I never recommend installing over another operating system, while a lot of people experience little or no problems, I still think a clean install is better.
Hopefully this walkthrough will guide you through a clean install and help you to format the hard drive from FAT32 to NTFS.
I would suggest that you print it out before proceeding.
So, in the driving seat with belt safely fastened? Then off we go!
It depends on how old your motherboard is whether or not you can boot directly from CD. To be safe, click on the link for the version of XP you have and create a set of boot discs (you will need 6 blank formatted floppy discs):
XP Home XP Home SP1 XP Pro XP Pro SP1
Now you need (as I said in my earlier post) to change the boot sequence in the BIOS, this can be one of many keys, dependent on your motherboard.
First try turning on your PC and repeatedly press DELETE until the first BIOS setup screen appears. If pressing DELETE doesn’t work, you’ll need to reboot and try pressing ESC or F10 or a different key (check your motherboard manual if none of these keys work). If your PC displays a splash screen that hides your initial boot screen, you can usually bypass it by pressing TAB when it appears.
Next, scroll through the BIOS configuration screens until you find a boot sequence setting.
Using the appropriate keyboard key to change settings, (normally PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN) change the sequence so that your CD-Rom drive is the first device. For example, the sequence can display as: CD-ROM, A, C (where A represents your diskette drive and C represents the hard drive from which Windows boots). Save your changes and exit the BIOS, and if your motherboard permits CD-Rom booting, you should be able to boot directly from the WinXP installation CD-Rom.
If you can start from the CD-Rom insert the disc and reboot.
(If you need to start from floppy, insert the first disc and reboot, now follow the on-screen prompts).
When the first dialog box appears, click Install Windows XP; from the subsequent dialog box, select New Installation (Advanced) from the Installation drop-down menu.
Click ‘Next’ to read the License Agreement then ‘Next’ again to enter your security code.Now click ‘Next’ again.
The dialog box that now displays lists your setup options. Click Advanced Options, select I Want To Choose The Install Drive Letter And Partition During Setup, and click OK. Back in the setup options, you also can choose accessibility and language options. When you’re ready to move on, click Next. If you can still connect to the Internet, make sure you’re currently connected and select Yes, Download The Updated Setup Files (Recommended). If you don’t have a connection or can’t connect, don’t worry—the installation should still run fine. In this case, select No, Skip This Step And Continue Installing Windows. After copying system files to your hard drive, the utility will reboot your PC.
When your PC reboots, you might see a message instructing you to “Press any key to boot from CD.” If you see this message, press a key to continue the setup process.
If you’re using a WinXP Professional or Home Edition upgrade CD-Rom (instead of the full version), the utility will ask you to insert your previous Windows installation CD-Rom (WinMe). Press ENTER after you insert the CD-Rom.
The next screen lists your current hard drive(s) or partitions and lists several options. If you want to install WinXP on the currently selected partition, press ENTER, or select a different partition. You also can split a hard drive into partitions (press C on your keyboard) or delete a partition (press D).
After you select your installation partition, the setup utility asks if you want to format the partition, convert it to NTFS (NT file system) as opposed to FAT32 (32-bit file allocation table), or leave the file system intact. Regardless of whether the drive or partition you selected is already formatted with FAT32 or NTFS, perform a quick format using the NTFS file system because NTFS provides enhanced file security and increased drive space efficiency over the FAT32 file system.
Press ENTER after making your choice and then verify your choice on-screen. If the correct partition appears on the confirmation screen, press F to format the drive. To select a different partition, press ESC.
After the format process, the setup utility copies installation files to the partition you selected and reboots your PC. If you encounter another message asking you to “Press any key to boot from CD,” ignore it because the setup process will now continue using the files that is on your hard drive. If the utility tries to access the installation CD-Rom, remove the disc and reboot your PC. You can reinsert the CD-Rom later if needed.
After the installation is finished and all is well, go back to your BIOS and change the boot sequence back to C, A, Cd-Rom.
Hope this helps, please post back and let us how it goes or if there is anything you are not sure about.
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