Booting from windows xp hard drive. Correct installation of Windows XP. Creating a system image

Many users believe that installing operating systems on a computer is the prerogative of specialists. But is this really so? We learn to install and reinstall Windows XP on our own.

It is no secret that communication between a person and a computer is carried out using the operating system installed on your PC. This is a primary and fundamental software component, without which it is impossible to imagine a modern computer. Unfortunately, like any other program, the operating system is imperfect, and over time, almost any user encounters a violation of its normal functionality. This can be expressed in a significant increase in the time it takes to boot the computer and open applications, freezes during operation, the occurrence of various types of errors when performing certain actions, or even a complete failure of the system. Such consequences can result from both incorrect actions of the user himself and the impact of various malicious programs that are available in abundance on the global Internet.

According to statistics, even if you operated your OS carefully enough and reliably protected it from virus infections, after 3-4 years 80% of users have significant reasons to reinstall the system. And if you still decide to do it yourself, without contacting all sorts of paid technical services, this article is for you. In it we will look at not just the complete installation of the WindowsXPSP3 operating system, but we will try to analyze all the main nuances that arise during the installation process. This approach will not only allow you to more flexibly configure the new OS at the reinstallation stage, but also avoid possible loss of important data.

Naturally, before starting the installation you need to have an installation disk with the system. Moreover, this disk must be bootable, i.e. the computer must be able to boot from it. As a rule, all original system disks or their images are bootable by default. In general, the installation of WindowsXP can be started in two ways - directly from an already installed system or by booting from disk. The second method is preferable, but if your old system does not boot or you are installing on a new computer, then it is the only possible one.

In order for the computer to start booting from the installation disk, you may need to make simple settings in the BIOS. The thing is that your optical drive should be first in the list of boot devices, which is not always configured that way. To check this, you need to insert the Windows CD into the drive and restart the computer. If during the boot process you see the message: “Press any key to boot,” then everything is in order and you can proceed with the installation. Otherwise, you need to go to the BIOS settings.

SETTING UP YOUR COMPUTER TO BOOT FROM CD

When you turn on the computer, as a rule, a short message appears indicating the key with which you can enter the BIOS settings menu. Be careful, as this inscription disappears from the screen quite quickly, especially on laptops. If you couldn’t see it the first time, immediately restart your computer using the Reset button and try again. When loading begins, a large graphic image may appear on the screen, obscuring the service inscriptions on the screen. To remove it, press the Esc key.

List of most frequently used keys:

• Desktops - Del (almost always), F1
• Laptops - F1, F2, F3, Del, Ctrl + Alt + Esc. In the case of laptops, keyboard shortcuts can be very diverse, depending on its model. You can find this information either online or by calling technical support.

Having found out the key responsible for calling up the BIOS settings menu, restart the computer again and at the very beginning of boot, press it several times (once is enough, but to accurately catch the right moment, pressing it multiple times won’t hurt). If everything is done correctly, the settings window should open.

As a rule, the most common two types of BIOS are:

If your window looks like this, then you need to select a section here Advanced BIOS Features, and in it the paragraph First Boot Device assign the value CDROM. Then press the F10 key and select Yes in the dialog box that appears.

American Megatrends BIOS

Or if your window has a gray background, like in this screenshot, then select the section at the top Boot and in the subsection BootDevicePriority at point 1stBootDevice Set the name of your optical drive. Then press the F10 key and select Yes in the dialog box that appears.

For mobile devices (laptops), BIOS programs can vary greatly, and it is not possible to list all possible options within the framework of this article. In any case, you should find an item in the settings window whose name is associated with boot (Boot) and in it set the optical drive (CDROM) as the first device.

STARTING INSTALLATION

After turning on/rebooting the computer, if any Windows operating system is already installed on your computer at that moment, then after some time you will see the message “Press any key to boot from CD” on the screen. CD) which is what you should do.

