Windows XP Installation

Windows XP Installation:-

Clean installation:-

Advantages of clean installation:-
1]nothing is carried from the previous operating system.It's totally fresh or virgin.
2]a smaller footprint on your hard drive.
3]a better stability as well as performance.

Disadvantages of clean installation:-
1]You need to back up all your important files before installation.
2]You have to reinstall all the programs.

Steps to Clean Install XP
1]Enter the BIOS and make the first boot preference from the CD-ROM drive and save the changes.
2]Restart the machine with Windows XP on inside the CD-ROM drive.
3]Press any Key when you see the prompt to 'Press Any Key'
4]Setup will start copying files, if you want to install any third-party or RAID drivers press F6
5]choose to 'enter setup' and skip the 'Repair' option.Press ENTER.
6]Press F8 to agree to the license.
7]you can choose to create a partition in the un-partitioned space.You can set a size for the partition. If you want to delete the previous partition select 'D'
8]If you have more that one partition or hard drive , make sure you are formatting the correct partition/drive.
9]It’s time for that important decision. FAT32 versus NTFS. The preferred choice is NTFS. It allows security features and stability that aren’t possible with FAT32.
10]Select 'F' and continue.
11]Watch the onscreen prompts but do not press a key when the “Press any key to boot CD” message appears.
12]From this point, you will follow the on screen prompts.Installation will continue, prompting you from time to time to supply some additional setup information. .Setup continues and eventually the computer will reboot.

Points to keep in mind:-

a]Your Time Zone-Time and Date

b]Network setup-
For home you will choose your workgroup,use the existing workgroup name, otherwise,keep the default.

For Pro, the same goes for Pro as suggested for Home, but you will have the choice to join a Domain, if you do not have a Domain or do not know leave blank.

How to perform a clean boot in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310353

Regarding Product Activation:-
Technical Details on Microsoft Product Activation for Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/evaluate/xpactiv.mspx

How to change the Windows XP Product Activation Key Code
http://labmice.techtarget.com/windowsxp/articles/changeID.htm

Windows XP Repair Installation
please go through:-
Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q315341

If the "Repair" option is missing:-
"If the option to Repair Install is NOT available and you continue with the install; you will delete your Windows folder, Documents and Settings folders. All Applications that place keys in the registry will need to be re-installed."[Thanks to michael stevens]

Possible Fix:-
Go to Recovery Console and type in:-bootcfg
Now retry repair installation.
The following is a suggestion from MVP Alex Nichol

"Reboot, this time taking the immediate R option, and if the CD letter is say K: give these commandsCOPY K:\i386\ntldr C:COPY K:\i386\ntdetect.com C:
(two other files needed - just in case)
1. Type: ATTRIB -H -R -S C:\boot.ini DEL C:\boot.ini
2. Type: BootCfg /Rebuild

Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console

How to obtain Windows XP Setup boot disks