Installing XP on formated HD
 

Ok heres the problem i have XP Pro and when i format the hard drive and then partion it so that i can install XP it says that the setup.exe file for cannot run in DOS. I have been able to once b4 install 95 then do a full install of XP over top of 95 and it worked but i am trying to figuire out how to make it where i can install XP correctly.
Any help on this would make me greatly indepted to whomever helps me out :)

95 can't be converted to xp, boot off the xp cd and install from there

only the NT based architecture can be converted

ok let me xplain this a little further i can't put XP Pro on a newly formatted HD because it won't read the Setup.exe file through DOS and so what i have done b4 was to install 95 then click on my computer and then the cd drive and do a full install of XP over top of 95 or 98 whichever the case maybe so the the transforability of 95 to XP doesn't matter. Its just that i can run the setup.exe file for XP once I have an OS installed on the HD. What i am trying to find out from someone thats more gifted is how to run the XP setup.exe file from a newly formatted HD(in DOS)
ALSO Windows 2000 does the same thing with not allowing the setup.exe file to be run through DOS??

o-m-g.. i know, don't use dos, just BOOT OFF OF THE CD - and that'll take care of everything.. if you said it won't read setup from dos then why keep trying?

you can install fresh
 

:wavey: Listen if you just boot from the cd then the setup will start automatically however if you dont boot from the cd then in order to run the installation
first go to the i386 directory then type WINNT eg

BTW it would be very good if executed Smartdrv before you start the setup
(its usually stored in the win98 directory on win98 cd)
C:\>
d:
cd\i386 { \ just incase its not in the root directory}
D:\i386\winnt.exe (press enter)

follow instruction from there