NO OS on HD, Formatted only..

[riTuaL]

When I bought my new computer I decided not to have the company I bought it from put Windows on my HD because I already own my own legit copy of XP. When I get my machine, do I just install Windows like I would normally? Or is there going to be some extra stuff I'm going to have to do?

 

[Dedalus]

i can't see why there should be extra stuff.

-stick the HD in and start your machine.
-get into your bios and set the first boot device as your CD drive.
-save settings and restart the machine with the XP cd in the drive.
-it should take you through the setup etc etc
-just follow the instructions and it'll install.

no fancy stuff needed.

 

[riTuaL]

Ok, I am familiar with all of that since I use knoppix which is a form of linux that runs off of the CD, thanks Dedalus.

 

[blahblahblah]

No you put in your Windows XP CD when you turn on your computer,(hopefully it should post), then you format your harddrive and install windows.

Follow these instructions if you are using a SATA harddrive.

You have to install SATA drivers before you install windows. Your SATA drivers are probably on your motherboard CD. Put those SATA drivers onto a floppy.

Once Win2K/Xp is setting up, at the first blue screen hit "F6" to load a thrid party mass storage driver. If you miss this, you will be warned that there are no harddrives attached. Restart the machine and Tap the "F6" Key a few times as the CD is spinning up. Windows will go through its install routine, then prompt you for an OEM disk for your MASS STORAGE CONTROLLER. Insert the floppy you created in the steps above, and load the first driver on the list. <Purposely skipped part about RAID> LEAVE THIS FLOPPY IN THE DRIVE!

Let 2K/XP do the partiiton and isntall. Choose isntall to the empty disk & choose NTFS FULL format, not quick. If you don't have any other hard disks on your regular IDE channels, there can be a LONG pause after the format, be patient.

IF YOU HAD THE LONG PAUSE DURING INSTALL, you will have the same booting into 2K/XP. Once the install is all done, go into the BIOS, and change "AUTO" to "NONE" for all channels wherer there are no devices connected. NOTE: This is for your regular IDE channels, not your RAID array.

Let windows do its thing. Follow these instructions even if you don't have a RAID array.

 

[poseyjmac]

the hd will probably come unpartitioned. just boot from the xp cd, make a partition, format it with ntfs, and install xp. then the first thing you'll want to do is install motherboard drivers, service pack, video driver, and go from there.

if you dont want to do 'extra stuff' in the future, you can work on making an unattended XP CD, which is fun. my cd automatically partitions, formats with ntfs, installs xp pro, service pack 2, latest catalysts, latest motherboard drivers, and all apps i use. all i do is insert the cd and it goes to work. cool stuff.

unattended.msfn.org if you want to learn more about that.

and as blah said, follow what he said if you have SATA

 

[riTuaL]

They said the hard drive will come formatted, does that mean anything?

this is my hd: Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM ATA 100 8MB Special Editon

 

[blahblahblah]

You can ignore my instructions then. Before Windows XP installs, it will give you an option to reformat your harddrive, I would recommend selecting the quick format option and let it format and install windows.

 

[FictiousWill]

Nice HD. I've got 2 of 'em.