You can help make longhorn better!

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kraemer007

Weaksauce
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I have been trying to convince Microsoft to change the install process so mass storage drivers for new controllers can be loaded with something other than ancient floppy disks when installing the OS on a new machine.

For example you get a new nforce4 mobo, and you cant install XP unless you have a floppy drive hooked up so you can feed XP mass storage drivers. Wouldn’t it be nice to load the drivers via CD/DVD or USB stick?

This feature is tentatively set to be implemented in Longhorn but may be dropped. Please help me convince MS to implement this feature by leaving your feedback here!!! Thanks.
 
While probably a noble topic, I doubt Bill Gates is a member of the [H]orde, especially considering the amount of MS bashing that goes on here (much of which is unjustified). Anyhoo, PM Ranma_Sao and see if he can find an e-mail address or a feedback page for Microsoft to leave such comments. He's a Microsoft employee, and would probably be able to dig this up for you.
 
In that case, if someone really will be viewing this thread, add my vote from a very close partner of Microsoft, that it would be nice to load such drivers from a USB Thumb Drive, if not at the very least, another CD. I personally would prefer a USB drive, simply because you wouldn't have to swap out the install media, nor would have to reburn a CD if you downloaded the wrong drivers, etc. It would be easier to replace or manipulate the files on a USB drive.
 
kraemer007 said:
I have already been in contact with somebody in a very significant position at Microsoft, who will be watching this thread. If this thread dies, all hope dies with it....
Click to expand...

While I will agree that loading mass storage drives from floppies should be ancient history by now, I'd rather see more effort put into components that will have much more impact over time.

Loading from floppy is a one time process whereas newer technologies like WinFS are used over the lifetime of the OS. It's not like you load the OS everyday, but something like WinFS would be.
 
Well then I vote for USB install. Let the floppy drive go the way of the dinosasur. I already have a 512 MB USB drive, and it roxxors. And besides, most if not all computers that can or will be able to run Longhorn have USB enabled drives. In fact, maybe MS should package a thumbdrive with Longhorn on it, and sell it on the shelf when it's time. ;)
 
I like the idea, not so much for CD's, but loading the drivers off of a thumbdrive would be very helpfull.

If this were included I mught go out and buy another USB thumbdrive dedicated to holding the drivers needed at install time...Allthough it probobly wont see the light of day again untill 1+ year(s) when an OS reinstall is needed
(I'll just throw it in my big green Windows XP box with my Windows CD, that should keep me from loseing it :p )
 
SJConsultant said:
Loading from floppy is a one time process
Click to expand...

Hence the reason they should allow for CD or USB/Firewire devices. Hell, most of the new PC's I see for sale don't even HAVE floppy drives on them, and most laptops nowadays have a floppy drive listed as an OPTION (which if you select it, you get an overpriced USB floppy drive).
The (made this one up) pain-in-the-assedness of hooking up a floppy drive JUST to install your OS is something that would annoy a great number of people. Especially the people that aren't as knowledgable as we on these forums are.
 
Add my vote - not many people buy floppies these days and cd or external drives would make life SO much easier - OR tell MS to include more drivers...
 
Im on my honeymoon but I am taking time to reply. Yes this is a must have feature. Except this is how it should go (and would be painfully easy to implement)

A standard "driver cd" tool should be release by microsoft for OEMs AND END USERS to make a CD with all the drivers they need from their system. IT SHOULD BE ABLE TO PULL DRIVERS THAT ARE ALREADY INSTALLED AND THIS SHOULD BE BACKWARDS COMPATIBLE TO WIN2K as we have all had OEM hardware that we can't find drivers for at some point. New drivers should be encouraged to work with this format so that I no longer have shit like Intel's WIFI driver isntallation package that I can't easily pull JUST the driver for.

Now that we have this, there can be a stage durring install that one can put in a CD and all drivers can be installed and all that crap done before my first boot.

And in this structure there should be a catagory for mass storage devices. So that way I can hit F2 or whatever, and I can put in the CD and it can find the drivers and we can be happy.

AND OF COURSE this should work not only off CD but off of flash drives! That is a no brainer.

