Install XP from USD DVD Drive

I have a mini-ITX computer that's obviously too small to house a built-in DVD drive. So I bought a USB to PATA adapter to convert a laptop DVD drive into an external USB DVD drive. I insert the Windows XP DVD disc into the drive, but the computer doesn't want to boot from the drive. I did set the first boot option to the USB DVD in the bios and the USB type to USB CD-Rom. System locks on booting. If I set the USB device option in the BIOS to USB Floppy then the system attempts to boot from the DVD drive, fails, then goes on to boot from the HDD. There is not a problem with the disc because I already used it to install XP to the laptop I pulled the DVD drive from. I did also set USB mode to legacy devices in the BIOS. Is there a BIOS setting I overlooked because obviously USB Floppy (or USB CD-ROM) option in the BIOS fails to boot the XP DVD disc. After the system starts up from the HDD, I can access the DVD disc just fine in explorer. It's just the PC refuses to boot Windows XP from the external USB DVD drive.

 

Maybe the drive is busted. Maybe the bios doesn't like the USB adapter. Why not buy a new external drive ? They're cheap now.

 

I have installed XP from an external USB DVD drive. It was not an adapter such as the one you describe but a standard USB DVD drive I purchased for installing onto a PC with no optical drive. I don't know how old your computer is but maybe you could try installing from USB flash drive.

 

Maybe a mini-ITX case can't permanently mount a DVD drive, but surely you could open the case and connect to a free SATA port, right? Just let the drive sit there on the desk, it won't jump around!
I've done this with lots of desktop DVD drives, but never a laptop DVD drive, hmm...

Have you tried booting any other CDs? Hiren's BootCD has a Mini Windows PE that can install a Windows CD to hard drive while bypassing the 1st DOS stage.