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Thread ID: 49650 2004-09-26 09:31:00 XP Setup bk T (215) Press F1
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275774 2004-09-26 09:31:00 Got a notebook PC with a faulty CDROM drive running XP Pro. It has 2 partitions, C & D and a removable USB HDD. XP has developed problems and would like to reformat the HDD and do a clean install of XP.

It's going to be quite straight forward if the CDROM drive is functioning properly but it is not ...

So, I copied the XP install CD to the USB removable HDD from another computer and run the XP setup from this USB HDD. XP setup loads all those necessary files without any problem. However, when coming to the point to delete the C: , it doesn't allow me to delete and format this partition.

Tried to boot from a floppy (DOS 7) and run winnt.exe (from USB HDD) but error pops up saying that not enough of memory (or something like that)

Where or what have I done wrong in the above?

How do I set up XP without a CDROM drive?

Cheers
bk T (215)
275775 2004-09-26 11:54:00 try coping the i386 folder (this is the setup files) to the hard drive you wish to install too the cd into that directory and run the setup program
works in win2k not sure about xp, maybe worth a try
beama (111)
275776 2004-09-26 13:39:00 If you want to format the C: drive and can't do it from your USB copy then try this program from here www.download.com

Haven't tried it but should run off a floppy. Once you have it formatted you should copy the install files to the hard drive and install from there. This way if XP needs the install files at a later date it will look where the OS was installed from, hence will find it on the HD not the USB device that will not be present.
Berryb (654)
275777 2004-09-27 06:28:00 Microsoft have a program to create a set of 6 floppy disks to boot to the windows xp setup
support.microsoft.com
You should be ale to format C: from setup then.
Davesdad (923)
275778 2004-09-27 10:07:00 > Microsoft have a program to create a set of 6 floppy
> disks to boot to the windows xp setup
> support.microsoft.com
> You should be ale to format C: from setup then.

Have downloaded this xp setup disks last night and will try out tomorrow.

Thanks.
bk T (215)
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