My man tells me a guy from microsoft is watching this thread. Good. If you like this idea just let me know. If it was implemented, Id be paid in happyness. (I know, its pretty out there, especially for a project like longhorn that is this far in development, but it should still be considered)

BUT IF THAT IS TOO MUCH, FFS MAN, LET ME GET RAID DRIVERS OFF A DAMNED CD ALREADY! PS - Back patch this into XP for the win.
 
Well the only reason I even have a floppy is for the SATA driver install when installing windows. Nothing like buying a new motherboard, have it not come with the driver disk, and try to get the drivers on a disk from my wife's laptop, which has no floppy in it. Ended up having to drive to a friends.

Definitely add the ability to read off a CD or USB thumbdrive.
 
As someone who makes RIS images all the time, we needs us this feature.
 
How about the ability to format a thumb drive to be bootable by right-click and format? That would be pretty cool.
 
i, for one, will always have a floppy drive in any desktop computer that i build (at least until the day that floppy drives are no longer sold, and i run out of spares). and if i decide to buy a laptop, i will do my best to find one that has an internal floppy drive included (even if it's at an extra cost).

having said that, it would be nice to have support for loading drivers off CD/DVD/USB media to make things easier/quicker/more up to date. but seriously....a floppy drive costs what? $5 - $10? i spend more than that on lunch some days.....

also, there is still the option of slipstreaming your windows installation, so that loading stuff from a floppy is not an issue....yes, it can be a pain to have to learn how to do that, but think of it this way: that's more knowledge that you'll have for later.

but in the end, i still vote for having support for other media included (and updated in WinXP as well...), because more options can only be a good thing.
 
"You can make longhorn better"

How? Not buy it? :D


Seriously though, I agree, the floppy drive reliance is getting old. Ranma I'll check out that link tonight.
 
THE FLOPPY IS DEAD....it is an archaic design and a POS. I have not had a floppy drive in my rigs for 2 years now, I have a custom CD made for BIOS flashing...but it sure sucks when I need to load some silly little SATA or RAID drivers during an install...


PLEASE, PLEASE, add support for portable USB thumb drives or firewire devices, or at minimum, be able to load drivers from a freaking common, everyday cdrom.
 
i would love this. i hate having to break out the floppy drive, i hate those damn things.
 
heh I'm too poor to buy a thumb drive...

I've got plenty of floppys... that were bought AGES AGO

lets sign a petition :p

Damn floppies make the comp all loud :(
 
As somebody who admins a lab full of XP machines and a user of MSDNAA for most of my Microsoft licenses, I can safely say that its a feature I would love to see. Sometimes special solutions are required which include machines that don't utilize the "standard configuration" (aka custom built rigs for when Dell does not suffice), and having to hunt down working disk drives probably involves more time for me than actually installing it and getting it going. In other words, its a huge cost penalty to have to deal with disk drives, mainly because of the failure rate. It's an extra piece of hardware and having to make sure that all machines have working ones is a real pain. On all our Linux servers we don't require a floppy drive, as we can use a cdrom livecd for anything. It would be nice if we could do something similar for Windows.
 
The USB driver load is exactly what I suggested in this thread. However, I also like the CD swap idea, as companies are much more likely to package a CD than a thumbdrive (and a comp builder may not have the ability to move drivers from CD to USB before building a system).
 
Yes and yes. I had to dismantle my digital PWS to get a floppy drive the last time.
What's worse is that I already had those drivers on another HD. Being able to pick drivers from anything with a known filesystem (such a partition on a HD or a USB device) - even if it's limited to some specific directory in the root of it - would have made things that much easier.

And if going with the CD idea, just a small thing: If I have two drives, I shouldn't have to swap CDs. Indeed, searching all other optical drives for drivers and using them without asking might have some merit. (Timeout defaulting to "yes" might be better than not asking.)
 
Gods yes please. I find it staggering that the latestish technology in mass storage can only be used if you have an ancient floppy attached to your system or already have windows installed.
Dano.
 
I don't understand why these drivers can't be included on the Windows installation CD... which would make loading from another source not even an issue. Many standard drivers are already found on the CD, and you have the ability to update them once you get the OS up and running.

