A guide to quickly installing Windows XP on a laptop or computer for beginners.

Introduction

Before installing Windows XP on a laptop, you should copy all important data from the partition on which you are going to install the system. When you install the disk, this partition will be formatted. If you have Linux or DOS installed, then you also need to take care of backups. It is best to copy to a flash drive or another partition of the hard drive. As an alternative to installing Windows XP on the laptop hard drive itself, you should consider installing it on a virtual machine. This is described in more detail in this guide: .

Also before installation Windows XP It is recommended to download and save the appropriate drivers for this system. The fact is that Windows XP may not initially contain drivers for your network card, Wi-Fi adapter or for your modem. Most often this is what happens. As a result, after installing Windows XP, you simply will not be able to go online and download the required driver. Not a very pleasant prospect. What drivers are needed and where to download them can be shown in detail in the fourth part of this guide.

To install Windows XP you need to do the following:

1. Burn the Windows XP image to a CD (if you don’t have one);
2. Set to boot from CD in BIOS and enable compatibility mode;
3. Directly install the system;
4. Installing drivers.

So, let's get started

1. Burn an image from Windows XP to disk

Licensed versions of Windows XP are usually supplied with a disc. If you have one, then you can safely skip this section. If there is no disc, you will have to burn it.

Important Note: If you don’t know which version of Windows XP to install on your laptop (32-bit or 64-bit), then I recommend that you read this material:. It is also worth reading this material:.

To burn a disc we need:

1. Disc image with Windows XP in .iso format;
2. A program for burning images to disk. For example Ashampoo Burning Studio ( / );
3. A blank CD or DVD.

Important Note: It is recommended to use only original Windows builds. If a certain assembly was successfully installed on someone’s computer, on some laptop, this does not mean that it will install just as well on your laptop. When using various non-original assemblies, problems can often arise primarily with drivers and some programs, because some “craftsmen” removed something “unnecessary” from the distribution, added a bunch of “necessary” drivers and programs in their opinion, working together which, of course, no one tested. Various malware can also be embedded there to organize botnets and steal information. Since distribution of Windows images is not encouraged, I will not provide links.

Install and launch

On the menu Create/burn disk image select an item Burn CD/DVD/Blue-ray disc from disc image

Click on the button Review and indicate where the image is located.

We are waiting for the disc to burn:

When the disc is recorded, press the button OK

Now you can move on to the next step - installing boot from disk and switching the hard drive operating mode

2. Install boot from disk and switch the operating mode of the hard drive

To install Windows XP, you need to specify in the BIOS that the CD/DVD drive should boot first. If this is not done, then installing Windows XP is simple won't start.

How can I boot from a CD/DVD drive? First you need to go into the BIOS. Depending on the laptop model, to do this you need to press a certain button when loading. For Acer laptops this is F2, for Toshiba it is mainly Esc, F3 for Sony, etc. How to enter the BIOS is indicated in the instructions for the laptop.

When we entered the BIOS, go to the tab Boot. On that tab, use the F5/F6 keys to put the CD/DVD drive in first place. Finding out exactly where a CD/DVD drive is in the list is quite simple: usually it indicates something like IDE, SATA, as well as the model of the CD/DVD drive.

When you have finished installing boot from CD/DVD, you can proceed to switching the operating mode of the hard drive

Note: this only needs to be done if you have a laptop with an Intel processor or AMD processors and an AMD 7xx series chipset or higher (780G, for example)

Why is this necessary? It's simple. The fact is that the original Windows XP distribution does not have drivers for the AHCI controller. In other words, Windows simply won't see the hard drive. You can read more about what AHCI is and who needs it in this material: NCQ Technology. Should I enable AHCI? .

In order to install Windows XP without driver integration, you need to go to the tab Main in the BIOS and switch the hard drive operating mode from AHCI mode(may also be called Native mode etc.) on IDE Mode(may also be called Legacy Mode, Compatibility Mode or something like that).

Note: the names of BIOS items and keys for changing the boot order may vary depending on the laptop manufacturer. What, where and how changes should be described in the instructions for the laptop. As a last resort, you can ask in this forum thread:

Now you can proceed directly to installing the system. We put the disk in the drive and reboot.

3. Installing Windows XP

If everything is done correctly, the following screen should appear:

Press any button on the keyboard.