Be careful as you will only have 5 seconds to enter the system installation. If the current operating system starts loading, it means that the opportunity to start the installation was missed and you should restart the computer again for the next attempt.

The Windows XP basic software installation screen will then appear, requiring your intervention only if you plan to install the system on a hard disk array (RAID) or high-end SCSI drive.

This is where you should press the key to install additional drivers for these devices, following the messages on the bottom line of the screen. In most cases, such intervention is not required and you should simply wait for the welcome screen.

On the welcome screen you will be asked to:

• Install Windows XP. Should be selected by pressing ENTER in case of a new installation or restoring a previous copy of Windows using the GUI.
• Recovering Windows using the Recovery Console. Should be chosen by experienced users to restore the system using DOS commands run from the command line. Allows you to eliminate minor system errors without going through the full installation procedure. Most commonly used to repair a file system's boot sector and master boot record (MBR); spot copying, renaming or deleting operating system folders and files; creating and formatting partitions on disks. The Recovery Console is called up with the R key.
• Exit. If you refuse to install, press the F3 key.

Select the first item “Proceed to install Windows XP” (even if you are going to reinstall the system) by pressing ENTER, after which a window with a license agreement will appear, which you must accept in order to continue the installation by pressing F8.

If any are found, you will see a screen with a list of these systems and a menu that will offer:

• Restore the found copy of Windows by pressing the R key. By selecting this item, you will have to go through the full system installation procedure, during which all system files of the old copy will be replaced with new ones from the CD. All your data, settings and installed programs will be saved. Recovery helps in case of damage, deletion or replacement of infected files or Windows system files.
• Install a new copy of Windows by pressing the ESC key.

You will not see a window with a list of installed systems if you are installing the system on a new computer/hard drive, or if the previous copy of Windows has a different edition or service pack.

The next step in the installation is to allocate disk space for the operating system. This is a very important point and should be treated carefully, and all actions should be performed very carefully.

RULES FOR HARD DISK DISTRIBUTION

At this point I would like to make a small digression and provide some useful recommendations for partitioning a hard drive:

• Don't allocate all of your hard drive space to one single partition. This is considered bad manners and can cause you a lot of trouble in the future.
• Modern hard drives have quite large capacities for storing data and therefore it is advisable to divide them into several thematic sections.
• It is recommended to set aside a separate section for installing the operating system and necessary software and not fill it with your personal data.
• You should choose the size of the system partition with a margin, taking into account that for Windows to work correctly, 15% of the space of this partition must remain free.
• Don't create too many sections. This will make navigation difficult and reduce the efficiency of distributing large files and folders.

DEFINITION OF SYSTEM PARTITION

Now, let's get back to the installation. From this point on, the installation can proceed in two ways:

Option 1: You have a new computer and the hard drive has never been allocated. In this case, the following window will appear in front of you:

The size of the unallocated area is the volume of your hard drive and, of course, it absolutely should not coincide with that indicated in the screenshot. To continue the installation, you must create a partition on the disk (system partition) into which the OS will be installed in the future, and specify its size. As a rule, for Windows XP and related software, 40 - 60 GB is enough, but not less than 20 GB. By pressing the C key in the window that appears, enter the required size of the partition to be created.

The size must be specified in megabytes. Calculate it based on the fact that 1 GB = 1024 MB. Thus, if you want to allocate 60 GB for the system partition, you must enter the number 61440 in the size field.

By pressing the ENTER key you will return to the hard disk partition window, where the created partition will be highlighted in a separate line indicating the assigned letter from the Latin alphabet (usually “C”), the file system - in our case “new (unformatted)” and its size. Below there will be a line with the remaining unallocated area, which you can divide in exactly the same way into the number of sections you need. True, it is not at all necessary to do this here, since after installation it can be done using Windows tools.

Once you have created the system partition, select it using the arrow keys on your keyboard and press ENTER, after which you will see a final dialog box asking you to format it.

