Running the Windows XP Professional Installation Process

This section describes how to run the Windows XP Professional installation process. As explained

in the previous section, you can run the installation from the CD or over a network. The only

difference in the installation procedure is your starting point: from your CD-ROM drive or

from a network share. The steps in the following sections assume that the disk drive is clean and

that you are starting the installation using the Windows XP Professional CD.

There are four main steps in the Windows XP Professional installation process:

_ Collecting information

_ Preparing installation

_ Installing Windows

_ Finalizing installation

Each of these steps is covered in detail in the following sections.

Collecting Information

When you boot to the Windows XP Professional CD, the Setup program will automatically

start the Windows XP installation. In this stage of the installation, you start the installation

program, choose the partition where Windows XP Professional will be installed, and then

copy files.

The following steps are involved in running the Setup program:

1. Insert the Windows XP Professional CD in your computer and restart the computer. Boot

the computer to the CD-ROM.

2. The Setup program will start automatically. If you need to install a third-party disk driver,

you would use F6 during this when prompted. For automatic recovery, you would press F2

when prompted.

3. The Welcome to Setup dialog box will appear. You can press Enter to install Windows XP

Professional, R to repair a Windows XP installation, or F3 to quit the Setup program.

4. The Windows XP Licensing Agreement will appear. Press F8 to accept the agreement—or

ESC to not accept the agreement, at which time the installation process will be terminated.

5. The Windows XP Professional Setup dialog box will appear. This will list all existing

partitions and unpartitioned disk space on your computer. From this screen you can add or

delete partitions and select the partition where Windows XP Professional will be installed.

If you create a new partition, you will have the option to format the drive through the Setup

program.

6. The Setup files will then be automatically copied to the selected partition.

7. Remove the Windows XP Professional CD and restart your computer.

After the file copying is complete, the computer automatically reboots.

Preparing Installation

During the Preparing Installation phase, all the files required by the Setup program will be

copied to the hard drive. This process will take several minutes and will display a tutorial of

helpful Windows XP information.

Installing Windows XP Professional

Once your computer finishes with the file copying and reboots, you will be in the Installing

Windows phase of the installation. This first part of the installation is automated and shows you

how long the installation has remaining in minutes and what is currently being installed, and

gives you interesting reading material while the installation process is running.

Finalizing Installation

Once your computer finishes with the installation, you will be asked to set up your computer.

The options that will be configured include the following:

_ Specifying how the computer will connect to the Internet. You can select Telephone

Modem, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or cable modem, or Local Area Network (LAN).

_ Activating Windows, which can be done over the Internet, or you can specify that you want

to be reminded every few days.

_ Deciding whether or not you want to set up Internet access at the present time.

_ Providing the name(s) of the user(s) that will use the computer.

When you are done, the primary user will be logged on and you will see the new Windows XP

Professional interface.