installing xp without upgrading from another os

[manodivx]

im trying to install xp as my 1st os...i usually have to install 98 and then upgrade. i have the full disc not the upgrade disc but i donno how to book straight from the xp cd. does anyone know how to run the install of xp without having another os installed 1st. if u know plz tell me.


mano

[Milkman Dan]

You go into your BIOS and set your CD-ROM drive as the first bootable device. Have the XP cd in the tray when you reboot, and it should start the text-based setup.

[manodivx]

but dont i need a 32 bit os running?

[Milkman Dan]

No...Just boot from the disc like I said. It'll work.

[theReal]

If you have a bootable XP disc (all full versions should be bootable, I guess) then the installation of XP is so easy, easier than all Windows versions before. And it's quick. I was quite impressed by the installation routine recently (installed it on one computer at work).

[droolian01]

Hi there.
Sorry to sneek in this question but this post is fairly new, and i rarely look in here (mainly look in xvid avisynth capturing).
I will be building a new pc soon and will be using xp for the first time and to be honest know nothing about it.
Questions
- is there any funtional difference between the full product and the upgrade once everything is installed

- when using the upgrade (much cheaper!) does it ask to see a previous version of a windows installation cd or does it expect to find this old os already installed

- is there any disadvantage to using the cheaper upgrade version other than more hasstle in initially installing xp

I have a present 98se full version, and have only ever installed this, and remember that there was some discussion as to the benefits of a 'clean install'. I like being able to format out the old accumulated crap out of my system once in a while.

I have a feeling that i will end up having to spend more and get the full product.

Thanks

[theReal]

Make sure the Upgrade CD is bootable, then it should be ok.
I had an upgrade installation of NT 4 once, and all it did was to ask for the CD of the previous version once during installation (and I think an upgrade-CD of Win98 did the same, only wanted to see the other CD once).

I guess this is also the case for XP Professional, not so sure about XP Home though...

[TheCocaCola Kid]

-No XP does not ask to see for a CD of a previous version of OS.

-XP when done as an upgrade is very stable actually, I was very impressed on how it did the upgrade (not like the 98 to ME of 98 to W2k Pro, ugh, bad memories!)

-I have installed XP as a new installation literally a hundred + times and XP as an upgrade from 98, ME, W2K and they all seem to be fine.

All in all I firmly believe Bill has actually done something right with XP. I can't wait for the final release of Windows.net (server)I think it will be a vast improvement over W2K. (I know all the betas and RC1 have been so.

[Kb_cruncher]

if your bios supports booting from cd then set your "first boot device"to cdrom.Restart your computer with the xp disk in your cdrom and it will boot.if it is a non boot cd then there are some sites on the net that tell you how to make it bootable.if this is all too much go here http://www.drd.dyndns.org/index2.html and download the"xp setup disk".make sure you have at least two partions on your hard drive.the first should be your xp partion(ntfs).i usually make this no less than 3gb.then dedicate the rest of the drive to a fat32 partion,the reason for this is that when using the setup disk it is done from dos and xp install will use the fat32 partion to copy files to before installing to the ntfs partion.

try these links for more info:

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm


http://members.chello.nl/a.vanheumen1/nero/ (xp bootable cd with nero)

[droolian01]

Wow, thanks theReal, TheCocaCola Kid and Kb_cruncher for all the advice and links

Seems that i shouldn't be worried about getting the cheaper upgrade after all. This is all the better as i picked up win98se for £35 ages ago to reinstall on my first pc which was a cheap secondhand cyrix333 with no discs at all. This may be a cheaper way for others to go without original discs.

With this info from you guys i should have no problems with this.
Now to buy the upgrade stuff and search for xp drivers for my existing hardware. Maybe i will have problems after all!!!

Until the next time
thanks

[theReal]

No XP does not ask to see for a CD of a previous version of OS.Do you mean it doesn't ask at all, or it wants a previous version to be actually installed?

If you mean it doesn't ask for any proof of your right to upgrade at all - don't you probably have some kind of corporate upgrade version? I'm asking because when I recently ordered WinXP and Office XP for a PC in university (I'm -on a very small scale- the seminaire's IT-guy) I got the licence very cheap, as a campus upgrade license. An upgrade licence that is based on some uni-license for Solaris servers (sounds weird, but that was their explanation). However, I received a fully functional version of WinXP and OfficeXP. WinXP even came with the nice feature that registration is optional and it won't deactivate if you don't register.

So, this was kind of a very special upgrade version - I don't think I'd get that kind of thing when I buy an upgrade CD on my own...

[TheCocaCola Kid]

I did some investigation into this on the weekend and hewre is what I found out:

1) Corporate Edition does not ever need proof of a former OS installed or a former OS license key to install.

2) Retail UPGRADE versions need a license key of a former OS if you are trying to install UPGRADE XP on a formated hard drive. If your former OS (like W2k or Win98) are running it will not ask for a license key.

So you can buy the cheaper upgrade (usually save about $150-$200) and install XP upgrade on a new hard drive as long as you have some other qualified OS license key. (Like you can't find that info on the net. LOL )

Happy computing!

[droolian01]

Hello again.
Before this post dissappears could anyone discuss the difference between the home or pro version on winxp.
Thanks in advance.

[ohliuv]

BTW, anyone installed the 'XP Plus!' pack? any good?

