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21 Mar 2005, 13:56
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,290
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installing windows XP
i guess i need to reinstall my windows because ive been installing/uninstalling too much stuff. i have a sata-raid (or whatever it is called) which requires a driver disk when i install windows. now im wondering: is there any way to make the windows setup use an usb-stick / a cd-drive / some directory in the network or whatever instead of a floppy disk for looking for dirvers?
i have absolutly no use for that floppy dirve anymore except for that driver disk, so i thought it would be great if i could remove it (besides driver disk usually break sooner or later).
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im not tolerant, i just dont care.
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21 Mar 2005, 14:31
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#2
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Friendly geek of GD :-/
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: On my metal roid
Posts: 923
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Re: installing windows XP
I guess you could somehow include the drivers on your actual Windows XP (SP2?) disc.
Or copy the floppy to a CD, and as long as you have 2 CD ROM drives, that's ok, no?
XP booting from one drive, looking for the drivers on the other disk?
If that doesn't work, well, you could create a bootable DOS-CD and copy the RAID drivers on it. Then boot from that disk, create a RAM-drive, copy drivers there, insert XP-CD, run setup.exe, and use the RAM disk. Alright?
You could even automate that process with a batch file.
Oh, and just mentioning: If you include SP2 on your XP disc, you WON'T be able to change the product ID later on. So make sure you're using a valid one, or a "good faked", ie. not one starting with "FCKGW" (or similar)...
BTW, what RAID level are you using? I read about it yesterday and think RAID is nice...
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[ »] Entropy increases! :-/
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21 Mar 2005, 14:50
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,290
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Re: installing windows XP
my xp-cd has no service packs or anything (im not even sure it's the final version, some parts of it are still in english) but i updated it with that windows-autoupdate-thing. the windows-setup seems to want to look for drivers on a:\ and nowhere else :/
im using a level-0-'suicide'-raid, but i have My Documents and everything else important to me on my linux-server, so i dont loose anything vital if one of the disk should crash
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im not tolerant, i just dont care.
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21 Mar 2005, 15:07
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#4
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Friendly geek of GD :-/
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: On my metal roid
Posts: 923
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Re: installing windows XP
RAID-0 is tempting because fast
Can't you create RAM-disk on A:, if no real floppy drive is present?
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[ »] Entropy increases! :-/
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21 Mar 2005, 15:19
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,290
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Re: installing windows XP
i don't know. i always thought a: and b: are somehow protected for use only for floppy drives, but ill give that a try.
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im not tolerant, i just dont care.
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21 Mar 2005, 16:06
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#6
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Jazz Man
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,494
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Re: installing windows XP
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Marv
Ex ROCK HC & PA Team Head of Support.
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22 Mar 2005, 12:29
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#7
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mmm.. pills
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Australia
Posts: 2,152
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Re: installing windows XP
I've always found that a tedious feature of the windows install cd, seems no point limiting the search path to A: .
making a modified xp install disk with the drivers is the only way I've found around the issue
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CSS : the result of letting artists design something only an engineer should touch.
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22 Mar 2005, 15:48
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,290
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Re: installing windows XP
thanks, i think ill try that. that way i can also add the service pack 2, so that i don't have to download it again. it doesn't even look very complicated: http://www.maximumpc.com/how_to/reprint_2005-01-05.html
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im not tolerant, i just dont care.
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22 Mar 2005, 17:57
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#9
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Friendly geek of GD :-/
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: On my metal roid
Posts: 923
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Re: installing windows XP
Quote:
Originally Posted by JetLinus
I guess you could somehow include the drivers on your actual Windows XP (SP2?) disc...
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Defenitely best solution I'd say, if possible. There are LOTS OF LOTS of tools around for making bootable Windows XP CDs, even a sophisticated one from Microsoft themselves.
You can even create install-scripts and include Acrobat Reader and all other stuff, if you know how.
I've seen an XP CD before that actually generates / searches for your own unique XP product ID during install, all in a nice faked Original-Setup-Look (first Keygens took about 15minutes, newer only a second).
Again, if you create an SP2-XP-CD, make sure the cd key / product ID is "correct", because SP2 doesn't let you change it later on...
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[ »] Entropy increases! :-/
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22 Mar 2005, 18:17
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#10
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Born Sinful
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Loughborough, UK
Posts: 4,059
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Re: installing windows XP
You can get a variety of "shady apps" to change the product key.
And AFAIK you're limited to A. I'm not sure if A is limited to being a floppy disk though, the only way is to try and see.
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Worth dying for. Worth killing for. Worth going to hell for. Amen.
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22 Mar 2005, 18:23
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#11
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Friendly geek of GD :-/
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: On my metal roid
Posts: 923
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Re: installing windows XP
Quote:
Originally Posted by meglamaniac
You can get a variety of "shady apps" to change the product key.
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I know, I've used manual and automatic ways myself. But that was all on SP1, before installing SP2.
In a reliable German IT magazin's news ticker ( www.heise.de), I read that in SP2 it wouldn't be that easy anymore (i.e. not possible at all) to change the product id. I haven't tried, but usually those professional-geek-people are right, and I trust their news...
On the other hand, it's been some time since then (> 6 months), maybe newer tools work again?
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[ »] Entropy increases! :-/
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22 Mar 2005, 18:32
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,290
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Re: installing windows XP
once you have one that woks, why change it? i found some that seem to work on some website.
edit: ill give it a try now. if im not back in a few hours it didnt work
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im not tolerant, i just dont care.
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