
*If this fails, try:
cd i386
DOS is case sensitive and I am pretty sure it should be a capital I.
*If neither of these work, type:
dir
*This will list the folders/files of the current directory, if the I386 folder is not here, then you must have placed it somewhere else and you will need to navigate to it.
Navigation is fairly simple in DOS:
cd pathname
moves you into the folder designated by pathname
..
will move you up 1 folder level

Once you find the I386 folder you can run the installer.

Hi thank you for creating this thread. Just to be clear, I have I386 folder in the C:\ drive should this folder be in the DOS folder in the C drive? And also is there a physical winnt.exe application because I cannot find it in the folder. Thanks.

One more thing when I typed dir in dos I got a list like you said but how do I scroll up to double check this list its very long, yes I am that new. thanks for the help.

you can view it by page, I think it is:
dir /p
if that isn't it then it is:
dir /w

The i386 folder can be just about anywhere you want. Are you sure this is Windows XP? It should contain the winnt.exe file if it is.

The I386 folder is in th C:\ drive, everything is where it should be I believe. Now is there suppose to be a physical winnt.exe file/application in the I386 folder because there is non so perhaps since it cannot find it I keep getting "bad command or file name" answer for my prompt.

I am using TinyXP it is a scaled down version, i am using it because of the small hdd drive I have only 6gig. Can I download winnt.exe and install it in the I386 folder?

TinyXP has many features removed, one of which is the removal of 16bit support. winnt.exe needs more than just itself to run, you will need to install a proper version of XP for this method to work.

Windows XP can be installed, then using the add/remove applications you can remove all of the unnecessary parts.

There is also the option of creating your own custom XP installation with the application nLite. I use this for my old laptop (12GB of space) to remove all the stuff I don't want, but making sure to keep the 16bit essentials.
It can be downloaded free: nLite - Deployment Tool for the bootable Unattended Windows installation

Hi William thanks for telling me about winnt.exe is an actual file I copied the file from a XP home disc I have and installed it in the I386 folder of my tinyxp, it is setting up right now. I am a happy camper. I will fill you in on the rest when it is over. thanks so much.

You are right William, it didnt work. Its ok I will install the home version of xp starting over, thank you. I have learned much. I also will try nlite, the idea of making an OS basic for simple or old machines makes me happy, to be using what is thought of by many as obsolete once again is fantastic. I will let you know how it goes.

Did everything but it wont boot

Hi I did everything but computer wont boot still. This is what happens. It starts then the blue screen flashes then the Windows screen flashes then it reboots. This is a constant loop. When I do start I have 3 options to choose from. 1 windows xp professional 2.previously installed windows (dos) 3 windows install/upgrade.

Windows is set up but something is blocking the boot up, I hate that blue screen. Please help.