Feel free to select the quick formatting option by pressing ENTER, since in the second case the physical surface of the disk is checked, which takes quite a long time, especially if the partition is large.

After selecting the file system, the installation of Windows will begin.

Option 2 - If the system was installed on your computer. Then your hard drive has already been distributed into logical areas, and you will see a window listing all found partitions.

Attention! All further manipulations with the found partitions may lead to the loss of your data, so be very careful in your actions. If you are not satisfied with the current partitioning of your hard drive, you can delete existing partitions in whole or in part by pressing the D key. Select the desired section using the up and down arrow keys. After deleting a partition, the area it occupied becomes unallocated, and all data located on this logical disk is deleted. When you delete several sections, they turn into a single unallocated area, which you can later distribute as you wish. The principle of distributing an unallocated area of ​​a hard disk is described above.

After all the redistributions or if the existing hard drive structure suits you, all you have to do is select the desired partition in which you plan to install the system and press ENTER.

If you chose a pre-existing hard drive partition with data existing on it to install the OS, you will be given several options to choose from on what to do next. Be careful, formatting a partition in any file system will lead to the loss of the data contained in it! The FAT system is outdated and it makes sense to format only in NTFS (fast is preferable). Once you have made your selection, press ENTER to begin formatting and copying system files.

If for some reason you still want to save the information located in the partition you have chosen, then you should select the “Leave the current file system without changes” option. In this case, all the data located on it will not be touched. Moreover, if it was in this partition that the previous copy of Windows was installed (the most likely option), then in this case the installer will warn you that the “Windows” folder already exists, suggesting that you either erase the existing copy by clicking, or select a new folder for installations. Here, definitely click, since anyway the old folder with the system will be renamed automatically and saved.

It should be noted that after such an installation, it is strongly recommended to manually clean your system partition, namely, remove a large number of duplicate files. The fact is that the Windows installer will not only save the old copy of the system, but also all the files of the accounts that existed in it. Of all this goodness, the “My Documents”, “Favorites” and “Desktop” folders may be useful for you. Everything else will turn out to be useless garbage, taking up gigabytes of hard drive space. That is why it is preferable to take care of saving your data in advance, and install the new system in a clean partition, pre-formatted.

This is where the installer branches end, and further installation proceeds linearly. After selecting a hard drive partition to install a new operating system, the copying of the main Windows system files begins.

Upon completion of the copying, the computer will restart, where you do not need to do anything, but just wait for the installer screen to appear with a graphical shell.

DETERMINING INITIAL WINDOWS PARAMETERS

In this window you can change regional settings and input language. By default, the location is already set to Russia and the Russian language. So you don’t need to change anything unnecessarily, click “Next”.

In the next window, you must enter your username (your name) and organization (optional). Click “Next”.

To continue the installation in the key entry window, you must enter the Windows serial number and license sticker.

In the window for setting the time and date, most likely you won’t have to change anything either, since the correct data will be entered automatically, and all you have to do is click on the “Next” button.

You will see the next two windows only if the WindowsXP distribution contains a driver for your network card.

You should not change anything here, leaving the “Normal settings” option selected, however, just like in the next one, where it is more advisable to select the name of the workgroup/domain after installation.

After clicking the “Next” button, the final installation phase will begin, and all you have to do is wait for it to finish. After a few minutes, the computer will automatically reboot, after which the first launch of the new operating system will begin.

COMPLETING THE INSTALLATION

When you initially start Windows, you will see several more dialog boxes. The first one will be “Display Options”, where you just need to click “OK”.

After automatically adjusting the screen resolution, Windows will ask you to confirm them, which you should do by clicking “OK”:

There is nothing to configure on the welcome screen, so just click “Next”:

The next step will be the ability to select settings for automatic Windows updates, designed to regularly check via the Internet for the availability of all kinds of system security patches, critical updates and service packs on the official technical support website. Enabling automatic updates is desirable, but not required at this stage, since you can configure this setting more flexibly after installation from the control panel.

