Installing XP without a A:\ drive

Question

The original hard drive that came with my computer crashed, so I went and bought a new Maxtor SATA, when i go to install Win XP, I press F6, to get the driver detection screen and then push S to select the driver and it says to insert a floppy into drive A:\, but I don't have A:\ drive what can I do to fix this problem?

dbramlet · Answer

If you put the CD in the drive and boot your computer it should just install without you pressing any key unless you need to setup a raid partition. Are you not doing it this way? Why press F6? You may need to go into bios setup and make sure the CD drive is first in the boot order.

mombodog · Answer

Enter the bios and change sata operation to ATA mode, then you do not need drivers to install XP.   Posting your model would be great.

ManyDimensions · Answer

jaymh   There are several work-arounds for the SATA RAID driver installation when installing Windows XP.   The one I use most is to put XP and the driver on a USB stick and boot from that. Most newer Dell BIOS allow for booting from an auxiliary drive or USB.   Another alternative is to borrow a USB floppy drive, and have the driver on a floppy disc.   Another alternative previously suggested was to ignore SATA RAID then switch to RAID after the install. I have done this as well and it works just fine.

Storage, Drives & Media

Installing XP without a A:\ drive

Was this post helpful?