Possible problems: If you are not booting from disk, then first of all you should check whether the BIOS allows booting from disk. If it does, but the disk still won’t boot, then it’s worth checking whether this disk boots on another computer. If it boots, it means the problem is in the disk itself (scratched, for example) or the BIOS does not allow booting from the disk. It's worth trying to burn the image to another disk.
If it does not boot on another computer, then the disk is not bootable. It's worth trying to record it again and/or try a different distribution.

We are waiting for the bootloader to start:

Click Enter to start installation:

Press F8 to accept the license agreement:

And now a very important point. Specify the partition on which Windows XP will be installed

Click Enter.

Click Enter and choose Format partition in NTFS system. All information from that section will be deleted.

Click Enter to continue. We wait a bit:

A reboot is possible during the installation process. We don't press anything :)

Important Note: If during the installation of Windows the laptop freezes or displays a blue screen with white letters, then it is worth checking the hard drive and RAM. How to do this is described in this material:

When copying is complete, the settings window will open. Here you can specify keyboard layouts, installed languages, etc.:

Enter your username and organization name. Click Further

Enter the serial number. If you bought Windows XP, then it is indicated on a piece of paper in the box/OEM package (I can’t call it a “box” somehow :)). If the laptop came with Windows XP, then it is indicated on a piece of paper on the bottom.

Select time zone:

We wait a bit:

If the distribution contains drivers for your laptop’s network card, a window will appear to configure the network:

When the system is installed, the following window will appear:

If during the installation of Windows XP drivers were installed on the network card, the following window will appear prompting you to register:

That's all! Installation completed:

4. Search and install drivers

How to search for and install drivers on a laptop is described in this material:.

Important Note: if you have a laptop from Asus, then you should start searching for drivers for your laptop model from this section of the site:. If you have a laptop from Acer, then you can find all the drivers here: . Drivers and proprietary utilities for a large number of laptops Lenovo can be found in this section: .

You can find drivers and programs for your laptop or computer using these forum topics:

1. General topic on finding drivers: ;
2. Solving problems with video card drivers: ;

Windows XP is a good option for installing on a netbook, a weak desktop computer, or a laptop that was released many years ago.
The Windows XP operating system, despite the fact that it was released in 2001, is still well suited for working on low-power, outdated computers. More modern operating systems Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7 place more severe demands on computer hardware.

At the time of the creation of Windows XP, CDs were used to install the operating system, which were inserted into the CD/DVD drives of the computer. The era of portable USB flash drives has not yet arrived, so Microsoft has not provided a tool for installing the system from a bootable flash drive.

Installing Windows XP via a USB flash drive takes place in three stages:

• Creating a bootable USB flash drive.
• Selecting to boot from a USB flash drive in the computer BIOS.
• Installing Windows XP on a computer from an installation flash drive.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive with Windows XP

To create a bootable USB flash drive, we use the free program WinSetupFromUSB. We also need a blank USB drive for recording on the system’s flash drive.

There is a detailed article on my website. Read the article, write the operating system onto a flash drive according to the instructions.

Selecting boot priority in BIOS

Insert the USB flash drive with Windows XP into the USB connector, and then turn on the computer. Immediately after starting the PC, you need to press a specific keyboard key to enter the BIOS settings to select the boot priority from a bootable USB flash drive or DVD drive.

Different devices use different keys or key combinations.

After starting the computer, testing the equipment begins, at this time you need to quickly press the key to enter the BIOS. The most commonly used keys are "Del", "F2" and "F8" for fast loading.

Work in the BIOS is carried out using keyboard keys. The BIOS window provides explanations in English about which keys you need to use for configuration.

In the AMIBIOS settings, enter the Advanced BIOS Features menu, where you need to select the USB drive as the first boot device, moving it to the first place.

AMI BIOS ver.3.31a

In other BIOS versions, open the Boot tab, select USB flash drive, install it as the first boot device if you are installing from a USB flash drive. Select DVD drive, if you are installing from disk.

Save the settings and then exit the BIOS. Immediately after this, the computer will boot from the installation flash drive or from a CD/DVD disk if an optical disk is used to install Windows XP.

If you didn't manage to enter the BIOS in time, it's okay: restart your computer again, and then try again.

How to install Windows XP from a USB flash drive

In the first window with the inscription “Press any key to boot from CD” you need to press any key on the keyboard.

To create a flash drive, we used the WinSetupFromUSB program, so the MultiBoot USB window will open on the screen, in which you need to select “Installing Microsoft Windows XP SP3 x86 - Russian version”.

If you install from disk, the window located above does not appear.

