I need to reinstall Windows XP on an elderly laptop without a currently
working optical drive. The I386 folder is already on the data partition of
the drive - used earlier for running SFC.
Is the < winnt.exe /s: d:\I386 > command suitable for the install - after
first navigating to that folder with a boot floppy? That partition is FAT
formatted.
A replacement optical drive is on order but will take a week to arrive. And
this laptop needs to be up and running today (an involved story). A very
recent back-up image of the system exists - on an optical disc! And I don't
have the right adapter handy to hook up the drive to a working desktop to
restore it directly.
Install Windows from 2nd partition 
Linear Mode
