Installing XP from DOS - "Out of Memory"?

[DragonQ0105]

I'm attempting to install XP on a Laptop with no CD-ROM Drive.

I've split the partition into 2 - one of which now has the XP CD on it (copied from an external USB CD-RW Drive - which will not work in DOS).

Boot to DOS using a Windows 98 Startup Disk. Load NTFSPro. Run E:\i386\WINNT.exe

It checks the file "Dosnet.ini" or was it "Dosnet.inf"....meh, either way it says "Setup has run out of memory".

The laptop has 128MB of RAM, which should be enough to Install + Run XP. Why is it giving me this error and how can I fix it? Does it need EMS/XMS Memory? If so, how do I get this from the Windows 98 Startup Disk?

 

[wolluf]

Why are you loading ntfspro? (it takes up most of the available dos memory) - I presume because the install CD is on an NTFS partition? If so, you want to put the XP install copy on a fat32 partition - then you won't need ntfspro hogging all the available memory! - and install should proceed ok.

 

[DragonQ0105]

I was thinking that, but I'd rather not have FAT32 Partitions...I was going to make it an NTFS Partition so that the 2 partitions could be merged after the installation...

 

[gpalmer711]

Once you have windows installed you can use the native command of "convert" to convert a Fat16/Fat32 drive to NTFS

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=28669

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[DragonQ0105]

I am aware of this, but it'll convert it to 512K Clusters, which cannot be merged with the other partition which is 4K Clusters.

I have put the XP CD on a FAT32 Drive, but when I run C:\i386\WINNT.exe from DOS, it just sits there with the Hard Drive light constantly on...

What do I do?

 

[LloydSev]

It only converts to 512K clusters in extreme cases.

And regardless, what is going to be on this partition? You could of course delete the partition, and reformat it using NTFS again and make it 4K clusters if it was a problem.

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[DragonQ0105]

Oh yeah... lol.

Well after sitting loading for ages, it worked. But I tried it again using SmartDrv.exe and it loaded much faster....

I'll keep you posted if I get any errors etc.

 

[DragonQ0105]

Now it says "Windows was unable to locate such a drive" (referring to a drive with at least 538MB free for temporary storage).

Why can it not locate the NTFS Drive? Is it because it's run from DOS?

 

[allteltec]

If thinks gets out of hand, I had close to the same setup no CD and no floppy, I used 3 partistions and installed a small win98 first boot in a differt note book then I was able to boot the win98 and install XP to partistion 2 as a duel boot. I used 3 partistions the first for w98 no# 2 where XP was to install and 3 I put the XP CD info at, Once XP was installed I deleted partistion 3 and merg it to 2. That Win98 duel boot came in handy when my son got a curupted system file and XP would not boot I was able to boot win98 plug it it to my home network and used a differt note book computer to copy registry hive files from a restore point to the C:\windows\system32\config directry and repaired it.

 

[linney]

XP requires 383 megabytes (MB) of free disk space to copy installation files during Setup.

Has the old NTFS partition been deleted then created and formatted by the Setup process and have you directed XP to install into this newly created partition?

307848 - HOW TO: Start Setup from MS-DOS in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307848&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[wolluf]

DragonQ0105 - you could of course just have one partition (fat32 to start) with the XP install files on. Once XP is installed (there's no problem installing to same partition as install files are on), you can convert the partition to ntfs and delete the XP install files (if you want to). You shouldn't need smartdrv if you're using a standard win98 boot disk. I do wonder if you're not just making a meal of this!

 

[DragonQ0105]

Yes but I had to copy the files while Windows 2000 was still on the PC (to use the USB CD-RW) - then format the drive with Windows 2000- so I had to use a separate partition.

I fixed it by installing 98 SE instead then upgrading to XP - but I now have problems with my LCD Internal Monitor...please see this thread:

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1036146&page=1