If during installation the network card drivers were installed, then you will see two more windows: the first is checking and setting up your Internet connection, which should be skipped, and the second is registering the system, which is also better left for later.

The last parameter you will have to enter to finally boot Windows will be the name of the user account under which you will work in the system.

Finally, you will see a window informing you that the installation of the operating system is complete.

A complete installation of Windows XP can take from 15 to 35 minutes and depends on the power of your computer. Immediately after its completion, you should install all the necessary drivers for the installed devices, after which you can begin installing the software.

Having purchased an SSD drive, each user will find it necessary to save the installed operating system and configuration files using backup and data transfer tools. After all, carefully setting up a new OS is certainly not comparable to the labor costs of creating a disk image and its further transfer. How to install Windows XP from a hard drive, or more precisely, how to transfer it to an SSD drive will be discussed today.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that here we consider the steps to create a clone of Windows XP already installed on a hard drive and migrate it to an SSD drive, since this is the easiest way and the installation will end in success.

Attention: do not rush to delete data from your HDD until you are sure that the system on the SSD drive is stable! It is necessary to backup important information!

Required Software

• A free utility such as CCleaner to clean the system (including the registry) of unnecessary data.
• A unique program Migrate OS to SSD from Paragon for transferring software environments and data to an SSD drive.
• AS SSD Benchmark utility for checking the correct alignment of SSD disk partitions.

Preparing the OS for migration

The process will be greatly simplified if a special partition was created for the system disk when installing Windows XP. Users, in most cases, do just that: they create a system partition C:, allocating no more than 20-30 Gb to it, which in the future, when reinstalling the system over the old one, prevents the loss of data located in other volumes. In the event that the disk is one partition and the system files are located on it together with user data, system migration will become somewhat more complicated when you want to delete system files from this disk in order to completely free it up for storing information. In this case, a backup followed by full formatting will help.

Initially, we will need to create a backup of all important files. Please note, not for the reason that the operation of migrating a partition is dangerous due to data loss, but for reasons of “insurance just in case.” You can make an archive copy of only user data, or you can backup the entire system partition. It is recommended to save backup copies on any external storage media, in cloud storage, or transfer them to another computer using any program. All this is done in order to be able, after successfully migrating the system to an SSD disk, to format the old piece of hardware, deleting all system files from it and distributing free space for the most convenient use. Then you will only have to move your personal data in place to return a structure similar to the original one: for example, the former partition (C:) used by the system will be physically located on an SSD drive, and the hard drive will be used entirely to place working data on it ( possibly labeled D:). As a result, everything will be in its place.

Let's look at a case in which Windows XP was installed on a computer without creating a separate partition and user data was located on the same volume. Then instead of one disk you will have two and, obviously, you will have to manually edit the paths for some programs, or it is better to re-install them on top of previously installed versions.

The next stage of preparation for the transfer is not necessary, but it is advisable to do it, since cleaning Windows XP and the system disk of unnecessary information will reduce the process time. Some things can be removed manually:

• delete files from the recycle bin;
• delete your own temporary files;
• uninstall unnecessary programs and their components.

Using a special utility such as CCleaner, we perform final cleaning:

• clear Windows XP of temporary files;
• clear the registry of unused keys;
• remove unnecessary programs from startup.

I also recommend performing an anti-virus inspection for the presence of Trojan horses and spyware to be sure that there are no vulnerabilities on your computer. Of course, after a thorough cleaning, you need to test the performance of the operating system and programs, and if something goes wrong, roll back to the previous state, restoring the data on top of the non-working ones (for this you need to make a backup copy).

Creating a system image

There are many different ways to do this, but the vast majority of them require special knowledge, skills and consideration of certain nuances. In general, you can transfer system files and the boot area using any program that is created for such tasks (such as True Image from Acrinis), but this, again, requires the user to have certain knowledge and does not in all cases give the necessary result , especially on the first try.