That aside, floppy drives are an insulting technology to be using in the present day world. Someone needs to talk to motherboard manufacturers and determine why BIOS flashing needs to be done from a floppy disk also. Other than these situations floppy drives are worthless dinosaur technology.

I'm bitter because I am building a new computer and didn't plan on having a floppy drive at all (since they are worthless). Then.... I can't even install XP on my SATA drive because I need to load drivers, conveniently packaged with the motherboard on a floppy. So I got to delay a week and waste $10 on a floppy drive that I can use once. Okay, twice if I decide to flash the BIOS.

Die, floppy, Die.
 
Empyrean said:
I don't understand why these drivers can't be included on the Windows installation CD... which would make loading from another source not even an issue. Many standard drivers are already found on the CD, and you have the ability to update them once you get the OS up and running.
Click to expand...
I can't believe this is still asked! If the respective companies don't supply the drivers in time to Microsoft, they don't get included. That's why AMD users have had to load drivers through F6 for their SATA ports, and those of us with Intel chipsets didn't have to.
 
YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!

This is not something that i would even think would be an issue. MS has always said they are leading in ideas and innovation. so why would it be a no brainer to implement something that would let us choose the source? stuff like this is why i quietly root for another option for us.
 
I don't even own a floppy drive anymore. This ancient device is on its way out the door. Why MS would choose to require having one mystifies me :confused:. Last time I loaded XP I borrowed my roommates floppy to get the sata drivers loaded. Please add usb/cd-rom support!
 
Yes yes yes, get rid of the stupid floppy drive. It is too old,and needs to go away.

usb drives, cd, or dvd is the best option.
 
I will also agree that we need more options to be able to load drivers than just the standard floppy drive.

As a former EPS and PAHS support technician at Microsoft, there were many times when we had to wait 30 minutes for a customer to actually even find an available floppy disk when they did have a floppy drive installed.

The ability to load drivers off of USB, firewire, or optical disk would be a huge boon, not just to consumers, but also to support techs. Shorter calls equals more calls resolved and happier customers as well.

I know I would have been a happier tech if I didn't have to wait forever for the person to find a floppy when they had a thumbdrive immediately available.
 
Long live USB keys! I'm astonished that so many computers still come with floppy drives when you can't even buy them at a lot of computer stores anymore.
 
I only have a floppy on the shelf and it is only used for installing windows. I have to pull it out and plug it in and find a working floppy everytime I install that OS. I hate it. Please remove the floppy dependency. I would really like to burn that floppy drive...
 
Amen Brother!

MS repeatedly shoots itself in the foot whenever it doesn't or fails to adapt to new technologies.

I've had my own troubles with getting XP loaded because not all the Adaptec drivers(for instance) for certain cards WILL NOT fit on a single floppy.

Hey Microsoft, Adapt & Grow, or die! It's the way of life.

Besides, who in their right mind is even using archaic floppy drives for installs anymore???
 
Count me in as well. I had hell with two different floppy drives reading my sata driver floppies last time I loaded Windows XP Pro. What a pain. Floppies should burn in hell forever. :D
 
Add my vote to having the ability of putting drivers on a USB key. If not then at the bare minimum on a CD. Floppy drives are a $40 option on servers these days. It adds up dammit!
 
The dependancy for floppy drives for loading mass storage drivers for setup is really just a bad idea, and is regarded as one of the sillier aspects of the Windows OS. Like many have said, most computers come without floppy drives nowadays, and servers are dropping them too as any media drive is a source of viruses. There's no point to having a floppy any more, so requiring one at this stage is just backwards-thinking. CD drives are standardized now, so there's no reason not to load a generic CD driver to get the data from CD.

I also forgot to mention, with the new generation of motherboards, RAID-5 is going to become a reality for many home users, and by that point floppy drives will be considered useless and probabaly will not longer be an option from any of the OEMs. Longhorn *NEEDS* to have another option for loading the RAID drivers. It really shouldn't be a question.
 
DEATH TO FLOPPY!

seriously I really hate having to put a floppy drive into my rig whenever I want to install windows, its ugly, loud, slow...why cant i just put it on cdrom or better yet you could have some native support for it to begin with.
 
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