Windows XP Clean Install

This guide is meant to give you a helpful tutor that will guide you while installing Windows. Before you start, make sure that your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive is bootable.

Also, please note that this clean install will erase EVERYTHING from your hard drive. That includes documents, pictures, music, programs, etc. Just a friendly reminder. A clean install is usually meant for new PCs or PCs where you have just installed a new hard drive. However, you can still use this method if want to install Windows XP on a PC with files and an operating system already on it. Just be aware that everything will be erased.

The installation is a fairly easy process, but if you haven’t done it before, we recommend just following along with the guide. Let’s get started!

Step-by-Step: Installing Windows XP

Note that the XP Home and Pro Setup procedure is subtly different. I’ll make it obvious when certain steps are for Pro- or Home-only.

1. Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM and reboot the computer
If you see a message about hitting any key to boot the CD, do so now.

Otherwise, you will see a message about Setup inspecting your system.

2. MS-DOS portion of Setup begins
In the first stage of Setup, you will see a series of blue and gray MSDOS-based screens. In the first step, you will be asked to press F6 if you need to install any third-party or RAID drivers.

Then, you can press F2 to initiate the Automated System Recovery (ASR) tool, a new XP feature that lets you recover non-booting systems from XP Setup. Ignore this.

Finally, Setup will load the files it needs to start a bare bones version of XP. This may take a few minutes.

3. Welcome to Setup
Finally, Setup begins. In this step, you can set up XP, launch the Recovery Console (another, more complicated system recovery tool), or quit.

Press ENTER to continue Setup.

4. Read the license agreement
Next, you’ll have to agree to Microsoft’s complex licensing agreement. Among the highlights: You don’t actually own Windows XP and you can only install it on one PC.

Hit F8 to continue.

5. Choose an installation partition
This crucial step lets you choose where to install XP. On a clean install, you will typically install to the C: drive, but you might have other ideas. Setup will show you all of your available disks (in this case, just one) and let you create and delete partitions as needed. So, for example, if you have one disk, but would like to create two partitions, one for XP and one for your data, you can do that here. We recommend storing all of your data on a single partition though.

6. Select the file system
If you created a new partition, or wish to change the file system of an existing partition, you can do so in the next step. I recommend going with the NTFS “Quick” option.


7. Optionally format the partition
If you did choose to change or format the file system, this will occur next. First, you’ll be asked to verify the format. If you’re installing XP on a system with more than one partition, especially one that still holds your data on one of the partitions, be sure you’re formatting the correct partition.

Hit F to continue, and a yellow progress bar will indicate the status of the format. When this is complete, Setup will again examine your disks, and create a list of files to copy.

8. Setup folder copy phase and reboot
Setup will now copy system files to the system/boot partition(s) 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, your PC will then reboot your PC.

When the system reboots, you will probably see the “Press any key to boot from CD” message again. If this happens, do not press a key:

Setup will now boot from your C: drive. In the event that you cannot prevent the CD-based Setup from reloading, eject the CD and reboot. Setup will ask for the CD when needed.

9. Regional and language Options
In the first interactive portion of GUI Setup, you can choose to customize the regional and language settings that will be used by XP, as well as the text input language you’d like. Users in the United States will not normally need to change anything here.

Click Next to continue.

10. Personalize your software
Now, enter your name and, optionally, your company.

The name you enter is not the same as your user name, incidentally, so you should enter your real name here.

Click Next to continue.

11. Enter your product key
Now you must enter the 25-character product key that is located on the sticker found on the back of the CD holder that came with Windows XP. You cannot install XP without a valid product key.

Later on, you will be asked to activate and optionally register your copy of Windows XP.

A product key can be used to install XP on only one PC. If you need to install on more than one PC, you can order additional copies of Windows XP from our eBay store.

12. Enter a computer name and administrator password
In the next phase of Setup, you can create a name for your computer (which is used to identify it on a network) and, optionally in Pro Edition only, a password for the system Administrator, the person who controls the PC (this will generally be you, of course).

