After configuring the system for booting from a CD, the Windows Setup screen appears.
At this point, Setup is loading the driver files it needs to continue with installation.
1) Shall we begin?
2) Welcome to Setup
The “Welcome to Setup” screen appears with the option of Continuing Setup, Repair a previous installation, or Quitting.
Press
ENTER to Continue Setup.
You may also choose
R to Repair, or
F3 to Quit and reboot the system.
2) Welcome to Setup
3) Windows XP Licensing Agreement
The “Windows XP Licensing Agreement” screen, otherwise known as
“EULA,” displays the legal in’s and out’s of this particular software
package.
You may press
F8 to signify that you agree with the terms, hit
ESC if you do not agree and
PAGE UP or
PAGE DOWN to scroll through each screen. Note: If you do not agree to the terms, setup will quit and reboot the system.
3) Windows XP Licensing Agreement
4) Hard drive partition information
Hard drive partition information is now displayed. This varies with each systems hardware configuration.
This example already has a partition defined. I will choose not to use this and create a new one by pressing
D.
You may skip this and the next few steps if you do not have any partitions defined.
At this point, the options include pressing
ENTER to Install on the selected partition,
D to Delete the selected partition, or
F3 to Quit and reboot the system.
4) Hard drive partition information
5) Warning screen
After pressing
D to delete the selected partition, a
warning screen appears explaining the pitfalls of deleting it. This
particular screen only appears when the partition selected to be deleted
is formatted as a bootable system partition. Other partitions will
display the next screen.
I want this to happen, so I press
ENTER to continue.
The options include pressing
ENTER to continue, or
ESC to Cancel.
5) Warning screen
6) Confirmation screen
A confirmation screen that displays the logical drive, what file
system the partition is currently using, the size in MB and controller
information.
Options include
L to Delete the partition and
ESC to Cancel the action.
6) Confirmation screen
7) No partitions have been previously defined
If no partitions have been previously defined, this screen will be
displayed. You may section your hard drive in as many partitions as you
wish by selecting
C to Create a Partition and then entering
in a value less then the total available. Here, I will Create a
Partition in the highlighted, unused portion.
Select the partition you wish to install to using the
UP arrow and
DOWN ARROW keys.
Press
ENTER to use the highlighted partition and Install,
C to Create a Partition, or
F3 to Quit and reboot the system.
7) No partitions have been previously defined
8) Enter in the partition size
Enter in the partition size in MB within the displayed minimum and maximum. I chose the default or maximum available here.
You may choose
ENTER to Create the new partition or
ESC to Cancel the action.
8) Enter in the partition size
9) Continue to create partitions
Continue to create partitions until all space is used or the configuration meets your requirements.
Note: a small portion will be unavailable to partition. This is normal. In this example, it is 2 MB.
I chose drive C: or Partition1 to install the Operating System.
You may choose
ENTER to Install to the selected partition,
D to Delete the highlighted Partition, or
F3 to Quit and reboot the system.
9) Continue to create partitions
10) Format the partition
Since this OS supports NTFS, format the partition with it. If you do
not, many folder and file security features will be unavailable. Note:
If you are dual booting your system, a previous OS will not be able to
read the local information. This is a fact with Windows 9x and Me. If
you have a requirement to view this partition from another OS installed
on the system, do not format it as NTFS. Also, the boot partition must
be formatted with FAT32 if you wish to dual boot. I have found no
problems accessing a NTFS partition mapped as a network drive from an
older OS.
Select what format you wish to use by pressing the
UP ARROW and
DOWN ARROW keys.
Press
ENTER to confirm your selection and Continue or
ESC to Cancel.
10) Format the partition
11) Setup formats the partition
Watch the progress bar as Setup formats the partition, or get up and get a soda. It may take awhile.
11) Setup formats the partition
12) Creating File List
Setup is now figuring out what files to copy over to the hard drive.
12) Creating File List
13) Setup copies various files
After the partition is finished formatting, Setup copies various files to support booting from the hard drive and continue on.
13) Setup copies various files
14) Creates various information files
Setup then creates various information files required to continue on with setup.
14) Creates various information files
15) Press ENTER to Restart
The first reboot and the end of the blue background has arrived. If you are impatient, press
ENTER to Restart before the 15 seconds expire.
ENTER to Restart the Computer is the only option available.
15) Press ENTER to Restart
16) Windows XP boot screen
The new Windows XP boot screen is displayed.
16) Windows XP boot screen
17) Windows XP Installation
If you have installed Windows before, this type of screen will look familiar.
Sit back. It may be awhile.
17) Windows XP Installation
18) Faster and more reliable
Every Windows OS that comes out has the same claim. Faster and
better. It is subject to debate whether or not it could get “any worse.”
18) Faster and more reliable
19) Region and Input Languages
A little while later, you will be prompted with options of
configuring your Region and Input Languages. The default was fine for
me, so I selected Next.
