how do i install windows XP?

D

danny-p

Guest
Ive just wiped my HDD and have started again.
ive deleted my primary partition via fdisk and when i go to setup @ the c: or e: then my pc says "you cant install this windows in dos mode?
How do i install it then as i thought deleting the primary partition eliminates dos @ start screen....i didnt want to install windows 98 first incase of any possible conflicts.
Pretty new to this so go easy with your replies....
Thanks in advance.
Danny-p
 
You need to boot the XP CD, it's self-installing. If it's an 'upgrade' it'll want to sniff your Win98 CD to ensure you're not trying to con poor old Bill out of a few $$$. ;)
 
Originally posted by KraGorn
You need to boot the XP CD, it's self-installing. If it's an 'upgrade' it'll want to sniff your Win98 CD to ensure you're not trying to con poor old Bill out of a few $$$. ;)

Its the full version of windows XPpro....so how do i do it then?
Do i have to create a partition again or will it run/install without?
(probably a stupid question):blush:

Cheers
Dan
 
Try putting the CD in and then restarting your computer.

P.S.
Manage your PM inbox. It's full. I can't send PMs until you purge some.
 
Originally posted by CrystalClear
Try putting the CD in and then restarting your computer.

P.S.
Manage your PM inbox. It's full. I can't send PMs until you purge some.

Sorry.....will do:smashin:
 
If you've not done this before take your time to understand the way setup works .. it'll give you the option of re-using existing partitions, creating news one and optionally formatting them .. important to note if you're trying to preserve data partitions. :)
 
Originally posted by CrystalClear
Try putting the CD in and then restarting your computer.

P.S.
Manage your PM inbox. It's full. I can't send PMs until you purge some.

Done what you said with floppy boot disk out and winXPcd in and all it says is "boot error"...so i've tried with boot floppy in and i get the following options:-
1)boot with cd compatability available.
2)boot with cd compatability disabled.
3)help.

Ive selected 1..and eventually i'm left with an A: prompt which i change to my hdd E: and when i bring up Dir and select setup the following message shows up:-
This program cannot be run in dos mode.

Danny-p
 
For some reason, it's booting into DOS. I believe that's the option you selected on the menu.

Personally, from the start, I would've just formatted the hard drive and that's it - if you only had one partition. Then I would restarted with the CD in. That's what I always do with no problems.

When you boot with the floppy and choose CD support, does it give it to you? The object is to have NOTHING on your hard drive and do everything with floppys/CDs.
 
The first thing you need to do is enter your BIOS, do this by pressing the "Delete" key (you should see it at the bottom of the screen when your PC is booting up. once in the bios look for the option that say "1st boot device" (usually page down/up keys will change this) 1st boot device is either floppy or hard drive. change it to make CDROM 1st boot device, then hit F10 and save the config. if you have the CD in the drive when you rPC boots up you may see a message "to boot from CD rom press any key or space" that should get you up and running.

Pcdoc
 
You need to enable booting from CD.

When you first start your machine you should be able to press Esc or Del or one of the Fx keys to get into the (it will say on the screen), this will get you into the BIOS settings.

On one of the screens you will be able to set the boot options, make sure CD is available in one of them (I would make it first in the list). Once this is done Exit and save your changes, it should now boot from CD.

Mike
 
"Boot failure from previous device" comes on the screen after a restart after enabling cd as the primary boot?

It then says:- re-boot and select proper boot device?
Any ideas....This is with the floppy boot disk out btw.
Danny
 
if you can boot from a floppy (with CD rom drive support - perhaps using an old Win98 emergency startup disk) and browse to the WinXP CD then go into the i386 folder on the XP CD and run the "winnt.exe" file

This will install XP from goodold fashioned Dos.

The way I've always done it :)
 
You can download and make 6 boot floppys for xp if you cant make it boot from cd.
 
Originally posted by JohnS
You can download and make 6 boot floppys for xp if you cant make it boot from cd.

But i would still be trying to boot them from dos and dos by the looks of things seems to be the conflict?
I get "sorry cannot boot xp from dos "....windows 98 boots/installs fine.
But i'm a fan of xp....However win xp is installed i know it is possible as this was what i was running on before the hdd wipe.
 
You don't boot from dos, you boot from the xp setup floppy's that devoids the need for dos, just make sure the bios is set to boot from floppy (which it sounds like it is) and have the floppy in the drive when you turn the machine on.
 
Originally posted by danny-p
But i would still be trying to boot them from dos and dos by the looks of things seems to be the conflict?
They aren't DOS disks .. there's more than just DOS you can boot from a floppy. :)
 
I've given him 98 and xp system disks/boot disks which I've verified that work because I used them on machines not too long ago without issue.

The 98 system disk didnt want to give him command.com because it said that it didn't liike the command interpreter.

The XP system disk simply said invalid system disk. He fdisk'ed the drive. Fdisk is a dos only partitioning utility. He then formatted the drive for fat16.

I'm going to have him hook the drive up into his currently working 98 computer as a slave, then have windows 98 formatt it(it'll then be fat32), so when he puts it back into the pc it came from, the 98 system disk will work fine, we can get his cd-rom up and going, and then it won't give him "can't run in dos" anymore because it won't be dos. It'll be 98's version of dos(just the prompt part), and an xp-compatable fat32 file system.
 
Ive just done a win XP clean install on a new unpartitioned harddrive.

All i had to do was
go into the BIOS and disable all boot devices, floppy and harddrives and so on
then enable the first boot divice to boot from the CDROM

save the BIOS settings and reboot, as you reboot you might get a message asking to press any key to boot from CDROM.

it should start to boot from the CD and you should get to a screen where you will be able to partition and format the harddrive and install win xp
 
Yes, the Windows XP cd will do that automatically on a blank drive. His drive is already FAT16 and not blank. Besides, his BIOS don't like cd-booting for some odd reason.

He's tried all the simple things. :smashin:
 
Ok i guess if hes sure be cant boot from CD then he will have to use the XP floppy boot disks.

Im sure it does not matter about any formatting on the harddrive because he will be able to delete, partition, format the drive at the start of the installation.

good luck with it either way :)
 

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