I realize this isn't exactly what you want, but this I'm pretty sure this
works (I haven't done it in a few years.) Take the HD you're going to
install to, place it into a functioning machine, copy the i386 folder to it,
put the HD back into the machine you're installing, use a bootable floppy or
CD startup disk (from Bootdisk.com for example), then navigate to the i386
folder and run SETUP. I'm sure it's not nearly so simple, but I can't
remember any of the hitches I must have run into.
That Dell CD may be a simple, generic, OEM disk. If so, it will probably
work fine for other systems. I only recall seeing those OEM discs or a
"recovery partition" solution coming from Dell.
--
Ronin
"The poster formerly known as 'The Poster Formerly Known as Nina DiBoy'"
wrote in message news:hne1hj$r7$1@speranza.aioe.org...
> On 2/27/2010 3:35 AM, duckstandard wrote:
>>
>> rf wrote:
>>> "duckstandard" wrote in message
>>> news:5214dad9-b641-42c0-a88a-3fbd380159b0@z11g2000yqz.googlegroups.com...
>>>> Hi, I was wondering if anybody knows when windows xp registers
>>>> hardware on install. Like this, when you install windows xp it copies
>>>> all the files I assume, then reboots, then installs windows.
>>>>
>>>> I was wondering if I could stop the computer before it reboots, put
>>>> the drive in another computer and resume the install where it may then
>>>> register the motherboard, hardware, and drivers and all that?
>>>>
>>>> I know I have completely stopped the install before it reboots and
>>>> start it and it installs just fine, just haven't moved the hard drive
>>>> to another computer to resume the install. Any thought on this?
>>>
>>> Why would you want to do this?
>>
>> For many reason, one just to see if it can be done. Another is to have
>> an install ready to work on and with whatever computer it's put in.
>>
>> Lets say another computer doesn't have a working cd drive, can one
>> start the install where it merely copies files and stop it just before
>> it reboots, and then put it in the other computer without the working
>> cd drive to finish installing and setup on 'that' computer.
>
> This is the reason I tried this, but it failed. I don't know why, could
> be because it was an OEM Dell XP CD and the only other machine available
> to load it on was a Compaq. The first part worked fine on the Compaq, but
> once I loaded the drive into the Dell and tried to carry on from there, it
> would only come up to a black screen with a white blinking curson in the
> upper left corner.