Complete Guide to Install fresh Windows XP

Now this is obvious but easily overlooked, make sure you can boot from your CD/DVD Drive. In order to do this you will have to enter BIOS software and change the Boot order. Check the manual that came with the PC or motherboard for information about entering the BIOS. From previous experience it usually tells you as the computer is starting up and says something like press (Delete or F9, they are the favourite although it could be anything!!) to enter Set Up. There are many different types of BIOS this is Phoenix.

You want the order to be CD/DVD, Floppy, and Master HDD. Once in Set Up (BIOS) follow the onscreen instructions and change the Boot order.

Once the boot order has been changed don't forget to save and exit.

*You can test to see whether you need to do all that by simply inserting the Windows XP disc and rebooting. If set up begins or you see a message about hitting any key to Boot from CD you are ready to go...cancel the Boot i.e don't press any key..*

Install windows
1. Press any key to boot from CD
Insert the WIndows XP CD-ROM and reboot your computer. You will see a screen telling you to press any key to boot from CD...do.

You will see a message about inspecting your system.

2. Windows Setup
This is the MS-DOS part of Setup. In this first stage you will see a series of blue and grey MS-DOS based screens. In the grey bit at the bottom you will be asked if you need to install any third-party of RAID drivers..(Thats a totally different tutorial!!) So don't press F6!!
Still in the grey bar at the bottom you will be told you can start an Automated System Recovery by pressing F2...don't press that either...

3. Windows XP Professional Setup
Setup begins. In this step you can setup XP, launch the Recovery Console or quit.
Press ENTER to continue Setup and it will examine your hard drives and removable disks. NOTE: This could say Windows XP Home depending on your version!! Duh!!

4. Windows XP Licensing Agreement
You will have to agree to Microsoft's complex licensing agreements. Among other things it tells you that: You don't actually own Windows XP and you can only install it on one PC.
I know no one reads this but you should...it's interesting!!
Press F8 to continue.

5. Installation Partition
This is a clean install so we will install onto the C: Drive. (I don't want to go into dual booting at the moment..that once again is a different tutorial) I would suggest if there are any partitons here you delete them and just setup on the one. It keeps it neater.

6. File System
In your new partition you can change the file system. The one you want is the NTFS system. Its more secure and faster than the older FAT system.
There is debate about whether to choose the quick or normal format options, suffice to say they do the same thing and the normal is very slow where as the quick is very fast!! So for this installation we will choose quick.
So Format the partition using NTFS file system (quick)

7. Format the Partition
Setup will now format the drive. You will be asked if you want to change anything and to verify the partition.
Press F to continue.

A yellow progress bar will indicate the status of the format. When this is complete, Setup will examine your disk and create a list of files to copy.

8. Setup Folder copy and reboot
Setup will now copy system files to the system/boot partition you just created. This will allow the PC to boot from the C: drive and continue Setup in GUI mode!!!.
When the file copy is complete Windows will tell you it is restarting and a red bar will appear, just let it go through the motions.

On restart you will see the Press any key to boot from CD screen, do NOT press any key.

Setup will now boot from your C: drive.
If for any reason you can't stop it from booting from the CD, eject it and reboot your system. Windows will ask for the CD when it is required.

9. GUI Setup begins
You will now be presented with the GUI Setup phase, it's typical XP and a lot smarter than the DOS mode. As you progress through this phase you can read all the promotional material from Microsoft about XP to get into the XP zone while Setup detects your hardware devices!! This can take quite a while....

10. Regional and Language Options
You can now choose to customize the regional and language settings. NOTE: Make sure you change the keyboard input settings, you could set the Language to English 9UK but the keyboard could be English (US).
Click Next to continue...

11. Enter your Name and Company
This name is not the same as your user name. It will be used to personalise your software. So you should use your real name and optionally your company!!
Click Next to continue...

12. Enter your Product Key
Time to enter the 25-character product key that is located on the orange sticker on the back of the Windows XP case. You cannot install XP without a valid product key. NOTE: You can only use this to install on one computer and if this is not totally valid you will not be able to activate XP later on!!*cough*
Click Next to continue...

13. Enter a Computer Name and Administrator Password
Next phase we need to create a name for your computer which is used to identify it on a Network and with the Professional Edition you can create a password for the Administrator (You!!) You can call it what you want or leave it with the generated one.
In XP Professional the Administratr Password is optional, you can leave it blank. XP Home doesn't allow you to enter an Administrator Password as this account is more hidden on XP Home for some reason. Click Next to continue...
Windows XP Professional

Windows XP Home

14. Date and Time Settings
Now we supply the Date and Time (which are auto set using your system BIOS) and the time zone which is set to PST because thats where Microsoft are based...great fact!!
Click Next to continue...

15. Network Setup
If you have a network card or modem, setup now installs the networking components, which include the the client for Microsoft networks, File and Print sharing, the QoS Packet Scheduler and the TCP/IP networking protocol by default.

16. Choose Network Settings
You can choose to keep the default settings or you can....leave it on the default settings!!! Unless you have specific needs dictated by your network, is so consult them...and adjust accordingly.

With Windows XP Professional you can enter your Workgroup or Domain information. The Home Edition doesn't work with Windows Domains and setup automatically supplies the workgroup name MSHOME, which you can change later. The default name in XP Pro is WORKGROUP!!!!
Click Next to continue...

17. Setup Completion
From this point on, Setup will continue to completion without any more interaction from you and will take about 20-30 mins. So do what you do........

Setup is copying files, completing installation, installing your Start menu items, registering system components, saving settings, removing any temporsry files needed by Setup and will then reboot.

Once again on reboot you will see the Press any key to boot from CD screen, do NOT press any key.!!

Your new XP install will boot up!!!!!
Yippeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!

18. First Boot
You will be greated by the XP splash screen on first boot.
The splash screens for XP Pro and Home are subtly different!!!

Windows XP Professional Edition

Windows XP Home Edition

19. Change Display Settings
If you have a CRT monitor (and some LCD's such as Laptops and Flat Panel Displays) you will see a Display Setting dialog which askd whether you'd like XP to automatically set the screen resolution. This wil change the resolution from 800x600 to 1024x768.

Click OK and allow XP to change it. Then accept the settings if you can read the display...If you can't don't do anything and it will revert back in 30 seconds.

20. Welcome to Microsoft Windows
This is XP's Out Of Box Experience or OOBE. A Wizard that will guide us through the final stages of Setup.
Click Next to continue...

21. Network Setup
You are asked to set up your network/internet connection, which is required for activation and registration *cough* If you selected the default networking configuration during Setup and know it will work you can select Yes otherwise you can select No and skip it... Lets select Yes.
Click Next to continue...

22. Activate and Register Windows
If you selected Yes in the Network Setup you are asked to activate Windows XP. *cough* Activation require a connection to the internet but you can skip this and activate later so don't worry. XP will remind you for 60 days until you do!! If you don't then Windows locks.
Registration is optional and is just giving your information to Microsoft.
Click Net to continue...

23. Set Up Users
Nearly there...this is setting up the user names/accounts of people who are going to be using the PC. You need at least one (Yours!!)
Click Finish and your ready to Start.....