# Installing Windows 2000 from Hard Drive



## UberKrieger (Aug 28, 2007)

I would like to install Windows 2000 from my Hard Drive. 

As I understand it, I need to copy the I386 folder and run the relevant setup from there. The only part I have difficulty with is booting into a DOS shell from the Hard Drive so I can run the install of Windows 2000.



Can you provide me with instructions on how to do so?

I really appreciate your help! ray:


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## djaburg (May 15, 2008)

Can't you just boot from the CD and begin the installation that way? Without an OS already installed on the drive that's able to run the setup you'd have a hard time doing what you're hoping to do.


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## mjfinca (Aug 19, 2010)

Sounds like you're trying to install it without the media.

You need a DOS boot disk. Once you're at the command prompt, run setup.


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## UberKrieger (Aug 28, 2007)

Well the reason I am asking this is because i'm trying to install Windows 2000 on an old laptop that does not have a CD or Floppy Drive.

So I was hoping you could boot from DOS by putting the startup disk on the HDD and then access the I386 Folder and perform the installation.


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## mjfinca (Aug 19, 2010)

You can install the OS when the OS installation files are located on the hard drive. But you still have to have a boot routine that gets you to the command prompt in the first place.

How old is this laptop? Does it have a USB drive? Does the machine support booting to a USB device? If so, you can use a portable, external floppy or CD-ROM drive.

Another idea: It might be possible to take the files that would normally be present on a boot floppy and put it on the hard drive, which might allow the machine to boot and get to the command prompt. (I don't know if this would work since I haven't ever had a need to try it.) To get the boot floppy files onto the hard drive, you could remove the hard drive, connect it to another computer as a slave, copy the files over, then put the hard drive back in the machine and boot up.


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## UberKrieger (Aug 28, 2007)

mjfinca said:


> You can install the OS when the OS installation files are located on the hard drive. But you still have to have a boot routine that gets you to the command prompt in the first place.
> 
> How old is this laptop? Does it have a USB drive? Does the machine support booting to a USB device? If so, you can use a portable, external floppy or CD-ROM drive.
> 
> Another idea: It might be possible to take the files that would normally be present on a boot floppy and put it on the hard drive, which might allow the machine to boot and get to the command prompt. (I don't know if this would work since I haven't ever had a need to try it.) To get the boot floppy files onto the hard drive, you could remove the hard drive, connect it to another computer as a slave, copy the files over, then put the hard drive back in the machine and boot up.


Unfortunately, it does have a Floppy Drive but I threw away all my Floppy Disks a while back and have no way of making a boot disk. I think last time I downloaded the contents of the boot disk to the hard drive which allowed me to access the setup file. I'm about to try it right now, I'll let you know what works. Thanks


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## UberKrieger (Aug 28, 2007)

It's a Panasonic Toughbook CF-27 but the BIOS doesn't support the USB being booted from in Legacy


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## mjfinca (Aug 19, 2010)

Then, if trying to boot up with the DOS boot files on the hard drive doesn't work, the only suggestion I can make is that you'll need to buy media, and you won't get Windows 2000. Or, if you're lucky, maybe someone somewhere has an old copy they're not using anymore, with the license key, that they'd be willing to gift you with.


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## djaburg (May 15, 2008)

I believe the issue is, his laptop doesn't have a cd or floppy drive.


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## TheOutcaste (Mar 19, 2009)

With no Floppy or CD, you'll need to connect the drive to another system.
Two methods you can use, depends on if you have a system running Win 2k available.
If you don't, you need to make the disk bootable and copy the files as *mjfinca* has suggested:

Connect the drive to another system.
Boot that system with a Win98SE startup floppy or CD.
See www.bootdisk.com or www.allbootdisks.com if you don't have one handy.
Choose the option to boot with CD-ROM support.

For the next steps *make sure you are working with the correct drive*. You can't always depend on drive letters; when booting from a floppy/CD they may be different than what you would see when booting to Windows, so double check the size of the drive, or disconnect the other hard drives.

Run *Fdisk* to delete the existing partitions, and create a new Primary DOS partition.
Reboot, then format the drive (*make sure you format the correct drive!*)

Type *SYS C:* and press *Enter*
Boot into windows, and copy the i386 folder from the Win2k CD to the hard drive.
If you have a Win 98 version of *smartdrv.exe*, copy it to the root of the drive. Not required, but will speed up the install.
For *smartdrv.exe* to work you'll also need to copy *himem.sys* and create a *config.sys* file to load *himem.sys*. This is the one I use:

```
device=himem.sys /testmem:off
files=10
buffers=10
dos=high,umb
stacks=9,256
lastdrive=z
```
Start *Disk Management* (Click *Start | Run*, type *diskmgmt.msc*, press *Enter*)
Make sure the partition shows as *Active*. If not, right click it and click *Mark Partition as Active*.
Return the drive to the laptop.
It will boot to a C: prompt.
If you copied *smartdrv.exe* to the drive, type *smartdrv* to start it.
Change to the *i386* folder by typing *CD i386* and run *winnt.exe*.