Setup generates a random name for your PC, but it’s always nasty looking, so I recommend renaming it to something more logical (Family_PC or whatever). After Setup is complete, you can provide a better description of the PC too (like Smith Family’s desktop computer or whatever).

In XP Pro, the Administrator password is optional--that is, you can leave it blank--but I strongly recommend that you provide a good password here for security reasons. XP Home doesn’t allow you enter an Administrator password, as this account is more hidden on Home installs for some reason. So you can only enter a machine name in Home Edition.

Click Next to continue.

13. Supply your date and time settings
Next, you can supply the date and time, which are auto-set based on information in your BIOS, and the time zone, which is irritatingly set to PST, which is where Microsoft is. Change these as appropriate.

Click Next to continue.

14. Network setup
If you have a networking card or modem, Setup now installs the networking components, which include the client for Microsoft networks, File and Print Sharing, the Quality of Service (QoS) Packet Scheduler, and the TCP/IP networking protocol by default.

15. Choose networking settings
In this phase, you can choose to keep the default settings (recommended) or enter custom settings. We recommend just using the typical settings.

Click Next to continue.

15b. Enter workgroup or domain information
In Windows XP Professional only, you will be able to select a workgroup or domain name next. Home Edition doesn’t work with Windows domains, however, and Setup will automatically supply the workgroup name MSHOME, which you can change later. The default workgroup name in XP Pro is, imaginatively, WORKGROUP.

16. Setup completion
From this point on, Setup will finish up without any further need for interaction. Setup will then reboot. Again, you will probably see the “Press any key to boot from CD” message on reboot. If this happens, do not press a key, and your new XP install will boot up.

17. First boot
You’ll be greeted by the XP splash screen on first boot (this actually appears briefly when you rebooted into GUI Setup as well).

18. Change display settings
Users with CRT monitors and some LCDs (such as laptops and flat panel displays) will see a Display Settings dialog appear, which asks whether you’d like XP to automatically set the resolution. This will generally change the resolution from 800 x 600 to 1024 x 768 on a CRT monitor, or to the native resolution of an LCD display.

Click OK and let XP change the resolution. Then, accept the settings if the screen display changes and can be read. If you can’t see the display, it will time out after 30 seconds and return to the sub-optimal 800 x 600 resolution.

Click OK to accept the screen resolution change.

19. Welcome to Microsoft Windows
Now, you are presented with XP’s “Out of Box Exerience,” or OOBE, which presents a silly wizard to guide you through the final set up of your PC.

Click Next to continue.

20. Network setup
In the opening phase, you are asked to set up your network/Internet connection, which is required for activation and registration. If you selected the default networking configuration during Setup and know it will work, then select Yes (the default). Otherwise, you can select No and then Skip.

Click Next to continue.

21. Optionally activate and register Windows
If you selected Yes in the previous step, you are asked if you’d like to activate Windows XP. This will tie your copy of XP to the current PC semi-permanently, so be sure this is what you want. Activation requires a connection to the Internet, but you can perform this step later if you want.

22. Set up users
Now, you can set up the user names of the people who will be using the PC. You will want at least one user (for you), since you shouldn’t be logging on as Administrator.

Click Finish when done creating users. At this point, OOBE ends and you’re reading to go. Click Finish again.

Once Windows XP is installed, it’s time to perform a few post-installation tasks:

1. Immediately run Windows Update to bring sure your system is up-to-date. You should visit this site right away (you can click the icon in Start -> All Programs and it will be at the top). Keep installing and rebooting until you’ve got them all.

2. Make sure that you have all the device drivers installed. Open up Device Manager (Open the Start menu, right-click My Computer, choose Properties, then go to the Hardware Tab and click Device Manager) and make sure all of your hardware was detected and has working drivers. If any do not--as evidenced by a yellow exclamation next to the device’s name, you can visit our eBay Store . If we do not have the drivers, we recommend that you visit the manufacturer’s website or use the driver CDs that may have been included with your PC.

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