The installation of Windows XP begins. After downloading the required files, the Windows XP Professional Setup window will open. Necessarily Press any key, otherwise the installation will not start.

Press the " Enter» to start installation of the operating system.
All offered options:
1. Proceed with installing windows xp (Enter key)
2. Restore Windows (R key)
3. Exit the installer (F3 key)

We accept the license agreement by clicking on the " F8».

If the system is already installed on the computer, the hard drive partitions will be displayed in the window. You can delete all partitions and install the system in an unallocated area, (be careful, after deleting a partition or formatting it, you will lose all data) or select an existing system partition for installation.

We will install Windows XP in an unallocated area. In the unallocated area, if necessary, you can create an additional non-system disk partition (partition D for data storage).

On our computer, an unallocated area is selected. To start Windows installation, click on “ Enter».

• Format partition in NTFS system (Quick).
• Format the partition in the NTFS system.

This window may suggest formatting to the FAT file system, do not consider this option.

You can choose any of these formatting options in NTFS. In the first case, formatting the partition will be faster.

The system partition is being formatted.

The system copies the files to the Windows installation folders.

Upon completion, the computer will restart.
Next, a window will appear with the inscription “Press any key to boot from CD”, in This time we don't press anything!

The installation program window displays information about the functions of the operating system. Windows XP will take some time to install, and the estimated time until installation is complete is displayed in the Windows Setup window.

On top of the System Installation Wizard window, windows open for configuring certain parameters.

In the window " language and regional standards» select the language, click on the « Further" In the Russified version of Windows XP, Russian is selected by default.

In the next window, be sure to enter “ Account name”, for example Alexander.

You can enter anything you want. This name will appear in the system as the computer username.

If you are a regular user, " Name of the organization» do not enter.

In the Product Key window, enter the key for your copy of Windows. (this window may not appear - depending on the build of Windows XP ). You can skip this step; the system can be activated later, after installation on your computer is complete.

If you did not enter the key in the previous window, in the " Error» click on the button « No».

In the next window, enter " Computer name", such as Dell, and administrator password. If you do not use a password, leave the corresponding fields blank, and then click on the " Further" If necessary, you can set the administrator password later.

In the window " Setting the time and date» — select time, date and time zone.

The Windows XP Setup window will open again.

In the next window " Network settings» select « Regular Options».

In the window " Workgroup or domain» click on the button « Further", without changing anything.

The Windows XP installation window will open again.

The installation of the operating system continues for some time. After installation is complete, the computer will restart.

A welcome window will open and then Windows XP will start.

Windows XP installation complete.

Enter the BIOS, again select the computer's hard drive (HDD) as the first boot device. Next, install the necessary drivers on your PC. You may have the drivers on the disk that came with your computer, or you can go to the official website of the equipment manufacturer and download the necessary drivers from there. More details about this in the article: “. This article contains links to the official websites of motherboard and video adapter manufacturers.

In contact with

In this article you will learn how to reinstall Windows XP yourself. The material is designed for users who will be installing Windows on a computer or laptop for the first time. As scary as it may sound, reinstalling Windows is very simple. In the days of Windows 95 and 98, to an inexperienced person, the procedure of reinstalling the operating system could seem like a mystical rite. The person who was invited to do this was necessarily called a programmer and was considered a guru in the computer field.

For their part, such gurus, inflating their value, intimidated their clients in every possible way with scary computer terms and stories about viruses and burned-out computers. In this guide, you will see that this is not at all true and that installing or reinstalling Windows on your laptop or computer is very simple and accessible to almost anyone who knows how to use a computer mouse.

I will make a small reservation. This article will tell you how to install Windows XP yourself using a DVD or CD. If your computer or laptop does not have a DVD drive, then you will need to install Windows from a USB flash drive or from a memory card, I will talk about this in another lesson.

Before you start reinstalling Windows XP, read the entire article to the end, and if you have a printer, print it out.

Reinstalling Windows XP consists of several steps:

1. Preparing your computer for installing Windows XP;
2. Preparing an installation disk with Windows XP;
3. Setting up the computer's BIOS to boot from a DVD;

Now let's go through all the stages in detail.

1. Preparing to install Windows XP

Before reinstalling Windows, you need to do a little preparation.

First you need to copy all valuable information from the disk " WITH:"Of course you know better, but I’ll still tell you where to look. Places where on the disk" C:"there may not be much of your useful information, usually it is " Desktop" And " My Documents"It's also worth looking at the root of the disk" WITH:"Sometimes people, in a hurry or simply out of ignorance, save files there. Copy all the files you need to another drive (for example, “ D:"), DVD disc or flash drive.

