Laptop - DVD drive dead - how to install OS ?

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Frankie

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My wife's old laptop, Samsung X05, went down with a virus - I formatted the hard drive by putting it in a USB hard drive case.

She has a new laptop, and I'd like to give the old Samsung away to a youngster, but need to get it working first.
The DVD drive hasn't worked for some time, so installing the OS from there is out, and I've tried making a Windows bootable USB mem stick, but just cant get it to boot from it.
I've Google'd installing the OS on the hard drive then installing it in the laptop, but that doesn't come up with anything.
How else can I install an OS on this laptop?
 
Windows 7 USB tool.
That will make a perfect bootable USB drive.

Then make sure that you change the boot order in the BIOS so that USB is first.

And most important. Make sure that your BIOS allows for booting from USB media. It is disabled by default in BIOS.
I also struggled a while to get it to boot from the USB drive. Then found the "Boot from removable media" option in the BIOS. Just enable it.
 
Esih. I hope that makes sense. I am still in bed and half asleep. Typing from my Blackberry
 
Another option is the following:

1. Put the laptop HD into the external USB case.
2. Make it bootable (applicable tools free for download at http://www.bootdisk.com).
3. Copy OS installation files to the HD.
4. Pop HD back onto laptop.
5. Boot up (into command line).
6. Install OS. For WINXP, go into the i386 folder and run WINNT.EXE (for older machines, possibly run SMARTDRV first).

You could modify the steps above as necessary. I hope I didn't miss anything essential. But frankly Frankie, you seem IT literate enough to get the just of it...

Later
 
i have installed xp on many machines using a usb, just google komku usb and you will find the prog and instructions (step by step) really easy. i will upload it later then post link here of needed?
 
wayfarer said:
Another option is the following:

1. Put the laptop HD into the external USB case.
2. Make it bootable (applicable tools free for download at http://www.bootdisk.com).
3. Copy OS installation files to the HD.
4. Pop HD back onto laptop.
5. Boot up (into command line).
6. Install OS. For WINXP, go into the i386 folder and run WINNT.EXE (for older machines, possibly run SMARTDRV first).

You could modify the steps above as necessary. I hope I didn't miss anything essential. But frankly Frankie, you seem IT literate enough to get the just of it...

Later
Click to expand...

This sounded promising, and what I had in mind, but each of the boot creation programs looks for floppy drive A, and I cant change the USB hard drive to A, so I'm still stuck.

Thanks to all for the ideas - I'll keep at it and let you know what works in the end.
 
Although this laptop's Phoenix bios has the selection to boot from removable media, it just doesn't want to do this, so I'm looking more at the type of thing Wayfarer suggested.
 
Frankie said:
Although this laptop's Phoenix bios has the selection to boot from removable media, it just doesn't want to do this, so I'm looking more at the type of thing Wayfarer suggested.
Click to expand...

Make sure the USB stick is inserted into an empty USB slot, then the BIOS will show the removable storage and you can select it as a boot drive.
 
Bootable Linux USB stick...easier to make than a windows one. think they use Unetboot or sumthing...
 
kingrob said:
Make sure the USB stick is inserted into an empty USB slot, then the BIOS will show the removable storage and you can select it as a boot drive.
Click to expand...
is that just incase the USB slot is occupied? :)

I found WinToFlash is the easiest method to create the USB flash installation drive.
 
wayfarer said:
Another option is the following:

1. Put the laptop HD into the external USB case.
2. Make it bootable (applicable tools free for download at http://www.bootdisk.com).
3. Copy OS installation files to the HD.
4. Pop HD back onto laptop.
5. Boot up (into command line).
6. Install OS. For WINXP, go into the i386 folder and run WINNT.EXE (for older machines, possibly run SMARTDRV first).

You could modify the steps above as necessary. I hope I didn't miss anything essential. But frankly Frankie, you seem IT literate enough to get the just of it...

Later
Click to expand...

You could also use floppies (8 I think) to load windows.
 
Holy crap you people like making things difficult.

http://www.bootdisk.com/pendrive.htm See method 2. Ignore the nLite step, copy the contents of your XP cd over to the usb flash disk.
Set laptop bios to boot from usb-hdd and off you go, once booted cd to the i386 folder and run setup.
 
ponder said:
Holy crap you people like making things difficult.

http://www.bootdisk.com/pendrive.htm See method 2. Ignore the nLite step, copy the contents of your XP cd over to the usb flash disk.
Set laptop bios to boot from usb-hdd and off you go, once booted cd to the i386 folder and run setup.
Click to expand...

Frankie said:
I've tried making a Windows bootable USB mem stick, but just cant get it to boot from it.
Click to expand...

That's what's making the problem more complicated - It wont boot from a USB stick, even though it's selected to do so in the Phoenix bios.
 
ponder said:
Holy crap you people like making things difficult.
Click to expand...

Check that software I mentioned press one button and it's does the whole trip for you. Then also the OP can be sure it's not some software issue with the flash drive.
 
Frankie said:
That's what's making the problem more complicated - It wont boot from a USB stick, even though it's selected to do so in the Phoenix bios.
Click to expand...

What I have found with a lot of Dell Poweredge servers is that you can select to boot from a Flash drive/USB stick in the BIOS, but you must first insert the USB stick, then hit F2/Delete (depending on your BIOS make), go to boot order and check that the BIOS is actually showing the USB stick as a removable drive and then you move it up in the boot order. Only then did it boot from the USB stick.

Took me a while to figure that one out.
 
Frankie said:
That's what's making the problem more complicated - It wont boot from a USB stick, even though it's selected to do so in the Phoenix bios.
Click to expand...

I have one USB stick that refuses to boot on any machine out there while the others work fine so maybe try another stick. Insert stick before powering up and in bios select USB-HardDisk. Good luck!

Option two, remove the HD and connect it to your PC. Create a big partition and then a small partition right at the end of the disk big enough to copy XP onto. Ensure the first partition is bootable when you format it. Put drive back in laptop, change to d: drive, cd to /i386 and run setup/install whatever it is called.
 
Drake2007 said:
Check that software I mentioned press one button and it's does the whole trip for you. Then also the OP can be sure it's not some software issue with the flash drive.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll save it in a safe place.
 
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