HOW TO INSTALL WINDOWS XP

Phase I - Graphical User Interface Phase.

The preferred method for initiating a

clean install of Windows XP is by booting
from the XP CD. If the CD drive is not set
as the primary boot device it will be
necessary to access and modify the BIOS
settings. Once the CD drive is set to be
polled before the hard drive, insert the XP
CD into the drive and power on the
system. If the screen shown in Figure 01
Figure 01 appears, all is well and the clean install of
Windows XP Professional is underway.

Almost immediately after Windows setup

begins the screen shown to the left will
appear. Unless you have the very latest in
hardware you probably won't need to
press the F6 key to install and SCSI or
RAID driver. However, when XP is first
installed it tries to determine what type of
BIOS is available on the computer. Newer
systems have what is known as Advanced
Figure 02 Configuration and Power Interface
(ACPI) capability.

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 Once the initialization process completes,
the screen in Figure 03 loads to guide the
XP installation process. More than
anything, this screen is a fork in the
installation road. This guide deals with a
clean install and to accomplish that goal
select the first option by pressing Enter. If
you wanted to use the Recovery Console
with an already completed XP
Figure 03 installation, pressing R would be the
proper choice. F3 ends the current
installation process. After pressing Enter,
setup will search the drives for an existing
XP installation.

Pretty much any way you go at an

installation anymore you're going to run
into the Windows XP Licensing
Agreement, better known as the End-User
License Agreement or EULA, shown in
Figure 04. Press F8 if you agree to the
terms or press Esc and start researching
alternative operating systems if you don't
Figure 04 agree. There's no middle of the road.

Since you agreed to the terms of the

EULA in the previous step, and because
this is a clean installation from an
upgrade version of XP to an
unpartitioned and unformatted hard disk,
the screen in Figure 05 appears asking
you to verify you qualify to use the
Figure 05 upgrade product. Of all the XP installs
I've done I could count on two hands the
number of times they have been done
from full version CD's rather than

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 upgrade CD's, so it's pretty likely you'll
see this screen. The qualifying products
are listed on the screen. Replace the XP
CD with the qualifying product CD and
press Enter.

Once Microsoft is convinced you've

agreed to the EULA and qualify to install
the upgrade version, the screen in Figure
06 appears where you choose a drive and
partition on which to install XP. For those
familiar with prior Windows operating
systems, this section of setup is equivalent
to FDISK when a clean install is being
Figure 06 performed. In this example, since there is
only the one hard disk it will be used to
create the install partition by pressing C.

Once the partition creation has been

initiated, the screen in Figure 07 opens
and prompts for the size of the partition
that will be created. As long as you adhere
to the minimum and maximum listed on
the screen you have the freedom to set
partition sizes as you wish. Keep in mind
that there are minimum space
Figure 07 requirements to install XP. Set the size of
the desired partition and press Enter.

Once the partition has been created you

are returned to the screen in Figure 08. If
there is still unallocated space on the
drive and you want to create another
partition, highlight the unallocated space
Figure 08 entry and press C again to repeat the
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 partition creation process. If you want to
change the partition that was just created,
highlight it using the up and down arrow
keys and press D. A confirmation message
will be displayed. Once you're satisfied
with the partition scheme, highlight the
desired install partition and press Enter.

The final step after creating and selecting

the install partition is specifying the file
system to use for formatting the partition.
The available choices will be shown on the
screen that appears as in Figure 09. In
most cases you'll want to use NTFS. It's
far more secure than FAT32 and supports
permissions, encryption, and
compression. The only reason for
Figure 09 considering FAT32 would be data sharing
with W9x/Me installations and since this
scenario deals with a clean install it's not
even a consideration.

Remember a few steps ago when XP

wanted you to insert a CD to prove you
qualified to use the upgrade version of
XP? What it didn't do was tell you to
remove the qualifying version and
reinsert the XP installation CD. That time
has arrived. Why it doesn't do this
Figure 10 immediately after the verification I have
no idea, nor will I waste more time on this
screen.

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 The XP CD is back in the drive and the
partition is being formatted. This part of
the process is totally non-interactive and a
tad less interesting than watching paint
dry - unless of course the paint is the same
hideous yellow color as the progress bar.
Figure 11

You thought the part where the partition

was formatted was boring? More of the
same in this section of setup where the
files needed for installation are being
copied to the hard drive. You'd think at
the least they could have changed the
Figure 12 progress bar color.

Almost there; the configuration is being

initialized. This screen has a blissfully
short appearance.

Figure 13
Finally. A red progress bar that indicates
the system will reboot in 15 seconds so the
Graphical User Interface portion of setup
can begin. If you're still awake, tap the
Enter key to speed up that 15 seconds
until restart. This is the end of the text
portion of setup.
Figure 14

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 This is it - Prepare yourself for what is
possibly the longest commercial for a
piece of software that has ever been
presented, also called the Graphical User
Interface phase of XP setup.
Figure 15

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 Phase II - Graphical User Interface Phase
The majority of this setup phase requires no user intervention. The screens
contain a description of Windows XP features.

An Exciting New Look

Get Up and Running With The Latest Updates

Stay Connected With Friends and Family

Explore Your Creative Side with Photos and Videos

Music and Entertainment Just Got Better

Windows Movie Maker Makes It Easy and Fun

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 Try the Easiest Windows® Yet

Your Computer Will Be Faster and More Reliable

Easily Move Documents and Personal Settings To A

New Computer

The first screen that requires any user input in this

phase is Regional and Language Options. If you're
using English and you do entry via the keyboard the
defaults will suit you fine.
Somehow, typing my name and my company name
doesn't exactly give me a warm fuzzy sense of
personalization, but that's what the Personalize Your
Software screen shown in Figure -- wants you to
enter. I guess you could give some bogus information
if it sends a little thrill through you to pull one over
on Microsoft.
The screen everybody loves to hate; the dreaded
Your Product Key screen. The XP installation
process stops here if you don't have one, so for those
of you leaving at this point, have a good day.

What's Your Computer's Name? sounds so childish,

but nonetheless you still need to provide a name.

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 Unless you prefer to live in the past or future, Date
and Time Settings should be set current.

In Network Settings, unless you have a good reason

for selecting Custom Settings, go with the Typical
Settings. No matter how special you might think your
setup is, in most cases it will function perfectly well
with the typical settings.

Create A Personal Computing Experience

Connect To The Web

Surfing the Internet; Safe, Fast, and Flexible

Have More Fun With Games

Connect Your Computers With Easy Home

Networking

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 Record A CD As Easily As Saving Information To A
Floppy Disk

Rely On Windows For Dependable Home Computing

Get Support for the Programs and Devices You Use

at Home

Stay Up To Date

Experience the Ultimate in Safety, Security, and

Privacy

Be Assured of Greater Accessibility

Now It's Easier To Get Help.

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 Enjoy Using Windows XP.

Windows XP is Loading.

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