Installing windows xp home. The most complete step-by-step guide to installing Windows XP

This article tells you how to turn Windows XP Home into Windows XP Professional or how to remove a number of functional limitations imposed on the operating system.

With this article you can:

remove the limit on the number of simultaneous connections in the XP Home version;
connect a computer with an operating system Windows XP Home to domain;
gain access to editing snap-ins in Windows XP Home, which allows you to significantly simplify the administration of user groups;
disable simple file sharing in Windows XP Home. The ability to disable simple sharing in Windows XP Professional allows you to more flexibly configure access to your computer’s network resources (allow access to network resources for specific users);
configure and gain remote access to the desktop of a computer running the Windows XP Home operating system;
enable support for multiprocessor systems in Windows XP Home;

All these restrictions are easily removed, since the Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional operating systems are built on the same kernel - NT 5.1. And this easily allows you to turn Windows XP Home into Windows XP Professional.

There are many organizations in Russia that, under the yoke of Microsoft, at one time purchased a large number of OEM licenses for the Windows Home Edition operating systems, chasing a lower price compared to the Professional version. Enterprise managers probably did not think about the possibility of its further use.

For a system administrator who is called upon to administer and maintain the computer park of such an organization, this is no small problem. The Windows Home operating system has a number of limitations that may not be necessary for home computer users, but are of great importance for the deployment of a flexible, secure local network for enterprises. No one will buy new licenses to replace already purchased licenses for Home. This is true in Russia.

You do all the actions described below at your own peril and risk. Any changes to Windows will void your license to continue to use the Microsoft product. But most often, the licensing check begins and ends with the counting of stickers and computers.

The Windows system is designed in such a way that the system registry contains information about the type of operating system. When the system boots, it reads this data and uses it later when defining functionality.

The main registry parameters that are responsible for the type of Windows operating system are a string parameter "ProductType" and multistring parameter "Product Suite", section . Below is a comparative table (Table No. 1) of these two parameters for different Windows operating systems. Choose the ones that are right for you.

Table No. 1 - Comparison table of parameters "ProductType" And "Product Suite" for different operating systems of the Windows family.

To change the operating system type you need to change the corresponding settings in the registry. If you simply change the values of these two parameters in the branch "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ProductOptions", you won’t see the desired effect after a reboot, since these parameters are blocked in the Windows system.

You can bypass this blocking by changing the parameter values of not the current configuration, but the configuration of the last successful boot of Windows. This registry branch is open for editing.

Changing the type of operating system (how to make Windows XP Professional from Windows XP Home):

Launching the registry editor regedit(START\Run\regedit).
Open the registry branch:
"HKEY_LOCAL_MASHINE\SYSTEM\"
In this thread, after the section "CurrentControlSet", there are several more sections like "ControlSet" with numbers at the end. We need the section with the most recent number. Let's open it.
Next we open
"...\Control\ProductOptions"
There we find the parameters "ProductType" And "Product Suite" and change them in accordance with the table above (table No. 1).
We reboot the computer.
When you next boot the system, press F8. In the boot menu select “Load Last Known Good Configuration”.
After this shamanism, additional functions of the “selected OS” appear in the installed operating system.

After removing the restrictions, we will begin to use the new functions:

Removing restrictions on the number of simultaneous connections in versions of XP Home. Starts working immediately after changing the operating system type.
Ability to connect a computer running Windows XP Home to a domain. You can connect to the domain immediately after changing the type of operating system.
Gain access to edit a snap-in Local users and groups in Windows XP Home. You can start working with this equipment immediately after changing the type of operating system.
Disable simple file sharing in Windows XP Home. The standard way to disable simple file sharing, as in Windows XP Professional, does not work. Disabled via Registry Editor. In the branch "HKEY_LOCAL_MASHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet00_our profile number\Control\Lsa" you need to assign the value 0 to the dword parameter "forceguest".
Access to the remote desktop of a computer running the Windows XP Home operating system.
Support for multiprocessor systems in Windows XP Home. Starts working immediately after changing the operating system type.

