How to Install Windows XP

How to Install Windows XP – Introduction

You may wish to install Windows XP instead of the more recent Windows Vista or Windows 7 offerings from Microsoft. Perhaps you already own the software and do not want to upgrade to Windows Vista or Windows 7 or maybe you have programs that will not run under these newer operating systems or drivers/games etc that are not approved by Windows Vista or Windows 7.

Whatever the reason, we will now examine how to install Windows XP. There are two main versions of Windows XP and this guide covers how to install Windows XP in both of these variants, although the guide does use the Windows XP Professional version for the screenshots etc.If you are building a new PC then you can purchase an OEM version of Windows XP.You will find this a much cheaper alternative to the full retail version, the only difference being the lack of telephone or any technical support.Mountains of support is available on the internet for any problem you are likely to come up against though and unless you really want to pay for this we would strongly recommend that you stick with the OEM version.If you are constructing a new PC then you will already be performing a clean installation but if you are simply upgrading or re-installing we would still always recommend a clean installation of Windows XP rather than an upgrade or re-install over your current Windows XP installation.Why? Well, any problems you may have with your current installation may still be there after you re-install / upgrade and some applications may not work correctly requiring you to re-install these anyway.A clean installation will get rid of any ‘bloatware’ that will undoubtedly have accrued in your installation.A clean installation will require that you back up all your files and folders as a clean install will wipe your hard drive of everything including your settings and programs.If you are re-installing then do please ensure that you have separately backed up any documents, photos and music files etc that you simply cannot afford to lose to a safe medium that you are sure you can restore from. See our page on Data Backup to avoid any potential disasters. Once you’ve lost it it’s gone for good you know!!

How to Install Windows XP – Installation

You can boot directly from your Windows XP CD. Insert the XP Installation CD into your optical drive and the installation should begin.Note that you may need to enter your PC BIOS to change the order of boot devices if you are re-installing otherwise your PC may simply start up with your current version of Windows.The BIOS can be accessed at start up by pressing the Del, F1, F2 or ESC key dependant upon your BIOS version and manufacturer.Set your BIOS so that the first boot device is your CD/DVD drive and insert the Windows XP CD in the drive ready. Hit ‘Save Configuration’ after setting up your BIOS and the system should now boot from the Windows XP CD.

You will now see a ‘Press any key to boot from CD’ message

Just press ‘Enter’ to proceed with setting up our installation of Windows XP.

You will then be asked to ‘Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver’. If you are installing on a SATA type drive set to run in a RAID configuration or in AHCI mode rather than IDE mode then you will need to press F6 at this point and load the required drivers.

To set up your SATA, RAID array or AHCI now, you will need a floppy disk with the appropriate drivers installed.

You will find these drivers on your motherboard CD or if not you can download them from the motherboard manufacturers website and copy them on to a floppy disk.

Of course in order to install these you must have a 3.5” floppy disk drive installed or have one available that you can temporarily connect up during the installation process.

You will not need to properly install the floppy drive inside your PC case if you do not want to, just connect up the power and floppy ribbon cable to the PSU and motherboard and allow your BIOS to detect it.

Allow the installation to finish and at the next power down, should you so wish, you can disconnect and remove the floppy drive and cables and reboot your PC.

The next screen will ask you to press F2 if you wish to perform an Automated System Recovery (ASR) – just ignore this and wait for setup to carry on and load all the relevant files.

After all of the files and drivers are loaded the Windows ‘Welcome to Setup’ screen will appear.

 Press ‘Enter’ to continue with the Windows XP setup.

You will now be asked to accept the license agreement, if you agree with the terms - press ‘F8’ to do so.

 Okay you should now see the next screen inviting you to install Windows XP on your Hard disk drive.

As we have a new hard drive you will see that the drive is listed as ‘unpartitioned’

To create a partition for Windows to be installed on press the ‘C’ key 

Now select / highlight your drive partition you created and press ‘Enter’ to continue installing Windows XP on this drive.

Windows will now tell you that your partition requires formatting.

