Hi everyone, it's been quite a while since my last post here, well I'm back and this time I'll give you details on how to install Windows Operating system in a new computer, not because there is no topic of this kind in the www, this is my way of giving in to the request of one of my friends. Actually, when he first asked me about this, I told him to surf the net, because there's a lot of online resources on this one, but he insisted that I make one and post it here, I think one of his reasons (though he didn't tell me) is because he wants to have a chance to criticize me, he he he, well ok, I'm up for the challenge. Installing a new Windows operating system is not that complicated actually, it's even easier if what you are going to install is the Windows XP or Windows 2000.
Ok then, let's begin. Let's say you have just finished assembling your new CPU (because here in the Philippines, we like clone CPU's, since we get the chance to select what we want to be installed in our hardware direct from suppliers), you have set up you computer in your table, and now ready to install your newly bought genuine Windows XP (retail or OEM version – stop piracy please), you powered on your computer, and now your ready to begin.
Steps in installation:
Plug your CPU (and monitor), in the first display, press the DELETE button on your keyboard to enter the BIOS setup of your CPU. In the BIOS setup, make sure that your hardisk was detected (if you have more than one hardisk, they should have been detected automatically for you).
Using the arrow keys on your keyboard (Left & Right keys), go to the BOOT menu, here, make sure that the first boot is your CD-ROM drive or your USB CD-ROM (new BIOSes today supports booting from an external device such as USB devices).
Insert your Windows 2K/XP CD installer in your CD-ROM, exit and save your changes for your BIOS. Allow your system to restart.
Upon restarting, your computer will detect whether there is a bootable disk or CD in your CD-ROM (IDE or USB). If it does found one, it will prompt you to “Press any key to boot from CD”. Press any key.
And the next that you will do is to wait while the system loads the necessary files to be used during installation until some questions appear on the screen that will ask you before proceeding.
On the next few screens, you have to make choices, the keys to be pressed for a certain selection is labeled below the screen, so pay attention to it (e.g. For accepting agreement you need to press F8).
During the installation, you will also be asked if you want to create partitions (if you haven't made one yet). Using Windows XP/2K installer, you can only make NTFS partitions, but if you already have an existing FAT32 partitions, you can leave them as is.
After making partitions, you are now ready to install your operating system, press the key that will install your OS (it is the Enter key), the installer will start installation by formatting your hardisk. Now all you have to do is to wait while the system installs. After installation, the system will reboot.
During the reboot process, you have the option to enter the BIOS once more to change your first boot device to your hardisk, since it already contains an operating system or just let the system reboot until the message “Press any key to boot from CD”, but in here, DON'T PRESS ANY KEY ANYMORE! Just wait, if no key was pressed, the system will search for a bootable system in your hardisk, which is the right way.
NOTE: If you press any key again, the whole process will restart and your installation will be lost, everything will start all over again.
The installation continues, but this time you see a Windows-style and not the DOS- style installation. The installer will now finish the installation by gathering some inputs from the user. You must provide the complete name of the user, organization name, the name of the country, a password for user “Administrator”, the time in your region, and the product key for your copy of Windows XP/2K installer, etc. Just provide the proper answer to every question or input box.
Once the installation is done and your system has reboot, you will now be prompted to provide the password for user “Administrator”. The system will also try to correct your display setting if it not good enough.
Once you are inside Windows, it's time for you to install the drivers for individual devices such as, Chipsets (VIA, SiS, Intel, etc.), ethernet driver, USB driver, VGA or display driver, audio driver, printer drivers that you have bought, etc.
Drivers are installer CD's or 1.44” floppy, included with every hardware (Video card, Sound Card, Monitor, LAN Card, Modem, etc.) that you bought, these are the ones that will introduce your device to your system so that it will know how to use these devices.
If the Main board that you bought has all the other attachments built-in, meaning the Video card, the LAN Card, and the Audio Card were all incorporated in your model of main board, then you surely have a single installer CD that has all the drivers for all the built-in devices in it (separated in folders/directory). Except for most of the new model of printers, they surely have their own installer CD, so be sure that the supplier will provide you an intaller CD for your printer if you will buy one.
Insert this installer CD in your CD drive, if the installer has an autorun operation, it will be triggered once you close the CD drive, a GUI (graphical user interface) will be displayed with the list of devices that has to be installed. You now can install each driver for every device, if a message box appears that is asking you to “restart now” or “restart later” your computer, select the restart later if you are not yet through installing all the drivers. If you are done with all the installation, you may select the “restart now” option after installing the last driver in the list. Your system will reboot and once you entered Windows XP/2K, you will now see some difference especially in the display, the resolution is now better than before installing the VGA driver. Also, you can now start playing your music via the Windows Media player or watching your favorite movies on it (be sure that you have attached a speaker or a headset in the socket that is located behind, in front or at the sides of your CPU or else you will not hear a single sound). You can also start installing other applications such as games, productivity software, graphics software, anti-virus, etc.
After installation, you have to activate your copy of Windows XP, either via the web or by calling Microsoft's hotline in your country. If you will not activate your copy, you can only use your operating system for 30 days, after that you can't enter or virtually use your computer anymore, not until you activate your copy.
It is easy to activate your copy of Windows XP if you have a network connection. Select Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Activate Windows. See figure below. Follow the easy instructions and after activating your copy, you can now use your computer all the time.
The good thing of having an authentic copy of your operating system is that you have the privilege of downloading updates from Microsoft site.
That's it! I think I've covered here the basic steps on how to setup your computer directly out-of-the-box. Try it, and if you have some comment, I will be glad to hear it. The next topic that I will post in here is how to setup a Linux box from scratch, after all, there are already lots of people using the Open Source Technologies. For further reading, I suggest you read the PC Magazine March-April edition, they have in there an article on how to build your own PC with an easy-to-follow guide (it is focused on how to build your PC, so it is the hardware part that was discussed in there).
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