Setup will give you an option to convert the partition to NTFS during the install, or it can be done later using *convert.exe*. Or you can leave it as FAT32.
You'll then need to edit the *boot.ini* file, as it will create a Microsoft Windows entry because of the Win98 boot files. These files can be removed as well:
*BOOTSECT.DOS
COMMAND.COM
DRVSPACE.BIN
IO.SYS
MSDOS.SYS*

And these if you added them:
*HIMEM.SYS
SMARTDRV.EXE*

If you have a Win2K system available, you can follow this procedure:
*Installing Windows 2000 to a drive while connected to another PC*:
What you'll need:


 Windows 2000 CD and Product key for the _*target*_ system
 A second system running Windows 2000
I've only done this using a system with SP4, with a CD that includes SP4. It the disk has a lower SP than what is installed on the second PC, this may not work.
 An external enclosure to connect the hard drive from the first PC to the second PC, or the proper cables/adapters to temporarily connect the hard drive internally to the second PC.
After connecting the drive to the second PC, boot into Windows 2000
Start *Disk Management* (Click *Start | Run*, type *diskmgmt.msc*, press *Enter*)
When you start *Disk Management*, if the disk is new or has been wiped, the *Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard* will start, click *Cancel*.
_* You don't want your boot disk to be a Dynamic Disk, especially on a Notebook, as Dynamic Disks aren't supported on Notebooks.*_
Right click the drive in the lower pane (Click where it says *Not Initialized* then click *Initialize Disk*.
Make sure the correct disk is checked in the dialog, then click *OK*.
The Disk should now show as *Basic* and *Online*.
Now create a partition. Right click the graphic of the drive where it says *Unallocated*, then click *New Partition...*
Follow the Wizard and choose *Primary partition*
Select the size if you don't want to use the entire drive
For *Assign the following drive letter:* choose *Z:*
(If *Z:* is not available, you can use any letter, but this guide assumes it's *Z:*, so adjust as needed)
Type in a *Volume label* if desired
Check *Perform a quick format* if desired, though in some cases it might be better to leave that unchecked, so it will do a full format.
When it's finished formatting, close the *Disk Management* window.

Right click the *Recycle Bin*, click *Properties*
On the *Global* tab select *Configure drives independently*
Click the tab for drive *Z:*, and check *Do not move files to the Recycle Bin*
Click *OK*

Insert your Windows 2000 Disk
If the *AutoPlay* dialog comes up, close it.
If the *Welcome to Microsoft Windows 2000* windows opens, click *Exit*
Open a *Command Prompt* (*Start | Run*, type *cmd*, press *Enter*)
type the following lines, press *Enter* after each. *X:* is the drive letter of your CD/DVD ROM drive, so change that as needed.* cd /d X:\i386
winnt32.exe /syspart:Z: /tempdrive:Z: /makelocalsource /noreboot*​(Note that there is a space before *X:* and before each of the forward slashes */*, but nowhere else)
The *Welcome to the Windows 2000 Setup Wizard* will open
Choose *Install a new copy of Windows 2000 (Clean Install)* and click *Next*
Accept the agreement and click *Next*.
Select Options as desired, but make sure that under *Advanced Options...* this box remains checked:
*Copy all Setup files from the Setup CD to the hard drive.*
Click *Next*.

Windows Setup will copy files. When its finished copying, it will says it's going to reboot the system; it won't actually reboot. Just click *Finish*.

