A clean install of windows XP Pro

[Guest]

what is the best way to clean the whole system and reinstall windows xp
again? a fresh clean instal after deleting and formatting everything.

anybody knows the best step-by-step procedures?

(i currently have win xp pro sp2)

thank you.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

NOTE: If you have an internal Zip Drive installed, physically disconnect the
EIDE and power cable to it before proceeding, otherwise your main
hard drive may not be assigned the customary C: drive letter.
After installing Windows XP, you may then reconnect it.

1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete all the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. ==> Immediately after installing Windows XP, make sure XP's Firewall is enabled:
==> http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxpsp2/Default.mspx

7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

9. If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the following resources:

How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310064

Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------­----------------

:

| what is the best way to clean the whole system and reinstall windows xp
| again? a fresh clean instal after deleting and formatting everything.
|
| anybody knows the best step-by-step procedures?
|
| (i currently have win xp pro sp2)
|
| thank you.

 

[Nepatsfan]

(e-mail address removed),

what is the best way to clean the whole system and reinstall
windows xp again? a fresh clean instal after deleting and
formatting everything.

anybody knows the best step-by-step procedures?

(i currently have win xp pro sp2)

thank you.

Take your pick:

Courtesy of Michael Stevens MS-MVP
Clean Install Windows XP
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

Clean Install Procedure with Illustrative Screen Captures
http://www.theeldergeek.com/xp_home_install_-_graphic.htm

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Infosink]

The Windows XP Pro CD-ROM can do the whole thing with the exception of a few
older computers that will not boot from the CD-ROM drive.

Now regarding installing Windows .. is there a "Best Way"? Well there are
more ways than one to skin this cat. Installing Windows is a learning
experience and an opportunity to get Windows / partitions etc. etc. they way
you like it.

There's lots and lots to read online on the subect so many so that I'm not
going to recommend one, try using the search terms:

install windows xp
fdisk
diskpart
partition
format

General advice:

Install SP2 (if it is not already included in your copy of XP - newer copies
of XP already have it included) BEFORE connecting to Internet for first
time. This probably means downloading the network version of SP2 and
burning it to CD-R .. or ordering the CD from Microsoft .. BEFOREHAND.
Windows XP versions pre-SP2 are vulnerable immediately upon connection to
the Internet.

Line up drivers (and burn the downloaded ones to CD-R) beforehand.

Have all setting numbers, product keys etc. etc. ready

Some guys like to have a Windows partition (C:\) and a program partition
(D:\) and a "data" partition for their music or movies or docs ("E:\) and
so on ... so decide how you want to partition the drive.

Learn some partitioning tricks e.g. you can create a whole bunch during the
install process as placeholders driving the CD drive letter higher, say from
D: to H: instead. The Windows CD-ROM's Recovery Console can run Diskpart and
format for that matter. The install routine creates the first harddrive
partition as a primary but the rest as logical on an extended partition. A
reboot straightens things out. A harddrive can have four primary partitions,
not just one. The more you learn about partitioning the more you can have it
exactly as you want it. You can change things around later, too, with Disk
Management.

 

[Guest]

Thank you guys for all this info.

The Windows XP Pro CD-ROM can do the whole thing with the exception of a few
older computers that will not boot from the CD-ROM drive.

Now regarding installing Windows .. is there a "Best Way"? Well there are
more ways than one to skin this cat. Installing Windows is a learning
experience and an opportunity to get Windows / partitions etc. etc. they way
you like it.

There's lots and lots to read online on the subect so many so that I'm not
going to recommend one, try using the search terms:

install windows xp
fdisk
diskpart
partition
format

General advice:

Install SP2 (if it is not already included in your copy of XP - newer copies
of XP already have it included) BEFORE connecting to Internet for first
time. This probably means downloading the network version of SP2 and
burning it to CD-R .. or ordering the CD from Microsoft .. BEFOREHAND.
Windows XP versions pre-SP2 are vulnerable immediately upon connection to
the Internet.

Line up drivers (and burn the downloaded ones to CD-R) beforehand.

Have all setting numbers, product keys etc. etc. ready

Some guys like to have a Windows partition (C:\) and a program partition
(D:\) and a "data" partition for their music or movies or docs ("E:\) and
so on ... so decide how you want to partition the drive.

Learn some partitioning tricks e.g. you can create a whole bunch during the
install process as placeholders driving the CD drive letter higher, say from
D: to H: instead. The Windows CD-ROM's Recovery Console can run Diskpart and
format for that matter. The install routine creates the first harddrive
partition as a primary but the rest as logical on an extended partition. A
reboot straightens things out. A harddrive can have four primary partitions,
not just one. The more you learn about partitioning the more you can have it
exactly as you want it. You can change things around later, too, with Disk
Management.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

what is the best way to clean the whole system and reinstall windows
xp again? a fresh clean instal after deleting and formatting
everything.

anybody knows the best step-by-step procedures?

(i currently have win xp pro sp2)

Just boot from the Windows XP CD (change the BIOS boot order if necessary to
accomplish this) and follow the prompts for a clean installation (delete the
existing partition by pressing "D" when prompted, then create a new one).

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

or here http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm

or here http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

However why do you want to reformat and reinstall? In my view, it's usually
a mistake. With a modicum of care, it should never be necessary to reinstall
Windows (XP or any other version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG 3.11,
Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, each for the period of
time before the next version came out, and each on two machines here. I
never reinstalled any of them, and I have never had anything more than an
occasional minor problem.

It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the technical support
people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to almost any problem they
don't quickly know the answer to is "reformat and reinstall." That's the
perfect solution for them. It gets you off the phone quickly, it almost
always works, and it doesn't require them to do any real troubleshooting (a
skill that most of them obviously don't possess in any great degree).

But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You have to
restore all your data backups, you have to reinstall all your programs, you
have to reinstall all the Windows and application updates,you have to locate
and install all the needed drivers for your system, you have to recustomize
Windows and all your apps to work the way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome, you may have
trouble with some of them: can you find all your application CDs? Can you
find all the needed installation codes? Do you have data backups to restore?
Do you even remember all the customizations and tweaks you may have
installed to make everything work the way you like? Occasionally there are
problems that are so difficult to solve that Windows should be reinstalled
cleanly. But they are few and far between; reinstallation should not be a
substitute for troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only
after all other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person have
failed.

If you have problems, post them here; it's likely that someone can help you
and a reinstallation won't be required.

 

[Plato]

what is the best way to clean the whole system and reinstall windows xp
again? a fresh clean instal after deleting and formatting everything.

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316941