Can XP load pre-installation drivers from anywhere other than a floppy?

Solution 1:

You can put them directly on the CD unsing nLite (great tool to customize installation)! That's what I did for my SATA controller

Documentation

Solution 2:

You could use nLite to add the appropriate driver to a copy of your install CD, then boot and let Windows find the driver by itself.

http://www.nliteos.com

Of course, a floppy drive is so cheap that buying one is probably the most reasonable option. But probably not as fun though ;-)

Solution 3:

Without a floppy drive you have 4 choices:

1. install a floppy drive
2. use an external usb floppy drive IF the bios has an option to enable legacy support for usb
3. slipstream the drivers using program like nLite
4. manually create an XP install cd with the needed drivers

See this Microsoft support article to find out which USB floppy drives are supported by XP.

Solution 4:

some (newer) Mainboards support an USB-Stick connected on Startup so if you are promted "for thrid-Party drivers" you can access the USB-Drive.

it will work when the BIOS has an Option to Boot from USB-Devices, because it will check for attached usb-devices during the start