Reinstalling and Boot drive letters

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Hi,
I'm quite a newbie at this stuff, but I recently assembled a computer and
installed Windows XP home for the first time.
Long story short, I messed up on a few things and now I need to reinstall
it, but:

1)the first time I installed it, I partitioned my hard drive (I have one
SATA), and XP installed on the C: drive, but I really dont' want it installed
there, so is there a way to name the partition to which XP will be installed
to another letter during the installation process?

2)The XP Home I bought is OEM but it wasn't preinstalled; like I said above,
I bought separate computer parts and assembled it myself, but if I were to
reinstall XP Home, would I need to go out and buy another copy?

Thankyou very much~*
 
i think that when you select
new install, the setup cd will
search for available places that
the o.s. can be installed to.

can't really figure out what you are trying
to do, but connecting only one hard drive
and disconnecting the other can help
with targeting where you want the o.s.
to be installed....

if you want it to a harddrive noted as C:\
then only have that harddrive connected and
selected as the master.

if you want your sata to be the one, then only
have it connected and your cmos set to boot
from it when you install your o.s.

these are only suggestions for you to consider...
 
See in-line:
Hi,
I'm quite a newbie at this stuff, but I recently assembled a computer and
installed Windows XP home for the first time.
Click to expand...

Congratulations! You certainly are off to a good start!
Long story short, I messed up on a few things and now I need to reinstall
it, but:

1)the first time I installed it, I partitioned my hard drive (I have one
SATA), and XP installed on the C: drive, but I really dont' want it installed
there
Click to expand...

Why not? What do you want to do, or what are you trying to accomplish?

, so is there a way to name the partition to which XP will be installed
to another letter during the installation process?
Click to expand...

No, not as such directly. The setup program will present you with
choices, you can select or decline from the list but not change the
letter assignment as presented. Furthermore, once you select a
partition and install Windows to it you cannot change the System and/or
Boot partition letters unless you reinstall the operating system. What
you can do, with a bit of Halloween trickery, is arrange the available
partition choices list so that it suits you...

2)The XP Home I bought is OEM but it wasn't preinstalled; like I said above,
I bought separate computer parts and assembled it myself, but if I were to
reinstall XP Home, would I need to go out and buy another copy?
Click to expand...

NO! Your license is good forever! But you can only use it on the
computer that you built and installed it on. The others will comment on
that, but basically you can't change to a different make of motherboard
in your box, Windows XP is bound to the computer/mobo that you built.
You can add, change certain components, upgrade and replace broken
components, which may require a reactivation, but you have a valid
Windows license forever for the box.
Thankyou very much~*
Click to expand...

You're welcome and I hope this helps.

John
 
You can install Windows to any partition or HD available. Keep in mind if
you install say to "D" the boot.ini file is modified and you will not be ale
to boot the "C" drive and installed applications and data will not be
available - not so if you reinstall to C drive..
Also you state "I messed up on a few things and now I need to reinstall" -
suggest you post exactly how you messed up - recommendations from the group
may eliminate need to reinstall.
 
AJR said:
You can install Windows to any partition or HD available. Keep in
mind if you install say to "D" the boot.ini file is modified and you
will not be ale to boot the "C" drive and installed applications and
data will not be available - not so if you reinstall to C drive..
Click to expand...


If you reinstall Windows, any previously-installed applications will no
longer work. This is true regardless of what drive you install it to.

Data, however, will be available.
 
Thank you all =)

I'm sorry I didn't make myself very clear the first time round. I have one
hard drive, and it is SATA. I'd like to reinstall XP completely onto the
same machine. Losing data, applications etc really isn't a problem because
I've practically loaded nothing onto it yet ^^


The reason why I'd like to install the OS onto another partition is so that
it would be more similar to how my other computer is set up (1 primary drive
where XP is installed, and a few logical drives) and also because a friend
said putting the OS onto a non-C drive is a weak, but nonetheless one more
level of defense against viruses etc.
What you can do, with a bit of Halloween trickery, is arrange the available partition choices list so that it suits you...
Click to expand...

I'm guessing, but does this have something to do with creating the other
partition(s) first, then create the partition where I will install XP last
during the installation process?

Thank you!
 
lemoniceblock said:
The reason why I'd like to install the OS onto another partition is
so that it would be more similar to how my other computer is set up
(1 primary drive where XP is installed, and a few logical drives) and
also because a friend said putting the OS onto a non-C drive is a
weak, but nonetheless one more level of defense against viruses etc.
Click to expand...


As far as I'm concerned, it's so weak a defense that it can be ignored
entirely. It's effectively useless, and it's not at all a good reason for
doing it.
 
lemoniceblock said:
Thank you all =)

I'm sorry I didn't make myself very clear the first time round. I have one
hard drive, and it is SATA. I'd like to reinstall XP completely onto the
same machine. Losing data, applications etc really isn't a problem because
I've practically loaded nothing onto it yet ^^


The reason why I'd like to install the OS onto another partition is so that
it would be more similar to how my other computer is set up (1 primary drive
where XP is installed, and a few logical drives) and also because a friend
said putting the OS onto a non-C drive is a weak, but nonetheless one more
level of defense against viruses etc.
Click to expand...


That is nonsense. Install it wherever you wish however the above is a
silly excuse to re-install. Firewall (preferably 3rd party) and
anti-virus is your primary defense. Installing XP on a partition other
than C: will do absolutely nothing to secure your computer because the
path of XP is contained in a well known system variable.

I'm guessing, but does this have something to do with creating the other
partition(s) first, then create the partition where I will install XP last
during the installation process?
Click to expand...


Yes, the XP install CD (if you have one) will allow you to create as
many partitions as you like. If you just have a recovery partition or a
recovery CD it will blast its factory image onto your drive irrespective
of your wishes.

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Your welcome,

John
 
The reason why I'd like to install the OS onto another partition is so that
it would be more similar to how my other computer is set up (1 primary drive
where XP is installed, and a few logical drives) and also because a friend
said putting the OS onto a non-C drive is a weak, but nonetheless one more
level of defense against viruses etc.


I'm guessing, but does this have something to do with creating the other
partition(s) first, then create the partition where I will install XP last
during the installation process?
Click to expand...
Starting with an unpartitioned disk, run Windows XP setup and
1. Create the first partition, which will contain Windows.
2. Create one or more additional dummy partitions to move the Windows
drive letter up (one partition to make Windows E:, two partitions to
make Windows F:, etc., assuming one optical drive).
3. Delete the first partition that was created in step 1.
4. Quit setup.
5. Run Windows XP setup again.
6. Create the first partition again.
7. Install Windows in the first partition.
8. Run Disk Management and delete the dummy partitions.
 
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