S-ATA drivers

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ken'
  • Start date Start date
K

Ken'

Hi
Is it possible to use a USB thumbdrive to install the S-ATA drivers when
installing windows if you do not have a floppy drive?
Thanks
Ken'
 
Ken' said:
Hi
Is it possible to use a USB thumbdrive to install the S-ATA drivers when
installing windows if you do not have a floppy drive?
Thanks
Ken'
Click to expand...

No.. Windows is stubborn enough that it requires the drivers be loaded
from a real, "legacy" floppy drive (not a USB floppy).
 
You can create a slipstream XP CD that includes the required drivers.
Google for XP Slipstream - there are many quick and easy utilities out
there. Check the utility you choose provides an easy mechanism for adding
the drivers in.

Or.

Use a floppy.
 
Mercury said:
You can create a slipstream XP CD that includes the required drivers.
Google for XP Slipstream - there are many quick and easy utilities out
there. Check the utility you choose provides an easy mechanism for adding
the drivers in.

Or.

Use a floppy.
Click to expand...
Impossible for Windows to recognize the drivers on the cd. Like the other
posters said and you will find out, they must be on a floppy. When you hit
F6 it looks at the floppy for the drivers, not the cd, not the hard drive,
not the USB devices, etc.
 
Clark said:
Impossible for Windows to recognize the drivers on the cd. Like the other
posters said and you will find out, they must be on a floppy. When you hit
F6 it looks at the floppy for the drivers, not the cd, not the hard drive,
not the USB devices, etc.
Click to expand...

No, you can do this by creating a custom Windows install CD that has the
driver integrated into it, so it will not need to look for it. A much
more involved process, however, unless there is no way to use a floppy..
 
Hi
Does it matter if my Windows Home disk is a pre SP1 version or not. Does a
disk with SP1 do it any different?
Ken'
 
Robert Hancock said:
No, you can do this by creating a custom Windows install CD that has the
driver integrated into it, so it will not need to look for it. A much more
involved process, however, unless there is no way to use a floppy..
Click to expand...

Sorry, I confused the SATA and RAID. It is RAID you need the floppy. SATA
should load fine.
 
Ken' said:
Hi
Is it possible to use a USB thumbdrive to install the S-ATA drivers when
installing windows if you do not have a floppy drive?
Thanks
Ken'
Click to expand...

I doubt it.

The only way I could think of would be with floppy emulation on the USB
device, but then you don't actually boot off of the drive, so the
emulation won't kick in?

Ben
 
If you do as other posters have mentioned, you an create a slipstream CD
that not only includes your S-ATA drivers, but also includes SP1, all of the
other hotfixes, and even, if you want it, SP2. If what I have heard is
correct, you can even slipstream your SCSI or RAID drivers, because windows
will see them as 'part of the install', but I haven't had the chance to
verify this as I don't have a RAID system anymore.

P.S.: Throw out that XP Home disk, or use it for a coaster, and get
Professional.
 
Thanks for the reply about slipstreaming the drivers. I may consider doing
that.
Now about you suggestion about Xp pro being better that Xp Home, that is
nothing but pure bull.
They both have the same kennel and are both the same, except the pro version
has a few extra goodies that I don't need or want.
Ken'
 
Why shouln't raid drivers work too?

The only requirement is surely that the drivers are in the list of
installable drivers when windows gets to the point of needing them - as per
any other raid drivers.

This is certainly 1 step further than a standard slip stream cd, but should
be straight forward as the floppy image used is very consistent IE inf, cat,
sys files to merge into the OS CD at the right point with perhaps a little
text editing in the stock inf files off the cd.

A quick google for 'slipstream raid drivers' yields this:

http://greenmachine.msfnhosting.com/READING/addraid.htm
or
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=27674&st=30
part way down.

does it work?
 
Mercury said:
Why shouln't raid drivers work too?

The only requirement is surely that the drivers are in the list of
installable drivers when windows gets to the point of needing them - as
per any other raid drivers.

This is certainly 1 step further than a standard slip stream cd, but
should be straight forward as the floppy image used is very consistent IE
inf, cat, sys files to merge into the OS CD at the right point with
perhaps a little text editing in the stock inf files off the cd.

A quick google for 'slipstream raid drivers' yields this:

http://greenmachine.msfnhosting.com/READING/addraid.htm
or
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=27674&st=30
part way down.

does it work?
Click to expand...
When installing Windows from scratch the first prompt is "Hit F6 to load
third party SCSI or RAID drivers". This happens way before the GUI takes
over. Now I may be a bit off with the phrase, but, that is when you load
your disk drivers. And if you don't have them on the floppy, the install
will error out and you'll be back to square one.

Now the two links you gave show an unattended install where the floppy
contains a pointer to the cd to load the drivers. I've done unattended
installs, but never with RAID. From what I see it works. But, for the vast
majority of users, creating an unattended install file, especially one that
loads third party drivers is overkill for people that install an OS maybe
once or twice a year. Think about it, do you want to sit around all day
answering prompts to install Windows? I surely don't. That is what makes
unattended installs on multiple machines efficient.

If I go with the thought, it may be nice to have a cd with all the drivers
for each machine I own. Or install the OS with all the drivers and ghost the
machine. Then you get into sysprep, but that is another topic for another
day.

For a really nice slipstream all-in-one app check out
http://www.autopatcher.com/autostreamer.html .
 
Unfortunatley we lost site of the OP question about installing RAID drivers
*without* a floppy.

I don't think it can be done on a fresh install, because, Windows is looking
for that floppy with the drivers. The unattend file is on the floppy too, so
you're stuck.

If he can somehow access the Winnt32.exe file he can point to a different
location for the answer file similar to this d:\i386\winnt32
/unattend:a:\unattend.txt.
 
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