REINSTALL WINDOWS XP FAILURE!

[Guest]

I am trying to reinstall Windows XP, from the original disc on my PC.

However, the system says that it cannot do this as the PC has a later
version than the disc.

Has anyone come across this & can help, please?

 

[Jerry]

The CD you have is either XP original or XP w/SP1 and you now have SP2 on
the hard drive. You cannot do a repair install of XP w/SP2 using an original
or XP w/SP1 CD. You must slipsteam the SP2 download with the CD and burn a
new CD which will then be an XP w/SP2 CD - then a repair install will work.

To help with the slipstreaming download AutoStreamer from here:
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showforum=89

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I am trying to reinstall Windows XP, from the original disc on my PC.

However, the system says that it cannot do this as the PC has a later
version than the disc.

Has anyone come across this & can help, please?

The reason you are getting the message is that you have SP2 or SP1
installed, and your CD is without that SP level.

But it doesn't matter,. You are trying to do the installation incorrectly,
and that's why you get the error. If you do it correctly, it formats the
drive, wiping out whatever is there, and what starts out there makes no
difference at all.

You're trying to do the installation from within Windows, and that's what is
wrong. 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