Summary : This is a pretty brief
description of the steps needed to reinstall windows XP and does not cover the endless
problems you can and will encounter during this process. If you do not feel confident
about doing this or you need it done in a hurry I would advise getting a professional in
to do it for you.
What’s the point in a fresh install?
A fresh installation of Windows XP can resolve multiple software issues with your
computer. It will also remove ALL viruses and generally increases performance. It is not
always necessary but it will almost always result in better stability and performance. For
this to work the drive must be formatted first or XP can be installed to a new drive.
First steps
If you can still boot into XP and you’ve decided to reformat your PC or Laptop then
there are some steps you should take before doing so.
• Backup all your data. This includes emails, My documents (for each user etc. plus
any contacts) also stuff residing on the desktop.
• Backup all the drivers on the computer. (There’s nothing more annoying than
reformatting your PC and finding out you cannot go on the internet because your wireless
card is not installed. There are some good programs out there which can help you do this.
“DriverGenius” is a good example.
• Decide how you are going to reload everything. Many PC’s and laptops come with
“System Restore” CD’s which basically do everything for you. If you have
one of these then don’t worry about backing up the drivers as they’ll all be put
back by the CD. If you don’t have a system restore CD don’t worry. Most people
don’t. You make have a hidden recovery partition on your hard drive which will do
exactly the same thing. On most Packard Bell, Compaq and HP machines they have a recovery
partition which is usually accessed by pressing CTRL and F10 on start up. The rest is very
self explanatory. If neither of the above options applies to you then you will need to
reload XP manually. For which you will need a copy of the XP operating system on CD. If
you purchased your PC with XP already installed then you’ll need to have an OEM
version of XP. Before going any further make sure you have the product key for your copy
written down. It should be on a sticker attached to your PC. If you’ve got this far
then you’re ready to proceed.
Installing
• You need to make sure your PC is set to boot from CD. (If you’re not sure how
to this check Google as there is no scope for covering this in this article)
• Put your XP CD in the CD drive and restart the PC.
• Soon you will see a the writing “Press any key to boot from CD....” when
you see this press any key.
• The Windows setup will begin and you’ll see messages like “ Press F6 to
install any third-party or RAID drivers” if you want to install any third party or
RAID drivers then press F6 (this doesn’t apply to most people)
• Eventually you’ll see a screen saying “Press ‘R’ to enter XP
repair or enter setup. You need to choose to enter setup. Press ENTER.
• On the next screen press F8 to accept the license agreement.
• On the next screen you will see the previous version of XP. Press “Esc”.
You will now need to delete the previous installation by pressing ‘D’ and then
‘L’ to confirm.
• Now you can just press “Enter” to begin your installation. You will be
asked how you wish to Format the partition. Pick NTFS “Quick install”. The
normal one just checks the hard drive for errors first and takes ages.
• Go and make yourself a tea or coffee now as it will be 10 minutes or so till
you’re required again.
• The next time you are needed you will need to specify the date, the time, the
country etc. (it’s very self explanatory from here on in) You will also need to input
the product key at this point as well.
• A short time after this you may be prompter to specify whether you are in a domain
or workgroup. If you don’t know just put workgroup and continue.
• You will see the screen flash black several times. Don’t worry this is
perfectly normal. Do not turn off the PC now until the installation has completed and only
restart the install if the PC has frozen for more than 10 minutes.
• When the installation is completed (Roughly 30 minutes) the first thing you need to
do is load your drivers back on. If you used a program to back them up then use the same
program to reinstall them again. This can save you loads of time.
• Now reconnect to the internet and run windows update. You must keep loading updates
on until they have finished. This may require several reboots.
• Once you are satisfied you have loaded all the windows updates you can load on your
antivirus software. If you haven’t got one try AVG. They have a free version and
it’s very good.
• One of the downsides is you will now have to reload any programs you previously had
on the computer. I would recommend you only install programs you use and not anything you
seem to have a disk for.
• All that’s left to do now is load your data back and emails back on and
reinstall any printers or peripherals that you may have.
This is a pretty brief description of the steps needed to reinstall windows XP and does
not cover the endless problems you can and will encounter during this process. If you do
not feel confident about doing this or you need it done in a hurry I would advise getting
a professional in to do it for you.
If you do manage to complete the steps above OK, then congratulations you should now have
a faster and far more stable PC that is virus free (for now). |
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PC Recovery ( www.pcrec.co.uk ) is a small family run Home PC repair
business operating in Essex and Kent specializing in all forms of IT. Contact Person :
Paul Orams, Email: pcrec at seogenies.com, Street Address : Leigham Court Drive, City :
Leigh on sea, State : Essex, Country : United Kingdom, Pincode : SS9 1PU, Phone No. :
01702 511868 |
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