Chinese Win XP --> English Win XP ??

[carrera d'olbani]

Hi there,

I happenly obtained a gaming PC with a Chinese Windows XP installed on
it. But I cannot read Chinese ! Thus, I need to install the English
Windows XP, so that I could use the computer. Fortunately, I have a CD
with English Windows XP from my old computer which I do not use
anymore. The question is: how do I go about installing it ?

I go to the command prompt, type "format c:", the screen spit out
several hieroglyphs, and nothing happens.

I did a search on the Internet and Usenet; people advise to make a
dual-boot PC with the Chinese Windows on one partition, and the
English Windows on another partion. OK. So I go to the command prompt,
go to the WinXP CD, find the i386 directory and try to run WINNT32, so
as to install the English Windows on the d: drive. No luck. The
monitor (command window) spits out hieroglyphs again, and nothing
happens.

I am all lost what to do. What can I do ? Thanks.

 

[Malke]

Hi there,

I happenly obtained a gaming PC with a Chinese Windows XP installed on
it. But I cannot read Chinese ! Thus, I need to install the English
Windows XP, so that I could use the computer. Fortunately, I have a CD
with English Windows XP from my old computer which I do not use
anymore. The question is: how do I go about installing it ?

I go to the command prompt, type "format c:", the screen spit out
several hieroglyphs, and nothing happens.

I did a search on the Internet and Usenet; people advise to make a
dual-boot PC with the Chinese Windows on one partition, and the
English Windows on another partion. OK. So I go to the command prompt,
go to the WinXP CD, find the i386 directory and try to run WINNT32, so
as to install the English Windows on the d: drive. No luck. The
monitor (command window) spits out hieroglyphs again, and nothing
happens.

I am all lost what to do. What can I do ? Thanks.

You do not need to make a dual-boot. What would be the point since you
can't read Chinese?

Step 1. Go to the computer mftr.'s website and get drivers for all your
hardware. If you can't find the computer mftr.'s website and/or they
don't have drivers, use a free system inventory program such as Belarc
Advisor to find out what hardware you've got in the system. Download the
drivers and burn to CD-R.

Step 2. Read these detailed instructions about clean-installing Windows.
This is not a difficult process.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows -
What you will need on-hand


Malke

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hi there,

I happenly obtained a gaming PC with a Chinese Windows XP installed on
it. But I cannot read Chinese ! Thus, I need to install the English
Windows XP, so that I could use the computer. Fortunately, I have a CD
with English Windows XP from my old computer which I do not use
anymore. The question is: how do I go about installing it ?

I go to the command prompt, type "format c:", the screen spit out
several hieroglyphs, and nothing happens.

You can't format the Windows drive from within Windows, since that
would leave Windows without a leg to stand on.

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://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_install_windows_xp.htm

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

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

But note that if the English XP CD you have is one that came with that
computer, it's an OEM version, and the license for an OEM version ties
it permanently to the first computer it's installed on; it may never
be legally moved to another. Moreover, in some cases, OEM versions are
BIOS-locked to the computer they come with, and they physically can
not be used on another computer.

 

[Rock]

Hi there,

I happenly obtained a gaming PC with a Chinese Windows XP installed on
it. But I cannot read Chinese ! Thus, I need to install the English
Windows XP, so that I could use the computer. Fortunately, I have a CD
with English Windows XP from my old computer which I do not use
anymore. The question is: how do I go about installing it ?

I go to the command prompt, type "format c:", the screen spit out
several hieroglyphs, and nothing happens.

I did a search on the Internet and Usenet; people advise to make a
dual-boot PC with the Chinese Windows on one partition, and the
English Windows on another partion. OK. So I go to the command prompt,
go to the WinXP CD, find the i386 directory and try to run WINNT32, so
as to install the English Windows on the d: drive. No luck. The
monitor (command window) spits out hieroglyphs again, and nothing
happens.

I am all lost what to do. What can I do ? Thanks.

To add something to the other posts, is the other copy of XP OEM or retail?
If retail, fine it can be transferred to a different computer. Do a clean
install per the links provided by the other posters. If it's an OEM
version, by the license it can't be moved to a different computer.

 

[carrera d'olbani]

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
or herehttp://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_install_windows_xp.htm

That's a good website, detailed one. It says the same what you say.
However, I press F8 (or was it F10 ?) to assess the BIOS prompt, and
the computer gives me a choice in Chinese !

I insert my WinXP installation disk, and it suggest to install. I
agree, and a window with a crossed red circle pops up. The writing is
in Chinese ! I tried permuations of the knobs, and sometimes I get the
window's message that the "update is not possible because the windows
is in different language" or something to that effect. I insert the
same WinXp installation disk into my other, English Windows machine,
and the computer proceeds to installation (without that annoying
window). Perhaps I should take my computer and the installation disk
toa Chinese computer shop, and have them do the installation !

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

That's a good website, detailed one. It says the same what you say.
However, I press F8 (or was it F10 ?) to assess the BIOS prompt, and
the computer gives me a choice in Chinese !

Then you are apparently not at the BIOS setup screen. How to get into
your BIOS depends, not on Windows, but on what motherboard/BIOS you
have. As a matter of fact, you have to access the BIOS before Windows
even starts to boot. One common way is to press the Del key when you
first power on, but that's not necessarily right for your computer.
Watch the screen carefully when you first boot; there's often a
message there telling you what to do. If not, check your system
documentation or check with your vendor.

Also look here: http://michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm Or
just try the Del key. There's a good chance that's correct for you.

I insert my WinXP installation disk, and it suggest to install. I
agree, and a window with a crossed red circle pops up. The writing is
in Chinese ! I tried permuations of the knobs, and sometimes I get the
window's message that the "update is not possible because the windows
is in different language" or something to that effect.

You are trying to do the installation from within Windows. As I
explained earlier, that is *not* what you should be doing. Set the
BIOS to boot from the CD first (not the hard drive) and boot from the
Windows XP CD.

When you do this correctly, there is no possible message from Windows
about a different language, because there is no Chinese Windows
involved at all.

 

[carrera d'olbani]

Then you are apparently not at the BIOS setup screen. How to get into
your BIOS depends, not on Windows, but on what motherboard/BIOS you
have. As a matter of fact, you have to access the BIOS before Windows
even starts to boot. One common way is to press the Del key when you
first power on,

Actually, I found on the Internet the recommendation to press "Del"
key in order to get to BIOS when the computer was booting up. It
worked for my computer ! I was able to install Windows. The problem
was, though, that I was not able to delete all the partitions from the
hard drive -- the computer complained to me that it cannot delete the
partition where the setup files are located. Thus, when the Windows
installation finished, I got the computer with the same folder in the
C: drive. Some of the file names had Chinese characters :-( . I am
now concerned how to format the whole hard drive -- I would like to
install the Windows into a clean partition. I have not found any
manuals on the Internet how to do that yet.