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Comments

Roastbeef
2 April, 21:47
Ay-ay, how is all this…..illegal)) UBEP you say?)
Mut@NT
3 April, 03:37
Life is like that. I am for licensed software, or for free :-)
Denis
20 June, 06:51
How to connect to the Windows Home remote desktop?
Gagarin
21 November, 11:54
Question about Vista or, say, seven, can this be implemented there?
Mut@NT
22 November, 06:54
I think there should be something similar, but something different. Unfortunately this method only works with XP
name
10 December, 14:21
this only works with XP serv pack 2
on the 3rd - it won’t work
Mut@NT
10 December, 15:58
>name
Maybe you're right. I haven't tried this on SP3.
Zed
25 December, 23:40

name: this only works with XP serv pack 2 to 3m - it won’t work

Passed through Regedit PE with infraCD 5.5
george
10 August, 00:52
Indeed, is anything like that possible in the seven?
Many people are faced with the problem of switching to subsequent releases of this OS!”
Mut@NT
11 August, 15:48

george: Indeed, is anything like that possible in the seven? Many people are faced with the problem of switching to subsequent releases of this OS!”

I can’t say about the seven, since I don’t have it at hand, but there should be something similar
Evgeniy
29 August, 02:56
Is it possible the other way around? That is, make Windows XP Home from Windows X Professional?
Mut@NT
31 August, 19:18
Yes, of course, you can specify any of the above parameters.
Levik
26 October, 19:39
Mut@NT
27 October, 16:22

Levik: Thanks for the info. I suspect this would be considered a violation of the Windows license? (However, in the case of official proceedings, it won’t take long to “roll back” to Home – that is, it’s practically “legal” to use Win XP Pro)

You think correctly
Mitrich
5 November, 08:58
After these manipulations, in the system properties it says that I have Win XP Pro, but the Remote use item has completely disappeared there. It's a pity. For this reason, I wanted to make mountains out of molehills. Apparently it's not fate.

Many users believe that installing operating systems on a computer is the prerogative of specialists. But is this really so? We learn to install and reinstall Windows XP on our own.

It's no secret that communication between a person and a computer is carried out using the operating system installed on your PC. This is a primary and fundamental software component, without which it is impossible to imagine a modern computer. Unfortunately, like any other program, the operating system is imperfect, and over time, almost any user encounters a violation of its normal functionality. This can be expressed in a significant increase in the time it takes to boot the computer and open applications, freezes during operation, the occurrence of various types of errors when performing certain actions, or even a complete failure of the system. Such consequences can be caused by both incorrect actions of the user himself and the influence of various malicious programs that are available in abundance on the global Internet.

According to statistics, even if you operated your OS carefully enough and reliably protected it from virus infections, after 3-4 years 80% of users have significant reasons to reinstall the system. And if you still decide to do it yourself, without contacting all sorts of paid technical services, this article is for you. In it we will look at not just the complete installation of the WindowsXPSP3 operating system, but we will try to analyze all the main nuances that arise during the installation process. This approach will not only allow you to more flexibly configure the new OS at the reinstallation stage, but also avoid possible loss of important data.

Naturally, before starting the installation you need to have an installation disk with the system. Moreover, this disk must be bootable, i.e. the computer must be able to boot from it. As a rule, all original system disks or their images are bootable by default. In general, the installation of WindowsXP can be started in two ways - directly from an already installed system or by booting from disk. The second method is preferable, but if your old system does not boot or you are installing on a new computer, then it is the only possible one.

In order for the computer to start booting from the installation disk, you may need to make simple settings in the BIOS. The thing is that your optical drive should be first in the list of boot devices, which is not always configured that way. To check this, you need to insert the Windows CD into the drive and restart the computer. If during the boot process you see the message: “Press any key to boot,” then everything is in order and you can proceed with the installation. Otherwise, you need to go to the BIOS settings.

SETTING UP YOUR COMPUTER TO BOOT FROM CD

When you turn on the computer, as a rule, a short message appears indicating the key with which you can enter the BIOS settings menu. Be careful, as this inscription disappears from the screen quite quickly, especially on laptops. If you couldn’t see it the first time, immediately restart your computer using the Reset button and try again. When loading begins, a large graphic image may appear on the screen, obscuring the service inscriptions on the screen. To remove it, press the Esc key.