For the future, keep in mind that it is best to store information not on the same disk partition on which the system is installed, and, of course, create backup copies.

If you just purchased a computer or are sure that there is no valuable information in it, then naturally you don’t have to bother

Another point that is worth considering before installing Windows is the drivers for the network card. If after installation it turns out that your Windows distribution did not have drivers for your network card, or for some reason they were not installed correctly, then you will find yourself without drivers and without the Internet. Therefore, download the latest drivers in advance, at least for the network card.

2. Preparing an installation disk with Windows XP

For those who already have an installation disk with Windows XP, you can skip this step. If you don’t have such a disc, then you need to burn it or purchase it. Those who want to download Windows on the Internet, look for clean MSDN builds.

This will protect you from possible errors in the operation of the installed system.

Installation disks with Windows XP on the Internet are usually distributed in the form of disk images in the format " .iso". I won’t say where to download because it’s not entirely legal to promote their distribution. I can advise that before downloading the image, read the comments on the release; problematic disks are usually quickly identified in the form of a bunch of angry reviews.

After the image is downloaded, you need to burn it to a DVD disc, and you can begin installation.

3. Setting up the computer BIOS to boot from disk

To install Windows, it is not enough just to insert the disk into the drive; you also need to make sure that the computer starts booting from this disk when you turn it on. This is done in the BIOS. There is a BIOS in almost any computer or laptop; all sorts of important settings are stored in it, one of these settings is the boot order of devices. This setting is what interests us at the moment.

In order to get into the BIOS, you need to immediately press a certain key on the keyboard when you turn on the computer. Usually, when booting, it is written on the screen what exactly you need to press to get to the BIOS menu. Most often this is the Delete, Esc, or F2 key. You will know that you have entered when you see the BIOS menu in front of you.

The most common options are:

If the attempt is unsuccessful, then reboot the computer and try again. Below are tables with possible login options. BIOS.

After you went out to BIOS you need to find the option responsible for the boot order of devices. As a rule, these settings need to be looked for in a menu whose name contains the word BOOT, of course, there are other options, but as they say - “He who seeks will always find.”

To make your search easier, here are a few examples of what it looks like in real life:

Selecting the device to boot first is usually done using the arrow keys on the keyboard, but there are other ways to navigate through the menu BIOS, so if you can’t figure it out, you can look at the help, which is usually in BIOS in sight.

Select your CD/DVD drive as the first boot device and exit BIOS saving all changes. To do this, use the item " Save and Exit Setup"The computer will reboot and we have thus approached the next stage, for which everything was actually started.

If the disc is recorded correctly and in BIOS the settings are set, that's right, we will see this inscription in front of us "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD", which means Press any key to boot from CD or DVD.

It looks like this:

Press any key

If you don’t see such an inscription, then perhaps you did something written above incorrectly. In this case, check again BIOS, is the boot from disk setting saved, if in BIOS everything is installed correctly, then most likely your disk is not bootable and you will have to look for another installation disk or download another Windows XP image.

At this point I will make a small disclaimer. You may come across a Windows XP installation disk that contains, in addition to Windows itself, additional utilities; in this case, to start the installation, you will need to select the desired item from the menu of your disk. It is also worth noting that in some disks, most of the operations described below will take place automatically, without your participation. There is no need to worry about this; all these settings can be changed if desired after the installation of Windows is completed.

The installation of Windows XP will begin, wait until the initial download of files takes place

Since we are planning to install Windows, we press the button " Enter" on keyboard

Reading " Windows XP License Agreement". To scroll down, use the " key Page Down". To agree and continue the installation, click " F8"

Consider the option of installing on a clean hard drive.

Press the key " WITH"

Now you need to specify the size of the partition to be created in megabytes, for example, if you need a partition ~20 gigabytes, then you need to drive 20000

If the size of the first partition that you specified in the previous paragraph is less than the disk capacity, then you will be left with " Unallocated area", which can also be turned into a partition. Thus, the system will have two disks " WITH:" And " D:"

Set the size of the second disk; if you are not going to create a third partition, then specify the maximum possible size.

Now, after creating the partitions, you need to select the partition on which Windows will be installed, if you do not have any special preferences, I strongly recommend choosing the drive " WITH:"

Before starting the installation, the selected partition needs to be formatted, you just need to decide how. Select the item " Format partition in NTFS system", why exactly him, the answer to this question is a whole topic for a separate article.

