I was hoping some linux tech heads here could give me some pointers about installing linux onto a laptop I have which has no cd drive. To make things worse it does not even boot from usb. I had installed XP on it with an unattended install using the /makelocalsource switch which copies files to the local hdd then finishes setup from there after reboot.

Is there an easy switch function to install any linux distro once you have the files on your hdd? (I have a mapped network drive to my laptop and sharing from my desktop so i can access my files. I just don't know if it will work)

If you have windows still running on the laptop, I know that ubuntu 8.04 offers a feature where you can install ubuntu to the harddrive while still in windows. To do this, you would download the iso as normal and then install alcohol 52% so that you can make a virtual CD drive and mount the iso to it, from there you can run the disk as if it was in the disk tray and you can install it that way using the install through windows feature.

you can find a 15 day trial of alcohol 52% at http://trial.alcohol-soft.com/en/

and you can download ubuntu 8.04 at ubuntu.com

I'm sure there may be another was of doing this; however, this would be the way I would try it, but I'm also not the best at this type of stuff either.

Have you had a look at Wubi?

http://www.trap17.com/forums/index.php?sho...878&hl=wubi

it can install beside windows for a dual-boot or do a permanent install.

Wubi is, in fact, the best method for installing Linux on a Windows computer if you do not have or cannot use a Live CD. Since Ubuntu 8.04, Wubi has been part of the official Ubuntu Linux Project, so it is well-supported and easy to use.

But, a correction to jlhaslip's previous post. It is not actually possible to Wubi to do a permanent install of Linux by itself. Wubi only installs Linux to a Virtual Drive within a Windows partition. However, you can use Wubi to install Linux on such a partition, and then use another program called LVPM to move it to a new partition for a permanent install. And if that was too technical for you, I humbly appologise.

There's something known as a "Poor man's install." There are many ways to performing this kind of installation. The Knoppix Wiki and the Ubuntu forums have information on how to perform a "Poor Man's install." You could try Googling for it as well.

wubi was what I was reffering to in my first post, I just wasn't sure if that was the actual name of the feature and i couldn't quickly find it on the ubuntu website.

thanks guys