Before formatting the computer:
Make sure that you have Windows XP, driver CD of all the peripherals installed in the computer and other necessary softwares like Microsoft Office etc. You should also back up your computer's data before formatting. Insert the Windows XP CD into your computer's CD ROM drive.
Restart computer:
As soon as it starts, go to setup. For this, follow the instructions given at the bottom of the screen. Usually it will be the F10 or Del key. As you go through this setup, you will have to select the Boot Order menu which is usually found in the Storage menu or Advanced menu. Make CD Rom the first option by going to the Boot Order menu, so that when the computer boots up, it will directly read your CD Rom and not the hard disk.
Computer on startup:
It will boot from CD Rom instead of booting from hard disk (Start). As soon as the computer starts up and reads the CD Rom, a blue screen will appear. The names of several files will keep popping up at the bottom of the screen as the setup program reads Windows XP files from the CD Rom.
After some time:
Welcome to Setup screen will appear in front of you, in this you will see three options. In the first option, press Enter to open the window, in the second option press R to repair and in the third option press F3 to exit. Press Enter here, after which the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen will appear. Then press F8.
The hard disk partition will appear:
If you are installing Windows XP for the first time, you will see the Unpartitioned Space option and the size of the disk in the boxes on this screen. If the same operating system was already in the computer, then all the partitions already created will be visible. Press C on this screen. Now Create partition of size (in MB) box will appear in front of you. Here you want to create the number of mega-byte partition (eg 40 GB) then you enter 409160 MB and press Enter.
Back to previous screen:
Will come The size of the partition you created, the entry of the same partition size will appear and below that the remaining hard disk space will be visible in Unpartitioned Space. You can create another partition by selecting Unpartitioned Space and pressing the C key.
Windows on whatever partition:
Select the XP you want to install and press Enter. On the next screen you will get 4 positions Format using NTFS (quick), Format Using Fat (Quick), Format Using NTFS, Format using Fat. Format using NTFS will be already selected. You press Enter on this. Once you press Enter, it will format the drive and Setup will start copying files to the hard disk.
Restart of computer:
After a while the computer restarts, the Windows XP Graphical Interface will come. Then after some time you will see Regional and Language Options, here you click on Next. After this Personalize Your Software screen will come. Here you enter your name. The organization name can be left blank. Now click on Next again, after which Your Product Key option will come.
Here enter the CD key found with the CD of your software. It is of 25 characters. On pressing Next, the Computer Name and Administrator Password screen will appear. Now enter whatever name you want to give to the computer in the Computer Name text box. Below this you enter your administrator password.
On pressing Next, the Date and Time Settings dialog screen will appear in front of you. Here you set the date and time of your computer and select GMT +5:30 Chennai, Kolkata... option in the Time Zone Combo box.
On pressing Next:
Windows XP will begin installing your network software. After this the network settings screen will appear in front of you. Here you leave the default setting Typical Settings selected and click on the Next option. After this the Workgroup or Computer Domain will come. Here also you press Next without changing anything. Windows will then copy over the remaining files.
Computer will restart:
Now after sometime the computer will restart, after which the Display Settings message box will come. Here you press Ok. After this, after pressing Ok again, Windows will set the screen resolution according to your display card. After that press Next. In the Help Protect Your PC screen, select the Help Protect my PC by Turning... option.
Press Next after that the Checking the Internet Connectivity screen will come up. Here you select the DSL option according to the internet connectivity of your computer. Here you can also select the Skip option. The Ready to Register with Microsoft screen will now appear. Here you select the No Not At This Time option.
Who Will Use This Computer:
On pressing Next, the Who Will Use This Computer screen will appear in front of you. Here you can enter 5 user names. After that press Next and Finish on the next screen. The Windows desktop will appear in front of you.