Clean Reinstallation of XP

[Guest]

Could I please have the sequence or method of formatting my hard drive to do
a clean installation of XP

 

[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, turn on XP's Firewall.
==> http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

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 XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.mspx

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:

| Could I please have the sequence or method of formatting my hard drive to do
| a clean installation of XP

 

[Guest]

Could I please have the sequence or method of formatting my hard drive to do
a clean installation of XP

1. Because you are about to wipe your hard drive of all data, first save
all data files, downloaded software, and anything else you want to save to
media such as a CD or second external hard drive. Incidentally, if you have
an external hard drive, after saving your data to that drive, disconnect it
from the computer. Also run chkdsk to make sure that you have no errors on
your drive -- this will make sense when you get to step 3 below.

2. Put your Windows XP CD in your CD drive. Don't install Windows when
prompted. Instead, with the CD in the drive, reboot your computer. When you
are given the option to boot from the CD, accept it. After it loads some
files and prompts you to accept the license agreement, you will get to a
screen in which you are given the option to install Windows on your system
petition, as well as the option to delete that petition.

3. When you get to this screen, first choose the option to delete the
partition. You will be warned that you are about to wipe all data off the
hard drive -- you did do step 1, right? If you are ready, select the
option to go ahead and delete the petition. At the next screen, choose the
option to recreate the partition, and then choose to install Windows on that
newly created partition. [Tip: if you are confident that your hard drive has
no errors on it, select the NTFS Quick Format option -- you'll save lots of
time this way.]

That's it! The entire process should take around 30 minutes. If you don't
choose the NTFS quick format option, it will take another 15-30 minutes or
more depending on the size of your hard drive.

Ken

 

[CWatters]

Could I please have the sequence or method of formatting my hard drive to do
a clean installation of XP

Do you REALLY want to do that? Perhaps there is a better solution. What's
the problem?

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Could I please have the sequence or method of formatting my
hard
drive to do a clean installation of XP

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 almost always 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.

 

[Guest]

To clean up an sp 2 installation gone bad. I have tried about 99 ways of
fixing it but as I have all I want backed up on another machine this is going
to be the best.
Regards, Bob.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Ken, I know what you are saying but I have spent 2 days going through
the fixes offered and even after it appears ok all sorts of shit things are
happening, Ive had enough>
After starting out to Install SP 2 I find out these HP laptops dont like it
unless the critical updates are loaded first, it has turned into a horror
story, soon to be remedied.
Regards, Bob.

 

[Guest]

However why do you want to reformat and reinstall? In my view,
it's almost always a mistake.

In my case, it is because I like to tinker and experiment with various
tweaks, various software combinations, etc. Sometimes the tweaks get so
extensive, and the software combinations become so many and varied and
changing, that only by comparing the result with a clean install can I
meaningfully evaluate whether the tweaks and software combinations are any
good. Besides, I can do it fairly quickly on my machine. Usually the time
from wiping the hard drive to reinstalling my base setup (including updates)
and restoring my data from my backup drive is no more than 2-3 hours.

Incidentally, one thing I notice repeatedly is that never does a system seem
more responsive and stable than after a clean install. Yes, for us obsessive
tweakers and power users -- and we all know who we are -- there is a subtle
lesson here. I didn't just come up with my general "less is more"
attitude to Windows XP overnight. It has been formed the hard way through
years of such tweaking and experiments.

Ken

 

[Ken Blake]

In

In my case, it is because I like to tinker and experiment with
various
tweaks, various software combinations, etc. Sometimes the
tweaks get
so extensive, and the software combinations become so many and
varied
and changing, that only by comparing the result with a clean
install
can I meaningfully evaluate whether the tweaks and software
combinations are any good.

Fair enough. I think that's a legitimate reason if you're a
tinkerer (even though I personally don't agree with most
tinkering).

But I said, "*almost* always a mistake." The great majority of
people who want to do this don't do it for this reason.

