Help Reinstalling Windows XP

[Pete Harris]

I need to reinstal windows XP. I have found
http//support.microsoft.com/kb/315341 and some other guides through a google
search. These look good but is there any more info, or pitfalls, I need to be
aware of before starting.
Just being very very cautious before I start!!!

 

[Malke]

I need to reinstal windows XP. I have found
http//support.microsoft.com/kb/315341 and some other guides through a
google search. These look good but is there any more info, or pitfalls, I
need to be aware of before starting.
Just being very very cautious before I start!!!

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows - What
you will need on-hand

Malke

 

[JS]

I need to reinstal windows XP. I have found
http//support.microsoft.com/kb/315341 and some other guides through a
google
search. These look good but is there any more info, or pitfalls, I need to
be
aware of before starting.
Just being very very cautious before I start!!!

How to do a Clean Install of Windows XP

Start by changing the BIOS setting to Boot from CD drive first.
Then see below:

From Michael Steven's: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
more info: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm
and: http://www.theeldergeek.com/clean_installation_of_windows_xp.htm
also: http://www.bootdisk.com/

Also make sure you have the drivers you need for your motherboard, video
card, sound card, Etc.
Try Belarc Advisor: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
It does a good job of providing a wealth of information including software
Key codes
and Devices you will need Drivers for.

If you are doing a Clean Install on an existing PC that has XP already
Installed:
Verify your CD Key code matches what Belarc Advisor reports for your
existing install.
Note: OEM Windows Installs usually come with a sticker on the PC or laptop
and may not match the factory installed key.

Note: A number of vendors now supply restore CD(s) or have a restore
partition on the hard drive
and usually do not supply a Windows XP CD.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I need to reinstal windows XP. I have found
http//support.microsoft.com/kb/315341 and some other guides through a google
search. These look good but is there any more info, or pitfalls, I need to be
aware of before starting.
Just being very very cautious before I start!!!

You've already gotten some good "how-to" answers. Let me ask why do
you "need" to do this?

Here's my standard post on this subject:

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, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and now Windows 7, each for the
period of time before the next version came out, and each on two or
more 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.

And perhaps most important: if you reformat and reinstall without
finding out what caused your problem, you will very likely repeat the
behavior that caused it, and quickly find yourself back in exactly the
same situation.

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

 

[Pete Harris]

Thanks for your reply - read links and some useful info, however the more I
read the more i realise my limitations. Now rethinking way forward.

 

[Pete Harris]

Thanks will look at links, but as per my reply to "Malke" not sure which way
forward to go now.

 

[JS]

You've already gotten some good "how-to" answers. Let me ask why do
you "need" to do this?

Here's my standard post on this subject:

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, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and now Windows 7, each for the
period of time before the next version came out, and each on two or
more 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.

And perhaps most important: if you reformat and reinstall without
finding out what caused your problem, you will very likely repeat the
behavior that caused it, and quickly find yourself back in exactly the
same situation.

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

While I usually just post the information requested, I would also agree with
Ken (with the exception of Windows 95) in that only in few cases should it
be necessary to do a clean install of XP. It's best for all if you post your
problem with more specifics and then you will have the advice you need to
make a good decision.

Even if the advice fails to solve your problem or problems you can always
fall back and do a "Clean Install".

 

[Hodges]

You've already gotten some good "how-to" answers. Let me ask why do
you "need" to do this?

Here's my standard post on this subject:

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, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and now Windows 7, each for the
period of time before the next version came out, and each on two or
more 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.

And perhaps most important: if you reformat and reinstall without
finding out what caused your problem, you will very likely repeat the
behavior that caused it, and quickly find yourself back in exactly the
same situation.

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

I'm a sysadmin, and sometimes settings/configurations get FUBAR to the
point that it's just not worth it to tinker with it. At work it's
easy to just image a machine once a year or so, at home I reinstall XP
every 6 months to 2 years.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I'm a sysadmin, and sometimes settings/configurations get FUBAR to the
point that it's just not worth it to tinker with it. At work it's
easy to just image a machine once a year or so, at home I reinstall XP
every 6 months to 2 years.

Your choice, of course. But my view is that what you do is a very poor
choice.

 

[Hodges]

You've already gotten some good "how-to" answers. Let me ask why do
you "need" to do this?

Here's my standard post on this subject:

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, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and now Windows 7, each for the
period of time before the next version came out, and each on two or
more 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.

And perhaps most important: if you reformat and reinstall without
finding out what caused your problem, you will very likely repeat the
behavior that caused it, and quickly find yourself back in exactly the
same situation.

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

To elaborate on my previous post...

Programs often leave stuff behind. It's easy enough to go into the
"program files" folder and delete them, but some leave stuff behind in
"My Documents", "Application Data", and lots of other folders as well
as temp files and registry keys that get left behind AFTER running
registry/temp file cleaners such as CCleaner (which I recommend).

After viruses/trojans/malware has been run, it can be cleaned but it
often leaves annoying changes, sometimes ones that you won't even
notice for a while and will have to dig through group policy or the
registry to correct.

Yes, anything that's changed "can" be changed back, but it takes a lot
of work and sometimes isn't worth it. It can take hours to
troubleshoot a single problem if you've never dealt with it before.
Installing the OS may take between half an hour and an hour from cd
(longer on very old computers), about 15-20 minutes if you install it
over the network through Windows PE, or about 3-5 minutes with Norton
Ghost.

