T J Webdesigns & Computer Services take no responsability if you decide to try doing this yourself.. These documents are just a guide.

Only do this if you know what you are doing.

Installing Windows XP Professional //Home/ Windows 2000 / Professional

This procedure demonstrates how to install Windows XP Professional. The procedure to install Windows XP home edition is very similar to the professional edition. Since Windows XP Pro is more advance operating system, it will be used to demonstrate the installation procedure.

The best way to install Windows XP is to do a clean install. It is not difficult to perform a clean installation. Before you perform the installation I recommend that you check Windows XP Compatibility List to ensure that your hardware is supported by XP. If your hardware is not on the compatibility list you can check your hardware manufactures website to download the drivers for Windows XP. Save all the necessary drivers onto floppy disks or CD before you start the installation.

All versions of Windows XP CD are bootable. In order to boot from CD-ROM you need to set the boot sequence. Look for the boot sequence under your BIOS setup and make sure that the first boot device is set to CD-ROM. If you have an older PC and your BIOS does not support boot from CD-ROM then you need to create boot disks using 6 floppy disks. You can download the following program from Microsoft which will create the 6 floppy setup disks:

Windows XP Home Edition - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?releaseid=33290

Windows XP Professional - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?releaseid=33291

If your computer can boot from CD-ROM then you can perform the following steps to install Windows XP:

1. Start your PC and place your Windows XP CD in your CD/DVD-ROM drive.

2. Your PC should automatically detect the CD and you will get a message saying "Press any key to boot from CD".

3. Press a key to boot from CD and Windows setup will begin. Windows will start copying preliminary setup files to your computer.

4. You will be asked if you want to perform a new installation, repair an existing installation, or quit. In this case, you will be performing a new installation.

5. You will be presented with the End User Licensing Agreement. Press F8 to accept and continue.

6. Select the partition where you want install windows. You will have the opportunity to create and/or delete partitions or just allocate the available disk space to one partition.

7. The next screen asks if you wish to use the NTFS file system. This is the recommended file system. If you choose to use FAT32, you will not have all the security and stability features of Windows XP.

8. Choose to format the partition to either FAT32 or NTFS. You'll also see two additional choices to perform a quick format of each option. Stick with doing a full format. When asked to start the format, press the "F" key. The formatting process may take quite a bit of time depending on the size of your HDD.

9. The setup program will automatically start copying files after the partition is formatted and you will see a setup progress bar.

10. After this is complete the computer will restart. Leave the XP CD in the drive but this time DO NOT press any key when the message "Press any key to boot from CD" is displayed. In few seconds setup will continue.

11. Windows XP Setup wizard will guide you through the setup process of gathering information about your computer.

12. Choose the region and language.

13. Type in your name and organization.

14. Enter your product license key.

15. Name the computer, and enter an Administrator password. Don't forget to write down your Administrator password.

16. Enter the correct date and time.

17. Choose workgroup or domain name.

18. Register Windows XP if you've installed all the current hardware on your machine.

19. Add users that will sign on to this computer.

20. Log in, to your PC for the first time. You now need to check the device manager to confirm that all the drivers has been loaded or if there are any conflicts. From the start menu select Start -> Settings -> Control Panel. Click on the System icon and then from the System Properties window select the Hardware tab, then click on Device Manager.
If there are any yellow exclamation mark "!" next to any of the listed device, it means that no drivers or incorrect drivers has been loaded for that device. Your hardware should come with manufacturer supplied drivers. You need to install these drivers using automatic setup program provided by the manufacturer or you need to manually install these drivers. If you do not have the drivers, check the manufacturers website to download them.

To install a driver manually use the following procedure:

(a) From the device manager double click on the device containing the exclamation mark.

(b) This would open a device properties window.

(c) Click on the Driver tab.

(d) Click Update Driver push button. The Wizard for updating device driver pops up

You now get two options. The first option provides an automatic search for the required driver. The second option allows you to specify the location of the driver. If you don't know the location of the driver choose the automatic search which would find the required driver from the manufacturer supplied CD or Floppy disk. Windows would install the required driver and may ask you to restart the system for the changes to take affect. Use this procedure to install drivers for all the devices that contain an exclamation mark. Windows is completely setup when there are no more exclamation marks in the device manager.