OK, I'm breaking down and asking for help. I'm attempting a clean install of XP on my old (2003) laptop. I didn't find out that I needed a separate installation CD until I wiped out and reformatted my hard drive. Didn't get an install CD with the computer. My new laptop doesn't have a floppy drive so I can't make disks from Windows website. The old laptop has a floppy drive and a CD drive.

I've downloaded and used the programs from bootdisk.com to reformat my HD. My computer will boot from the CD, however none of the files will open in DOS. I was able to load winnt.exe and winnt 32.exe however when I run winnt32.exe I get the message that 'This program cannot be run in DOS mode." I can run winnt.exe which gets me a blue "windows xp setup" screen which prompts me to enter where the windows xp files are located. What do I do now????

I have two microsoft CD's labeled "Microsoft Office XP Small Business" that came with the computer. I assume these contain the operating system in addition to the the office files. Am I wrong on this and in way over my head??
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Welcome to PCHelp forums inspktr.

Do you atleast have the windows xp product key. If you don't there's no point installing windows, you will have to buy a new copy of xp.

It looks like wherever you got the laptop from accidentally gave you an extra office disk instead of an xp disk. Maybe you could try contacting the store you bought it from and they might give you a xp disk.

I'm not sure of the procedure for using the bootdisk files to reinstall XP, but from what I read on their website I think when you are prompted for the location of windows files you need to tell it they're at c:\i386 which is where you should have copied i386 folder to.

If I read it right on my xp disk it would be something like C:\WINDOWS\Driver cache|i386

Let me correct the above post to C\WINDOWS\Driver cache\i386

Hello.

Did you use a OEM disk for XP,this is a disk supplied by a computer manufacturer with a new PC/Laptop.
Dell usaly provides one.

They can acctualy be used on any PC/Laptop.The only problem is you would have to download drivers for some hardware.

The OEM disk can be used with any XP key depending on if its a home or pro disk.

It would have to be home disk to home key and pro disk to pro key.

Thanks for the replies. I have a product key on the Microsoft office XP Small Business Edition CD's ( 2 CD set). The 2nd CD says "media content" on it. Did I just get program CD's and not a operating system CD?

Also there is nothing on drive c: I have reformatted it to FAT32. Could I try to copy the i386 file from my new laptop which runs XP Pro? One problem is that the i386 file is too big to copy to a CD. Is there some way to copy it in 2 sections and get it on my old drive c

No you cannot copy the folder,it must be pro tp pro and home to home.

Ok do this go into BIOS,this is reboot PC/Laptop and press either F1/F2 or Del this will take you into BIOS.
Locate boot options and in there set first boot device to CD/DVD rom.

Put in CD windows wich has the key code to it.Press F10 to save and exit.

Then follow this link.How to partition and format a hard disk in Windows XP