Trying to format a laptop with no DVD Rom

Question

I am trying to format a laptop but the DVD Drive is not Working. I tried booting from a USB but even though I have it on the top of list it skips it. I tried disabling all other boot devices and leaving only the Removable Device but still nothing. In case it matters the Laptop is a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo 1667G

***EDIT The USB flash drive I am using is USB 2.0. Also I tried pressing f12 and selecting removable drive manually from the boot menu. Removable Drive did not appear

Question: Is it possible to mount the iso and install windows from within windows, or is there another option?

Answer 1

As i understand it, booting from DVD-Drive is not working and booting from USB is problematic. Then (without stripping the laptop apart for the harddrive) you're left with 2 options:

Option 1: You can (re)install Windows XP from within Windows XP. Provided XP does boot correctly. You don't have the option to format the drive but Windows, Program Files and Documents and Settings will be moved to a WINDOWS.OLD and you'll get a clean install.

You don't need to mount an ISO to install Windows from Windows. All you need is the I386-directory from CD (You can copy it over a network-share or if the USB is working for files via USB.) copy it to C:\I386 and run C:\I386\winnt32.exe. Downside is your harddrive needs to be big enough to hold the new installation and the old WINDOWS.OLD. Also you need to do some cleaning afterwards to see what you can delete from that WINDOWS.OLD. And it is probably best to run a defragmenter afterwards.

edit:
Windows XP does not create an old WINDOWS.OLD like i expected.
With the New Installation (Advanced) Windows will install over the current installation. It will ask to delete the current C:\WINDOWS but it will leave Program Files and Documents and Settings intact. (not exactly a clean install)

Option 2: This one is a bit more difficult. Booting from the network.

How it works:

When you boot from your network-adapter it checks for a DHCP-server. The DHCP-server gives an IP and should tell the client where to get the bootloader (not all DHCP-server can do this). That bootloader is then fetched using TFTP. After that the bootloader should load the OS. This OS should be "network-aware". Linux is "network-aware" out of the box but for Windows you'll need to use the right files. (You can't just plop an .iso in there)

What you'll need:

• A (small) DHCP-server capable of giving the bootloader loacation.
• A (small) FTPD-server capable of serving the bootloader itself.
• The bootloader
• The rest of the OS files ("network-aware")

For the DHCP-server and FTPD-server you could try TFTPD32 which has both in one. I also found some info on this page for setting this up.

You could also try Ultimate Deployment Appliance which has a complete "virtual machine"-image for this setup.

Some reading material:

• Wikipedia/Network_booting
• Wikipedia/Preboot_Execution_Environment
• NetworkBoot.Org
• Setup TFTPD32 with BartPE
• hanewin.net Remote-boot
• CCBoot

Edit:

Neat. I just tried it, simple, with a 622C.IMG (bootable MS-DOS 6.22 floppy image).

Install (or extract) TFTPD32 to c:\tftpd32 (I just took the .zip, no need for install, just extract to c:\tftpd). Download syslinux-4.04.tar.gz from kernel.org. Extract memdisk and pxelinux.0 (search for them) from this archive and put them in c:\tftpd32\root. Download 622c.zip from bootdisk.com and put 622C.IMG in c:\tftpd32\root. Make a c:\tftpd32\root\pxelinux.cfg directory. Put a textfile named default with the following content in there:

default boot
prompt 0
say booting...
label boot
  kernel memdisk bigraw
  append initrd=622C.IMG

Now start tftpd32.exe or tftpd64.exe.

In "Settings" put C:\tftpd32\root in the TFTP-tab and check the boxes:

Fill in the DHCP-tab and check the settings: (Boot file = pxelinux.0).

Restart TFTPD.

Now start your laptop and choose network. If all is well your laptop should boot right to the DOS-prompt. You can now format your harddrive ;-) This was just a little exercise but this can also be done with BartPE and other Windows environments.