Assuming you haven't ghosted or used WMI, it will take less than 20
minutes to find, download, and install the drivers if you know what
you're looking for. Often I don't really install programs until I
need them. Most programs take 5 minutes or less to download and
install.

The best thing you can do is perform regular defragging/virus scanning/
backups, and disable unneeded startup items.

I'll agree that reconfiguring Windows and applications with custom
themes and settings as well as backing up & restoring data is time
consuming; however, the benefit greatly outweighs the alternative.

Besides, the more practice you get the faster you can do it. That
gives you more flexibility to learn the intricacies of the OS without
having to be afraid of making a mistake you can't undo.

Just my 2¢.

 

[Daave]

I need to reinstal windows XP. I have found
http//support.microsoft.com/kb/315341 and some other guides through
a google search. These look good but is there any more info, or
pitfalls, I need to be aware of before starting.
Just being very very cautious before I start!!!

Are you absolutely sure you need to reinstall Windows XP? That's a
fairly drastic measure, and it usually is not necessary.

Why not tell us your specific problem? Perhaps we can guide you to a
solution.

 

[Pete Harris]

Thanks for all your replies and views – Ken must have been reading my mind
with some of the issues.
Having problems for some time now and not sure haw it all started but here
goes with best recollection.
Originally purchased system as an ex demonstration model from a local shop
(one man business!!)
About a year later system was running very slow, purchased RegCure on-line
to try and clean the registry ( advised after not a good idea). After running
had problems with a program call Document Viewer (part of HP printer
package). With help of Regcure tech support eventually resolved (they
supplied an “Ignore†list).
There was also another problem (not sure if after or before RegCure), when
the PC was first turned on there were no sounds. Restarted the PC and sound
were there. I did post an issue but no solution was found (tried things like
reloading drivers) See the post in “Music†section. (Subject: Start - No
Sounds, Restart - Sounds!! 6/5/2009 5:20 AM PST).
The problem with the system being slow is that it is very slow to start up
but after it has been running for a while the speed approaches normality.
Was advised by the local shop that a reinstall would be worth doing but
obviously they would want paying if they did it. Took PC home to think about
it and have tolerated problem since.
A week ago when I turned the PC on nothing happened, apparently a power
surge blew the Power Unit and Motherboard which were replaced.
Didn’t have a reinstall as already cost a lot for Power Unit and Motherboard
so thought a DIY job was an option, and that’s where I am now!
A sorry tale I know but !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I'm a sysadmin, and sometimes settings/configurations get FUBAR to the
point that it's just not worth it to tinker with it. At work it's
easy to just image a machine once a year or so, at home I reinstall XP
every 6 months to 2 years.

Then I'd have to conclude that you really shouldn't be a "sysadmin."
You admit to lacking the basic technical abilities such a position warrants.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Pete Harris]

Posting again as intended for Ken but replied to Hodges!!

Thanks for all your replies and views – Ken must have been reading my mind
with some of the issues.
Having problems for some time now and not sure haw it all started but here
goes with best recollection.
Originally purchased system as an ex demonstration model from a local shop
(one man business!!)
About a year later system was running very slow, purchased RegCure on-line
to try and clean the registry ( advised after not a good idea). After running
had problems with a program call Document Viewer (part of HP printer
package). With help of Regcure tech support eventually resolved (they
supplied an “Ignore†list).
There was also another problem (not sure if after or before RegCure), when
the PC was first turned on there were no sounds. Restarted the PC and sound
were there. I did post an issue but no solution was found (tried things like
reloading drivers) See the post in “Music†section. (Subject: Start - No
Sounds, Restart - Sounds!! 6/5/2009 5:20 AM PST).
The problem with the system being slow is that it is very slow to start up
but after it has been running for a while the speed approaches normality.
Was advised by the local shop that a reinstall would be worth doing but
obviously they would want paying if they did it. Took PC home to think about
it and have tolerated problem since.
A week ago when I turned the PC on nothing happened, apparently a power
surge blew the Power Unit and Motherboard which were replaced.
Didn’t have a reinstall as already cost a lot for Power Unit and Motherboard
so thought a DIY job was an option, and that’s where I am now!
A sorry tale I know but !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thanks for all your replies and views - Ken must have been reading my mind
with some of the issues.
Having problems for some time now and not sure haw it all started but here
goes with best recollection.
Originally purchased system as an ex demonstration model from a local shop
(one man business!!)

And you've been using it since then without a reinstallation? That's
one of the few times when I definitely *do* recommend a
reinstallation. Here's my standard post on the subject:

If I acquired a used computer, no matter who previously owned it, the
first thing I would do with it would be to reinstall the operating
system cleanly. You have no idea how the computer has been maintained,
what has been installed incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and
spyware there may be, etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody
else's mistakes and problems, possibility of kiddy porn, etc., and I
wouldn't recommend that anyone else do so either.

About a year later system was running very slow, purchased RegCure on-line
to try and clean the registry ( advised after not a good idea).

Right, a very poor idea. Unnecessary and dangerous.

 

[Pete Harris]

Thanks Ken - only point to make is that xp was installed by the shop when
purchased so I would have thought all problems in your standard post would
not have applied !!!!!!!!

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thanks Ken - only point to make is that xp was installed by the shop when
purchased so I would have thought all problems in your standard post would
not have applied !!!!!!!!

Maybe, maybe not. You trust them more than I would. The only way I
would be comfortable would be if *I* installed it and knew exactly
what I did.