Installing Vista without DVD drive

Hi there, I have an old HP Compaq laptop and want to install Vista on it.

The problem comes in with the fact that I don't have a DVD rom but only a CD-rom. I have been able to copy the Vista files onto the second partition on the harddisk by removing it and connecting it externally to my other laptop.

In the bios is says that it can boot from a USB FDD but I don't have a FDD that is big enough for the Vista DVD to fit on it. I have tried making a Boot USB FDD so that I can boot into DOS and start the installation manually but it doesn't seem to work on this laptop ( i tried the USB Boot FDD on my other laptop and it loads DOS up fine).

Does anyone know of a good Boot CD i can use to kickstart the Vista installation from the second partition???

I have been trying to get this one to work for the past week but just haven't been able to get over this problem, please help!!!

 

Don't worry, you're not alone. Seeing as a Vista DVD is over 3GB and a floppy is about 1MB formatted... FDD = Floppy Disk Drive.

Anyway. You will need to get Vista on CDs, but why are you putting Vista on this system at all? I am going to wager that if it doesn't even have a DVD-ROM, it will probably run Vista like crap.

 

How old is your notebook?

If it doesnt have a DVD drive then im not sure it will be able to run Vista

You can use vLite to slim down the installation.

 

I don't recommend installing Vista on something too old to have a DVD drive.

For the record, MS does have a service where they will send out Vista CD's. I think it's like 6-7 discs.

 

Like a Mac Air? ...big ol' grin...

Gary

 

^ Ouch, stinging criticism.

 

You can install Vista from within XP. Just run setup.exe or convert these files into an ISO and mount.

When you run the setup, don't choose upgrade, instead, install manually and choose another partition.

If you wanted to wipe your current HD and place vista there, it could get pretty messy. You can use tools to split your current HD into partitions and install on the new one, and merge them back after formatting the first one.

I've done it on the desktop in my sig.

 

Well that makes sense now! I didn't seem to realise that USB FDD in the bios meant USB Floppy Disk Drive - Ugh! That's a good couple of hours wasted!

But it still does solve the problem. I can go the route of getting those disk from Microsoft probably. Will that cost me another $199 again or can I use the license on the copy I have?

Any ways, there should still be a way of getting the installation to run from the drives second partition. Like i mentioned in my first post, I mounted the drive externally on my other laptop, partitioned the drive in two and extracted all the files from a Vista ISO onto that drive. I double checked and all the files are there. I made sure the second partition is FAT32 just to avoid the possibility that DOS can't see it.

I have attempted at getting a DOS console up by Booting a XP Pro CD and going into the recovery console. I was abe to see the partion and all it's file but couldn't run any of the files. It kept bringing up "That command is not supported" each time I tried to run the setup files.

So that's where I am at the moment. Still stuck. I have heard people having success with Boot CD installation but I just haven't found one that was able to do the job yet. Any suggestions?


PS. The system isn't that old and I run Vista on it previously when it had a DVD rom.
It's a HP Compaq Presario V5000, Pentium-D 1.8Ghz, 2GB of Ram and 120Gb. My fiancée managed to break the DVD ROM somehow.

 

P.P.S Before someone brings it up, the licence code for the copy of Vista is not being used on another system.

 

If you have a USB memory stick you might be able to do it. Copy the Vista install disc to the memory stick and have it load from there instead of from the HDD or CD drive.

 

Thats what I realised I can't do. It seems I can't boot of a USB Flash drive but a USB Floppy disk drive. It never came to me that USB FDD would be a floppy and not a stick.

 

Why do you need to run it from DOS?
Give post #7 a try.

 

How about "I don't recommend a Macbook Air"

 

No luck with any of the methods. Just went out and bought and external DVD rom.

UGH!

Atleast Vista is runnig smoothly

 

Hmm.. weird, but at least it's good now.