Installing Windows through the network possible ?

[Jeehemdee]

Hi,

I don't have a CD player in my cabinet...only Hard Drive a Floppy Drive...and a network card.
I have to reinstall Windows98...so here is my question:

Is it possible to install it through the network ?
Booting on a floppy, then installing from a distant CD on the network ?

Thanks for any kind help !!

[2slk]

 You can do certain installs across a network but you have to have the network installed on the machine that you are doing the install on. Nice catch-22, no? Why don't you just borrow a CD-ROM from another networked device or another machine?

[skirge66]

with cdroms so cheap now why not just have one in that machine...it doesn't have to be a great one.

I personally keep a backup of my mame machine  HD on my main computer...it doesnt take up much room, whenever I upgrade all I need to do is get everything working on that computer, then burn the upgrade and load it.

plus you wouldn't be worried about your current delema...just my .02

[SirPoonga]

Yeah, what the others said.  you can find a cd-rom drive for cheap, you don't anything super fast.

You can network install windows, but it is a pain to setup.  Hence why it is only in enterprise versions of windows.

[Jeehemdee]

Thanks for your response ...
But the problem is not to buy or not to buy a CD ROM...
but there's no place in the bartop cabinet to put a CD...so I need to install it through the network...
Any help on the subject ?
Thnaks

[GroovyTuesdaY]

Well,  after carefully looking around on the net and trying to find an easy asnwer to your question ...lol..ugh.....well....  Its like this -  just get a cd-rom and MAKE  a way to install one lol.    
Or....
You can just use a cd-rom to get windows installed and the take it it back out, since you don't have room.

Is there a PC case inside the cocktail or did you just mount the motherboard inside it?  I think that would help people understand why you can't put  cd-rom in.

All in all though, i think its going to be a nightmare without cd-rom to work with in some fashion, as you would have to get some kind of dos boot disk with some  kind of network drivers going before you could even think about trying to access the network from your main pc.  From what i was readin while looking through google searches  it just sounds like WAY too much of hassle and too many complications.  
I know it wasn't much help, but its the best i can offer lol.  
I will keep looking and maybe i will come across something.
You can look too on google and just type in something along the lines of  INSTALL WINDOWS OVER A NETWORK or something like that and just start looking until you find what you are looking for  

good luck man!

g~

[paigeoliver]

Thanks for your response ...
But the problem is not to buy or not to buy a CD ROM...
but there's no place in the bartop cabinet to put a CD...so I need to install it through the network...
Any help on the subject ?
Thnaks

Ok. Here is what you do. No need to net install when you can install from your hard drive. There are multiple ways to do it. I chose to give DOS command line instructions because that is much quicker to type than "Click this, click that".

Take the hard drive out of the bartop and hook it up to your normal computer in place of (or addition to) your normal computers hard drive.

The rest of these instructions are assuming you did it in place of your normal hard drive.

boot from the win 98 cd.

At the dos prompt.

fdisk (if needed).
format C: (if needed)
C:
mkdir cabs
D:
cd win98
copy *.* C:\cabs

After that finishes copying you can shut down the computer and put the hard drive back into your bartop.

Boot the bartop from a boot floppy.

At the DOS prompt.
C:
cd cabs
setup

[GroovyTuesdaY]

Thanks for your response ...
But the problem is not to buy or not to buy a CD ROM...
but there's no place in the bartop cabinet to put a CD...so I need to install it through the network...
Any help on the subject ?
Thnaks

Ok. Here is what you do. No need to net install when you can install from your hard drive. There are multiple ways to do it. I chose to give DOS command line instructions because that is much quicker to type than "Click this, click that".

Take the hard drive out of the bartop and hook it up to your normal computer in place of (or addition to) your normal computers hard drive.

The rest of these instructions are assuming you did it in place of your normal hard drive.

boot from the win 98 cd.

At the dos prompt.

fdisk (if needed).
format C: (if needed)
C:
mkdir cabs
D:
cd win98
copy *.* C:\cabs

After that finishes copying you can shut down the computer and put the hard drive back into your bartop.

Boot the bartop from a boot floppy.

At the DOS prompt.
C:
cd cabs
setup

DUh, Why didn't i think of that one lol.  I guess i was thinking after transferring it back to the mame computer that it would not like the motherboard change, but  i forgot windows wouldnt be installed yet! DOH!    To me definately the way to go would be to follow paigeolivers' advice!   Simple and dirty!  

[Jeehemdee]

paigeoliver,

thanks very much for the tip    

[SirPoonga]

Boot the bartop from a boot floppy.

At the DOS prompt.
C:
cd cabs
setup

Oh duh!  That's how windows got onto my laptop:)