The problem of transferring the Windows XP operating system to an SSD drive is easily solved if you use the Migrate OS to SSD utility specially developed for this purpose from the well-known company Paragon. It is not free, but if you take into account the fact that you were allowed to spend at least 3,500 rubles on purchasing a solid-state drive, then another 390 rubles is already pennies. It is also possible to find a broken version on the Internet, but this is on your conscience. If it turns out that this program of a different version is already installed on your computer, it is advisable to install the new one not on top of it, but by completely uninstalling the previous one.

As the name makes clear, it will do exactly what is required, and will solve a number of problems without asking unnecessary questions. You won’t even notice how when using it, SSD disk partitions are automatically aligned along the boundaries of four-kilobyte blocks for optimal operation and extending its service life. When using other applications, you must do this operation yourself.

Before you start migrating, the program itself offers to select only folders that contain the information necessary for the operation of Windows XP and installed applications. Users' personal data (music files, videos, photos, unused programs and text documents) will remain on the donor disk. This allows you to create a compact system, which will later be transferred to an SSD. In addition, the program itself performs sector alignment and SSD layout in such a way as to use all free memory. The uniqueness of the sector-by-sector copying technology from Paragon Software guarantees subsequent loading of the transferred Windows XP on a new disk, and it is also possible to install it on top of a system previously existing on it

So let's begin. Open the Disk Management window. We have a 250 Gb hard drive installed, divided into a couple of partitions. One (drive C:) contains the Windows XP operating system, which we will transfer to our SSD solid-state drive with 120 GB on board. Now it is an unmarked area.

Open the Migrate OS to SSD utility. Click Next.

The program automatically finds the SSD drive and is ready to migrate the operating system. Here you need to pay attention to the point “Use all available space for the partition with OS”. Be sure to check the box here. In this case, all unoccupied space on the solid-state drive will be allocated for creating one new partition (C:) with the transferred Windows XP. This is explained by the fact that solid-state drives are used, for the most part, only for installing the operating system.

If you click on “Select what folders should be copied”, you will be able to supplement your selection with the folders needed for copying. If you need the entire Windows XP, leave everything as default.

Click the Copy button.

If we compare the process of creating an image with Acronis, then in the case of the latter, it takes much longer.

So, the Migrate OS to SSD program has already completed the migration of Windows XP to an SSD drive. The final step will be a window in which you will be asked to boot directly from the solid-state drive. We agree and reboot.

All that remains is to go into the BIOS (F8 or Del) when booting and set the boot order from the SSD drive. This is done in the Boot tab.

If your actions were carried out in strict accordance with those discussed above, then you have already booted from the SSD disk into the migrated system. Let's check. Disk Management shows that the system was successfully migrated.

That's probably all!

After the successful start of the migrated system, do not forget to tidy up the old drive: format it and transfer your personal data.

Greetings. I decided to write about it today how to install Windows XP. They just brought me a computer, it’s kind of old, it’s already old. 256 MB RAM, Celeron processor, 40 GB hard drive. Well then? But whatever, XP is just right for him.

It’s just that everyone is already writing about installing Windows 8, but something has gone wrong with me. Well, oh well, I think that XP will still live, because whatever one may say, it’s a good OS and many people still work with it. I would like to immediately apologize for the photos; I took the photos on a 15-inch monitor and also on my phone. Ideally, of course, you could install Windows XP on a virtual machine and take beautiful screenshots, but I have a living example :).

Preparing to install Windows XP

Important! Make sure that drive C (the drive on which you have or have installed the operating system) does not contain information that is important to you. Desktop and folder “My documents” is stored on drive C. If there is information, it can be copied to drive D using a boot disk.

If everything is fine, then we move on. Insert the Windows XP installation disc into your computer's drive and restart your computer. If, after the download starts, you see loading at the bottom of the screen (the dots will move), then everything is fine. Quickly press any key (we didn’t have time:), restart the computer again) and you can proceed to the beginning of the installation.

