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Win 2000 Server to PC with no CD drive

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11 replies

by ameliapumo

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I have a mini PC with a 20 GB hard drive with win 98 installed at present. It has no CD rom drive. I could get an external one with USB cable, but cannot afford one right now. I want to install 2000 advanced server onto it. It is networked with another machine running w2k server and two win 98 pc'S. i WANT TO DO A CLEAN INSTALLATION, OR CREATE MULTIPLE o/s. tHERE ARE 129 gb FREE. I also have partition magic installed. What are my options?

11 replies

by jeaster

Create a Win98 boot floppy, and put the NIC drivers for the laptop on it. Then, place the ENTIRE i386 directory from the Win2k CD on one of the PC on the network...
Reboot the laptop using the boot disk, and then use the net logon and net use commands to get to the i386 directory on the other PC. Use the command winnt /? to check the command line option for the Win2k install, but basically, specify the location for the install files. The other alternative is to format the laptop, and copy the instal files to the hard drive, and do the install from there...

by voldar

For what you want to do the simplest way is the following:
- create two partitions with Partition magic if you don't have.
- on the second particion (d:) copy through the network the i386 folder from the W2k cdrom
Once arrived here you have to do only this -> doubleclick on the i386\setup.exe program while under W98 - and you'll be asked to choose one of the two installation types: - upgrade or - clean install. The rest is up to you.

by mark

If you can't afford a CDROM I don't understand how you can afford 2K Server unless it's pirated.

Anyway, you can do a network install (info at the MS Knowledge Base) or you can make a partition and put a copy of the CD on it to install from. Make boot floppies to start it, you need 4 disks and use the bootdisk folder on the CD to make them.

by ameliapumo

re 1st sentence - what a cheek!! I am trying to start a new business with my partner and we have saved for over 3 years. I can't afford one as I have spent all money on W2k server ....obviously!!

by mark

I don't know what a "Cheek" is, but I certainly wasn't trying to stir you up. You can still use my answer of making a partition to hold the CD contents or share a CDROM from one of the other PCs. Click on \i386\winnt32.exe and it will upgrade you. Put it in a new folder (i.e. \WINNT) and it will setup dual booting for you automatically. You should actually install it to a different partition than WIN98.

by mark

To be more specific, here is what I would do.
1. Split the disk into 3 paritions. One 700mb for the CD contents, One for 98 and one for W2K (Size as you like).
2. Copy the contents of the WIN2K CD from across the network to the new 700mb partition.
3. Boot up WIN98 on the subject PC, goto the 700mb partition. Click on \i386\winnt32.exe.
4. Follow the instructions to upgrade, but be sure to put the OS in a new folder on the empty partition. It will warn you that your programs will have to be reinstalled..blah...blah..blah.
5. When it completes, it will offer you a choice between both OS's when it boots. Edit \boot.ini file to change the description of the OS's.

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