Thread: how to install OS without cd drive

Don't know about linux. But Windows can be installed directly from hdd.

1. First think you need is a FAT32 partition wherein you can copy the entire windows (xp) cd.
2. Next, you need a bootable floppy/ thumb drive with dos AND smartdrv. If smartdrv is not loaded, it will takes ages to copy the files.
3. Once the computer boots into dos, load smartdrv and then switch over to the windows folder and run winnt.exe from there. That should do the trick.

A link that I found.
Install Windows XP without floppy or cd drives - SysChat

Note: You should probably try it out on a virtual machine. Otherwise, you might not be able to use the laptop till you get a cdrom.

And this.

W2K Pro. Install without CD Drive - TechSpot OpenBoards

@netfreak- sorry forgot to mention, BIOS doesnt support usb booting.

@gregory_house- thanks a lot. didnt know it was that easy.

can i do the same for ubuntu?

unetbootin seems very easy for ubuntu installation.

Just thought of this. Can't you use the cdrom drive from the new laptop in the old one, do the installation and switch it back?

^ i actually was thinking just that. i had opened this old laptop a couple of times earlier without any problems. But when i opened it this time and fixed it back, it just refuses to start! :S theres absolutely no power going through. no led even when power adapter is plugged in. im sure i was carefull and didnt break anything and have assembled everything perfectly.
now the bigger problem is that my dad has come to know that it isnt working and im screwed (i dont know how the hell all of a sudden it stopped working ). even bigger problem now is that my dad had a couple of important files stored on the hdd which i thought my dad had taken backup of and formatted it. this he doesnt know yet. right now searching for a friend who has a laptop i can retrieve data from. will give the laptop for repair. but maybe ill check if i can fix it myself first.