Windows 2000 on a Thinkpad 240

[slvrldy17]

What would be the easiest way to load a copy of Windows 2000 on a Model 240 Thinkpad? The one I'm working with has a 400 Mhz processor, 192 MB RAM, and a 10 GB hard drive. The hard drive has been formatted with Fdisk in the machine and I've tried using the 4 disk Microsoft startup set for Win 2000 - when it gets to the last disk the install fails because the CD drive "cannot be found" - unlike with XP in the 240X which works fine this way. I've also tried copying the Windows 2000 disk to the hard drive and booting with a Win 98 startup disk - perhaps I'm not using the right command to start set up? Anyone care to help out?

[Neil]

The hard drive must be formatted FAT32 for the W98 system to access the hard drive. Copy the i386 folder HDD. Now boot with the W98 floppy and enter the command D:\i386\winnt.exe if the hard drive is letter "D". I think it will be D because the floppy is A and C will be a RAM disk.

[slvrldy17]

Hard drive was formatted FAT32 with the WIN98 disk. Copied the full contents of the Win 2000 CD to it - when it is booted the RAM disk shows as drive D - in any case using the command C:\i386\winnt.exe or D:\i386\winnt.exe has the same result - a Windows 2000 installer screen saying that the file path is invalid and to please enter the location of the installer files - any ideas?

[jdhurst]

I did it once, and IIRC, you need the PCMCIA bootable CD to install Windows 2000 on a TP240. ... JDH

[Neil]

Here is the how to from Thinkwiki for installing on systems without a CD drive:

Code: Select all

Installing Windows 2000 or XP

    * Attach the harddrive to the host computer and install a minimal bootable DOS system i.e. by booting a Win98 Emergency Boot Disk and performing the command "SYS X:" (where X = the laptop's harddrive).
    * Copy FDISK.EXE to the laptop harddrive.
    * Return the harddrive to the laptop and boot to DOS. (If you have Win98 installed by default, you can skip the first two steps and simply reboot in Windows to DOS.)
    * Run FDISK and set up your new Windows system partition on this laptop. (If you do not do this on the laptop, after reboot you will receive the infamous "NTLDR IS MISSING" error. This error may still occur if the partition is greater than 7.8gb in size)
    * Then return the drive to the host and format the drive as FAT32. (DO NOT format as NTFS.)
    * Repeat the "SYS X:" step to make the new partition bootable.
    * Copy Himem.sys and Config.sys, too. Otherwise SMARTDRIVE.EXE won't run
    * Get SMARTDRV.EXE from the internet and copy it to your Thinkpads harddrive.
    * Also, from the Win2K or WinXP CD, copy the I386 folder to the harddrive.
    * Return the laptop's harddrive to the Thinkpad one final time and boot to DOS.
    * Run SMARTDRV.EXE first, then change directories to I386 and run WINNT.EXE, this will allow the installation to begin.
    * During installation, choose NOT to format the destination partition, since it contains the installation files. If you want that filesystem to be NTFS you can convert it after installation from within Windows.

[Neil]

Copied the full contents of the Win 2000 CD...the command C:\i386\winnt.exe or D:\i386\winnt.exe has the same result - a Windows 2000 installer screen saying that the file path is invalid and to please enter the location of the installer files - any ideas?

That path would only be valid if only the i386 folder is copied to the hard drive. The path might be different when you have the full contents of the CD (which is not needed for an install of this kind).

[slvrldy17]

Thanks Neil, I'll try this as time permits and post back.