Installing windows onto a harddrive

So, since a few of the laptops that I got are in good condition and nothing wrong with them, I am wiping the hard drives and installing a basic windows onto them. They all had windows XP on them, so that is what I am going to install.

Now, in the past, the install window would pop up, and when you click on "install windows" the next screen asks you where you want to install it. Well the screen shows up, but I cannot click on "Install Windows"

Does anyone have an idea on how I can do this? It has always worked for me before.

I don't deal with CD's, but if I need to, I guess I will go buy some and do it that way.

i usually use a restore disc.....i have xp, vista, and 7

What are you using to install windows? CD/DVD/Flash drive? There are all sorts of weird things that come up.

Once you get the hang of things, you need to look at getting a hard drive cloning program, and learn about the wonderful world of .iso images. This way you can install the image onto the hard drive and it is much faster. This is also great for multiple machines that are all the same. Load the .iso onto the machine, install updates, then you can clone them "drive to drive".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mikeinreco

i usually use a restore disc.....i have xp, vista, and 7

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When I used to use CD's for restore/installs I would just make a cd each time, as the one I made, I gave it to the buyers so in case something happened, they would have the cd.


Now I use damontools for an .iso program and install stuff like that instead of burning to a cd.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AuburnEwaste

What are you using to install windows? CD/DVD/Flash drive? There are all sorts of weird things that come up.

Once you get the hang of things, you need to look at getting a hard drive cloning program, and learn about the wonderful world of .iso images. This way you can install the image onto the hard drive and it is much faster. This is also great for multiple machines that are all the same. Load the .iso onto the machine, install updates, then you can clone them "drive to drive".

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Well right now nothing. I was/am using damontools since they are .iso images. When you click on the program, it gives you an option to either run the setup files, or open the file and see all the other files inside. Normally in the past, it has worked rather well for me to install windows on the hard drives while I had them plugged into my desktop. I would run the installer and then choose the drive that the hard drive was hooked up to, to install the OS. This is the first time i have tried with XP and it wont let me click on "install windows xp"

Right, generally i have no issues installing .iso files using damontools on anything i want, but for some reason this isnt working.

I am getting frustrated with windows xp not wanting to give me the option to install it on the hard drive, any hard drive that I have hooked up to my pc.

I am going in a day or 2 and buying a usb thumb drive...but here is a few questions.

1.what is the minimum size that the thumb drive needs to be to have the windows OS on it?

2.If windows xp wont give me an option now to install, then how can I install the .iso onto the thumb drive?

George, most laptops have a "restore to factory" (like it came out of the box, with all the bloatware), feature. The key sequence required on booting the lappy, can vary according to the maker. This feature is located on a seperate partiton, usually (D)

i.e. Dell lappys, press the CTRL and F11 keys simultaneously when you see the Dell logo after turning on the laptop, and follow the instructions on the screen.

When you 'wiped' the drive, hopefully you did not take out the Factory Restore partition.

How are you connecting the laptop HDs to your desktop?

On the PC, does Device Manager and Disk Manager "see" the lappy HD?

re: your thoughts of using a USB flash stick with the OS on it, you better check in BIOS, to see if in fact it will boot from a flash stick. Some do, some don't. Depends on the age and BIOS version

Ed.

George, it sounds like where you're running into a problem is that you need to boot from the CD itself and follow the install instructions. It sounds like you're plugging a hard drive into another computer using a USB adapter, then trying to install Windows that way. That's a very convoluted way of doing things and just don't see how that would work.

Why not just burn the XP image to disk and be done with it? That's the easiest thing to do.

As a model railroader, the first thing that came to mind was installing plastic ready-made miniature windows onto the body of a hard drive and trying to make it look like a building to go next to the tracks. Guess that wasn't really the topic here...