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In this scenario, I will be using a retail copy of Windows XP Professional/SP2 and I will be installing it on a single drive computer. Manufacturers Recovery disks may not work the same way.
First, DO NOT INSTALL XP FROM YOUR DESKTOP! This will give you problems later. It was Microsoft’s way to make it easier for the end user to install Windows XP. This install has to be performed while your computer is booting or all your old files won’t be deleted.
Unplug your printer, scanner, external drives etc. from your tower. The only things that should be plugged in are the Mouse, Keyboard, Monitor, and Power Supply.
With the XP Disk inserted in the CD Drive boot the computer. Look carefully at your screen till you see a prompt that says “press any key to boot to the CD” (if you don’t see this prompt you will have to change your boot sequence in the BIOS. I will post those instructions at the end of this tutorial) press any key quickly and you’re on your way.
Next window will ask you to press enter to continue to setup XP:
If you wish to preform a "Repair Install" do not press "R" at this window, just continue as if you were preforming a clean install at this time.
Next you will come to the License Agreement, press F8 to agree:
Windows will now look for previous install versions of windows. This is where you would press R to select a repair install if thats what you are planning to do. If you press R, windows will automatically start to find and replace all the windows xp files. For a repair install, the next 7 screenshots will be replaced by This one <--- This link doesn't work...
The next window will show you a snapshot of your partitions and/or Drives. Here you will be deleting your old operating system:
Highlight the C: partition (if yours is C) and press “D” to delete it. Not everyone will see 2 conformation windows but in most cases you will. Press “Enter” for the first one and “L” for the second one:
Now you will see a window with your unformatted and empty partition. This is also where you would create extra partitions by pressing "C". Just hit next to continue with a standard single partition install:
If your Hard Drive is more than 32 GB, you will see a window that looks like my screenshot below. If it is less than 32 GB you will have a choice between file systems. NTFS or FAT32 are the file systems. In my opinion the NTFS file is the future and FAT32 is the past. NTFS is one of the best parts of Windows XP but it’s your choice and this is where you make that choice.
I also recommend to choose a full format instead of a “Quick” one. Once you highlight your selection, press enter.
Setup will start formatting:
Then setup will start loading XP’s files:
Here you will choose your language, for English just press enter:
Here you will enter the name that will be displayed in System Properties. Enter your name and press next:
The next window you will be asked to enter the product code for the XP Disk that you are using:
Here, Windows will suggest a name for your computer incase you ever join a network. You can change the suggestion to something else if you want to:
Now you choose your time zone and date:
Installation continues:
The next 2 windows you may not see but if you do just hit next on both of them:
Now you will have a break, go get a cup of coffee and a doughnut!! Installation continues:
You are getting close to the end. Hit next on the “Welcome” window.
In the next window you will choose to use auto update or not to use auto update. It’s a lot easier to choose “Help to Protect my Computer etc.” for now so you won’t be bothered with it while you are installing all your software. You can change that setting later if you prefer to:
The next 2 windows you can just “skip” its something that you will do later.
The next windows are the activation/registration windows, just choose to do that later:
The next window you will enter the name that will be inserted on your start menu:
You’re finished!!! Hit Finish:
About I minute later you will be on your new desktop. Can you guess who I had in mind when I created this tutorial?
You could receive an extra window or two during your installation because of our hardware differences, if this happens to you.... don't worry.... just read it carefully and do what it asks of you.
If you don’t like being prompted during a boot for a password, don’t fill in the password if asked during setup.
In some cases, you may need to install Sound drivers, NIC drivers etc. To find out you can click start >> right click “My Computer” select properties >> Hardware tab >> Device Manager and look for exclamation points or question marks, if you do have some, that will be the hardware that needs drivers. In most cases you can find these drivers on the disks that came with your computer if your computer came with XP already installed on it.
Most manufacturers will include two or three recovery or driver disks with their systems. The drivers that you need for your hardware will be found on one of those disks. Windows can search those disks automatically. For this example we will have Windows look for sound drivers.
Just put the first disk in the CD Drive. If it launches, just X out of that window.
Then go into Device Manager again ( click start >> right click “My Computer” select properties >> Hardware tab >> Device Manager) and find the sound card and double click on it (yours will be different from this one) >> select the driver tab and click "update driver", Windows will search your computer and the disk for the driver that you need.
If Windows can't find the driver on the first disk, you will see a window like this:
Just try the other manufacturers disks the same way.
If Windows can't find the drivers that you need, post back here and someone will help you find what you need.
Enjoy your fresh copy of Windows XP with our complements from us here at Smartest Computing.
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