Hi all!
I just got a Toshiba Tecra 8200, PIII 800Mhz, 256Mb ram, 10Gb HD, with a PCMCIA card that has network
capabilities. 10/100mbit ethernet.
It's got a CDROM drive, and it's really bad at reading, even new, cd's. That means that i cannot install
Windows XP from that drive, but i can boot into DOS.
I formattet the drive, and made 2 FAT32 partitions. Then it got to me that the CDrom was very bad at
reading cd's.
Now my only options to get data (eg. i386 dir with subdirs), from my stationary to my laptop is:
1: Get at 2.5" -> 3.5" converter and put the drive in my stationary pc.
It would cost some money.... and i'd really like to do option 2.
2: Install via network.
I don't know how to install over network, but i guess it has something to do with the "PEX" option in
the boot menu....
My guess would be that i'd connect the laptop with the stationary PC with a RJ45 jack and install some
sort of server software on my stationary PC, and then it would somehow allow me to boot the laptop from
some sort of image that would be on my stationary PC.
Any help would be appreciated!

LasseFJ

PXE is for Server 3003 and RIS (Remote Installation Services). On your Desktop you would need a DHCP server that supports bootp requests and a tftpd server. That functionality is not built in into Windows XP

Right. If you've never done it, and don't have a server configured to do it with, trying the network install method could have you banging your head against the wall for hours.

Considering the minimal cost of a 2.5"->3.5" converter (about $12 USD or so), the easiest and most reliable method would be to install the laptop drive in the desktop machine and prep it there.