Installing Win2k3 W/o RAID/SCSI drivers

Brad

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I am in a bit of a conundrum. At my office, we ordered a nice new server to put in our lab (Dual 3.2 Xeon, 2GB RAM, 2 73GB SCSI HDDs etc....). We are trying to install Win2k3 Server onto this server and are running into an issue where the Windows installer can't see the drives. We realize that it must be a RAID/SCSI controller issue, and pehaps just a driver issue.

We need to be able to get the drivers onto the server, but the server does not have a floppy drive.

Any suggestions?
 
Find out what the drivers are and slipstream it to your installation CD. Either that, or find a floppy and hook it up for the interim, whichever you think is easier.
 
I am willing to do the slipstream, but wanted to see if there were any other creative people on here willing to take a crack at another way.
The server is a blade server, so it does not have a drive bay to just plug a drive into.
 
Not really sure what creative way you could do besides a slipstream. You don't need a drive bay, while it's not IDEAL by any means, you could open the case and hang the drive out by the side.

I wouldn't recommend it, but it could be viewed as creative ;)
 
Haha, I will go ahead and slipstream the disc. Rep++
 
can it recognize a USB floppy drive?
 
I don't think it can. I have a floppy drive that I can use, just not the cable to connect it.
 
That's a viable option, and quite frankly I'd be shocked if your BIOS didn't support it at this point. You don't have to boot to it, just make sure your PC can detect it.
 
I'll see if I can find a cable because I would rather be able to do that then have to slipstream a CD
 
Well wouldn't a slipstreamed CD bve more future-proof? By this I mean, you would'nt need to install a floppy if you ever have to format. Just use the specialized CD.
 
Not necessarily - if it's a server I would assume you would be restoring from backup going forward, wether it's tape or images.

In the case of a workstation, I would agree with you though.
 
I am in a bit of a conundrum. At my office, we ordered a nice new server to put in our lab (Dual 3.2 Xeon, 2GB RAM, 2 73GB SCSI HDDs etc....). We are trying to install Win2k3 Server onto this server and are running into an issue where the Windows installer can't see the drives. We realize that it must be a RAID/SCSI controller issue, and pehaps just a driver issue.

We need to be able to get the drivers onto the server, but the server does not have a floppy drive.

Any suggestions?

Who makes this server ? The ones we use all come with there own boot disks and are easy to setup, you just insert the cd and go .
 
Good chance it was bought without an Operating System, either that or they wanted to modify the configuration (software) that was already on there.
 
OS or not they still supply the software drivers or least least they do where I come from
 
Well even if they did supply the software drivers, that wouldn't do him any good if he only has one optical drive and it's in use with the OS Install CD :)

He still would need to slipstream or use a FDD. He wasn't asking about the drivers, he was asking about a way to access them while trying to install so the OS can see his HDD.
 
It is a Dell server and it was bought without an Operating System
 
Well even if they did supply the software drivers, that wouldn't do him any good if he only has one optical drive and it's in use with the OS Install CD :)

He still would need to slipstream or use a FDD. He wasn't asking about the drivers, he was asking about a way to access them while trying to install so the OS can see his HDD.


Not with the ones we get with smart start you boot with the drivers and when needed it asks for the OS these are HP and its called "smart start" its not an OS just the needed boot up cd with drivers... guess maybe you could call Dell and ask what they have to offer ...
 
Why not put the driver in a usb pen drive? You can usually make one of these drives bootable. Just place your system drivers on this pen drive.
 
As stated earlier, the USB is not bootable on this computer. The only thing that I can boot from are the HDD, The CD drive, or NIC.

It turns out that I am going to need the drivers too. The ones on the Dell website are completely useless (you have to install them on the server once it is already running). There is no INF file in the bunch (that I can see anyway) to slipstream with.

I'm stuck. :(
 

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