Formatting and reinstalling means starting over from scratch - the format will completely erase everything on your computer’s hard drive, and reinstalling will give you a fresh copy of your operating system (in this case, Windows XP). There are a number of reasons to go through this process: you may be so bogged down with viruses, trojans and adware that it’s easier to just wipe the slate clean. Many people often format & reinstall whenever they get a new computer; they want fresh, blank system without all of the extra software that many computer manufacturers typically install before shipping out a new machine. Whatever your reasons for wanting to format & reinstall may be, this document will help you get the job done.
Caution! This process completely erases everything on your computer, including all of your software, documents and settings. You should back up any files you wish to keep by burning them to a CD or DVD, or storing them on an external hard drive, another computer, or some other type of storage medium.
What you’ll need
- Your Windows XP Operating System CD.
- Your Windows XP product key
- If you bought Windows XP with your computer, the product key will be located on your Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity. This label is usually located on either the underside or rear of your computer.
Configure your system to boot from CD. Important: your system may already be configured this way. Put your Windows CD in the CD-Rom drive and restart the computer. If it asks you if you want to boot from CD (or just boots right into the Windows setup program), you’re ready to go. Skip over all this BIOS stuff and right into the next section on setting up Windows.
Restart your computer and enter the BIOS. This is usually done by pressing one of the function keys, but which function key it is varies from manufacturer to manufacturer (or it may not even be a function key, but something like “delete” instead). Watch the information that scrolls along the screen as your computer boots up and look for a phrase similar to “Press F8 to enter setup”. This is the key that will take you to BIOS land; if you miss it, reboot again and look closer.
Once you’ve accessed the BIOS, you’re looking for the order of boot devices. BIOS screens may also vary slightly depending on your computer’s manufacturer, so this may be located under an option such as “Advanced Settings”. Once you find it, make your CD-ROM drive the 1st boot device, followed by your floppy drive, then your hard drive. The CD-ROM and the Floppy drive will be named accordingly, but your hard drive may be called something like “HDD-01″. Before you make changes, look at what the current boot devices are and remember what the label for your hard drive is. There should also be on-screen instructions that tell you how to scroll through the available devices (typically done by pressing the arrow keys or Page Up/Page Down). Once you’re finished, save your changes, put your Windows CD in the CD-ROM drive and restart the computer.
What if I make a mistake?
Making a mistake when changing your BIOS settings could have disasterous consequences, since your computer depends on the BIOS in order to operate. If you make a mistake while look for the boot devices or resetting them, you should exit the BIOS without saving. There are normally instructions located along the bottom of the screen telling you how to navigate around the BIOS, which will tell you how to exit without saving the changes you made. If you’re still in doubt, hit “Esc” and type N whenever the computer asks if whether you want to save your changes or not.
Setting Up Windows When your computer restarts, it may ask you to indicate if you want to boot from CD by pressing a key. You should do so. The Windows XP setup program will load and you’ll be on your way. Setup will guide you through its process with plenty of on-screen instructions.
The first thing you’ll be asked to do is pick a drive to format. Select the drive where Windows is going to be installed (typically C:). Follow the on-screen instructions and indicate a full format with the NTFS file system. Once you indicate that you’re sure you want to format, a progress bar will appear and Windows will format the drive.
After the formatting procedure is done, Windows will begin to copy system files to your newly blank hard drive. This is a mostly automated process, but you’ll be asked a few questions along the way (things like which time zone you’re in, what your name is and what you want to call your computer). At this point, you’ll need to know what your system’s product key is. Your computer will reboot itself once or twice, and in about 30 minutes to an hour, you’ll have a fresh computer with a brand new install of Windows XP.
