Windows XP on SATA laptops

It is obvious to one that laptop manufacturers have ditched floppy disk drive as it is no longer an 'essential' or wanted. Basically, a floppy can only accomodate 1.44MB. Not only it can store a limited amount of data, it is also easily damaged as compared to a memory stick. That is why one will see that floppy disk drive have been eliminated from laptops. However, it is still visible from a desktop pc. This is understood as laptops are meant to be small and light not forgetting that it should be a heavyweight in specifications too.

Windows XP was established as one of the best OSs which Microsoft can offer. One would question the ability of Microsoft to produce better OS, unlike the buggy Vista even after the first two Service Pack. That is why they are going to release Windows 7. So far, I have been very happy with Windows 7 RC and I will be waiting for the upcoming Windows 7 to be released.

What about those people who wants to use Windows XP instead of Windows Vista or Windows 7 RC on a laptop which is powered by an SATA hard drive without an external or an internal floppy drive then? Isn't it hard to install good old Windows XP on it then? The answer would be where it is slightly hard to install but it is not impossible. What you need to do is to firstly get hold of an original Windows XP cd with COA, then you need to download Nlite. Make sure you also get your laptop's SATA driver ready. What you need to do is to copy the entire Windows XP cd onto a folder and then run Nlite. The instructions could be found on where you have downloaded the file from. What it will do is actually to merge Windows XP with your laptop's SATA driver so that XP will be able to recognise your laptop's hard drive.

Once it is done, simply save it as an ISO extension. Burn the ISO image with MagicISO or PowerISO. Once it is done, pop in the cd into your laptop's optical drive to see whether the cd will actually boot up. Once you have clarify that it could install Windows XP, reboot the laptop and start running the cd from startup and the rest is history.

Good luck!