This tutorial is about installing Windows XP Professional on an empty hard disk.

If there is existing data from previous installation of operating system (e.g. Linux, older Windows), it will be erased.

Download the Pdf version which is clearer and printer friendly:-
howto-install-winxp-pro.pdf revision 2009.10.13

If there is a screen (left) asking to "Press any key to boot from CD", you should quickly press any key (the Enter key will do).

After a few minutes..

"Welcome to Setup."
"To set up Win XP now press enter." (red arrow)

Licensing Agreement:

Read the long agreement if you have the time and patient.

Otherwise, just hit the F8 button to go to next screen (no need to scroll down to read the whole text).

Hard drive Partition:

For a new/clean hard drive, you will be presented with a single partition called "Unpartitioned space" (red circle) and it occupies the whole size of the hard drive.

If your screen doesn't look like this, you need to delete all existing partitions on the hard drive by highlighting the partition (use up/down arrow) and press D to delete.

Warning! This will erase all data in the whole hard drive!

The hard drive is usually divided into 2 partitions.

• First partition
  - Usually called Partition C (or Drive C)
  - For Win XP installation
  - Usually 20Gb size is enough

• Second partition
  - Usually called Partition D (or Drive D)
  - Usually for storing your data.
  - Usually occupies the rest of the harddisk.

To set up the first partition, press "C"

Enter the size of the partition. To enter 20Gb, type 20000 (2 followed by 4 zeros), and press enter.

You will see the next screen.

The first partition was created and it is called:
C: Partition 1 (new/raw) - red arrow

Press the arrow key so the the second option is highlighted which is:

Unpartition space  (remaining size) - red arrow

Then press enter

Now we have:
C: Partition 1 (new/raw)
D: Partition 2 (new/raw)
Unpartition space (small e.g. 8Mb)

Leave the small remaining Unpartition space (if any) unchanged.

Make sure the first partition (C) is highlighted by using the up/down arrow key and press Enter.

Choose:

Format partition using NTFS filesystem (quick)

Press enter

When presented with this screen, DO NOT press any key.

Just leave it to proceed with more setup.

"Regional & Language Option"

Press Next.

1. Type your name, e.g. william
2. Type organization

Press Next

1. Type computer name. You have to devise your own naming system. For me, if the name of the person I typed earlier is william, the computer name will be williampc

2. Leave Admin password (green circle) empty. If you fill these fields with password, you will be asked to key in the password everytime WinXp starts.

Press Next.

Networking Settings:

Choose Typical Settings (red circle)

Press next.

Workgroup or Computer Domain:

Choose "No, this computer is not on a network or is on a network without a domain. make this computer a member of the following workgroup" (red circle)

Leave the name of the workgroup as "WORKGROUP"

Press next.

"To improve the appearance of the visual elements, Windows will automatically adjust your screen resolution"

Press OK.

If you can see/read the message (left), it means your PC can adjust with the new setting.

Press OK.

(if you cannot see the message or the screen goes blank, don't do anything. Windows will revert to the previous settings in 30 seconds)

"Welcome to Microsoft Windows"

Press Next.

"Help protect your PC."

I usually choose "Not Right Now".

You can choose:
"Help protect my PC by turning Automatic Updates"

Press next.

"Checking your Internet connectivity"

I usually press Skip (red circle)

"Will this computer connect to the Internet directly or through a network"

I usually choose the first option (red arrow) which is:

Yes, this computer will connect through a local area network or a home network.

"Ready to register with Microsoft?"

I usually choose the second option (red arrow) which is:

No, not at this time.

Press Next

"Who will use this computer?"

Just type one name (red arrow). I usually type the same name as I used in the previous steps which is william.

You can always add another name later.

Press next

"Thank You" screen

Press next.