Installing OS from Jump Drive ?

[ScarEye]

Hey guys I wanted to know if someone has done this. I have a server here that had no floppy drive or cd-rom drive. And does not have the option for adding them either.

Basically I want to install Windows 2003 Server on this machine from a 1GB Lexar Jump Drive. I need this jump drive to "emulate" as if it was a cd with windows 2003 Server on it.

I can copy all the files from the Windows 2003 CD to my jump drive the only problem will be making it bootable. Like when you boot of a Windows 2003, or 2000 CD when your attempting to do a fresh installation.

Any help would be appreaciated.

Thanks

 

[derajer]

Is there any kind of existing OS on the system? Is the system formatted in NTFS? If yes, then you really don't need to boot from the jump drive. All you have to do is start the install and make sure that you select the "copy installation files to the hard drive" option which will take care of everything you need. Otherwise it is possible to push an install of Server 2003 onto a machine remotely.

 

[ScarEye]

It's has Windows 2003 Server on there right now. But I need to format the drive and re-installl a fresh copy of Windows 2003 Server.

Yes, It is formatted in NTFS.


So How do I go about formatting the hard drive and installing a fresh OS from my jump drive ?


Thanks

 

[derajer]

In that case, does the NIC support PXE?

 

[ScarEye]

Yes, it does