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My brother, amongst others, have requested that I help them do an install of Windows XP. So, here is the tutorial to save me from RM (Repeating Myself).

1. Make sure that you have the necessary media (XP boot cd or XP bootable USB).
2. Make sure that the first bootable device listed in the BIOS is the one that you have the media for (CD-ROM or USB/Removable media). I will cover accessing the BIOS briefly, just for completeness.
   1. On Dell systems, usually F2 key during startup.
   2. HP is usually F10.
   3. Home made systems, usually the Del (Delete) Key.
3. With the BIOS set to the proper boot media and the media in the proper location, start you PC.
4. If all is well, this screen is seen:
   

   Windows XP Installation starting

5. A screen that states that “Setup is starting Windows”:
   

   Setup is starting Windows

6. Setup will stop at the Windows XP Professional Setup screen, awaiting for the user (you) to do one of the following: Press the Enter key to continue with the installation, Press the R key to repair an already installed Windows XP, or F3 key to quit and exit the process.
   

   Windows XP Professional Setup

7. Since this tutorial is about installing Windows XP professional, Press Enter.
8. The Windows XP Licensing Agreement is the next screen and will have to be accepted to continue with the installation. Press F8 if you agree with the license, or you can press the ESC (Escape) key if you do not, in which this tutorial completes if you do not agree.
   

   The Windows XP Licensing Agreement

9. Once accepting the license agreement, you will advance to the partitioning screen. If the PC’s hard drive does not have prior installations of an OS or has not been partitioned prior, the screen will look similar to the following and you can press Enter to continue with the installation. As an option, you can press the C key, but by press the Enter the partitioning process is done automatically. On another note, if you are an advanced user and would like to partition your hard drive, this is the point in which you would do this:
   

   Unpartitioned space

   
   If the PC’s hard drive contains an OS or has been partitioned before, then the screen will look like this:
   

   Partitioned drive

   
   If the hard drive has been partitioned, highlight the partition by using the arrow keys to move up and down, and pressing the D key to delete the partition. You will see the next screen, which is a confirmation screen to actually delete the partition:
   

   Partition Deletion Confirmation

   
   To confirm the deletion of the partition, press the L key. If there are more than one partition to delete, you will have to go through the same process until you have have an “Unpartitioned space” on the screen.
   
   

   Unpartition Space

   
   Once you are at this point, press the Enter to continue with the installation.
10. The next step of the installation is to format the drive.
    

    Format the partition

    The best choice the top (Format the partition using the NTFS file system (Quick)). As NTFS will provide with security features that FAT does not allow and you will not have the limitation of only 4GB which FAT has. You may choose this option by using the arrow key to move to the selection and pressing Enter to continue with the installation.
    
    

    Format the partition using the NTFS file system (Quick)

11. Windows will start to format the hard drive:
    

    Formating the hard drive

12. Then Windows will begin to copy the files to the hard drive:
    

    Windows copying files to the hard drive

13. Windows will automatically continue with the installation:
    

    Windows continues with installation

14. Windows will get to the Regional and Language Option where you will be prompted. You may choose to customise, At this point of the installation, your mouse is active and may be used. Click on the Next button.
    
    

    Regional and Languge Option

15. You are now prompted to enter a Product Key. There are instances where this screen will not appear (which I will not go into this tutorial). Enter the product key, which is located either on the PC that you have purchased or on the casing of the Windows XP media.
    

    Product Key

16. Choose a computer name and and Administrator password, then click Next.
    

    Computer name and Administrator Password

17. Windows will now prompt your for the date, time and time zone and whether you would like Automatic daylight saying changes. Make the appropriate choices and click Next.
    

    Time Date and Time Zone

18. Again Windows will continue with the installation.
    

    Windows continues with installatoin

19. The next Windows prompt will be for the Networking Settings. The Typical settings is a wise choice for beginners, and for the more experienced users that would like to configure their network, this would be the spot! Choose your option and click Next.
    

    Network settings

20. The next prompt that Windows would like input, is Workgroup or Computer Domain. If you have a home workgroup (network) enter the name here, if you have a domain, then I believe you know what you are doing and need not my advice on this option.
    

    Workgroup or Computer Domain

21. Windows will continue on…..
    

    Windows continues with the installation

22. The next prompt you will see is the Display Settings. Click OK as there is no other option!
    

    Display Settings

23. You will get another prompt stating, “Windows adjusted your screen resolution. If you can read this text, click OK to continue.” If you cannot read the text, Windows will reset the resolution after the time expires (starts at 30 seconds).
    

    Monitor Settings

24. Next you will see Windows completing the initial setup.
    

    Initial setup complete

25. You should see the Windows startup logo and if you have sound available, there will be background sound to ease the completion of the Windows installation.
    

    Windows logo

26. Welcome to Microsoft Windows. Click Next to continue.
    

    Welcome to Microsoft Windows

27. You will see the Help protect your PC screen. If you would like for Windows to provide you with automatic update choose “Help protect my PC by turning on Automatic Updates Now”, if not, then choose “Not right now”. If you choose “not right now”, you may turn on the Automatic Updates later in the control panel. Make your choice and click Next.
    

    Automatic Updates

28. Windows will next check your Internet connection. If you are not connected to the Internet or local network, you can Skip or click Next.
    

    Checking your Internet connectivity

    .
29. If you clicked the Skip option, continue to the next step. If you clicked Next, Windows will offer you two options,
    1. Yes, this computer will connect through a local area network or home network
    2. No, this computer will connect directly to the Internet.

    Make your appropriate option and click Next. If you do not know which option to choose, choose the second option, “No, this computer will connect directly to the Internet.”

    

    Will lthis computer connect to the Internet directly, or through a network?

30. Ready to register with Microsoft? Your option…. Click Next.
    

    Ready to register with Microsoft?

31. The last step! Who will use this computer? Enter your user name and others that you will be sharing your computer with. After entering the name(s), click Next.
    

    Who will use this computer?

32. Welcome to Windows XP!
    

    Welcome

33. The Desktop….
    

    The desktop

This concludes the installation of Windows XP. Please provide feedback. Thank you!

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