kYd Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 (edited) . Edited September 5, 2021 by kYd Remove Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 If it will do a PXE boot and you can bootstrap the windows install with linux then yes. Otherwise I'm not sure how you will format it without a CD drive to be honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atmo Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 Another option would be to remove the drive from the laptop with the broken rom, install it in another laptop or a desktop (using an IDE adaptor) and install windows from there. After the install, run sysprep.exe (in deploy.cab in the supporttools folder on the WinXP disc), power the laptop/desktop system down (dont restart it or you'll need to run sysprep again) and move the drive back into the laptop with the broken rom. It should redetect all the hardware on first boot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 So does sysprep.exe allow you to migrate a windows install to different hardware? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atmo Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 Yes. It's primary purpose is to allow an install of windows (and applications) to be deployed across several machines, even if they have different hardware. There are some situations where it won't work though. One example i've seen is when i installed Windows on an IDE drive, then attempted to move it to another system where the drive was connected using an IDE > SATA adaptor. The result was a bluescreen, as it couldn't recognise the controller. Installing the SATA controller drivers before running sysprep got it working though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 That's interesting. I was under the impression that sysprep could only be used when, for instance, ghosting an image to an identical PC, thereby avoiding having to go through the lengthy OS installation process on each PC. All that has to be entered then are the PC specific details, such as the COA key and computer name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unasoto Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 Hey guys,How would I go about formatting and re-installing Windows XP on my laptop when the DVD is broke. I have another computer on the network and am thinking about sharing the drive across the network, only thing is I have no floppy drive in the laptop either so can't use a boot disk. Any ideas of how I can accomplish this? will it boot a usb thumb drive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 USB CD drive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.