Windows XP works best on an NTFS file system and you should select this and press ‘Enter’ again.

Do not choose the ‘quick option’ as this bypasses important disk physical integrity checks.

Note that if the hard disk has previously been formatted with the older FAT16 or FAT 32 type formats, Windows XP will present options to convert the file system. You should always opt for the newer, more stable NTFS file format where possible.

You should now see a screen stating ‘Set up is Formatting’ together with a percentage complete status bar. 

After Windows XP has finished formatting your drive, set up will begin copying files to your hard drive.

Once this is completed it will reboot automatically and present you with the following screen indicating that setup is initializing your Windows XP configuration. 

This will all take sometime and you may wish to go and get a coffee whilst waiting!!

Your PC will eventually perform a restart and the prettier part of the installation procedure will begin leaving the text type format behind.

Windows will inform you that it is ‘Collecting information’, performing a ‘Dynamic update’ and ‘Preparing installation’ whilst simultaneously telling you all about the new features you will discover with your operating system.

Just sit tight until you are asked to confirm your ‘Regional and Language Options’.

You will more than likely just click next at this point unless you should wish to change your region or language.

Clicking on the ‘Customize’ button will allow you to change your input language, keyboard layout, numbers, dates, currency, etc if you should wish to – just click on ‘Next’ when you have finished.

 Following this you are invited to type in your name and organization. For home use just enter your name and click on the ‘Next’ button - note that you have to enter a name but the Organization box can be left blank.

 Now you will need to enter the 25 digit alpha-numeric key code which you should find on the back of your CD wallet.

 A name will now be required for your computer so that it can be identified on your network. This must be a unique name so that there is no conflict with other network users.

You may leave the ‘Administrator password’ blank if you wish but it will be much more secure if you do opt to allocate a password for much greater security.

 Next configure the date and time and tick the ‘Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes’ box. Click the ‘Next’ button to continue.

Windows XP will now continue on with preparing the installation and you must wait patiently for a little while longer. 

Finally you will be asked to select your ‘Networking Settings’.

If you are proposing setting up a home network ‘Workgroup’; or as a standalone computer you should select the ‘Typical settings’ and then click the ‘Next’ button.

Now on to the ‘Workgroup or Computer Domain’ page. For a typical home computer network you should select ‘No, this computer is not on a network, or is on a network without a domain. Make this computer a member of the following workgroup’. You can leave the default ‘WORKGROUP’ or change this to be the same workgroup name as the rest of the computers on your home network if that is called something different. Remember that different versions of Windows may use different workgroup names.

Do not worry too much here as you can change all these settings later on if you should wish.

 Windows will carry on setting up on its own now with no need for any intervention by you. Eventually your PC will restart and you will see the Windows XP splash screen.

Next you will see the ‘Welcome to Microsoft Windows’ screen – click ‘Next’ to continue. 

Windows checks your internet connectivity and then asks you if the computer will connect to the internet through a network?

If you have a home network that this computer will connect to you should select ‘Yes’ but if you are connecting directly to the internet through a modem then you select ‘No’. Click ‘Next’ to continue.

You will now be given the opportunity to register and activate your Windows XP installation. Most of you should select yes as the easiest option. Again, click ‘Next’ to continue. 

Set up should now finalize the installation and reboot again. Upon reboot Windows will ask if you would like to improve the appearance by adjusting your screen resolution, click ‘Okay’.

Click ‘Ok’ again to accept the screen resolution adjustment. 

You will now be asked to enter the user names of your computer so that each user can have their own customized profile. You only need to enter one name in order to proceed. Enter the details as required and click ‘Next’ to continue.

Windows will now ‘Thank you!’ and you should click ‘Finish’ to complete the installation.

 A ‘Welcome’ screen will appear briefly…..

Then you should now see the default Windows XP desktop screen 

Congratulations! You are up and running.

You should now take some time to update your operating system, protect yourself from viruses and potential hackers and install the latest drivers for your motherboard, graphics card and sound card etc.