CONFIGURING YOUR SYSTEM FROM HOME FOR XP
For you to sit at home for your system configuration on how to setup your xp program
1. When you run the Windows XP Professional Setup program, you must provide information about how to install and configure the operating system. Thorough planning can make your installation of Windows XP Professional more efficient by helping you to avoid potential problems during installation. An understanding of the configuration options will also help to ensure that you have properly configured your system.
I won't go into that part right now but here are some of the most important things you should take into consideration when planning for your XP installation:
* Check System Requirements
* Check Hardware and Software Compatibility
* Determine Disk Partitioning Options
* Choose the Appropriate File System: FAT, FAT32, NTFS
* Decide on a Workgroup or Domain Installation
* Complete a Pre-Installation Checklist
After you made sure you can go on, start the installation process.
2. Beginning the installation process
You can install Windows XP in several methods - all are valid and good, it all depends upon your needs and your limitations.
* Manual installations usually come in 3 flavors:
* Boot from CD - No existing partition is required.
* Boot from the 6 Setup Boot Disks, then insert the CD - No existing partition is required (see the Create Setup Boot Disks for Windows XP page).
* Boot from an MS-DOS startup floppy, go to the command prompt, create a 4GB FAT32 partition with FDISK, reboot, format the C partition you've created, then go to the CD drive, go into the I386 folder, and run the WINNT.EXE command.
* Run an already installed OS, such as Windows NT 4.0 Server. From within NT 4.0 go to the I386 folder in the W2K installation CD and run the WINNT32.EXE command.
* If you want to upgrade a desktop OS such as Windows 98 into Windows 2000 Professional you can follow the same procedure as above (You cannot upgrade Windows 98 into W2K Server).
There are other non-manual installation methods, such as using an unattended file along with a uniqueness database file, using Sysprep, using RIS or even running unattended installations from within the CD itself, but we won't go into that right now.
It doesn't matter how you run the setup process, but the moment it runs - all setup methods look alike.
3. The text-based portion of the Setup program
The setup process begins loading a blue-looking text screen (not GUI). In that phase you will be asked to accept the EULA and choose a partition on which to install XP, and if that partition is new, you'll be asked to format it by using either FAT, FAT32 or NTFS.
i. Start the computer from the CD.
ii. You can press F6 if you need to install additional SCSI adapters or other mass-storage devices. If you do you will be asked to supply a floppy disk with the drivers and you CANNOT browse it (or a CD for that matter). Make sure you have one handy.
iii. If you want, you can press F2 to run the ASR sequence. For that you need a good backup created by the Windows XP backup program, and the ASR floppy disk. If you plan to install a new copy of XP - don't do anything.
iv. Setup will load all the needed files and drivers.
v. Select To Setup Windows XP Professional Now. If you want, and if you have a previous installation of XP, you can try to fix it by pressing R. If not, just press ENTER.
vi. Read and accept the licensing agreement and press F8 if you accept it.
vii. Select or create the partition on which you will install Windows XP Professional. Depending upon your existing disk configuration choose one of the following:
viii. If the hard disk is unpartitioned, you can create and size the partition on which you will install Windows XP Professional.
ix. If the hard disk is already partitioned, but has enough unpartitioned disk space, you can create an additional partition in the unpartitioned space.
x. If the hard disk already has a partition that is large enough, you can install Windows XP Professional on that partition. If the partition has an existing operating system, you will overwrite that operating system if you accept the default installation path. However, files other than the operating system files, such as program files and data files, will not be overwritten.
xi.If the hard disk has an existing partition, you can delete it to create more unpartitioned space for the new partition. Deleting an existing partition erases all data on that partition.
If you select a new partition during Setup, create and size only the partition on which you will install Windows XP Professional. After installation, use Disk Management to partition the remaining space on the hard disk.
4. Select a file system for the installation partition. After you create the partition on which you will install Windows XP Professional, you can use Setup to select the file system with which to format the partition. Windows XP Professional supports the NTFS file system in addition to the file allocation table (FAT) and FAT32 file systems. Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000, and Windows NT are the only Microsoft operating systems that you can use to gain access to data on a local hard disk that is formatted with NTFS. If you plan to gain access to files that are on a local Windows XP Professional partition with the Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows 98 operating systems, you should format the partition with a FAT or FAT32 file system. We will use NTFS.
i. Setup will then begin copying necessary files from the installation point (CD, local I386 or network share).
ii (or if setup was run by booting from CD) the copying will probably last a few minutes, no more than 5 max.
iii. The computer will restart in graphical mode, and the installation will continue.
iv.The GUI-based portion of the Setup program
The setup process reboots and loads a GUI mode phase.
It will then begin to load device drivers based upon what it finds on your computer. You don't need to do anything at this stage.
i. Click Customize to change regional settings, if necessary.
ii. Current System Locale - Affects how programs display dates, times, currency, and numbers. Choose the locale that matches your location, for example, French (Canada).
iii.Current Keyboard Layout - Accommodates the special characters and symbols used in different languages. Your keyboard layout determines which characters appear when you press keys on the keyboard.
If you don't need to make any changes just press Next.
If you do need to make changes press Customize and add your System Locale etc.
Note for Hebrew users: Unlike W2K, it is SAFE and it is OK for you to install Hebrew language support at this phase.
To install Hebrew support:
After pressing Customize go to the Languages tab and select the "Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages".
A warning message will appear. Press Ok.
Warning: You must now press Apply!!!
Setup will copy the necessary files from the installation point.
You can now go to the Regional Options tab and select Israel in the Location drop-down list, and Hebrew in the Standards and Formats drop-down list. Click Ok.
1. Type your name and organization.
2. Type the product key.
3. Type the computer name and a password for the local Administrator account. The local Administrator account resides in the SAM of the computer, not in Active Directory. If you will be installing in a domain, you need either a pre-assigned computer name for which a domain account has been created, or the right to create a computer account within the domain.
4. Select the date, time, and time zone settings.
5. Setup will now install the networking components.
After a few seconds you will receive the Networking Settings window. BTW, if you have a NIC that is not in the HCL (see the What's the HCL? page) and XP cannot detect it, or if you don't have a NIC at all, setup will skip this step and you will immediately go to the final phase of the setup process.
Press Next to accept the Typical settings option if you have one of the following situations:
* You have a functional DHCP on your network.
* You have a computer running Internet Connection Sharing (ICS).
* You're in a workgroup environment and do not plan to have any other servers or Active Directory at all, and all other workgroup members are configured in the same manner.
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