Can somebody (like andrewas) give me a step by step instruction on installing XP?

[Larry_OHF]

If you could please, I will be buying XP this coming week, and I have heard that it is not the most user-friendly thing to do. I will be getting the Home Edition, Full Install. This is not the mere upgrade...I am wiping my Hard-drive out to put in the new OS.

To save me $75 for installation fee...can anybody just post here on how to do it, then I can print it out. I have already burned to CD my important personal files like the address book, favorites foder, several documents, and saved info from NWN...stuff like that.

put the cd in and you will for all intents and purposes get a step by step guid from Microsoft. Honestly you will be able to figure it out, it is so simple its not even funny. Installing windows isnt like it was in the days of 3x and Dos or command line instalations of Linux module by module lol

[ 09-07-2002, 11:59 PM: Message edited by: Hesperex ]

[LennonCook]

Boot from the CD.
When it prompts you, delete all partitions and continue the install.
When it asks for the CD key; it`s on a label on the box.

AFAIR, that`s all the interactive bits of the install. [img]smile.gif[/img]
You might want to format before you boot from the CD; but you don`t strictly have to. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Larry_OHF]

What do you mean by Format before I boot?

And...if it is so easy...why do the chumps at Best Buy charge so much money for it?

[Megabot]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: What do you mean by Format before I boot? And...if it is so easy...why do the chumps at Best Buy charge so much money for it?

Because they want as mutch money they can from you Larry.
If you run win 98 no problem only put in the cd then it ask you if you want to upgrade to win xp say yes then it will ask you to make a partition like NTFS OR if you want to use your fat32 file system. First of all you CAN use the old fat filesystem if you want but i recomand you to make a NTFS partition to XP because it will be more stabile with this. So the innstalation program fix all this for you Larry so decide how big you want the NTFS partition to be it will be best to have the size to at last 10 gig. Then when you have done that the instalation will go on to it is finnished that is no problem at all then it also make a "boot" menu so you can choose what os you would like to use WinXP or Win98!

[skywalker]

You got it right with the "Chumps at Best Buy"!

When I was last out of work I applied for a job there as a Computer Technician. When they saw I was A+ Certified, they were overly impressed. They asked me a bunch of "simple" questions and were impressed some more. They imediately set up a 2nd interview and offered me a job.

Didn't take it, it was: 3 dollars less per hour than my previous job, 2 paid holidays, not much vacation/sicktime, 3 of 4 Sundays a month and days and nights mixed in (no fixed schedule). So I turned them down. I don't believe they have the best techs there (never said I was the best, though ).

Sorry for rambling!

Mark

[ 09-08-2002, 06:08 AM: Message edited by: skywalker ]

[LennonCook]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: What do you mean by Format before I boot? And...if it is so easy...why do the chumps at Best Buy charge so much money for it?

To format before you install it, go to dos prompt, type format c:
BUT you don`t strictly need to, because the installer will format for you as part of the process.

And like Megabot said; when it asks how to format; choose NTFS.

And why do they charge so much ?? Because quite simply they want as much money as they can get for doing as little as they can.

[Larry_OHF]

Thank you all for your advice...yet you sound like you are teling me how to instal the Upgrade that costs $100.00. I am buying the Full install for $200.00, and will be completely wiping out and starting new, as I am told by others that the full install is the only 100% way of getting it right.
So, I am just asking again...is your advice pertinant to the Full install?

...and if he was telling to how to install an upgrade he would not be telling you to format and create a new file system.

[andrewas]

Larry, XP installation is one of the few things ive never done. XP repair yes, a little, but never installed. Was planning to be doing it today actualy, but turns out XP wont run on my current computer.

In general though, upgrades are evil. There will be parts of 98 left all over your system, and the fat32 filesystem isnt all that efficient. Far better to format and start from scratch.

Me, Id run a triple boot system. winXP, win98 and mandrake 8.1 , but thats hardly a normal setup.

On booting from CDs - if your machine is new enough to run XP you will be able to boot from CD - but youll have to go into BIOS (check your system manual, but normally you hit delete during the memory test at poweron) and alter the boot sequence to read "cdrom,c,a" instead of the usual default "c,a,SCSI". I woudnt leave it like that, cdrom boot takes a while and will slow down system start as long as its enabled.