How To Install Win 7 When Pc Wont Boot From Cd/dvd

Hi. I recently received an old PC from a local tourist information center. They we having problems with the old Win XP machine and wanted to update it to windows 7 so it was the same as their other pc. I offered to help. When I went to install 7 on it I found that the old hard drive was so small win 7 wouldnt fit on it. I managed to hunt around and find another hard drive from that era that was big enough to handle win 7 so I was going to swap them out and install win 7 on that. I went into the Bios and set it to boot from CD/DVD but when I restart, instead of starting to install windows I just get a message saying it cant find any bootable files and to insert a floppy instead. Im a bit lost. I've done this in the past with never a problem ( although the hard drive was big enough without me having to change it out beforehand).
Any ideas?

 

If the computer has a floppy drive it is so old it's likely that the optical drive cannot handle DVDs, just CDs. Win 7 is on DVD.

 

I did think of that...and yes the drive was only a cd drive but I had a spare dvd drive which I installed but I still get the same error

 

Is the Win 7 DVD 32 bit or 64 bit? Computer will be 32 bit. Also, can the computer read the DVD in Explorer?

 

AAAh..the win 7 ive got is 64 bit..didnt think of that. I have no idea if the computer can read the DVD in explorer or not if I cant boot the PC

 

Is there a 32 bit version available of Win 7? This all started because they wanted to be able to get internet via wifi as thats all they have access to where its based. They purchased an USB wifi adaptor but we were'nt able to get the drivers to install. Just kept getting an error but nothing saying what the error meant. There is no brand on it so I couldnt look up the manufacturers details. I figured because it was such an old system that XP could be the problem. Is there a "Cheap" way to be able to put a 32 bit version of Win 7 on it? These guys survive entirely on donations and Im doing this for free to try and help them out. They have a budget of stuff all.

 

Yes and it can be downloaded direct from Microsoft, but you have to have a valid Windows product key to do so. That could probably be picked up for peanuts on an auction site, as could a used working Win 7 PC, which is the better option imo.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows7

 

thanks. unfortunately they dont have any cash to spend. this old clunker was from some bullshit government grant

 

This is the crux of the problem.
No Windows XP PC will soldier on forever.

 

Adding wifi to XP, I'm sure you could find another adapter that still has XP drivers. Do you have an old router around that you could make a bridge out of? If you have a router visit the ddwrt site to see if it can be flashed to that firmware and then make a bridge.

 

Are you still able to restore this machine to its xp bootable state?

 

No I dont foogoo.
Yes Earthling, I am

 

I was thinking along plodr's lines but needed to test my old adapter first which, as I no longer have XP, presented a separate problem. That has been solved so let me know if you haven't been able to resolve it.

 

Awesome! Thanks heaps guys. Will do

 

Thanks again plodr. Really appreciate it

 

Do they have e-waste programs in Australia? Keying into that waste stream can help with cobbling together donation worthy hardware.

 

Honestly, I have no idea