[paintdrying]

I have a laptop with a dead dvd drive. Can I re format windows 7 or xp with no dvd drive. Looked at the instructions for doing it from a flash drive and it was more than I wanted to deal with. At this point I am considering just throwing all 6 of my old laptops in the garbage and just buying a few brand new ones.

 

[sublime2]

I have a laptop with a dead dvd drive. Can I re format windows 7 or xp with no dvd drive. Looked at the instructions for doing it from a flash drive and it was more than I wanted to deal with. At this point I am considering just throwing all 6 of my old laptops in the garbage and just buying a few brand new ones.

Take a drive from one of the other 6 and put it on the one you want to re reformat.

 

[chrisn]

I have a laptop with a dead dvd drive. Can I re format windows 7 or xp with no dvd drive. Looked at the instructions for doing it from a flash drive and it was more than I wanted to deal with. At this point I am considering just throwing all 6 of my old laptops in the garbage and just buying a few brand new ones.

6? wow

 

[paintdrying]

Will windows boot from an external dvd drive? So these dvd drives are interchangeable. Laptops just accumulate over time. People are always giving me stuff they feel bad about throwing away.

 

[dudeman]

Will windows boot from an external dvd drive? So these dvd drives are interchangeable. Laptops just accumulate over time. People are always giving me stuff they feel bad about throwing away.

they should, you MIGHT need to go into the bios and change the boot options
the way windows should be setup is
boot from cd/dvd drive, then your hard drive and then an external device.. actually i think its says floppy.. although who the hell still uses a floppy...

anyway, youll have to stop it from from wanting to boot from the hard drive.

 

[diyorpay]

Not sure this is something you'd consider but not difficult.

Netbooks don't have dvd drives so you typically need 2 free software programs to 'install' a virtual dvd drive and run programs.

They are available at www.filehippo.com

http://www.filehippo.com/download_daemon_tools/ for Daemon Tools lite. Download and install on laptop.

http://www.filehippo.com/download_imgburn/ for ImageBurn. This needs to be installed on a computer that has a working dvd drive. You select option 'Create image file from disk' and convert your Win7 install disk to an iso image file. That file is exact same as Win7 dvd but is not on that media. How you get this .iso file to laptop is up to you.

Run daemon tools to start virtual dvd drive and load in the .iso file. Runs and installs even faster than original dvd.

Works with any programs on CD or DVD.

 

[DannyT]

if you decide to throw them away ill give you my address

 

[DannyT]

you can install windows from a usb thumbdrive if your laptop has that boot option available. use a program called wintoflash and it will make the usb drive bootable and also will copy your windows installation files to the usb drive. diyorpay's method will also work.

 

[zolakk]

I just use the Microsoft tool for this and haven't had any problems using it for Windows 7, 8, or 2008 R2 and 2012 provided USB boot is an option in your BIOS

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool

 

[paintdrying]

Well it is my lucky day. I thought I was adjusting the boot options but I finally found the proper adjustment last night. I fired up a linux cd and the drive works. I will just install linux over windows because I do not really like windows.

 

[funfool]

Now your talking :thumbup:

http://www.funtoo.org/wiki/Funtoo_Linux_Installation

 

[Wildie]

Well it is my lucky day. I thought I was adjusting the boot options but I finally found the proper adjustment last night. I fired up a linux cd and the drive works. I will just install linux over windows because I do not really like windows.

I did this! i installed Ubuntu but the wireless wouldn`t work because there were no suitable drivers available.

 

[daro]

I did this! i installed Ubuntu but the wireless wouldn`t work because there were no suitable drivers available.

Which version of Ubuntu did you try? Also what are the specs of your wireless?

i.e. make, model, and is the wireless internal or external?

 

[Wildie]

Which version of Ubuntu did you try? Also what are the specs of your wireless?

i.e. make, model, and is the wireless internal or external?

Thanks for your reply, but I have since abandoned Ubuntu as it was imperative that I would have a wireless connection.
I tried the Win8 Evaluation and it worked fine, so I bought Win8 and now have it running the machine.
It was back in September that I tried Ubuntu. The figure ver.12 is in my mind but I'm unsure?

 

[funfool]

ether way, glad you got it. With ubuntu or linux in general, although all drivers are free as in free beer.
But some require you to accept the licence agreement.
ubuntu does not ship with those drivers installed. You would need a wired connection to install, then enable the non-free repositories, and they will be available for you to install.

For this reason, I usually suggest lmde (linux mint debian addition.)
They include all the drivers and install them for you out of the box. There are many others also, besides lmde. pclos is also a good one, but is over 100 to choose from.

I just wanted to let you know why your wireless "probably" did not work for you with ubuntu.

 

[Wildie]

ether way, glad you got it. With ubuntu or linux in general, although all drivers are free as in free beer.
But some require you to accept the licence agreement.
ubuntu does not ship with those drivers installed. You would need a wired connection to install, then enable the non-free repositories, and they will be available for you to install.

For this reason, I usually suggest lmde (linux mint debian addition.)
They include all the drivers and install them for you out of the box. There are many others also, besides lmde. pclos is also a good one, but is over 100 to choose from.

I just wanted to let you know why your wireless "probably" did not work for you with ubuntu.

After I installed Win8 I heard about MINT from a friend. I may try this in a dual boot configuration.
Ubuntu worked on a wired connection, OK but I couldn't find a driver for the expansion card that I bought.

 

[Bob...]

After I installed Win8 I heard about MINT from a friend. I may try this in a dual boot configuration.
Ubuntu worked on a wired connection, OK but I couldn't find a driver for the expansion card that I bought.

Late to the party, and you likely found this out for yourself, but:

You can also install Mint as a live CD 1st to see if you want to install to HD.

 

[Wildie]

Late to the party, and you likely found this out for yourself, but:

You can also install Mint as a live CD 1st to see if you want to install to HD.

Thanks Bob! I like that idea. Due to other demands, I have yet to proceed with this!