How can I do an "old fashioned" XP install?

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vikenk

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HI all,

I'm used to doing Win98/ME OS installs. Basically, I boot the computer to DOS, fdisk it, then manually format it. Then I copy the install files from the CD to the hard drive and run the install from the hard drive.

I've long since switched to XP-Pro but every time I've installed it, it automated everything from the CD. There have been times when I've wanted to boot to DOS and do a manual format, but once I boot from the boot disk it does not recognize any of my hard drives (they're NTFS).

I've followed the instructions on Microsoft's website to create a boot disk to recognize an NTFS disk but it doesn't work, and no matter how much I try I can't get it to work.

How can I make a boot disk to recognize my NTFS partition and install the "olf fashioned" way - by copying the i386 folder to the hard drive and running setup from there?
 
You should be able to go to my computer, right click on your floppy drive and hit format. In there is make bootable disk.
 
Well, first off, WinXP did away with DOS. It's now an internal emulation of the old DOS shell, and doesn't function the same.

Second, the actual boot-disks for XP number around 6 disks, and you should make them from the Microsoft website.

You shouldn't need the boot-disks, though. Usually you can just put in the XP disc, and during installation you should have the option to reformat the drives or just do a repair (overwrite of OS files, leaving your data alone).
 
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