WinXP Question

Well I know this is kinda a dumb question but...

I'm used to using Win9x, and I know how to format and install windows on that, but XP is proving to be a problem. On the older systems all I had to do was use a bootable floppy, format the harddrive and install windows. How is this done with XP? I haven't been using it long enough to learn and of course the manual and help file where of no use at all. I can't format from the hd from windows, and I don't have an old boot disk. How do I format it?
Thanks for any help.

Assuming your motherboard supports booting off of your CDROM drive, which it should. Put the WinXP cdrom into your drive. Allow it to boot off of the disc. It will take a minute to set up, then it will ask you if you wanna start an installation or recover an old one. You can select the partition you want to install XP onto and how to format it. If you want to set up partitions differently, I am pretty sure you will need other software like Paritition Magic. After you format, the setup is pretty straightforward. When it tells you it wants to reboot, allow it to boot off the HD and it's easy sailing. Have fun :)

XP won't run from DOS...so they claim. You can A: go into your BIOS and set it to boot from CD-ROM and boot from the XP CD and format that way...or....B: you CAN do it the old fashioned way with a Win98 boot disk...but you have to manually run smartdrv.exe, then go into the I386 folder on the XP CD and run the 'winnt.exe' command to start the install of XP.

<NOTE> if you don't use the smartdrive command, installing will take HOURS. Special thanks to problemchild for reminding me of that recently.

I think I'll piggyback in this thread to get a question in here....

I bought a WinXP upgrade, not realizing (because my dumb arse didn't read the box close enough, I guess) that it'll ugrade from 98/2000, etc, but it won't upgrade from 2000 Server, which is what I currently run. So my options are to shell out for a full version or wipe my drive and install a different OS, only to then immediately install the XP upgrade. I wish it were like the old days when you could just pop in the CD of the old OS to qualify for the upgrade.

Any ideas on how to get past this problem, or am I just going to have to do the wipe/install/upgrade and face the fact that I need to read the box a little closer?

In addition, I have a 2nd machine and would like to start learnin about *nix systems. I'll search through the threads, but wondered if anyone had a recommendation as to which *nix OS is good to learn on. Dnecessarily need the "most secure" or "most desired" OS, just one that I can learn on. Thanks in advance!

Good news all,

Goto this link:

Obtaining Windows XP Setup Boot Disks

You'll need (6) six formatted floppy disks, but hey small price to pay for those who don't have the "boot from cd" option (which might not be as rare as some think) OR don't really know enough (or want to risk) tampering with their BIOS.

Hope that helps!

*****
I DL it just to have as an option even though I am able to boot from CD. Nice to have a backup plan
*****

There is a way of doing it without using the boot disk or a bootable CD...I found it a few weeks at www.teakxp.com (I think) any way...have a prowl around there, you might find some usefull stuff ;)

- Noia

its www.tweakxp.com

bluebeard96: I am not sure how you could get the upgrade working, but pertaining to the question about linux, I think that Redhat is one of the easiest to learn with. Almost everything gets set up for you out of the box so you don't have to worry about learning all of the hardware configuration right away and you can spend some time learning how to navigate the OS. I am teaching all of my friends who are using linux for the first time using Redhat 8 and it's going pretty well. :)

Thanks for the input... and thanks tho those that emailed me directly too. Looks like a good day to dive into my computer and get dirty.