Now the process will proceed without our participation; after the first reboot, you can set it to BIOS The first boot device is your hard drive ( HDD), how to do this is described above in paragraph

language and regional standards. Here again we will need our participation, make the necessary settings and click " Further"...

Here we will be asked to introduce ourselves

We enter the 25-digit product key, which can be found on the license sticker or in the documents, depending on which version of Windows you purchased. As I said above, a Windows XP installation may not have all the dialogs discussed here, it depends on your installation disk.

We indicate the computer name, this name is mainly needed for identification on the network. We either don’t specify the administrator password at all or remember it well.

Installing Windows XP is easy! In this article, we provide step-by-step instructions for installing the operating system for beginners.

An illustration of each step will help you quickly master the process of installing the Windows XP operating system from a disk.

What is Windows XP?

Windows XP is an operating system (OS) produced by Microsoft, released at the end of 2001. Windows XP can be called an improved version of Windows 2000 Professional. After XP came Vista (in 2007) and Windows 7 (at the end of 2009).

By the beginning of 2011, Windows XP is the most popular operating system in the world and in Russia.

Windows XP has 3 official add-ons, the so-called SP (Service Pack) 1,2,3,4. They added and improved the basic version of the program.

The largest number of different programs and utilities are compatible with the XP operating system.

Why install Windows XP?

Why do you need to install Windows at all? In what cases is this necessary?

Typically, Windows XP installation occurs for two reasons:

1. You bought a computer without a pre-installed operating system.
You won’t be able to work on such a computer, since you simply won’t find the folders, pictures and files that are familiar to our eyes, but only a blinking cursor, and the BIOS.

2. You are not satisfied with your current operating system.
- You want to install a clean system to get rid of system errors, all kinds of garbage, viruses, junk in the form of remnants of programs that have not been completely removed.
- You prefer Windows XP to all other operating systems due to its unique features.

How to install Windows XP?

Windows XP can be installed in several ways: from a floppy disk, from a CD/DVD disk, from a flash drive. We will look at the classic installation of an operating system from a disk.

Installing Windows XP is easy! Our step-by-step instructions will help you with this.

1. Preparation.
Prepare: a multiboot disk with Windows XP, a set of drivers for your equipment.
2. The installation process takes place in several stages:

First stage: BIOS
BIOS is the basic software that boots the computer.

How to enter BIOS: when you turn on the computer, press the DEL button (sometimes the F2, F10 or F12 keys, mainly on laptops)

BIOS setup: you need to boot from CD-ROM. BIOS language is English.
We find the Advanced Setup section, then set First Boot Device from CD-ROM(on the right are hints on which buttons to use to change the position of the devices)

Saving changes to BIOS: Press the F10 button and select Y (Yes). The computer will restart, but with the changed settings.

Press F8 to agree and continue installing licensed Windows XP

Select the partition on which you want to install Windows.

To create a new partition, use the C key and set the desired size (for XP, the optimal size is at least 15 GB.)
To delete the highlighted partition, use the D key.

Quickly format your partition by confirming your decision by pressing the F key. Formatting to NTFS will rid you of all records on the hard drive partition of your choice.

Warning! Formatting deletes ALL data from your disk.

Be careful and save the documents you need in advance.

After formatting the hard drive and copying files, the system components are unpacked and installed. During the installation process, the computer will restart several times.

At the 33rd minute you set language and regional standards, assign a name and name of the organization (any)

enter from the sticker, case insensitive

Stage three: Complete the installation of Windows XP.

Let's set it up now workgroup and domain.

Setting up Windows XP

Many PC users believe that installing Windows XP on a laptop or a computer is an impossible task for them and that a person with special education, high-level knowledge, etc. can do it. Based on this, they take their computers to service centers or invite specialists to their home, although they cannot find an answer to the question how to install Windows XP correctly You can do it yourself.

In fact, the process of installing the most common operating system, Windows XP, is so simple that even a person with minimal computer knowledge can handle it. You should not think that the process of installing (reinstalling) Windows is a task that can be done by some programmers or hackers who sit at the monitor from morning to evening.

Minimum System Requirements– this is the minimum configuration that the computer on which we are going to install the system must have. For Windows XP they are as follows:

• processor with a frequency of 300 MHz or more;
• 128 MB RAM or more;
• 1.5 GB of free hard disk space;
• Super VGA video card with 800 X 600 resolution or higher;
• CD drive;
• mouse and keyboard.

