Installing XP Pro on and older system?

[NoSmartz]

guy I know wants to install XP Pro on an older system.It's a store bought HP or Compaq or somethin like that and I was wonderin' if I can can just load up the XP Pro disc and follow the instructions and it'll be done or is there more to it?He's got WinMe and onboard everything(audio,video).XP has that "format" disc option and was wonderin' if it'll format the HD and then throw XP Pro on it with no probs.I don't know if he has a recovery disc,this is why I'm asking if loading XP Pro is possible.Any suggestions will help.
BTW,nothin' on his PC(software)is important enough to keep.He doesn't care if he loses any tof the stuff that's on it.

E

[Wolo]

Hi NoSmartz,

As long as the system can boot from the CD-ROM drive, you should be able to pop in the disc and follow the on-screen instructions. XP's setup will allow you to:

delete his current partition(s)
create a brand new partition
format the partition using NTFS
install the OS

Prior to the installation, visit the manufacturer's website (HP or Compaq) and do a search for Windows XP drivers for the network adapter in his particular model. Check his current WinME Device Manager to get the exact name of his NIC. Download the drivers and save them on a CD. That way, if Windows XP doesn't recognise his NIC, you will be able to load the drivers from the CD. If there are any other unknown devices, just visit the same website and load up on drivers.

If you're lucky, Windows XP will automatically detect all of his hardware, but I've been burned too many times to take that chance again.

Good luck!

-Wolo

[Albo]

By all means start with a clean install (format & install). I've done the upgrade thing a few times and the resulting install seems to always be more "glitchy" than a fresh install (especially going from the 98 kernel to an NT based kernel). I ended up reinstalling every 3 to 4 months as opposed to the 1 year my current install has been running. I install a ton of software to evaluate (as everyone here probably does) and all of the installing/uninstalling plays havoc on the file system and registry. Besides, as you said, he doesn't ahve any data loss to worry about.

You probably know this, but just make sure his system specs are up to snuff. 256+mb of RAM, decenet HDD (the faster the better), at least 1Ghz of processor power...stuff like that.

Hopes this helps.

Albo

[NoSmartz]

Went and saw him today and his PC is a piece of S*^%.I'm pretty sure his pc is not up to specs.It's not even connected to the internet.He doesn't seem to care.The XP disc is not an upgrade,it's full version.
The boot from cd-rom,I don't believe it will work either(if your talkin' about that run cd-rom option in the BIOS).I'm pretty sure that there is no option for it in the BIOS so I'm assuming that he can install it over the top of WinMe by formatting through the XP option window etc....My Compaq I'm on now doesn't even have that option.He said if he has probs that he will just go to Win98.I'll see tomorrow.Dying to see if his PC explodes or not!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very grateful for the input!!!!

E

[pranav81]

NoSmartz,it should work.If the PC is very slow then Windows Xp will hog it badly and it will tke ages to boot and load programs.
Albo is right.You need a 1 Ghz+ processor and minimum of 256 MB RAM for XP to work normally,anything below that and the system will crawl.


::Pranav::