If your laptop does not start from the network it could be that you have to disable your current DHCP-server. (This was not necessary here, both my router and desktop acted as DHCP-server and my laptop took the right IP from the DHCP from my desktop)

Edit 2: These steps use pxelinux.0 to boot the laptop over the network. These pages show you how to use grub4dos and tftpd32 to boot IMG and ISO files.

Answer 2

Here is a procedure for installing Windows XP on a computer with no CD (let's call it "the laptop").

You will need :

• A second computer running Windows XP that has a CD drive (let's call it "the desktop" )
• A Genuine copy of the Windows XP installation CD and a valid serial number

You will need to extract the hard disk from the laptop and install it on the desktop, either as a second hard disk, or by using an enclosure to convert it to an external USB drive. Let's assume that this disk is called E:. It's probably best to format this disk before you do anything, so save first any data that you want to recover. It shouldn't matter which file system you use: FAT32 or NTFS· Do not use the fast-format method, since slow format can fix bad sectors on the disk, even if it is, well, slow.

Insert the XP installation CD and close any pop-up window. Let's assume that the CD is called D:.

In the command prompt on the desktop (maybe run as administrator) enter this command :

D:\I386\winnt32.exe /syspart:E: /tempdrive:E: /makelocalsource /noreboot

This will start the XP installer from the CD drive. The /syspart:E: switch tells it to make the E: drive into a system drive; /tempdrive:E: directs the temporary files to that drive; /makelocalsource tells XP to copy all the source files to the drive so you won't need the CD any more; /noreboot is to not reboot after the files were copied.

After the setup completes on the desktop, eject E: and put it back in the laptop, then boot as normal. When you boot, Windows XP should begin installing automatically.

Answer 3

I actually tried a few solutions and its kind of strange, and might take a lot of coffee time. I'd note i've had a few failed attempts, and have warned where things get dangerous. Read through the whole answer before you tried it. This particular process is safe, as long as you keep in mind why things are being done.

I basically created a second partition, installed windows there from the original partition, and used that to bootstrap the windows install back to the original partition. I've cheated a bit, and cleaned out, but not formatted the old windows partition, since its safer first, though I've posted an answer where I reformatted the drive as well.

You'll need a windows iso, 7zip and some software for resizing drives (I used minitools free from inside windows). You'll also be using things in system properties a lot - you access this by right clicking and my computer - so get familiar with this.

First extract the contents of the windows iso using 7zip into a folder (if you have it installed - rightclick on the iso, and select "extract to" copy this into your tumbdrive. You'll need to use this more than once so keep it handy. You'll also want to keep the minitools installer here.

Install minitools on the current, working system and use that to create a new partition with free space after the current install. You want this to be at least 2.5 gb, and file system dosen't matter all that much since you will be installing a temporary copy of windows XP inside this (in theory, you could make a big partition, install windows XP here, and just work off that. We're assuming though, you want a single, large, functioning windows XP partitions, with a single pc, no external boot devices, and a windows iso. This will make you reboot once, and go back to your current install of windows.

You can now bootstrap the windows installer from windows itself - go to the folder you extracted the windows iso from, and run setup - be sure to select "new installation" rather than update.

.

This will do some stuff, reboot, and get you into the text mode setup. In text mode setup, once again, select new installation rather than repair.

Install xp into the new partition - this gives us somewhere to work on the old partition from. Unfortunately, since the old c: contains the bootloader and the windows installer files, getting rid of it is going to be slightly tricky.

Boot into the new install of windows, and we can start trying to work on clearing out the old install. Since this is a disposable install of xp we won't be using for long, don't bother with particularly correct settings or activation.

We need to do a few small changes to the second install - its still using the pagefile from our old drive so we need to get rid of that, go to system properties, set no pagefile on c: and automatic pagefile on

This is where things get dangerous. If you mess up, you can be left with an unbootable system. We're in the working install right now - and the bootloader is in the other install. The first is a safer option, and should give you a fresh install of windows without too much risk. I'm currently trying to work out how to safely format a system disk, since if you're reformatting cause you have a virus, a simple clear out of the system may not be enough.

