I realize this sounds like a repeated question, but so far 2 days of searching the web has gotten me no solutions to my problem.

First, the equipment I do and do not have.

NEW WD SATA-II HDD to replace a dead IDE drive.
Asus P4s800d-e deluxe mobo
DVD/CD burner
Floppy is owned but I don't have the SATA drivers on floppy disc, nor do I have a way to get them on it since the computer (desktop) that uses it is currently deceased.
Also, I have the XP Install disc, XP SP1 upgrade disc and XP SP2 upgrade disc, ASUS Vista recovery disc and finally Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade disc (family pack).


The problem is that I can get my BIOS to see the new drive but as we all know, the XP installer won't recognize it until I install the correct SATA driver from floppy...etc. I can't do the floppy thing, sadly. So, any advice, help, assistance...anything will be greatly appreciated.

One thing I wondered is if I can format the drive somehow, will the XP install work? The ultimate goal here is to get this machine up on Windows 7 with my family pack.

Are you after just windows 7 on the PC or after XP and win 7?

You say you have the Vista recovery disc. Use that and then upgrade that. This should work if you only want windows 7 though if you want XP aswell thats another story.

- Let us know how it goes.

I actually finally did find a workaround but I didn't mark this thread as solved because I wanted to see if I had missed some better way to do it. Yes I only cared to have windows 7, not 7 and XP. I like your idea about the vista recovery disc. Though I didn't think that would work because it was a new, un-formatted drive.

I used a "registry hack" to get mine to work. Scroll down to METHOD #2. It was very fast and easy. My mistake with this method was that I tried to enter the Product Key during the initial setup, rather than SKIPPING it and just booting into windows. Windows won't ask for a Key until three days after install.

End Solution.

A side note. HomeGroup is very flawed. I'm not going to bother with it. Just use print/file sharing.
The machine I got this to work on now has a "windows recovered from an unexpected shutdown" problem. Hooray for old equipment and new OS's!

First you run our PC in Boot menu
and your 1st boot device when you all this settings and restart our computer
You can see this line Please press any key for boot CD.......
than you press any key from keyboard
select your hard drive and window installation keep it run

It doesnt matter whether it is SATA I or II. The problem is that XP doesnt have native SATA support. If you cant do the floppy method, donload nlite and slipstream your motherboard drivers into a new XP image. Alternatively you may be able to set your motherboard to operate in IDE emulation mode.