how to format harddrive without Floppy Disk Drive

Felipe · #1 05-06-2005, 06:31 PM

I want to format both my hard drives and reinstall win xp (on only the master drive). My win xp pro copy isn't legit, and does not have boot capabilities. I have tried to make some boot CD's but they (or me) don't work. Do you have any ideas as to how I can work this issue out? How can I format my drives and reinstall Win Xp without having a working 3.5 floppy disk drive?

(I think I need a "better" win XP pro version, because mine seems to only work when I upgrade from win 98 (must install win 98 after formatting, then upgrade to win xp, then download all the service packs yada yada yada...SO? where can I get one? Ideas?)

felipe [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

PoBoy321 · #2 05-06-2005, 06:36 PM

Go into the BIOS and change the boot order so that it checks the CD rom drive before the hard drive.

Leo99 · #3 05-06-2005, 08:11 PM

I think you're screwed. I install XP either on top of Win98 or from floppy. My copy of XP won't boot either.

BusterStacks · #4 05-06-2005, 08:13 PM

Do NOT under ANY circumstances install XP over Win98. If you truly cannot boot from your Windows XP CD even after checking the CH-ROM first in the boot order as described above, then your next step is to burn a bootable DOS CD, which is not hard.

stabn · #5 05-06-2005, 08:15 PM

Go buy windows XP.

RunDownHouse · #6 05-06-2005, 08:30 PM

You could just use a stolen copy of Win 2kPro instead of your stolen copy of Win XP.

YourFoxyGrandma · #7 05-06-2005, 09:15 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Go buy windows XP.

[/ QUOTE ]

Leo99 · #8 05-07-2005, 12:44 AM

WinXP won't install from a DOS boot. Not that I can find it possible.

Why can't you install WinXP over Win98? It worked for me on my secondary machine.

astroglide · #9 05-07-2005, 02:23 AM

i could tell you how, but you know what? [censored] you.

YourFoxyGrandma · #10 05-07-2005, 02:38 AM

Haha.