This is a basic overview for formatting your PC and installing Windows XP. Some details may vary due to your motherboard so consult your manual or your motherboard’s website on how to do what is needed. ALWAYS READ THE DAMN DIRECTIONS AND READ IT ALL. Please don’t ask simple questions that can be found here or in your manual.
First thing you need to do is backup your data. Anything you want to save, save it to a cd or dvd. What if you don’t have anything to back up your data with? Do it the hard way: putting your HD into another computer, transferring it via FTP or file sharing, or use a partition program to create a 2nd partition for you to copy the data base(beware that these programs can cause errors and make you lose your entire data).
If you have a brand computer such as HP or Dell consult your manual or website to find information on Restoring your computer. I know HP computers have hidden partition where you can restore your computer to when it was first opened. This will be much better than formatting complete because you won’t have to deal with reinstalling drivers and such.
Once you are done with backing up, take out your Windows XP bootable installation CD and have the CD key ready. If you have SATA hard drives you should have the SATA controller driver ready as well on a floppy disk. Please have the SATA hard drive connected to your computer only. Multiple drives might cause conflicts. If you have regular ATA hard drives, just make sure you have the proper Master/Slave settings. Also have your drivers for your computer ready. Or just have the drivers that will allow you to use the wireless or ethernet card so you can go online to download the needed drivers.
BEGIN
You will restart your computer and enter your motherboard’s BIOS.
To enter into the BIOS, you will restart. At the beginning you should see some options such as “Press Del to enter setup” or “Press Del to enter Bios.” They might use F10 or F12 etc. So consult your motherboard’s manual or just look around the screen for the option.
When you enter into the BIOS, normally it’s a blue background screen with options. Look through each option and try to find the “Boot Order,” which is defines which device, such as hard drives, cd roms, etc, to boot in a specified order. It might be displayed like this as well:
Boot 1st: HDD drive
Boot 2nd: CD rom
Boot 3rd: Floppy
You want your CD-ROM to boot first. Change the Boot 1st to CD-ROM. Once that is done save and restart.
Put the XP Installation CD into the CD-ROM drive. Your computer will search in the CD-ROM. When it says: “press any key to continue” press any key. If you have a SATA hard drive, put the floppy with the driver on it and put it in the floppy drive. Sata Hard Drive user, get ready to press F6.
You will get a blue Windows Setup screen. It will be loading so be patient. Right at the beginning it will ask if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver, SATA HARD DRIVE USERS press F6 now. Let the setup finish loading.
You should now be at the “Welcome” page.
Choose to setup Windows XP.
Follow the directions until you see this screen:
The table at the bottom represents the hard drive you have.
Delete the main partition, which usually is C:. So press D and follow the directions until you’re back to the screen above.
You will now no longer see C: and only see “unpartitioned space.”
Next, choose the Create partition in the unpartitioned space.
This is your chance to create multiple partitions. If you don’t want to create multiple partition then just create one and skip to installations.
Personally I would make two partitions. I will make a C:\ and a D:\ so I can store and backup data on the D:\ so when it’s time to reformat C:\, I won’t lose the data on D:\.
You will see a text box asking you how big you want the partition to be and how big you can possibly have it. I usually enter a number that’s approximately 1/4 of the maximum you can do. For example:
*note all numbers are approximations and I’m use using them to show you my point.
I have approximately 80GB( approx. 80000MB) hard drive. I will then create a partition of 25GB while the other 55GB will be left for a 2nd partition. So I change the number in the text box to 25000MB. It will bring me back to the screen with the table.
Choose create partition again and use the maximum number of space you can have for your 2nd partition. You will go back to the screen above. You should now see a C:\ partition and a D:\ partition. You are now ready to install Windows XP. Choose C:\ and choose to Setup Windows Xp on Selected Item. Format with NTFS.
INSTALLATIONS
Once it is done formatting the partition, it’ll restart and start the installation. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS ON THE SCREEN. It should be fairly easy to go through the process. Once you’re done it should boot to Windows XP.
The next step would be installing drivers.
DRIVERS
Right click on My Computer and click on Properties. Click on Hardware Tab and Device manager.
Anything with a yellow question mark needs to be updated. Go to your manufacturer’s website to get the latest drivers. If you download your drivers and it’s not an executable then right click on the yellow question mark under Device Manager and choose update driver. Find the driver and enjoy. Once all drivers are installed you are set to go.
UPDATES
Visit Windows Update to get the latest patches. For those who aren’t allowed on Windows Updates, go to Start>Settings>Control Panel>Internet Options>Programs tab>Manage add-ons> find Windows Genuine Advantage and disable it.
If you don’t see it you need to visit Windows Update and install their program first then try again.
Please visit the main page of my
tutorial thread for other programs such as free anti-virus scanner and firewall programs.
Linear Mode