The first thing we must take care of before installing the OS is that our computer boots from a CD-ROM (boots from the hard drive by default). To do this, you need to make some settings in the BIOS. Just don’t think something like “well, it all begins...”, there is nothing complicated here and you will see this now. To go to the BIOS, restart the computer and at the time of initial boot, when the hardware testing process begins (this process is called POST), when this message appears at the bottom of the screen “Press DEL to enter SETUP”, you should quickly press the “Delete” key several times. It should be noted here that on laptops or on different versions of BIOS this may be another key, for example, on my laptop it is the “F2” key).

Just make sure you don’t miss this moment, everything needs to be done here quickly (I remember how many times I missed this moment). If you didn't have time, restart your computer and start again. If everything was done correctly, then the BIOS SETUP interface should open in front of you (blue letters on a white background or vice versa).

It should be recalled once again that for different BIOS versions the interface may look different and the menu may be presented differently. But this shouldn't scare you. They all have the same principle.

Here we are interested in only one parameter (at least for now, for installing the system) - Boot. In different BIOSes it may be called differently - Boot, Boot Device, Boot Priority or something like that. If you cannot find the parameter you are looking for, then simply “walk” through the BIOS using the “up”, “down”, “left”, “right” keys and press “Enter” to go to the desired section.

In our case (see picture above), the Boot menu is located in the “Advanced Setup” section. By going to this section, you can find our menu, here it is called “Boot Device Priority” , press “Enter” to go to the menu .

Now we need to make the first device the CD-ROM from which the computer will boot, i.e. change the “1 st Boot Device” parameter from HDD (as seen in the picture) to CD-ROM. To do this, place the cursor on the corresponding item and use the cursor keys, or the “Page Up” and “Page Down” keys, or simply press “Enter” and select CD-ROM. You can make the HDD the second device by changing the “2nd Boot Device” item. What is it for? So that if suddenly there is no disc in the CD drive, the computer will immediately start booting from the hard drive and you don’t even have to “climb” into the BIOS and change anything.

After all these operations, we should save all these operations and exit the BIOS. To do this, you must select the “Save & Exit Setup” item, otherwise our changes will not be saved. In your version of BIOS it may be called differently, but in any case the word “Save” must be present.

So, we have dealt with the BIOS, now we should go directly to the Windows XP installation itself.

Before installing (reinstalling) the system, we will need to do the following:

• purchase an installation (installation) disk - this is a disk on which the operating system files are located, as well as drivers for some PC components. Installation is performed using a special installation program and copying files from the CD to the hard drive partition specified by us. This program is located on the installation CD itself and without it the installation process is impossible. The installation disk should only be purchased in specialized stores, because... in markets or other stores they may give you a pirated version. If you have a laptop, then the installation CD should be supplied with the laptop by the manufacturer. The disk is also accompanied by a serial number, which we must subsequently enter in the appropriate field. As a rule, the serial number is printed on the CD cover itself.
• Next, we need to make sure the CD drive (CD-ROM/DVD-ROM) is working. You should make sure in advance that the operating system is installed from a normally working CD drive, otherwise the installation process or completion of the installation will be impossible.
• In addition to the installation disk, we also need to have a driver package for the equipment installed on the computer. When purchasing a computer or individual components, as a rule, driver discs should be included. As a last resort, they can be downloaded from the manufacturer’s website. Each piece of hardware or PC component should have its appropriate drivers installed, otherwise problems may arise due to device conflicts and the system will not start at all.
• The next step is saving the information. You must take care in advance of the safety of valuable information on your hard drive. In general, it is desirable that the disk on which the system will be installed be empty. All existing files should be moved to another logical drive.

Immediately after starting the installation procedure, you should pay attention to one detail - the fact is that for some computers containing high-end SCSI hard drives or some kind of RAID array, special drivers are required (HDD controller driver). To do this, the program will display a message and ask you to press the “F6” key. Just don't miss this message. If you don’t know or aren’t sure whether you need it, then most likely you don’t need anything. If you see a message on the screen like “The installer did not detect any hard drives on your system,” then you should install it. These drivers are supplied by manufacturers on CDs; in extreme cases, they can be downloaded from the manufacturer’s website (which is what I did when I installed Windows XP). So take care of this in advance and if such an error appears, press the “F6” key and follow the instructions on the screen.