Well, if you didn’t boot from the CD, but the computer started booting as usual from the hard drive, or an error appeared that caused you to reinstall the operating system, then it means that you don’t have the boot from the drive set first in your BIOS. I already wrote an article about that, but in this computer the BIOS was different from what is described in the article.

Go to the “Boot” tab.

Click “Boot Device Priority”.

Using the “Enter” and “Top” “Down” keys, set CD/DVD first, then the hard drive, etc. Now press F10 and save the changes. The computer will restart and the CD will begin loading. Press any button and proceed to the beginning of the installation.

Windows XP installation process

As soon as you press any key, we see this:

Here you will have to wait, well, nothing can be done, we wait :).

In this window, press “Enter”.

We accept the license agreement by pressing the F8 key.

As you can see, I have already found an old version of Windows XP and you can try to restore it, but I think you also need a clean installation, so press “Esc”.

We select the partition on the hard drive in which we want to install the operating system. As a rule, this is C:, select it and press “Enter”.

Confirm the installation with the “C” key.

Here you need to choose how the partition will be formatted. I advise you to choose FAT and not fast. Press “Enter”. Confirm formatting by pressing the “F” key.

We wait until the partition on the hard drive is formatted.

Copying files from the disk will begin immediately, we wait again :(.

You can immediately set up the language and keyboard. Click “Next”.

Enter your name and organization name. Let's move on.

Setting the time and date. Click “Next”.

We're waiting again, just don't go too far :).

I left “Regular settings” and clicked “Next”.

You can register with Microsoft. But I refused. Let's continue.

We specify users by computer.

Congratulations! Windows XP installation is complete.

All friends, the installation is complete and you can start using your computer. I also want to note that I installed the simplest build of Windows XP. You may also have an assembly, for example from ZWER, where the installation process may be slightly different. For example, in this version I still entered the key, I forgot to take a photo. But in the assembly from ZWER there seems to be no such item. Well, if it asks for a key, then look for it in the text file that you most likely downloaded with the disk image.

Well, that's it. Good luck friends!

In my previous article, I already told you how to install the Windows XP operating system on your computer. There the situation was considered when Windows is installed on top of an existing system. In my example, the hard drive was already partitioned at some point.
But what if you need to install Windows on a brand new hard drive? The need for this may arise if, for example, you bought a new computer without a pre-installed system. In this case, there are certainly differences in the installation process.

So let's get started installing Windows XP on a new hard drive.

Having turned on the computer, the first thing we do is go to BIOS and set up booting from disk (how to do this is described in detail). After saving all the necessary settings in the BIOS, insert a boot disk with the Windows XP operating system into the drive and reboot the computer.

After the reboot, the Windows installer shell will appear on the screen. The hardware installed on the computer will be checked fairly quickly and the files for installation will begin to download.
At the end of this process, a window will appear asking you to begin installing Windows. Click Enter on the keyboard.
Next, accept the license agreement by clicking F8.
Because we install Windows XP on a completely new, unformatted hard drive, then this window will appear in front of us:
The size of the unallocated area is the size of our hard drive. In my case it is almost 500 GB.

To continue the installation, you need to create a partition on the disk on which we will later install the operating system. To do this, press the key WITH on the keyboard.
Next you need to specify the size of the partition to be created. Let's make it 100 GB. Because the size is indicated in megabytes, so write 100000 and click Enter.
In the window that appears, the created section will be highlighted in a separate line indicating the letter assigned to it (usually WITH), file system (while it is still “ new (unformatted)") and its size. Below it is a line with the remaining unallocated area, which can be divided into the required number of sections in exactly the same way. We will do this later - directly on the installed system.
To install Windows XP on the selected partition, click Enter.

Next you will be asked to select a file system. Recommended to use NTFS. Click to continue Enter.
After this, the hard drive will begin formatting, and all information on it will be destroyed. But because We are installing the operating system on a blank disk - there is no information there yet :)