This is not a guide to installing Vista on your m200. If you are looking for step-by-step instructions to install Vista on your m200, please see the post here. This post is a series of hints and tips that will help you should you run into problems when following the step-by-step guide.
First, please be sure you followed all the steps in the guide correctly. If you can’t get it to work the first time, try starting over at step one and working through all the steps again. Be particularly careful to type commands exactly as they appear in the guide.
- Check that you have connected the m200 and your server computer together correctly. The best way to do this is to use an Ethernet crossover cable and directly connect the two computers.
- Make sure you don’t have a firewall enabled. Third party programs such as Norton System Works have a built in firewall. You will need to disable this firewall completely while following the guide. Additionally, Windows XP Sp2 and later includes a firewall that is turned on by default. You can turn this firewall off in the control panel.
- Make sure Tftp32.exe is running. This seems obvious but you need the program running constantly while working on the m200.
- Make sure Tftp32.exe is configured correctly. In particular, check the DHCP tab and make sure the values are entered exactly as shown in the guide. Also, check the Tftp32.exe “settings” page and notice the “.” under “Base Directory”.
- When booting the m200, you must tap “F2” repeatedly until you can use the arrow keys to select the network boot icon. Then after selecting network book, the m200 will attempt to obtain an IP address. You will see the IP address displayed once one is obtained. It should be “192.168.1.10”. If it is something else, the DHCP tab of Tftp32.exe is setup incorrectly.
- Immediately after seeing the IP address displayed on the m200, you must press “F12” to continue booting from the network. If you are too slow, the m200 will skip the network boot and try to boot from the hard drive.
- When Windows PE has booted and you are presented with a command line, type “ipconfig”:
- If the “IPv4” reports “192.168.1.10”, the m200 has a proper IP address.
- If the “IPv4” reports anything else, the m200 has not received a proper IP address. If this is the case, type “netsh interface ip set address name=”Local Area Connection” static 192.168.1.10 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.5″ and then press enter. Be sure you include the quotes around “Local Area Connection” when you type the command. Now type “ipconfig” and the value for “IPv4” should be “192.168.1.10”.
- When mapping the CD network location to “y:” be sure to type the command correctly. The is a space between “y:” and “\\192.168.1.5”.
- When entering the username and password for the networked CD drive, you need to enter the username as “\\servername\username”. If you just enter the user name, the connection will fail.
- If the option to install Windows is grayed out, see this post.
If after trying all of the above steps, you still cannot get Vista installed on the m200, post a comment and I will try to help.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Alex // Jun 19, 2008 at 10:03 PM
what about installng windows vista x64? is there a way to do this?
2 Ryan Adams // Jun 19, 2008 at 10:21 PM
Won’t work. Windows Vista x64 (and Windows XP x64) are designed for 64-bit processors. The processor in the m200 is only 32bit.
3 Shaun // Aug 1, 2008 at 2:11 AM
Now can get to Win PE but when I try to map the CD Drive (net use y: \\192.168.1.5\cd) it gets system error 1231… The Network location cannot be reached…
-____-
Please Help!
Shaun
4 Ryan Adams // Aug 1, 2008 at 10:03 AM
@Shaun: Confirm that Windows PE is using the correct IP address.
5 Shaun // Aug 1, 2008 at 9:58 PM
When I type ipconfig, it just says “Windows IP Configuration” nothing else.
Also, Do I need to download Windows PE Seperately or is everything I need in the download you provide?
Regards,
Shaun
6 Anonymous // Aug 2, 2008 at 9:38 AM
Many thanks for your reply. I stayed up till 5am sorting it out and finally cracked it! Turns out I was not entering the space after “y:”
I cannot thank you enough for your wonderful guide. Donation on its way….you’ve definetely earned it!
Cheers
7 Ryan Adams // Aug 2, 2008 at 9:43 AM
@Shaun: Windows PE is included with the download. It is the basic operating system that is loaded over the network.
Try typing “ipconfig /all”. If the text “Windows IP Configuration” is still the only response, it indicated Windows PE is hanging while checking your IP address. This could be due to a corrupt download, incorrect setup, or a hardware problem. Try redownloading the ZIP file from my site and starting over fresh.
8 heri // Sep 4, 2008 at 2:54 PM
i already follow your step by step but when i turn on my m200 (step 11) my m200 won’t state ip 192.168.1.10 it alwayshave the same ip as my ‘server’. i already check a dozen time in my dhcp server setting but still couldn’t find the mistake i would probably make. help please….
9 Ryan Adams // Sep 4, 2008 at 5:39 PM
@heri: Be sure to triple check the TFTP32 settings. Make sure that the “Starting address” is set to 192.168.1.10 and that the IP of your server is manually configured to be lower than that.
If all the settings are indeed correct, try using the “netsh” command on the m200 as detailed above.
10 Ryan Adams // Sep 14, 2008 at 7:00 PM
I’ve closed commenting on this post. If you are still having problems, please triple check all the points above. 90% of the people who have contacted me have simply skipped a step or mistyped a command.
If you are still having trouble, visit the Tech Support Services link in the upper left of this page to learn about paid support options.