Hi guyz, i had a big problem few dayz ago, cuz i have an old Compaq Proliant 3000, and i bought hdd and i wanted to install an OS (Windows 2000), so i nicely put the CD into the computer, and turned it on. Well, the approximate message i got was something like "You, idiot, where's the OS in the hdd?", and went to the BIOS cuz i thought it was a regular boot order problem; it wasn't.

I went to the Compaq Support in HP, and the BIOS menu, and discovered that for installing the OS on that machine i had to boot the OS installation from floppys (lol), and that they should come with my w2k pack (they didn't ).

1.- So, assuming you have the original Windows 2000 but the diskettes didn't come with it, you could get them from Bootdisk.com. Just browse till you find the bootdisks of the OS you are looking for (not only W2K), and then download it. Deflate it, ect.

2.- After that, you'll need 4 brand new floppies (I tried with used ones, but didn't work, have to be exactly 1.44 MB), and the program you deflatted that came with another files (with w2k was makeboot.exe) will guide you for the creation of the floppies.

So now you got the 4 diskettes, and the w2k CD:
3.- Ok all you need to do is starting the machine with the 1st floppy inside the PC (omg, i know you knew )
and the installation process will automatically require you to put all the other floppies.
4.- Then, the installation program will ask you to put the CD, and then you're done, you will have to be able for resume the installation from your CD.

a ) The first thing you should do when it's installed, is doing Emergency Disks (I suppose you'll have to buy 10 diskettes, and dont think you're going to use them for anymore ).
b ) Don't use the Bootdisk.com software if you don't own the Windows original installations hehe.

Well, i hope that could help someone, cuz i was really confused when i didn't know what2do.

I have never tried it , but some bootmanagers have support from booting from CDROM.

So if you just install a boot manager (like XOSL or something).
You can install it on your hard drive (most of the time in the Master Boot Record).

Your systems starts teh boot manager from the hard drive and then you select booting from CDROM.
You install your system from CD , and most of the time the boot manager is gone also.

Maybe worth to try if you are in a situation that booting from CD/DVD doesn't work because it's not supported by the BIOS.