After the first copying of the necessary files, the first menu will appear, in which we will be offered further actions step by step.

There is nothing complicated here, read carefully and select the options you need by pressing the appropriate keys. In this case, to continue the installation, press the “Enter” key.

Having accepted the license agreement, we have reached the point where we need to choose which partition of the hard drive we should install the system on, and here we can also create a partition, change its space, and format it in the desired file system. For newbies, this may be a little shocking. What are the sections? What kind of file system is it? So let's take a closer look at all of this.

Let's first understand what hard disk partitions are. In order to write data to a new disk or to a disk from which all data has been deleted, you need to prepare it, or, as they say, format it. Formatting is the preparation of a disk for creating partitions on it. When formatting a disk, absolutely all data is deleted from its surface.

A partition is a logical area on a hard drive used by a file system (NTFS, FAT32). One disk can contain several partitions. In other words, disk partitions are like mentally divided areas, in fact there is only one disk. Each hard disk partition can have its own file system.

Each section is marked with Latin letters (C, D, E, etc.). This is necessary to redistribute information between disks; in addition, this is necessary if two operating systems are installed on your computer (the files of each OS must be recorded in a separate partition). Another good thing about partitions is that if suddenly something happens to one partition (the disk was accidentally formatted, data was deleted), then the data will be saved on the other partition. Therefore, it is recommended to make backup copies of very necessary files and keep them in a partition of the hard drive free from the operating system.

Well, this is the end of the lyrical digression and let’s go back to our setup. We need to partition the disk. If your computer already has partitions, then simply select partition C (place the cursor and press “Enter”), because Basically, the OS is installed on logical drive C.

As shown in the picture, we have no partitions (this is indicated by the inscription “Unallocated area”). As written, in order to create a partition in an unallocated area, press the “C” key.

When partitioning a disk, I would advise you to allocate at least 30 GB for the system (the logical disk on which the OS will be installed), because As you work on the computer, the size of the operating system will grow. If your hard drive volume is small, for example, 100 GB, then you can do less - 15-20 GB.

And so, next you must indicate the size of the partition to be created in megabytes. Enter the required size and press “Enter”. Thus we created the first section. In our case, there is only one. If you still have plenty of free space, then you can create a few more in the same way. If you suddenly make a mistake with the size, then you just need to press the “D” key to delete the created section. In this case, the unmarked area will appear again and you can start all over again.

If everything was done correctly, then place the cursor on the created partition C and press “Enter”.

So, we created a partition and chose to install the OS in it. Next, we need to choose which file system our disk will use. To install Windows XP, you can use two file systems - NTFS and FAT32. The file system is like a database that contains all the information recorded on the hard drive.

Today, the NTFS file system is used to install Windows XP, because... FAT32 has long been obsolete (it is compatible mainly with Windows 95-98). Essentially, the FAT32 file system has a number of disadvantages. The main ones are the limitation on the maximum file size; you cannot write a file larger than 4GB to a disk with the FAT32 file system, and this, I think, will not suit many people; The performance of FAT32 is much lower than that of NTFS, this can be noticed already when copying files from disk to disk; A hard disk partition containing the FAT32 file system cannot exceed 32 GB.

Based on the above, we forget about FAT32 and do not mention its name in a company where such issues are discussed, so as not to be laughed at.

The NTFS file system is the ideal choice for a user who decides to install the Windows XP operating system. Compared to FAT32, NTFS has greater stability and security at the file level, because NTFS was developed as a complete replacement for FAT32.

Everything is clear with the file system, now let's move on to formatting.

If you remember, we select NTFS and our partition will be formatted with the creation of the appropriate structure. Let me remind you that formatting deletes all data. There are two formatting options - quick and full. It is recommended to perform quick formatting because... full is used when the disk is damaged, and it takes less time.

After the partition is formatted, the installer will copy the files to the disk, after which the computer will automatically restart and begin a new phase of the graphical installation.

The entire OS installation process, from the graphical stage to the last system reboot, takes on average 30-50 minutes (depending on the PC configuration).

After restarting the computer, we will see the familiar Windows splash screen, but the installation process is not yet complete. For some time, the installation program will configure drivers and configure the necessary services and devices, without requiring any action from us. After some time, we will be required to answer some questions. There is nothing complicated here either, let’s look at everything in order.

In the first window we will be asked to configure the language and regional standards settings. If you install the Russian version of Windows, then Russia will already be selected by default in the regional standards and there is no need to touch anything.

