installing xp to sata without floppy drive

chrusher97

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 2, 2004
Messages
139
Im trying to install windows Xp to my new computer but i dont have a floppy drive for it. Is there anyway i can do this?

I remember hearing some stuff about slipstreaming stuff, or maybe xp pro / 64 pit edition have the sata drivers built in?

thx a lot.
 
Trying ESP...but...failing...

What chipset is your motherboard? Most of them don't need the F6 drivers unless you are using RAID.
 
djnes said:
Trying ESP...but...failing...

What chipset is your motherboard? Most of them don't need the F6 drivers unless you are using RAID.

I've noticed that some of the Via chipsets (i.e. whichever one the MSI K8MM-ILSR has) need F6 even without RAID.

<quick edit> That being said, my A8N-SLI didn't require an F6 driver disk without RAID ... neither did my former 875P and 915P boards.
 
I didnt even know you needed a floppy. Ive installed xp on my brothers computer using a sata drive with just the installation cd
 
You can slipstream it in using nLite, along with service packs, hotfixes, other drivers, and make your install disc fully automated and tweaked.
 
totmachen said:
You can slipstream it in using nLite, along with service packs, hotfixes, other drivers, and make your install disc fully automated and tweaked.

With SP2, my Asus P4C800-E Deluxe picked up the sata drive with out a floppy drive. Just inserted CD and it auto recognized... suggest finding a friend with that version of XP. I mean you have your own serial # so should not be an issue...

David
 
I've always just installed the sata drive in another pc with XP already installed, let it boot and recognise the drive. Do a quick format, pull it out and XP installs to it from the cd without any issues.
 
LynxFX said:
I've always just installed the sata drive in another pc with XP already installed, let it boot and recognise the drive. Do a quick format, pull it out and XP installs to it from the cd without any issues.
Why take all those extra steps for no reason whatsoever? The drive should be blank without any partitions when you install XP. You set the partitions during the install. That's just adding extra time and steps for nothing.

On a side note, none of the Intel chipsets need any special drivers loaded.
 
just download the sata drivers and put them on the floppy and when windows is booting press f6 it will load up the drivers and whola! merry newyear spend 1.00 dollar and get a floppy :)
 
Shane said:
just download the sata drivers and put them on the floppy and when windows is booting press f6 it will load up the drivers and whola! merry newyear spend 1.00 dollar and get a floppy :)


he stated from the get go that he has no floppy thats his whole issue with getting the drivers added...
 
Shane said:
just download the sata drivers and put them on the floppy and when windows is booting press f6 it will load up the drivers and whola! merry newyear spend 1.00 dollar and get a floppy :)

I was under the impression that SATA does not need "drivers" because as far as the operating system is concerned it still just an ATA drive. The Serial part was more for just the hardware end. The software doesn't care if its Serial or Parrallel, just that it works.

I have never had to use drivers for SATA. I even used a SATA DVD drive for WinXP install.

BTW, floppy drives are still like $15-$20 :(

Though I am still using one that is like 10 years old, because they just keep on going :)
 
trust me any local used computer store will sell you used floppy for a dollar or two lol anyways if you must use a cd copy your original cd and after you copy it burn the d/l'ed drivers to the copy cd
 
And people say floppy drives are a dead piece of hardware these days. :p
 
Give nlite a try. I use it to build install ISO's that have all the service packs, security fixes, and drivers on the media. As a bonus you can remove a bunch of junk before it gets installed. Check it out - makes it really easy.

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=28005

As a side note, this is how I made my Win2K ISO with the SATA drivers on my box. SATA DVD and HDD, no IDE or floppy on the box.
 
This comes up all the time.. If your xp install does not recognize your sata drive then you are really only left with slipstreaming the drivers onto the cd, or buying a floppy drive.. My daughters comp has no floppy drive, but I just use one out of one of the other computers to get it going then remove it again.. Hopefully vista will not have this problem... MS could have let us put the xp drivers on another cd or thumbdrive or hd partition but didn't..
 
djnes said:
Why take all those extra steps for no reason whatsoever? The drive should be blank without any partitions when you install XP. You set the partitions during the install. That's just adding extra time and steps for nothing.
It isn't for no reason. None of the systems I have installed on had floppy drives and none recognised the sata drive until it was put in an XP system. Took no time in my situation, especially since it was all done externally through an external SATA port.

There's many ways to do what the OP wants done, I was just listing another.
 
I've had to do the same thing w/ my computer. I hate floppiess and don't want to support antiquated hardware. Here's the tutorial I followed to slipstream drivers in myself. I haven't tried Nlite.

http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8892

It's easy to change around the files. The burning of a bootable CD can be finicky though. Nero is the most straight forward. Roxio isn't so good...
 
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