VOGONS


First post, by appiah4

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I want to install Win9x or Me on a system with Boot from USB HDD support but no optical media, is Rufus + Windows install ISO the way to go about doing this?

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 1 of 5, by Kubik

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In the worst case, copy the WinXP files to bootable USB HDD, boot from USB HDD, prepare the HDD (partition/format/sys) if necessary, copy the install files to HDD and start installation from there. I've done something similar in the past.

Reply 3 of 5, by appiah4

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Auzner wrote:

Why not try it?
GRUB supports boot from ISO. I've thought about setting up a high capacity USB stick with a bunch of OS installer ISOs.

Well, I for one would be very interested..

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 4 of 5, by gdjacobs

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Instead of doing this, use ISOLINUX and MEMDISK (maybe Rufus does this automatically) to boot a Win98SE floppy, copy the cabs over to a directory on the target HDD, and run the install. So much more convenient for any future hardware changes.

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Reply 5 of 5, by Jo22

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I remember I used a Windows 98 laptop for that purpose.
I used FDISK and FORMAT X: /S on the USB Drive, then copyied WIN98 and DRIVERS from the CD-ROM to it.

(I also remember to have used that HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool on a pen drive at some point.
I inserted the original Win 98SE Start-Up floppy when it asked me for a bootable diskette.
After the drive was bootable, I copied the folders WIN98 and DRIVERS to it (no ISO image).
Once booted, I believe it was possible to access the folders either directly or by switching to another
drive letter first, C: or D:. Installation was started by running WIN98\Setup.exe.)

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