If you want a fresh install, rather than a real reformat, things are reasonably simple - delete the old files, other than reformatting, and run setup again from our working install. From the new install (on mine this is set as f: even on the new system), delete all the visible folders on the old system (Documents and settings, windows and program files are what I see on a fresh install. These need to go) . If you can see ntldr and boot.ini , leave them alone. You do not want to taunt the bootloader. Its the one thing we can't fix easily.

When you get into the text mode installer, select c: as your install location (no reformatting), and install it there, going through the install process and the settings again. We're almost done things the 'safe' way, and are in your new, fresh copy of windows. Now, we just need to get rid of our working copy of windows - we can simply remove it from boot.ini(startup and recovery from system properties), set the pagefile back to c: and delete and merge the partition with minitools.

I'll update the answer, when I actually manage to format c:, rather than getting a fresh copy up.

Answer 4

You should use the System Boot Menu to select your USB device manually.

According to the manual for your laptop model (found here), you should press the F12 key during boot to access the boot menu.

Once in that menu, use the arrow keys to select your USB device and press ENTER.

If your device is not listed, you may need to double check that the USB device is bootable (like a linux rescue disk, or Windows PE).

It is also possible that the BIOS (accessed by pressing F2 during boot) contains settings pertaining to USB boot (such as 'USB emulation' settings). Unfortunately, the manual did not contain detailed information about specific BIOS settings, and merely said to press F1 for help while in the BIOS.

Answer 5

The method is very simple and you can use without any hassles. Needless to say that your motherboard should support USB Boot feature to make use of the bootable USB drive.

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Requirements:
1- *USB Flash Drive (Minimum 4GB)
*Windows 7 or Vista installation files. Follow the below steps to create bootable Windows 7/Vista USB drive using which you can install Windows 7/Vista easily.

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1. Plug-in your USB flash drive to USB port and move all the contents from USB drive to a safe location on your system.
   
2. Open Command Prompt with admin rights. Use any of the below methods to open Command Prompt with admin rights.
   *Type cmd in Start menu search box and hit Ctrl+ Shift+ Enter. Or *Go to Start menu > All programs > Accessories, right click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
3. You need to know about the USB drive a little bit. Type in the following commands in the command prompt:

   ---

   First type DISKPART and hit enter to see the below message.
   Next type LIST DISK command and note down the Disk number (ex: Disk 1) of your USB flash drive. In the below screenshot my Flash Drive Disk no is Disk 1.
   So below are the commands you need to type and execute one by one:
   SELECT DISK 1
   CLEAN
   CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
   SELECT PARTITION 1
   ACTIVE
   FORMAT FS=NTFS
   (Format process may take few seconds)
   ASSIGN
   EXIT
   Don’t close the command prompt as we need to execute one more command at the next step. Just minimize it.

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Now Copy windows files from another computer in your USB
Plug in USB in your laptop and boot it.

Enjoy

Answer 6

On my phone so poorly formatted and reviewed, just wanted to add my experience to hopefully help out john

In response to can you install windows from within windows.

I have installed windows 7 from a mounted drive within xp successfully.

Would I advise it No if something goes wrong and you have no contingency plan you have an expensive brick.

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The way it worked was I went through the pre-install process in xp then rebooted at the prompt and I was going straight into the install wizard I created a separate partition to my xp drive and installed their (was scared of deleting install files) then after install booted into windows 7 partition deleted the xp partition and was fine from their.

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Footnotes: this was done with the dev pre-release of windows 7, this is risky and your results might differ

Answer 7

if you just copied the OS installation files, then that's the wrong procedure. you need to use a third party tool to do so. Universal USB Creator has pretty extensive list of OS.