Windows install from USB drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael
  • Start date Start date
M

Michael

I want to reinstall Windows xp on my wifes laptop but the cd drive is bust.
I was wondering if it is possible to copy the installation disks to a
portable usb hard drive and boot her computer using a usb flash drive and
then do the install off the portable drive? Any advice please?
 
Michael said:
I want to reinstall Windows xp on my wifes laptop but the cd drive is bust.
I was wondering if it is possible to copy the installation disks to a
portable usb hard drive and boot her computer using a usb flash drive and
then do the install off the portable drive? Any advice please?
Click to expand...

If I were to try this, there are a couple of tacks:

1) set up a shared drive z:\ pointing to d:\directoryofwindowsfiles

or

2) make and ISO image of the windows installation disk and use
one of the pieces of software that'll mount .iso images to
look like a drive to the OS.
 
If I were to try this, there are a couple of tacks:

1) set up a shared drive z:\ pointing to d:\directoryofwindowsfiles

or

2) make and ISO image of the windows installation disk and use
one of the pieces of software that'll mount .iso images to
look like a drive to the OS.
Click to expand...

Oh crap wait a minute, neither of these will work for reinstalling.
Forgive my silly response.

For what you propose to work, your computer's bios will have to
support booting to USB media. To try it, you'd have to copy the
windows cd contents to the usb media, and make the media bootable
with a boot sector and all that happiness. I've not done this, but
have had exposure to bootable knoppix installations off usb media and
they can be successful but it does require support in the BIOS of the
target computer.
 
If I were to try this, there are a couple of tacks:

1) set up a shared drive z:\ pointing to d:\directoryofwindowsfiles

or

2) make and ISO image of the windows installation disk and use
one of the pieces of software that'll mount .iso images to
look like a drive to the OS.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. Do you mean that the virtual cd drive would be on
the portable hard drive? I did plan to format the hard drive on the laptop
so I would need to make sure the boot device had the drivers to read the
portable hard drive?
 
:
: Thanks for your reply. Do you mean that the virtual cd drive would be
on
: the portable hard drive? I did plan to format the hard drive on the
laptop
: so I would need to make sure the boot device had the drivers to read
the
: portable hard drive?

My MB will detect a USB boot device. If you boot into the bios you
should be able to determine by looking at the options if USB is
available within the bios,
 
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