List of most frequently used keys:

Desktops - Del (almost always), F1
Laptops - F1, F2, F3, Del, Ctrl + Alt + Esc. In the case of laptops, keyboard shortcuts can be very varied, depending on its model. You can find this information either online or by calling technical support.

Having found out the key responsible for calling up the BIOS settings menu, restart the computer again and at the very beginning of boot, press it several times (once is enough, but to accurately catch the right moment, pressing it multiple times won’t hurt). If everything is done correctly, the settings window should open.

As a rule, the most common two types of BIOS are:

If your window looks like this, then you need to select a section here Advanced BIOS Features, and in it the paragraph First Boot Device assign the value CDROM. Then press the F10 key and select Yes in the dialog box that appears.

American Megatrends BIOS

Or if your window has a gray background, like in this screenshot, then select the section at the top Boot and in the subsection BootDevicePriority in point 1stBootDevice Set the name of your optical drive. Then press the F10 key and select Yes in the dialog box that appears.

For mobile devices (laptops), BIOS programs can vary greatly, and it is not possible to list all possible options within the framework of this article. In any case, you should find an item in the settings window whose name is associated with boot (Boot) and in it set the optical drive (CDROM) as the first device.

STARTING INSTALLATION

After turning on/rebooting the computer, if any Windows operating system is already installed on your computer at that moment, then after some time you will see the message “Press any key to boot from CD” on the screen. CD) which is what you should do.

Be careful as you will only have 5 seconds to enter the system installation. If the current operating system starts loading, it means that the opportunity to start the installation was missed and you should restart the computer again for the next attempt.

The Windows XP basic software installation screen will then appear, requiring your intervention only if you plan to install the system on a hard disk array (RAID) or high-end SCSI drive.

This is where you should press the key to install additional drivers for these devices, following the messages on the bottom line of the screen. In most cases, such intervention is not required and you should simply wait for the welcome screen.

On the welcome screen you will be asked to:

Install Windows XP. Should be selected by pressing ENTER if you are installing new or restoring a previous copy of Windows using the GUI.
Recovering Windows using the Recovery Console. Should be chosen by experienced users to restore the system using DOS commands run from the command line. Allows you to eliminate minor system errors without going through the full installation procedure. Most commonly used to repair a file system's boot sector and master boot record (MBR); spot copying, renaming or deleting operating system folders and files; creating and formatting partitions on disks. The Recovery Console is called up with the R key.
Exit. If you refuse to install, press the F3 key.

Select the first item “Proceed with installing Windows XP” (even if you are going to reinstall the system) by pressing ENTER, after which a window with a license agreement will appear, which you must accept in order to continue the installation by pressing F8.

If any are found, you will see a screen with a list of these systems and a menu that will offer:

Restore the found copy of Windows by pressing the R key. By selecting this item, you will have to go through the full system installation procedure, during which all system files of the old copy will be replaced with new ones from the CD. All your data, settings and installed programs will be saved. Recovery helps in case of damage, deletion or replacement of infected files or Windows system files.
Install a new copy of Windows by pressing the ESC key.

You will not see a window with a list of installed systems if you are installing the system on a new computer/hard drive, or if the previous copy of Windows has a different edition or service pack.

The next step in the installation is to allocate disk space for the operating system. This is a very important point and should be treated carefully, and all actions should be performed very carefully.

RULES FOR HARD DISK DISTRIBUTION

At this point I would like to make a small digression and provide some useful recommendations for partitioning a hard drive:

Don't allocate all of your hard drive space to one single partition. This is considered bad manners and can cause you a lot of trouble in the future.
Modern hard drives have quite large capacities for storing data and therefore it is advisable to divide them into several thematic sections.
It is recommended to set aside a separate section for installing the operating system and necessary software and not fill it with your personal data.
You should choose the size of the system partition with a margin, taking into account that for Windows to work correctly, 15% of the space of this partition must remain free.
Don't create too many sections. This will make navigation difficult and reduce the efficiency of distributing large files and folders.

