Installing XP with SATA drivers and no floppy drive?

Posted by: andym

Installing XP with SATA drivers and no floppy drive? - 22/10/2005 19:36

Is this possible? I haven't had a floppy drive in 5 years. Is it possible to install the silicon image SATA drivers while installing XP. I really dont want to have to buy one just for this.

Posted by: pgrzelak

Re: Installing XP with SATA drivers and no floppy drive? - 22/10/2005 20:00

Perhaps a bootable USB flash key?

Posted by: Attack

Re: Installing XP with SATA drivers and no floppy drive? - 22/10/2005 20:36

I have a USB floppy but the XP install will not see the drive. You will need to make a custom install cd using the slipstream instructions. The combination of these two sites should get you going. I would strongly recommand slipstreaming XP2 as this will greatly speed up your install/configure times.

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp
http://www.maximumpc.com/2005/01/how_to_slipstre.html

Posted by: andym

Re: Installing XP with SATA drivers and no floppy drive? - 22/10/2005 20:43

Alas not it seems, whilst it can see it as a drive to install XP on, it'll only load device drivers off a floppy.

It looks like slipstreaming is going to be the only solution, but that's something to try tomorrow I think.

Posted by: muzza

Re: Installing XP with SATA drivers and no floppy drive? - 23/10/2005 10:33

odd, i've had no problems when the SATA is on the motherboard, the bios handles it all. Installing drivers for RAID cards is a right pain. I can't believe that server 2k3 STILL relies on making floppies for the installation of drive hardware. How freakin difficult can it be to load the driver off CD? Sometimes fitting the drivers on a floppy is difficult in itself

Posted by: tman

Re: Installing XP with SATA drivers and no floppy drive? - 23/10/2005 11:02

Plain SATA works on the motherboard without needing special drivers because it is emulating a plain IDE controller. You still need the drivers if you want to use the SATA specific features however.

Posted by: sein

Re: Installing XP with SATA drivers and no floppy drive? - 23/10/2005 11:44

Quote:
Plain SATA works on the motherboard without needing special drivers because it is emulating a plain IDE controller

That would be 'legacy mode' in the BIOS. It works well, but is not supported by every controller.

Posted by: andym

Re: Installing XP with SATA drivers and no floppy drive? - 23/10/2005 15:12

It doesn't appear to have a legacy mode, everything that turned up after a little googling says you either need to slipstream the drivers in or have a floppy drive.

Posted by: andym

Re: Installing XP with SATA drivers and no floppy drive? - 23/10/2005 16:03

As an aside, I find it unbelievable that it is easier to install XP on Virtual PC under OS X than it is on a run of the mill x86 box.

Posted by: robricc

Re: Installing XP with SATA drivers and no floppy drive? - 24/10/2005 01:05

Quote:
As an aside, I find it unbelievable that it is easier to install XP on Virtual PC under OS X than it is on a run of the mill x86 box.

An x86 box with an on-board SATA controller that can't function in legacy mode isn't exactly run of the mill. I've only come across that once (a Shuttle board) and I've built plenty of machines with SATA drives. I find it unbelievable that someone who can build their own computer doesn't have a legacy floppy drive around.

PS- I can send you one if you'd like, but I doubt it's worth the duty and trip across the ocean.

Posted by: drakino

Re: Installing XP with SATA drivers and no floppy drive? - 24/10/2005 01:50

I prefer nLite for doing slipstreamed Windows disks. Makes the process much faster, especially when such a thing is likely to be done only once or twice.