I will not dwell on this in detail, because... All these language and regional format settings can be configured later, after installing the system. Moreover, there is nothing complicated here and you can understand it more fully yourself.

Go ahead. In the next window we need to enter our name and the name of the organization. Here it doesn’t matter what name you enter, you can use any name, and in the “Organization” field you can simply enter Home or enter nothing. After all this, click “Next”.

In the next window, we need to enter a product code that will assign this copy of the product to us. You can find this key on the cover of the disc or on the certificate that comes with the product. The code must be entered in Latin letters in each field, then click “Next”.

In the next window we should enter the computer name and administrator password. Using this computer name, your computer will be visible on the local network. If you don't intend to connect your computer to a network, the name doesn't matter here. But just in case, you can enter it. Who knows, suddenly there will be an opportunity to fight online in Counter-Strike or Underground. Also enter your password and password confirmation and remember it, or better yet, write it down somewhere.

After entering the computer name and password, click next and the following window will appear in front of us in which you need to configure the date, time and time zone. Select your time zone and be sure to check the box “Automatically switch to daylight saving time and back” so that we don’t have to manually switch to summer and winter time, the computer will do it for us. Have you set it up? Click “Next”.

In the next window we should specify the network settings. Here we leave the switch on “Regular settings” and Windows will configure everything automatically. Otherwise, select “Special settings”.

Here again, I will not describe all these parameters in detail; I will write about this in another article. All these settings can also be made after installing the system. As a rule, by selecting the usual parameters, the OS finds all drivers, network components and protocols itself, because has a very solid library of drivers for a wide variety of devices.

The next window - we must indicate whether the computer will be part of a workgroup or domain. Select the first radio button if your computer is or is not part of a network and does not have an Active Directory domain configured for it. If the computer is connected to a network, then you should specify the desired workgroup. The default is WORKGROUP.

If this is your home computer, then leave the switch at the upper value and enter nothing in the field (leave the WORKGROUP value unchanged). After everything, click “Next”.

Now we are gradually approaching the end of the installation.

By selecting a workgroup and clicking on the “Next” button, the program will install the remaining files and then the computer will automatically restart.

With the first boot of the system, the monitor resolution is automatically optimized (monitor and click “Ok” twice). After this, the first launch wizard will open with an animated screensaver and a pleasant melody. Here we also read carefully and answer questions.

It is recommended to select the first radio button. When automatic updating occurs, the OS update service starts. The update makes the OS more protected from all dangers and viruses, and also increases its performance. If you suddenly need to disable this function, you can do it later.

In the next window, we will be asked to register our copy of Windows (Attention, if you purchased an unlicensed copy of Windows, then registration is out of the question). By registering your copy, you can stay up to date with news about the release of a new version of Windows XP. Otherwise it's of no use. Decide for yourself and click “Next”.

Now a window will open in front of you in which you need to enter the name of the main user account (administrator), as well as the names of those who will also use the computer. In fact, Windows developers have come up with a wonderful feature to create an account for each user.

By registering each under his own name, the user receives his own individual desktop settings, software installations, various other settings, and much more. etc. If no one else uses the computer except you, then simply enter your name in the “Your account name” field and you will have administrator rights. You can add another user to the system later.

All this was the last step of installing the Windows XP operating system.

After we have installed Windows, we should then install all the necessary drivers for the motherboard chipset and all other devices, as well as additional software.

During the OS installation process, some drivers are installed automatically. But for stable operation of the system, you should install the package of “native” drivers included with the device.

First of all, we will install all the necessary drivers on the motherboard, namely on the chipset. To do this, insert the disk with a set of drivers from the motherboard (included with the computer) into the CD drive and follow the instructions. We also install drivers for the video adapter, sound adapter, network card and other devices in the same way. During installation, the computer may require a reboot, follow the recommendations and continue with the installation.

If you do not have a disk with drivers at hand and you downloaded all the drivers from the Internet, then they should be installed in the same order as described above.

Having installed all the necessary drivers, you can begin installing programs. You should not install all programs in a row. Install only those that you need. The fewer programs are installed on the PC, the more stable the system will work.

Programs can be taken anywhere: bought in a store; borrow from a friend; if you have high-speed Internet, then you can download them from the network.

Attention! After installing Windows, drivers and all necessary programs, it is recommended to optimize the OS and then create a restore point (backup). This way you will protect yourself from unnecessary work in the event of a system crash.