[Skullworks]

XP home can not join a domain - Keep that in mind.

Both have NTFS v5.1 - Use it!

Both are serious memory pigs, but you get a real performance as a result.

XP home has only 2 levels of users - Pro has the same as W2K Pro.

Fast User switching - The best thing they added to XPpro - as you can switch to the Admin account then go right back to your user account/profile without reboot/restart. ( kind of like su root )

You can still make the floppy disk boot set (4 disks I think) from the CD in any w9x or NT O/S, boot and start the install.

XP has advanced PnP, but has cut support for a large amount of legacy devices - ISA is not offically supported - but they have not weeded out all the legacy drivers so some might work...

For most people - Home is all you need...

[sarahjh69]

XP is a big pile of pooh IMHO
steer well clear
It has very big problems with DMA and cd/dvd rom players
It has very big problems with cd/dvd writing
It is much slower at almost everthing a PC running
Win2k or WinME does.
Drivers for older equipment are non-existant.

Most people report it is much stabler than ME/98
there is a very good reason for this....your
IDE, etc are working a lot slower.
For example....on one of my PCs
IN XP
My Liteon 163 dvd rom uses 100% cpu when coping files to HD
reason.... player working in PIO mode 4
IN ME
same operation 33% cpu usage.....UDMA mode 2

XP don't use DMA properly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[theReal]

sarahjh69, I'm not even using WinXP, I'm using Win2k, so I'm not an "XP fanboy" or something - but most of the things you say have already been said for Win2k in comparison to Win98SE (slower IDE performance, NTFS performs badly, DMA not used, Win2k is not as responsive as 98, and so on and so on). From my experience, all these things are only true if you don't configure Win2k correctly and accept too many running services (that are activated by default). Configured correctly and slimmed down (a lot of services you never need can be deactivated, also all stupid graphic fading effects for menus and stuff like that), Win2k performs faster and is more responsive than Win98SE.
From what I've seen, I consider XP pro just a next version of Win2k, not something completely different. If you leave the fancy GUI stuff aside, there have been less changes from Win2k to WinXP than have been from WinNT to Win2k, I think.

Of course WinXP probably has horrible default settings, made for the "stupid user" (like every MS OS before). If you configure it correctly, it's just WinNT 6, and it's not bad at all.

[\AX]

nt6..pff...it's lucky to be called nt5.1

my opnion is this. it's more of a win2k upgrade or even i will stretch it and call it a skin.

it does nothing to out perform 2k. ms wanted money and they got it

the xp home edition is a rip off. no options at all. it's a joke on that
they are forcing you basically if you own xp home to upgrade to pro.

and the service pack 1 for xp is going to be a even bigger joke.it's big highlight ive seen is support usb 2.0. o wow that' great. pff

2k user's shouldnt even think about xp. after all sp3 for 2k pretty much brings all those "extra" feature's that xp has. those wonderful features like msn messanger, automatic update, blah blah ...cant live without those's

something you should notice if you use xp is that there is so many services ENABLED at default. no in 2k there is take a guess how many are ENABLED by default...0. XP tweaking is a must for anybody shy of a smp setup pumping like 3.5ghz+.

im stretching again and going to say the memory leaks in xp are the worst yet.

only notable feature is the ntfs but are you running a server on the computer your using for this stuff...didn't think so

what do you get out of xp.

a pretty shade of blue with overly detailed icons that in themself can bring some systems to a halt.

there is other features that are enabled by default that i have not a clue what they do.

some of the feature's are more or less pointless aswell

like being able to stop the service of WDM...ok why? if you dont want it don't enable your audio card and it wont be enabled right???wrong it's still enabled.

i know your thinking im bashing...well ok alittle. but wtf are we to do with XP we can't due with 2k besides some software wont run on 2k (avid xpress dv 3.5, protools 5.3.1, etc.)

xp's take on the whole multiple user's has just gotten even worse with there login/logout procedure.if you own a home edition don't even worry about it your machine is hobbling.

xp home edition to me is = to win95. yeh it's more stable because it falls in the nt class but hey it's more or less a single user system.

pro version is the only good version and if it's not a corporate verstion (the morrally right version) then headache's aplenty.

im thinking 2k by sp4(if they put one out) will be completely up to par with XP and be faster, more stable and less ugly for sure.

if you thinking the new ntfs is all that...think again unless your running server's. fat is just efficent and highly more recoverable than nfts to begin with. i run ntfs in 2k...in xp no way.

xp also like's to delete system folder's. if you have tried to recover or reinstall then you know what i mean. atleast im pretty sure there gone forever...maybe some hacking is required but none the less it's a pain

ok the deployment on xp is alittle better...besides the fact that if you want to choose your install directory manually off the boot...well you cant'. now in xp you have to run winnt32.exe to even do that. which means you have to run a winOS 32bit already installed. way around this yes. with the windows xp Preinstallment disc which is not only hard to get...but you can't get unless your a coporation.

the whole thing has gone south. with windows trying to get there SFU 3.0 going right (System For Unix) i wouldnt be suprised if they dont pull a macintosh and base the next os off a unix type.

XP was the last straw for fair use...piracy has once again proven a legitimate purpose, but this time with windows, it prove's to be only at the very least, FAIR.

good luck with your XP machine. Let us know when you need some donations to buy a new computer, because microsoft will wind up owning your box.