Right click My Computer, click *Explore*
Navigate to *Z:\$WIN_NT$.~BT*
In the right pane, double click the *migrate.inf* file, it will open in Notepad

Look in the *[Addreg]* section for 2 lines that look like this:

```
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\??\Volume{d691f0a2-6f4f-11de-bb50-0003ff631820}",0x00030001,\
     [COLOR=Blue]46,75,5c,03,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00[/COLOR]
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\DosDevices\[B][COLOR=Red]Z:[/COLOR][/B]",0x00030001,\
     [COLOR=Blue]46,75,5c,03,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00[/COLOR]
```
Find the line with *\DosDevices\Z:* and check the numbers in blue to find the second line that matches. Usually right above or below the *\DosDevices\Z:* line.
These will usually be the last two lines. The key is the numbers in blue must match.
(The hexadecimal numbers in the braces will be different on each system, as will the numbers in blue)

Delete all other lines that mention *Dos Devices* or *Volume* in the *[Addreg]* section.
Now, change the *Z:* to *C:*
Here's a sample before and after *Migrate.inf*:
Before:

```
[Version]
Signature = "$Windows NT$"

[Addreg]
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices",,0x00000010
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\??\Volume{4feb2224-9f0e-11dd-89dc-806d6172696f}",0x00030001,\
     50,3d,19,6f,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\DosDevices\C:",0x00030001,\
     50,3d,19,6f,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\??\Volume{2df5ed82-9f0f-11dd-bb40-806d6172696f}",0x00030001,\
     5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,46,00,44,00,43,00,23,00,47,00,45,00,4e,00,45,00,52,\
     00,49,00,43,00,5f,00,46,00,4c,00,4f,00,50,00,50,00,59,00,5f,00,44,00,52,00,\
     49,00,56,00,45,00,23,00,35,00,26,00,31,00,37,00,39,00,63,00,38,00,31,00,37,\
     00,35,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,\
     33,00,30,00,64,00,2d,00,62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,\
     00,2d,00,39,00,34,00,66,00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,\
     31,00,65,00,66,00,62,00,38,00,62,00,7d,00
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\??\Volume{2df5ed83-9f0f-11dd-bb40-806d6172696f}",0x00030001,\
     5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,49,00,44,00,45,00,23,00,43,00,64,00,52,00,6f,00,6d,\
     00,4d,00,53,00,5f,00,43,00,23,00,44,00,56,00,44,00,2d,00,52,00,4f,00,4d,00,\
     5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,\
     00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,\
     5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,33,00,2e,00,30,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,23,00,35,\
     00,26,00,63,00,66,00,62,00,35,00,36,00,64,00,65,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,\
     2e,00,30,00,2e,00,30,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,33,00,30,\
     00,64,00,2d,00,62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,00,\
     39,00,34,00,66,00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,31,00,65,\
     00,66,00,62,00,38,00,62,00,7d,00
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\DosDevices\D:",0x00030001,\
     5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,49,00,44,00,45,00,23,00,43,00,64,00,52,00,6f,00,6d,\
     00,4d,00,53,00,5f,00,43,00,23,00,44,00,56,00,44,00,2d,00,52,00,4f,00,4d,00,\
     5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,\
     00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,\
     5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,33,00,2e,00,30,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,23,00,35,\
     00,26,00,63,00,66,00,62,00,35,00,36,00,64,00,65,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,\
     2e,00,30,00,2e,00,30,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,33,00,30,\
     00,64,00,2d,00,62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,00,\
     39,00,34,00,66,00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,31,00,65,\
     00,66,00,62,00,38,00,62,00,7d,00
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\DosDevices\A:",0x00030001,\
     5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,46,00,44,00,43,00,23,00,47,00,45,00,4e,00,45,00,52,\
     00,49,00,43,00,5f,00,46,00,4c,00,4f,00,50,00,50,00,59,00,5f,00,44,00,52,00,\
     49,00,56,00,45,00,23,00,35,00,26,00,31,00,37,00,39,00,63,00,38,00,31,00,37,\
     00,35,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,\
     33,00,30,00,64,00,2d,00,62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,\
     00,2d,00,39,00,34,00,66,00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,\
     31,00,65,00,66,00,62,00,38,00,62,00,7d,00
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\??\Volume{d691f0a2-6f4f-11de-bb50-0003ff631820}",0x00030001,\
     [COLOR=Blue]46,75,5c,03,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00[/COLOR]
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\DosDevices\[COLOR=Red][B]Z:[/B][/COLOR]",0x00030001,\
     [COLOR=Blue]46,75,5c,03,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00[/COLOR]
```
After:

```
[Version]
Signature = "$Windows NT$"

[Addreg]
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices",,0x00000010
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\??\Volume{d691f0a2-6f4f-11de-bb50-0003ff631820}",0x00030001,\
     [COLOR=Blue]46,75,5c,03,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00[/COLOR]
HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\DosDevices\[B][COLOR=Red]C:[/COLOR][/B]",0x00030001,\
     [COLOR=Blue]46,75,5c,03,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00[/COLOR]
```
Save the file, shutdown and move the drive back to the original system. Power on, and setup will continue without needing the CD.


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## Maz_- (Nov 4, 2008)

one word..GENIUS!


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