I am a self-taught, pseudo-hacker.
I am trying to install XP on a laptop that has a damaged factory re-install partition and it's CD drive is out of commission.
I downloaded tftpd32, made a crossover cable, got it set up and am able to ping my host PC with the laptop.
But I am having trouble with the "use net" command to get access to my shared DVD ROM from which I want to re-install XP.
What is the proper "use net" syntax for calling up the DVD ROM if my host ip is 192.168.1.5, the DVD is drive F (which I gave the name "CD" for the network), my username is HP_Administrator and I have no set password?
Do I need to set an admin password for it to work?
I keep getting system 67 and 53 errors.
Any help would be appreciated.

net use * \\192.168.1.5\cd /user:HP_administrator

I don't know WTF tftpd has to do with this.

Thank you.  That worked.

I'm sorry if I asked a stupid question regarding tftpd.  Like I said, I am self-taught.

My problem now is the "Install Windows" section is grayed-out when I access the CD from the laptop on the shared drive.
I navigated to i386 and ran winnt32.  It only makes it through the serial number section and I get
"No valid system partitions were found. Setup is unable to continue"
I tried the run "c: recover winnt32" and I get
"The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable"

Is the hard drive possibly shot?

you could always try to install xp via usb (if you have working usb ports).  Instructions for creating an installable usb drive are here.

FWIW you probably didn't need a crossover cable.  At least since around 2000, pretty much every Ethernet NIC made has included a technology (called Auto-MDIX) for automatically reversing the signaling, so a physical crossover cable hasn't been necesary for some time.  Apparently this information is not well-known, because I keep seeing discussions where people get convinced they need a crossover cable to hook up two Ethernet ports without a router (machine-to-machine).

Installing via PXE would be quite a trick - sorry you couldn't get it to work.

I tried to install XP from a USB stick (to a netbook) but had no luck.  It seems to depend heavily on the USB stick used and other mysterious factors.  Also the machine has to be able to boot from a USB device - not always the case for sufficiently old gear.   Good luck anyhow!

Success, but not the way I anticipated.

Hooking up allowed  me to format the hard drive and I got a hold of another laptop, put the formatted drive in it and installed XP with its CD drive.
(I could not even get into safe mode before the format.)
I had a hell of a time, however, getting all of the drivers for it from Dell.  That must be the slowest website in existence.

BTW - I tried the PeToUSB route with 5 different flash drives w/o any luck even though the BIOS was set for booting from a USB device

On some older machines, the usb drive has to be in the port @ power up for it to be reconized as a boot device.  Easiest solution I've found is to just use one of the  Linux live repair disks set up to boot from USB.

This.  Dell seems to go the extra mile to make it a pain in the butt to download drivers.

It was worse a couple of years ago (Xmas 2009).  I was working on a relative's Dell Inspiron 8200, and there was simply NO way to download drivers without using Dell's ridiculous "download manager" (which not only forced use of IE, but didn't even work).

Eventually, with the help of Google and various forums, I found a link to the FTP directory so I could grab drivers the way God intended.

Some time between then and now, Dell relented and now at least posts regular download links.  But yes, they are slow.

I can do it at work, pxe boot to linux, at the prompt type in the command to install the wanted version of windows (or a linux build) from the server, and it starts.  Come back in a few hours, and log in.  Don't ask me how the server is setup, but it works.