Clean install of Windows XP

[Guest]

I'm about to give my old comuter to a niece. I want to clean out ALL
personal data and as I was having sporadic crashes in my old installation I
want to do a clean install.

I have both my original OEM Windows XP home Edition CD plus I have a Windows
XP Service Pack 2 CD that I ordered from Microsoft. Two Questions:

1. Can I do the clean install using only the Service Pack 2 CD using the
OEM product Key that is on my CoA Sticker from my original installation or do
I need to install the original Win XP first then to updates?

2. Do I need to format my 'C' drive and wil the Service pack 2 CD do this
for me or is it sufficient to just install to the C drive overwriting
existing files?

Thanks in anticipation
Iain

 

[Gordon]

I'm about to give my old comuter to a niece. I want to clean out ALL
personal data and as I was having sporadic crashes in my old installation
I
want to do a clean install.

I have both my original OEM Windows XP home Edition CD plus I have a
Windows
XP Service Pack 2 CD that I ordered from Microsoft. Two Questions:

1. Can I do the clean install using only the Service Pack 2 CD using the
OEM product Key that is on my CoA Sticker from my original installation or
do
I need to install the original Win XP first then to updates?

The answer is the second option - the SP2 CD ONLY contains Service Pack 2 -
it does NOT contain Windows XP.

2. Do I need to format my 'C' drive and wil the Service pack 2 CD do this
for me or is it sufficient to just install to the C drive overwriting
existing files?

The OEM XP CD will give you an option to delete the existing partition and
re-format a new one - just set the BIOS to boot from CD and follow the
instructions.

HTH

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I'm about to give my old comuter to a niece. I want to clean out ALL
personal data and as I was having sporadic crashes in my old installation I
want to do a clean install.

I have both my original OEM Windows XP home Edition CD plus I have a Windows
XP Service Pack 2 CD that I ordered from Microsoft.

Was this the free SP2 CD, that you chose to order instead of download?

Two Questions:

1. Can I do the clean install using only the Service Pack 2 CD

Assuming that the answer to the question above is yes, no you can not
do this. The SP2 CD contains just SP2. It does *not* contain Windows
plus SP2.

using the
OEM product Key that is on my CoA Sticker from my original installation or do
I need to install the original Win XP first then to updates?

Yes. Or you could first "slipstream" SP2 into your original CD. That
process combines the two. Read here:

http://forum.aumha.org/viewtopic.php?t=7262
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/slipstream.htm

2. Do I need to format my 'C' drive and wil the Service pack 2 CD do this
for me or is it sufficient to just install to the C drive overwriting
existing files?

You do not need to (and generally should not) format first. When you
correctly do a clean installation (using the Windows CD, *not* the SP2
CD), the first step of the installation is to format the drive. 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

 

[Guest]

Thank you both Gordon and Ken,

That's pretty clear so I know what I'll be doing this afternoon. Your
prompt replys are much appreciated.

Iain

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thank you both Gordon and Ken,

That's pretty clear so I know what I'll be doing this afternoon. Your
prompt replys are much appreciated.

You're welcome. Glad to help.