How to install linux in a system without cdrom, usb boot, floppy, other OS? Post: 302375590

Sponsored Content

Operating Systems Linux How to install linux in a system without cdrom, usb boot, floppy, other OS? Post 302375590 by highkftj on Saturday 28th of November 2009 11:24:42 AM

11-28-2009

Registered User

How to install linux in a system without cdrom, usb boot, floppy, other OS?

Hello to everyone,

I am new to linux and I want to move to this system after bad experiences with windows.
I have also a particular problem. An old laptop is probably able to handle just linux at this point of its life.

The cdrom is gone, the bios doesn't have usb boot support, there is no floppy or pxe network boot ability, so I was wondering what other way I can have to install linux on a barebone hd (nothing on it).

The only Idea I had was to copy some files on the hd via a ide cable adapter, connecting the laptop hd to the mobo of a desktop. I did the same in the past to install xp: I used msdos 7 to boot the machine and then launch the xp setup from withing the hd (copied before the installation files).

So my question is, can I do the same with linux? in such case, of course I will have a hd formatted with fat32 to boot in msdos, and what files should I copy on this partition to launch the installation?

If this is not the best path to follow and some guru here can advise me a better way I am looking for his helps. I look on the net but everywhere at least they require a previous operative system on it or some kind of boot support (usb, cdrom, floppy...)

Thanks again

highkftj

View Public Profile for highkftj

Find all posts by highkftj

7 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Floppy , CDrom

We use #eject cdrom to eject the cdrom . Is there a way to "close" it after using that command ? is there a command to eject floppy ? Thanks

2. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

red hat linux installation boot floppy disk

Hi, My dear friends, I am trying to install red hat linux. I have downloaded its disc1. On the instructions page, the next stage is to make the boot disk, so that I can boot from the floppy. However, I am unable to locate the boot image iso file. I tried on google, but I got a few files which...

3. Solaris

"boot cdrom - install" is not possible

Hi all, I've this problem: I want to install Solaris 10 on Sun Enterprise 450 but when I type "boot cdrom - install" command from OK PROMPT I read this message. "Can't open input device". I attempt to change "cdrom" with its "alias", after to have typing "devalias" command, but nothing! ...

4. Linux

How to Install Linux os from USB pen drive

can any body tell simple steps to install linux from pen drive (4gb) fat32 ( with out dvd rom )

5. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

How to install a new system from a usb key

Hi everybody, I have several computers that are configured to install when I plug them on the network. The hard drive come's empty, but I think they have a parameter in the BIOS that allow the machines to install from the network. My problem is that in most cases, available bw is weak and...

6. Solaris

Boot cdrom - install

Hi community, Does anyone can tell me the difference between "boot cdrom" and "boot cdrom - install" ? Thank you very much:D

7. Red Hat

install redhat linux 5 into usb disk

Hi, I have 2 question. 1)how can I install the redhat linux 5 into USB disk and boot from USB disk forever. 2) how can I backup an existing redhat linux from hd to USB by disk image and make the USB bootable afterward , so I can use usb disk to boot the linux in another machine .... Please...

LEARN ABOUT LINUX

fdformat

FDFORMAT(8)						     Linux Programmer's Manual						       FDFORMAT(8)

NAME

       fdformat - Low-level formats a floppy disk

SYNOPSIS

       fdformat [-n] device

DESCRIPTION

       fdformat  does  a  low  level  format on a floppy disk.	device is usually one of the following (for floppy devices, the major = 2, and the
       minor is shown for informational purposes only):

	      /dev/fd0d360  (minor = 4)
	      /dev/fd0h1200 (minor = 8)
	      /dev/fd0D360  (minor = 12)
	      /dev/fd0H360  (minor = 12)
	      /dev/fd0D720  (minor = 16)
	      /dev/fd0H720  (minor = 16)
	      /dev/fd0h360  (minor = 20)
	      /dev/fd0h720  (minor = 24)
	      /dev/fd0H1440 (minor = 28)

	      /dev/fd1d360  (minor = 5)
	      /dev/fd1h1200 (minor = 9)
	      /dev/fd1D360  (minor = 13)
	      /dev/fd1H360  (minor = 13)
	      /dev/fd1D720  (minor = 17)
	      /dev/fd1H720  (minor = 17)
	      /dev/fd1h360  (minor = 21)
	      /dev/fd1h720  (minor = 25)
	      /dev/fd1H1440 (minor = 29)

       The generic floppy devices, /dev/fd0 and /dev/fd1, will fail to work with fdformat when a non-standard format is being used, or if the for-
       mat has not been autodetected earlier.  In this case, use setfdprm(8) to load the disk parameters.

OPTIONS

       -n     No verify.  This option will disable the verification that is performed after the format.

SEE ALSO

       fd(4), setfdprm(8), mkfs(8), emkfs(8)

AUTHOR

       Werner Almesberger (almesber@nessie.cs.id.ethz.ch)

AVAILABILITY

       The fdformat command is part of the util-linux package and is available from ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.

Linux 0.99							  1 February 1993						       FDFORMAT(8)