DEFINITION OF SYSTEM PARTITION

Now, let's get back to the installation. From this point on, the installation can proceed in two ways:

Option 1: You have a new computer and the hard drive has never been allocated. In this case, the following window will appear in front of you:

The size of the unallocated area is the volume of your hard drive and, of course, it absolutely should not coincide with that indicated in the screenshot. To continue the installation, you must create a partition on the disk (system partition) into which the OS will be installed in the future, and specify its size. As a rule, for Windows XP and related software, 40 - 60 GB is enough, but not less than 20 GB. By pressing the C key in the window that appears, enter the required size of the partition to be created.

The size must be specified in megabytes. Calculate it based on the fact that 1 GB = 1024 MB. Thus, if you want to allocate 60 GB for the system partition, you must enter the number 61440 in the size field.

By pressing the ENTER key you will return to the hard disk partition window, where the created partition will be highlighted in a separate line indicating the assigned letter from the Latin alphabet (usually “C”), the file system - in our case “new (unformatted)” and its size. Below there will be a line with the remaining unallocated area, which you can divide in exactly the same way into the number of sections you need. True, it is not at all necessary to do this here, since after installation it can be done using Windows tools.

Once you have created the system partition, select it using the arrow keys on your keyboard and press ENTER, after which you will see a final dialog box asking you to format it.

Feel free to select the quick formatting option by pressing ENTER, since in the second case the physical surface of the disk is checked, which takes quite a long time, especially if the partition is large.

After selecting the file system, the installation of Windows will begin.

Option 2 - If the system was installed on your computer. Then your hard drive has already been distributed into logical areas, and you will see a window listing all found partitions.

Attention! All further manipulations with the found partitions may lead to the loss of your data, so be very careful in your actions. If you are not satisfied with the current partitioning of your hard drive, you can delete existing partitions in whole or in part by pressing the D key. Select the desired section using the up and down arrow keys. After deleting a partition, the area it occupied becomes unallocated, and all data located on this logical disk is deleted. When you delete several sections, they turn into a single unallocated area, which you can later distribute as you wish. The principle of distributing an unallocated area of a hard disk is described above.

After all the redistributions or if the existing hard drive structure suits you, all you have to do is select the desired partition in which you plan to install the system and press ENTER.

If you chose a pre-existing hard drive partition with data existing on it to install the OS, you will be given several options to choose from on what to do next. Be careful, formatting a partition in any file system will lead to the loss of the data contained in it! The FAT system is outdated and it makes sense to format only in NTFS (fast is preferable). Once you have made your selection, press ENTER to begin formatting and copying system files.

If for some reason you still want to save the information located in the partition you have chosen, then you should select the “Leave the current file system without changes” option. In this case, all the data located on it will not be touched. Moreover, if it was in this partition that the previous copy of Windows was installed (the most likely option), then the installer will warn you that the “Windows” folder already exists, suggesting that you either erase the existing copy by clicking, or select a new folder for installations. Here, definitely click, since anyway the old folder with the system will be renamed automatically and saved.

It should be noted that after such an installation, it is strongly recommended to manually clean your system partition, namely, remove a large number of duplicate files. The fact is that the Windows installer will not only save the old copy of the system, but also all the files of the accounts that existed in it. Of all this goodness, the “My Documents”, “Favorites” and “Desktop” folders may be useful for you. Everything else will turn out to be useless garbage, taking up gigabytes of hard drive space. That is why it is preferable to take care of saving your data in advance, and install the new system on a clean partition, pre-formatted.

This is where the installer branches end, and further installation proceeds linearly. After selecting a hard drive partition to install a new operating system, the copying of the main Windows system files begins.

Upon completion of the copying, the computer will restart, where you do not need to do anything, but just wait for the installer screen to appear with a graphical shell.

DETERMINING INITIAL WINDOWS PARAMETERS

In this window you can change regional settings and input language. By default, the location is already set to Russia and the Russian language. So you don’t need to change anything unnecessarily, click “Next”.

In the next window, you must enter your username (your name) and organization (optional). Click “Next”.

To continue the installation in the key entry window, you must enter the Windows serial number and license sticker.

In the window for setting the time and date, most likely you won’t have to change anything either, since the correct data will be entered automatically, and all you have to do is click on the “Next” button.