Options include
Customize button,
Details Button, plus the standard
Back and
Next.
19) Region and Input Languages
20) Enter in your Name
Enter in your Name and optional Organization information, then select the
Next button.
20) Enter in your Name
21) 25 digit Product Key
Thought you could get away from it? Think again.
Enter your unique 25 digit Product Key that came with your CD, then select the
Next button.
21) 25 digit Product Key
Enter a Computer name and an Administrator Password
The “suggested” name for the computer is always really whacked out. Choose one that meets your needs.
Enter an Administrator Password now. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you
keep this information safe and remember what it is! “01Pa$$word” is not a
good choice. Think of something secure and never lose or forget it.
22) Enter a Computer name and an Administrator Password
23) Date, Time and Time Zone
Configure the proper information for the Date, Time and Time Zone here.
23) Date, Time and Time Zone
24) Network is installing
Wait here while the Network is installing. You could read all the marketing dribble, but I do not recommend it.
24) Network is installing
25) Network Settings Dialog
The Network Settings Dialog is next. Under usual circumstances, the
Typical settings are fine, but I never choose them so I can poke around under the hood. I selected
Custom settings here.
Choose your method and select the
Next button.
25) Network Settings Dialog
26) Custom settings
In the
Custom settings, many options are abound. I cannot go into all of them here, but I will hit on the high points.
26) Custom settings
27) QoS Packet Scheduler
QoS Packet Scheduler is not required unless your network uses it.
For this system, I will choose to
uncheck it.
27) QoS Packet Scheduler
28) TCP/IP Properties
TCP/IP Properties contains the standard options. Adjust them for your
particular needs as required. For now, I kept the default settings.
Basically, it is using DHCP to configure TCP/IP. If you are using a
static IP address, enter in the proper information here.
Select the
Advanced button to further configure your TCP/IP options.
28) TCP/IP Properties
29) Workgroup or Computer Domain
Workgroup or Computer Domain, that is the question. I am not going to
set up this system to connect to a domain controller, so I will place
it as a member of a workgroup.
Please, change “WORKGROUP” to something else. I hate defaults.
Select the Next button after making your choice.
29) Workgroup or Computer Domain
30) Install screen
The system will reboot after all files have been copied over to the
install partition. Now may be a good time to take a break. It may be
awhile.
30) Install screen
31) Windows XP is starting up
The moment we have all been waiting for, Windows XP Professional is
starting up “for the first time.” Remember that quoted statement with
Windows 95 setup?
31) Windows XP is starting up
32) Display Settings Pop-up
Windows XP no longer likes the “default” resolution of 640 x 480 and prompts you of that fact.
Select
OK to continue.
32) Display Settings Pop-up
33) Please wait
800 x 600 is a wonderful thing, however, I chose to have it time out and return to 640 x 480 for this guide.
33) Please wait
34) Login to the Administrator account
With the “Welcome” screen, you no longer have to hit the “Three Finger Salute” combination of
Ctrl+Alt+Delete to login to the Administrator account.
You did remember your password, right?!?
34) Login to the Administrator account
35) Applying computer settings
Please wait while the Administrator account is configured “for the first time.”
No. I will not mention Windows 95 again…
35) Applying computer settings
36) Display Settings Pop-up
Since the initial screen resolution is set to 640 x 480, a balloon
dialog appears. You may click the pop-up balloon to raise the resolution
up to 800 x 600 automatically. For the rest of this guide, I chose to
ignore it.
36) Display Settings Pop-up
37) Windows XP tour
Click the balloon dialog to start a tour of Windows XP.
Even if you do not wish to see the information, you should click on the balloon to get rid of the annoyance in a timely fashion.
37) Windows XP tour
38) Windows XP Tour dialog
Windows XP Tour dialog popup is shown.
Select the
Cancel button to never see it again.
38) Windows XP Tour dialog
39) .NET Passport Wizard
Double-Click the Messenger Icon in the bottom right (system tray) and the “.NET Passport Wizard” dialog appears.
Select
Cancel to not sign up for Passport at this time.
39) .NET Passport Wizard
40) Windows Messenger
With the .NET Passport Wizard gone, the Windows Messenger is opened.
40) Windows Messenger
41) Windows Messenger Tools
Select
Tools, then
Options.
41) Windows Messenger Tools
42) Messenger Preferences:
In the Options window, select the Preferences Tab.
Uncheck “Run this program when Windows starts” and “Allow this
program to run in the background.” Of course, if you wish to keep
Windows Messenger, do not do this step.
42) Messenger Preferences
43) Close Messenger
Now you can select the
close button and Messenger will be unloaded from memory.
43) Close Messenger
44) That is all!
That’s all there is to it! I hope this guide helped you out or gave you a sneak peek at what is to come.
44) That is all!
