Carol said:
Shenan thankyou
I had just been sent a link to nlite... looks a bit
complicated....and I tried to print out the instructions, and it
isn't possible....shame...
Can you pls answer this, my Win XP (Home) is an upgrade from 98,
which was an update of 95...
I do have a Win XP SP2 disk, and a download of sp3 - will it work
using the xp(home) upgrade....not a problem if it asks for a disk
(as it did) as I have the others anyway.
If you have a Windows XP installation CD (like you say - Windows XP Home
Edition with SP2 integrated - Upgrade version) and you have the actually
installation media for Windows 95/98 (either/or) - you can utilize said CD
to install cleanly and provide the upgradeable media upon request.
In other words:
- Ensure your computer - in the BIOS - sees the full size of your hard disk
drive.
- Boot from your Windows XP Home Edition with SP2 integrated - Upgrade
version CD (you'll have to change your BIOS to boot from the CD/DVD first.)
- Setup the partitions on the hard disk drive the way you want to (I
suggest - as long as you have backups - just deleting any existing
partitions and creating one large partition. However - if you feel the
need, you can partition in many ways with a drive as large as 1TB. I would
not - however - suggest making the install partition smaller than 25GB - I
would go at least 40GB and given the size of your drive - likely 100GB is
not going to hurt.)
- Proceed with the installation and when it asks for the qualifying media -
insert your Windows 95 or Windows 98 Installation CD and allow it to verify
you qualify to use the Windows XP Upgrade CD.
- Continue on - when done install SP3 first.
- Install all updated hardware drivers as provided by your OEM (Dell, HP,
IBM, etc) or by each individual parts manufacturer (Intel, NVidia, ATI,
Broadcom, Creative Labs, Sigmatel, Conexant, etc...)
- Install your other software.
- Restore any of your data you need to from backup.
- Use your computer.
It all looks so complicated, might be worth it to go and buy
Vista....
I have spoken to MS and they don't have an SP3 with Windows to let
me have anyway... 32 min call for that info..
As for nLite being complicated...
Depends on your point of view. ;-) I personally don't use it - but many
people do because they say it simplifies things for them. I personally like
copying my CD to my computer (in a new directory), downloading the service
pack (IT Professional version) and then using the provided by Microsoft
command line on it to integrate it into the directory I put the copy of
Windows XP into. Then I simply burn a new CD with my favorite burning
application - making it bootable with the boot image from the old CD and I
now have a Windows XP SPx integrated installation CD that boots and
installs.