The most common question among Windows users is "How do I install Windows XP in my PC?" In this article, I'll be discussing how to install Windows XP in your PC. If you have any questions, you can ask me via comments. Here I start:
Step 1: Power ON your PC and Switch ON the CPU. Now Insert your Windows XP Installation CD in your Computer's CD/DVD drive. Restart your PC and you should see a message
Press any key to boot from CD/DVD...
Now you should Press a key to start Windows Setup.
Note: If you don't see the message Press any key to boot from CD/DVD... then you should check if First Boot Device in your BIOS is set to CD/DVD Drive.
Step 2: Windows XP Installation CD will now inspect your computer's hardware configuration... And then it will load files to start Windows XP Setup.
Step 3: After loading files, you'll see a Welcome Screen. Press Enter to continue Windows XP Setup.
Step 4: Now you'll see Windows XP License Agreement screen. Press F8 to Accept it and continue with Windows XP Installation.
Step 5: Now you'll see a Windows XP Professional Setup screen, where we can Create and Delete Drives. You should remember following things Keyboard keys:
C - To Create Drive
D - To Delete a Drive
Press C on the Keyboard to create a Partition.
Step 6: Now we'll specify the size of the drive in Megabytes (MB). I'm going to create a Single Drive, which is 126.98 GB in size. (Remember: 1 GB = 1024 MB). So, I'll enter 130034 in the text field and hit Enter. This will create a Drive with 126.98 GB and it will be our C Drive.
Step 7: Now we'll be back to Windows XP Professional Setup Screen with C: Drive of 126.98 GB created. Now point the selector to C: Partition1 [New (Raw)] and hit Enter because we'll Install Windows XP on C: Drive.
Step 8: After you press Enter, you'll see a screen that asks you to Format the partition. Select Format the partition using the NTFS file system (Quick). We're selecting the Quick one to save our time.
Step 9: It will now start Formatting the partition.
Step 10: After formatting the partition, Setup will start copying Installation files to the formatted partition.
Step 11: After files are copied, setup will
Reboot your Computer. You can press
Enter to restart your PC manually or setup will automatically restart your PC after 15 seconds.
Step 12: After your PC restarts,
you'll again receive a message Press any key to boot from CD/DVD... This time
don't press any key. Because all the setup files are copied to our Hard drive and we don't want to start the Windows XP Setup again from the CD. Let it directly boot from the Hard Drive. And remember,
Don't remove Windows XP Installation CD from CD/DVD drive. If you remove then Windows XP Setup won't work. After starting the setup from Hard drive, Windows XP Setup will install Devices and do many more things.
Step 13: After few minutes, you'll be asked to
Set the Regional Language Option and Keyboard Layout. Usually there is no need to set them. Windows XP Setup automatically sets them according to your Hardware but you can just check them just to be sure. Hit
Next > when you're done with it.
Step 14: Now you need to enter your
Name and
Organization. In the Name field you can enter your name and in Organization field you can enter your Company name or just Home. Hit
Next > when done.
Step 15: Now comes the time to enter your
25-digits Product key. Type in your Product Key and hit
Next > button.
Step 16: Now comes the chance to select your Computer Name and Administrator Account Password. Computer Name helps others to identify and connect to your PC via Internet. Administrator Account Password is not your account's Password. Administrator Account is the super-user account from which you can do anything without limitation. I'll talk more about this in some other article. For now, just type Computer Name and type Administrator Password. Most people keep Administrator Password Field empty. Even you can, but I don't recommend you to keep that field empty. Type a Password and click
Next >.
Step17: At last you need to enter
Date & Time and Time Zone. This depends on your Country. Hit
Next > when you're done.
Step 18: Now you can relax for few minutes while Windows XP Setup completely installs Windows XP on your Hard Drive. It will now Copy files and at last it will save settings and
Restart your PC.
Step 19: After your PC restarts,
you'll again receive a message Press any key to boot from CD/DVD... This time also
don't press any key. Because all the setup files are copied to our Hard drive and we don't want to start the Windows XP Setup again from the CD. Let it directly boot from the Hard Drive. And remember,
Don't remove Windows XP Installation CD from CD/DVD drive. If you remove then Windows XP Setup won't work. After Windows XP boots from Hard Drive, it will automatically try to
Improve the appearance by adjusting the Screen Resolution. Click
OK.
Step 20: Windows XP Setup has automatically adjusted the screen resolution, if you're satisfied click
OK or click
Cancel. I clicked
OK.
Step 21: Windows XP Setup has completed it's work. Now you see Microsoft thanking you for purchasing Windows XP. Click
Next.
Step 22: Now it is the time to
Turn ON Automatic Updates. Turn ON Automatic Updates
only if you've Purchased Windows XP Legally from a trusted store. I always Turn Automatic Updates ON to secure my PC. Click the
Help protect my PC by turning on Automatic Updates now radio button and then click
Next.
Step 23: Now you need to create
User Accounts. If you are the only one, who is going to use the PC then Enter your desired Username and click
Next. If your PC is going to be shared by many people at home or Office, then Enter each name in a different text box. At maximum there can only be 6 different user accounts. Hit Next when you're done.
Step 24: The final step. Hit
Finish.
Step 25: Ah! Finally you've completed all the formalities and setup Windows XP on your Computer.
There's no Step 26! :) Finally you've reached the desktop screen. Now you can customize your PC according to your needs, install Display drivers, Network driver, Office Suite and many other day-to-day software.
