Windows XP setup - how to? Need answer ASAP

[Negotiator]

I just bought a used laptop and a new harddrive for it. Laptop had Windows MCE installed on it and didn't come with a recovery CD. There's a COA on the laptop with a windows serial key, and there was folder i386 and a folder with drivers on the old harddrive, both of which I copied on a CD.

I now installed new harddrive to the laptop. Even if I copy i386 onto it, I won't be able to run setup from it, since I'll need to do it from DOS, and I plan to have drive C in NTFS, which DOS doesn't read.

I have Windows XP Home CD, which I can use in the process of install. I tried replace it with the new CD I created halfway through installation process and put in the CD with i386 and drivers, but Windows install demands that I put the WinXP home CD back as soon as I eject it.

How do I install Windows MCE (which is the one that used to be there before) onto laptop?

Looking for the specifics to the fastest and easiest way of install. Installing windows onto FAT32 partition and then converting FAT32 to NTFS after the installation is not it. Got a spare USB drive.

[loybond]

If you want to run MCE, you'll need a copy of MCE. You won't be able to swap your regular Windows CD or anything like that. Once you have your MCE CDs (often it comes on two CDs), you can probably just use that key, otherwise google a key.

Drivers can usually be found on the manufacturer's website, or you can request to have them mailed.

[Rebel_lord]

I'm in a similar position. I have a used Thinkpad and I'm trying to reformat the machine. I tried to download images off the internet and burned them and tried to install them using my legit key but it doesn't work. I think it has something to do with these being the corporate edition of Windows XP Pro. *shrug*

my advice is to try it that way ... u may have better luck than me since I don't think there's a corporate edition of Windows Media Center. And as for the legality of it ... when you buy the software in a package, you're really only just buying a license to use it so using any other means of getting the software is just a way of format shift in my opinion. But I'm not a lawyer so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[gche_99]

I just bought a used laptop and a new harddrive for it. Laptop had Windows MCE installed on it and didn't come with a recovery CD. There's a COA on the laptop with a windows serial key, and there was folder i386 and a folder with drivers on the old harddrive, both of which I copied on a CD.

I now installed new harddrive to the laptop. Even if I copy i386 onto it, I won't be able to run setup from it, since I'll need to do it from DOS, and I plan to have drive C in NTFS, which DOS doesn't read.

I have Windows XP Home CD, which I can use in the process of install. I tried replace it with the new CD I created halfway through installation process and put in the CD with i386 and drivers, but Windows install demands that I put the WinXP home CD back as soon as I eject it.

How do I install Windows MCE (which is the one that used to be there before) onto laptop?

Looking for the specifics to the fastest and easiest way of install. Installing windows onto FAT32 partition and then converting FAT32 to NTFS after the installation is not it. Got a spare USB drive.

Since you're using the same original OS, think of this as a hard drive upgrade. The simplest way to upgrade to a newer larger hard drive is to use disk imaging software such as Acronis. Attach new hard drive through USB and let Acronis transfer the entire old disk image onto the new hard drive.

[knapper]

Since you're using the same original OS, think of this as a hard drive upgrade. The simplest way to upgrade to a newer larger hard drive is to use disk imaging software such as Acronis. Attach new hard drive through USB and let Acronis transfer the entire old disk image onto the new hard drive.
+1

[Negotiator]

Since you're using the same original OS, think of this as a hard drive upgrade. The simplest way to upgrade to a newer larger hard drive is to use disk imaging software such as Acronis. Attach new hard drive through USB and let Acronis transfer the entire old disk image onto the new hard drive.

I'd like to make a fresh install of windows.

i386 directory contains all necessary files to install windows - I don't need Windows MCE CD for that. All other files and folders except i386 on just about ANY Windows CD (I think it started back with Win95) are only there to guide to the windows install (like help files, booting files etc.) The only question is - how do I boot and how do I get to the point of being able to run winnt.exe from i386 on NTFS partition?

So when I said I have Windows XP Home - it's just meaning that I can use it to boot from it. I'm not sure what to do after that.

[Techhead]

Get yourself a bootable disk with NTFSDOS PRO. :cheesygri

This will boot DOS but run a driver to recognize your NTFS partitioned HD.


http://live.sysinternals.com/

[roadrunner17]

If you have i386 folder on a CD, all you need to do is :-

1. Format your HDD to fat32
2. Boot your computer with any bootable disc (make sure you boot with CDROM support)
3. Navigate to your CDROM drive
4. Goto i386 folder on the CD
5. run smartdrv.exe (it will make ur installation very fast)
5. type winnt.exe

Follow the instructions on the screen.