Install windows *from* a HDD?

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Well, I'm bored and know I need to do a clean install of windows some time this week.

So anyone know if there's any majickal ways to get windows to install from one hdd, onto another? (proper install too, rather than from an image)

Mainly just because I can, and to save time.

[buzzmong]

Er, yeah.

Read it in a PC gamer magazine years ago.

Just copy the entire contents of the cd into a partition, and just run setup.exe from it in dos (might mean you need to make a boot from dos disk/boot with something like parition magic)

[Lateralus]

Fiver* says that including all the time spent setting it up, it won't actually be quicker than the unattended/slipstreamed installs you already do.

*may not exist

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Fiver* says that including all the time spent setting it up, it won't actually be quicker than the unattended/slipstreamed installs you already do.

*may not exist

That is not the point.

I know it'll take far longer to sort out than the time saved, but at least I can waste time while watching crap tv this way

oh, and install is currently ~30 minutes with all driverpacks

[deject]

You can do Network installs, although I can't tell you how to set it up, but there's some MS tool that will create some file to tell Windows Setup how to use your NIC and where to find the installation files.

[FatherJack]

There's stuff in the resource kit for installing over a network, just replace the network with the drive letter of the other disk in the unattended script file. Roughly 20 minutes over the network.

At work they use a sysprep image which clears out any personalisation from a reference machine, so the new machine will boot to the GUI stage and redetect any changed hardware. Can be as quick as 10 minutes over the network. While it does use imaging, it is still a clean install, as long as the reference machine was clean to start with.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Trying to avoid the network install thing.

I suspect buzz is on the right lines, ISTR reading something like that before.