System Installation: Operating System

From this I could proceed to installing the new Operating System (OS) (Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 OEM). As the Hard Drive arrived completely unformatted and with nothing previous on it, I had to start the installation process from the Windows XP CD. From the CD I began to format the hard drive so as it was ready to install the OS. Fortunately, Windows XP installed with no hick ups, all I had to do it monitor the install screen and enter various details along the way for the install to continue. (See installation procedure next)

First step of clean installation, asking me to boot from the XP CD

Next stage was XP inspecting the computers hardware configuration

XP loading the appropriate files of the CD ready for the clean install

The next stage was asking me whether I wanted to continue, repair or quit, I chose to continue

Before I could go any further I had to read through the Windows XP Licensing Agreement (EULA – End User License Agreement)

After the NTFS formatting and a restart, I was taken to the first screen in the XP installation

A few minutes later I was asked to alter the Regional and Language Options, for this I altered everything from US English to UK English to allow the appropriate keyboard layout

After that I had to enter my clients name and his desired organisation

Following this I had to enter the XP 25-character product key which was provided with the software

The next screen was asking me to enter a desired name for the computer; my client wanted it to be named after one of his pets

This part was simply asking me to change the data, time and time zone

As my client was going to have a standard network I chose to have the “typical settings”

The installation was almost completed, all I had to do now was enter all the registered users for the new pc, in this case it was just my client who would be using the new PC

The installation was a success and took me straight to the new desktop

After XP installed I decide to change the appearance XP’s GUI (Graphical User Interface) to a more “classic” look which was to help save up some of the RAM allowing the system to run smoother. (See below “classic” start menu and control panel)