How to install windows xp

How to install Windows XP

 Introduction

This guide assumes that you are installing Windows XP on a new hard drive or hard drive that will be wiped and partitioned on a non-RAID computer.

Disclaimer: The purpose of this guide was to provide a thorough and robust procedure for installing Windows XP. This process erases your hard drive! Puget Systems shall not be liable for any consequential damage or loss to data or hardware.

Preparation

Before you begin, you'll need to:

A legal copy of Windows XP Home or Professional

A valid product key. This is a 25-digit alphanumeric symbol

Drivers required for motherboard, graphics cards, sound card, and any other device installed in your computer

Connect to the Internet to activate your Windows XP installation

Important: Before you start the installation of Windows XP, unplug any card readers, external hard drives, and thumb drives.

You must configure your computer to boot from the CD drive or the DVD drive first. You may need to configure the BIOS of your computer to give priority to booting from the CD-ROM drive or the DVD-ROM drive first. Refer to the User's Guide for the motherboard for instructions on how to do so.

If you are using an Asus motherboard, you can also press and hold the F8 key during startup to give you the machine "BBS" or "Boot Select Selection Menu". In this list, select the drive that contains the DVD and press Enter.

Composition

To install Windows XP by starting the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM, insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.

When you see a "Press any key to boot from the CD" message, press any key to start the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM.

Windows XP will scan the computers and load the drivers necessary to start the installation process. You do not need to do anything at this point until you reach the Welcome to Setup screen, which gives you the following options:

• To set up Windows XP now, press ENTER
• To repair the installation of Windows XP by using the Recovery Console, press R
• To exit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3

Press Enter to install Windows XP on your computer.

The next screen you will see is the End User License Agreement (EULA). You must accept this agreement by pressing the F8 key to continue the installation process.

You are now in the Windows XP Setup menu. Use the UP and DOWN ARROW keys to select the partition or drive on which you want to install the operating system, and press [Enter] to start the installation process. You can use this screen to delete or create partitions. You must install Windows XP on the C:

Note: There is no traditional way to retrieve any old data on a partition once the partition has been deleted. If you repartition the C: Drive drive, your computer will not be usable until you install Windows.

The following screen asks how you want to format your hard drive. There are two types of formatting options available for Windows XP:

1. FAT (File Allocation Table) - An older file format that provides less storage for data and does not have a security function or recoverable recovery function, but is required by certain types of computing environments.

2. NTFS (new technical file system) - the original environment in which XP is designed. NTFS not only provides better data storage, but also provides security and restore functionality.

Unless you have specific requirements for a FAT partition, NTFS is strongly recommended.

NOTE: If you are installing a new copy of Windows XP over an old or corrupt version of Windows, it is recommended that you do not use the Fast Format option, as the Quick Format option does not partition and reformat the hard drive, sectors as well as delete them.

After you copy the files, the device will restart. Leave the Windows XP CD in the drive, and do nothing when you see a "Press any key to boot from the CD" prompt. Installation will begin automatically.

Here you have the option to change language formats, time, date, and currency formats. Click Next to proceed to the next screen. Enter your name and organization (organization optional). Click Next to proceed to the next screen.

Enter the 25-character product code to install Windows XP. The product code can be found on the COA label on the back of the computer or in the Windows XP installation kit. You must enter the product key to complete the installation of Windows XP.

You can either provide a name for your computer or allow Windows to set it automatically. It is strongly recommended that you assign a strong password to the administrator account.

If you have a modem in your computer, enter the required settings at this time. You will also be prompted to confirm the date and time.