You will see the next two windows only if the WindowsXP distribution contains a driver for your network card.

You should not change anything here, leaving the “Normal settings” option selected, however, just like in the next one, where it is more advisable to select the name of the workgroup/domain after installation.

After clicking the “Next” button, the final installation phase will begin, and all you have to do is wait for it to finish. After a few minutes, the computer will automatically reboot, after which the first launch of the new operating system will begin.

COMPLETING THE INSTALLATION

When you initially start Windows, you will see several more dialog boxes. The first one will be “Display Options”, where you just need to click “OK”.

After automatically adjusting the screen resolution, Windows will ask you to confirm them, which you should do by clicking “OK”:

There is nothing to configure on the welcome screen, so just click “Next”:

The next step will be the ability to select parameters for automatic Windows updates, designed to regularly check via the Internet for the availability of all kinds of system security patches, critical updates and service packs on the official technical support website. Enabling automatic updates is desirable, but not required at this stage, since you can configure this setting more flexibly after installation from the control panel.

If network card drivers were installed during installation, then you will see two more windows: the first is checking and setting up your Internet connection, which should be skipped, and the second is registering the system, which is also better left for later.

The last parameter you will have to enter to finally boot Windows will be the name of the user account under which you will work on the system.

Finally, you will see a window informing you that the installation of the operating system is complete.

A complete installation of Windows XP can take from 15 to 35 minutes and depends on the power of your computer. Immediately after its completion, you should install all the necessary drivers for the installed devices, after which you can begin installing the software.

The process of installing an operating system is not an easy task. However, it’s not difficult either, if you know some of the subtleties or have instructions like this one on hand.

In this article, we will take a detailed look at the process of installing Windows XP on your home computer.

So, let's begin.

Insert into drive Windows XP CD. Note. Make sure your computer can boot from the CD. If you cannot boot, follow the procedures in the "Set up your computer to boot from a CD" section.

When you start your computer for the first time, look for a short message indicating the key you need to press to complete the installation. For example, some computers display the message: Press DELETE to enter setup.

If your computer does not display this message, try pressing the keys that are typically used during the startup process:

DELETE
F3 and then F2
CTRL+ALT+ESC
CTRL+ALT+S

If a graphic is displayed during the boot process, pressing the ESC key will often make the graphic disappear, allowing you to see a message indicating the key required to enter the BIOS setup.

When you see this message, quickly press the indicated key. You will be taken to a DOS-like program that consists of one or more screens. You may not be able to use your mouse while using this program. BIOS programs vary greatly, but you should look for the “Boot order” option in the program or a setting with a similar name.

Set your boot sequence to boot from the CD before booting from the hard drive.

Some modern laptop computers have a Windows-based utility to configure the BIOS. If your computer cannot boot from the CD, see the "Other Setup Tasks" section for information about running Setup from a command line.

Restart your computer.

When the message Press any key to boot from CD appears on the screen, quickly press any key (for example, the SPACEBAR). The installation process will begin.

Note. Be careful not to miss the moment this message appears. If the current operating system starts, it means that you missed the option to boot from the CD. Restart your computer and try again.

Once the installation begins, several messages will quickly flash at the bottom of the screen. The contents of these messages may only be important in special circumstances, such as setting a specific Hardware Access Level (HAL) or loading a SCSI driver. In most cases, these messages can be ignored. For more information about these messages, see articles 295116 and 220845 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

A screen is then displayed that allows you to choose from the following three options: Install Windows XP, Restore Windows XP and Exit. Press ENTER to select the first value.

The following displays the End User License Agreement. Please read this agreement and follow the instructions to accept or reject the terms of the agreement. If you are using the Windows CD for an upgrade, after you accept the license agreement, you will be prompted to insert the previous operating system CD to see if you can upgrade that version to Windows XP.

Attention! If you are using a recovery CD from an OEM, the recovery CD may not work. If you have deleted partition information or formatted a drive and the OEM Recovery CD is not accepted as valid media, you must use the OEM Recovery CD to restore a previous version of Windows. For information about restoring your system using OEM recovery tools, contact your computer manufacturer.

