How to install Windows XP
Activate XP

Before we learn how to install Windows XP you have to consider the following, will you use Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional.

Both versions have their plus and minus points.

The Differences Are

The Ability to join to a Domain
RDC “ Remote desktop “
Only has Simple File Sharing
Does not have IIS “ Internet Information Server “

But XP Home Edition is about half the price of Professional .



I’m not going to go into detail on any of these points , if you need them you’ll already know what they are.

If you’ve never used any of them and your computer is not connected to a Network that is using a Domain, save yourself some money and purchase the Home Edition.

To begin you’ll need the following

The downside to this is now you have to have a computer with at least a low end Pentium 4 processor, at least 256mb RAM and a minimum of a 10gb hard Drive.

“ XP will run on lesser specs than these, well maybe crawl might be more apt , if you get my point “

Of course a Windows XP CD

Windows XP Service Pack 2 on CD “ This is important if you intend to put the computer onto the internet, this way you’ll be able to install XP Service pack 2 before you hit the internet, and your computer will be protected.

Otherwise your computer will not be protected at all, and even if you intend to download XP service pack 2 as soon as your online, it can only take literally seconds for an unprotected computer to pick up something nasty on the Internet .

For more information on XP Service pack 2 or Windows XP Firewall read our guides here.

Any third party drivers CD’s or disks

Ok let's learn how to install Windows XP

To begin with Power on your computer and put in your Windows XP Installation CD. You should see this message on the screen “ Press Any Key To Boot From CD “ so hit any key and the installation will begin.


At this stage the Windows Installation will look for any operating system already installed on the Hard Drive.

If it finds any installations you’ll be asked if you wish to repair the installation.


Hit enter

Now you’ll get the “ Welcome to Setup Screen “ Press the Enter key , read the license if you so wish and now hit the F8 key .

 

Next you’ll arrive at the hard drive partitioning and formatting screen.



Choose the drive you wish to partition , from here you can keep the drive as a single partition or create one or more.

For example a 60gb disk could be broken into 2 x 30gb partitions, 3 x 20gb partitions or 1 x 60gb partition, the amount of possibilities are limitless.

The standard way would be to have 2 partitions and unless it’s an exceptionally large hard drive, 50/50 would be the best size ratios.

This would then give you a C and a D drive.

Now you’ll have to format the drive, here you can perform a Quick or Fast format.

If you have a choice of file formats , better to choose NTFS over FAT32 , if you would like to find out more about

computer-adviser how to install windows XP NTFS and FAT32 file formats, you can read our article here.

Once you’ve decided partitions and disk formats, you can continue to the next step of the install.

computer-adviser how to install windows XP

After copying files for a few minutes , depending on the speed of your computer , the Windows XP installation with then reboot your computer.

Note on boot-up you will get the same message as before

“ Press Any Key To Boot From CD “

BUT DO NOT PRESS ANY KEYS

Or you'll be starting the install procedure again.

Now you should get the XP splash screen, once again the computer will whir away for a little while and then you'll be asked for configure your regional settings, this is simple just select where you live for your country and keyboard settings.

computer-adviser how to install windows XP

When done select Next .

Now you'll need to name your computer , you can call it anything you like.

Now's the time to enter the 25 digit authentication number.

You will either find this somewhere on your computer case , if you computer came with XP pre-installed, or it will be on the COA certificate of authenticity that came with your Windows XP CD

computer-adviser how to install windows XP

Select Next

Next you need to name your computer and choose an administrator password .

Note

If on a network no two computers can have identical names, or you'll get a naming conflict, keep popping up.

I would advise you read our windows security article at some stage where we cover secure naming conventions, and to make your computer as secure as possible.

Add the date and time settings

computer-adviser how to install windows XP

Next we have the network setup, unless you need to specify IP address details just choose next " most Internet service Providers this DHCP" , this can always be changed later if you need to use a static IP address.

computer-adviser how to install windows XP

Finally " yes you've made it " do you need to enter any domain or work group details.

If you are not on a domain , you can just enter anything for the workgroup name.


From here the computer will finish itself, now's a good time to take a little break as this can take anywhere from about 20 to 50 minutes.

And that is how to install windows XP

You will probably need to activate XP at some stage within the next few weeks, it will prompt you,

So when you are online , just select Activate Now and it will automatically activate you via the Microsoft Website.

" Only takes a few minutes " Once you're registered you can then install other free software from Microsoft such as their superb antispyware solution

" checkout our Anti-Spyware page where we cover this"

If you need any other help checkout some of our other pages such as

How to setup user accounts and increase the security on your computer

How to configure and implement the Windows XP firewall

What's in Windows XP 2 and why you should install it

Computer adviser.com for how to install windows XP , need computer hardware supply information ? , allow us to help install window XP / activate XP

computer adviser how to install windows XP article