I have pc running windows xp and another older pc with windows 98 on a bad hd. I would like to disable the hd and run the old pc as a diskless workstation. Everything on the net involves linux, windows server, etc. Is it possible to use my current resources to accomplish this? Does anyone have a step by step guide on how to accomplish.
Additional Information:
My dead PC has Windows 98 on the dead HD. It does have a Network booting option in the BIOS (LAN, C, D,). It has network card but I’m unsure if it is bootable. I really appreciate all the help and will review the links. I was trying to avoid Linux, because I’m unfamiliar with it, but it looks like I’m going to have to learn it.
As you’ve found it is not so simple to do this without a server version of windows using terminal server or citrix, or without using linux. One main reason it’s quite easy to do this with Linux is that Xwindows was programmed as a server/client GUI.
Here is a way of doing it with older windows versions, though it would involve using linux:
http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/Diskless-HOWTO.html#s6
I think PXES requires a server.
What you could probably use is thinstation:
http://thinstation.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/ThHowto-win?PHPSESSID=c3be8ceb86f33067d6accb083637d8c9
Check the FAQ:
http://thinstation.sourceforge.net/faq.html
you can use XP for a single workstation.
You can also check here:
http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/downloads/windows_terminal_services_software/
No. Windows XP Home and XP Professional do not include services to support booting diskless workstations and loading an operating system (configurable DHCP server and TFTP server).
If you really mean “diskless workstation” — no hard drive, no CD-ROM, no floppy drive — your dead computer BIOS must support network boot, and you need a network card that supports remote booting facilities. Read up on PXE (Preboot Execution Environment).
If your dead PC has a CD-ROM drive, and your BIOS supports booting from the CD-ROM, you may wish to investigate some the minimal or trial Linux distributions that are meant to be run from a booted CD-ROM. In the second link below, look for the “Live CD” category of distributions.