Besides, I can do it fairly quickly on my
machine. Usually the time from wiping the hard drive to
reinstalling
my base setup (including updates) and restoring my data from my
backup drive is no more than 2-3 hours.

Incidentally, one thing I notice repeatedly is that never does
a
system seem more responsive and stable than after a clean
install.
Yes, for us obsessive tweakers and power users -- and we all
know who
we are -- there is a subtle lesson here.

Sure there's a lesson, but I don't think it's that subtle. Most
tinkering and tweaking makes your system less responsive and less
stable. That's why I think most such tinkering is a mistake.

 

[Guest]

Fair enough. I think that's a legitimate reason if you're a
tinkerer (even though I personally don't agree with most
tinkering).

The more I do it, the more I am coming around to your position. XP is a
terrific operating system when it is run the way it was designed to be run.
The urge to tinker and experiment is more an offshoot of the Windows 9x days,
when the OS wasn't nearly as good as it is now. Even then, I'm amazed that
you never had to reinstall a Windows 9x OS.

But I said, "*almost* always a mistake." The great majority of
people who want to do this don't do it for this reason.

I agree. I pride myself on NEVER having to re-install merely because I
couldn't solve a particular problem by less drastic means. For example, my
brother had a computer that was literally possessed by spyware, and he wanted
me to wipe the hard drive. Instead, I used Ad Aware and a few other tools,
got the crud completely off his machine, configured it so my teenage niece
(his daughter) could not reinstall Kazaa (grr....), and he hasn't had a
problem in months.

Sure there's a lesson, but I don't think it's that subtle. Most
tinkering and tweaking makes your system less responsive and less
stable. That's why I think most such tinkering is a mistake.

I've learned this truth the hard way -- God knows how many hundreds of hours
and thousands of dollars I have spent over the years on tweaks, experiments,
and utility software that never resulted in any transparent improvement in
performance or stability of Windows -- but I have learned it. More
importantly, I have tried to educate myself on why this is so, so that I
don't get tempted to relapse back into my old bad habits.

Ken

 

[Leythos]

I agree. I pride myself on NEVER having to re-install merely because I
couldn't solve a particular problem by less drastic means. For example, my
brother had a computer that was literally possessed by spyware, and he wanted
me to wipe the hard drive. Instead, I used Ad Aware and a few other tools,
got the crud completely off his machine, configured it so my teenage niece
(his daughter) could not reinstall Kazaa (grr....), and he hasn't had a
problem in months.

Many of us are fully capable of cleaning a system without reinstalling it
from scratch, but when you are required to sign your name stating that
it's clean and it's a binding document, well, that's becomes another story.

There is also the issue of time/cost, in most cases, since an install can
be started and then walk away for much of it, you can do other things
while the install runs, so a reinstall of XP using the OEM restore CD's
with all apps takes about 30 minutes of direct intervention - and at
$100/hr that's a cost of $50 to fix verses several hours of cleaning time
in the case of some really nasty compromises.

The differences are certifying the machine as being clean, which many home
users doing their own computer don't care about, and the value you place
on your time - it's often cheaper to wipe/reinstall to ensure a spec
machine at a reasonable cost.

 

[CWatters]

To clean up an sp 2 installation gone bad. I have tried about 99 ways of
fixing it but as I have all I want backed up on another machine this is going
to be the best.

Yeah sounds like it.

I was really just checking you hadn't been told to do this by some lazy
support guy.

 

[Guest]

The differences are certifying the machine as being clean, which many home
users doing their own computer don't care about, and the value you place
on your time - it's often cheaper to wipe/reinstall to ensure a spec
machine at a reasonable cost.

Even for this home user, a clean install is usually faster, but not as
satisfying as trying to isolate and solve a particular problem without
resorting to such short cuts. Also, a clean install solution is sometimes a
copout at best and a temporary solution at worst unless you also take the
time and effort to find out what caused the problem in the first place so
that you can avoid making the same mistake next time.

Ken