Attepting to help someone install from XP to reformatt and load on Windows7 on his laptop. The laptop cd drive internal doesn't work but he does have an external dvd rewriter that he uses but apparently he says he can't select the external as a first boot in BIOS as I guess suggested what to do, is he wrong and you can do this somehow? anyone any clue? The laptop is a comqaq prestario 2040 or something, oldish model.

Ultimatly he needs a way for all drivers to be put on for the laptop but without the drive in the laptop non working hes screwed?
thx

Can it boot from a USB memory stick? If so, you can copy the install dvd onto the stick. You'll need to make it bootable.

The other option is to make a base install of xp on the HD, then copy the dvd over to the hd and run the install from there - you can launch the set-up program from within xp and go from there.

It depends how old the laptop is. My old one had no option in the BIOS to boot from the USB ports, so that ruled out an external drive or CD-ROM.
It's very unlikely seeing as it's a laptop, but there may be a BIOS update available from the manufacturer that would allow it to boot from USB.
It there any chance of replacing the broken internal CR-ROM?

You could always take the HDD out, put it in another laptop (or desktop caddy), install the stuff you need, then put it back.