If the screen displays information about an existing installation of Windows XP, press ESC to continue installing a new copy of Windows XP

The next screen displays an option that allows you to re-partition the disk. Repartitioning is useful if you need to combine several small partitions into one larger partition, or if you want to create a series of small partitions that can be used in a multiboot configuration. If you want to partition, follow the on-screen instructions to delete existing partitions if necessary, then select the unpartitioned disk space and press ENTER to continue the procedure.

Attention! When you delete a partition, all data stored in it will be lost. Before you continue with this procedure, make sure that you have backed up all the data that you want to save.

Select the formatting method you want and press Enter. Using the NTFS file system allows you to take advantage of advanced formatting capabilities and security technologies. If you need to access floppy drives or DOS files (for example, files from a DOS-based boot disk) using Windows Millennium Edition or earlier versions of Windows, you may need to select the FAT32 file system instead of NTFS. Select the formatting method (fast or slow).

The installer will format the disk, copy the original installation files, and restart the computer.

Note. After you restart your computer, the Press any key to boot from CD message appears again, but should be ignored so as not to interrupt the ongoing installation process.

Once the reboot is complete, the next part of the installation procedure will begin.

Follow the guidelines on the Regional and Language page to add language support or change language settings, if necessary.

On the Set up program ownership page, enter your name and the name of your company or organization (if required).

On the Product Key page, enter the 25-character product code that you received with your copy of Windows XP in the appropriate fields.

Enter the computer name on the Computer Name and Administrator Password page (if you have a name from your network administrator, enter that name). Then create a password for the administrator account on your computer. Enter your password, and then confirm it by entering your password again.

Attention. Be sure to remember the administrator password. You will need it if you need to make any changes to the system in the future.

Make the necessary changes on the Set Time and Date page.

If the Network Settings page appears, select Common Settings (unless you plan to manually configure network components). On the Workgroup or Domain page, click Next. If you want to add the computer to a domain, select the second option and enter the domain name. (In this case, you will be prompted to enter your username and password.)

Windows XP remains one of the most popular operating systems today. Users value it for its reliability and ability to work on weak old hardware. Step-by-step installation of Windows XP is a fairly quick and easy process. Below is a detailed description of it.

Preparing the computer for installing a new OS

The simplest way to install Windows XP is from an installation disk. If, instead of reading data from it, the system starts loading the old OS or a black screen appears that does not respond to button presses, then you just need to go into the BIOS and make the appropriate settings:

Open the Advansed BIOS Features or BIOS/Boot Device Priority section;
Select First Boot Devise;
In the list that opens, select CDROM or the name of your drive;
Save the result by pressing the F10 key and restart your PC.

Note that there are a lot of BIOS versions for laptops today, so the described steps when installing the OS on a laptop may be slightly different.

Let's proceed directly to the installation

The first window is a blue screen. It is at this stage that a step-by-step installation of software is carried out to install Windows XP on a SCSI (high-speed disk) or on a RAID array. To do this, press F6, after which the installation of the appropriate drivers will begin. But in most cases, users install the system on a regular hard drive, which does not require any intervention during the installation at this stage, you just need to wait for the next welcome screen.

Install Windows XP. The standard choice in most cases is to install the system from scratch or restore the old one. A convenient graphical interface is used.
System recovery using the console. This is the choice of professional users and craftsmen - recovery is performed from the command line using DOS commands. In this case, a complete reinstallation of the system is not performed.

Next, the system proceeds to search for previously installed OS versions. If any were found, the list will be displayed on this screen below, and the menu will offer options for subsequent actions:

restore old Windows XP;
install a new copy of the OS.

In the first case, you will be able to use previously installed applications. Only system files will be replaced, but the installation will be completed completely. The second option involves a complete reshuffle of the system.

No list will appear not only if Windows XP is installed on an “empty” computer, but also if the previously installed system has a different edition or service pack.

The most crucial moment of installation

The next installation point is perhaps the most important, and should be performed thoughtfully and carefully. You will need to identify the system partition and allocate disk space so that the virtual disk allocated for the system has enough space for its functioning.

Of course, you can use the same partition equal to the entire hard drive space for both the system and your personal data, but such an organization is guaranteed to create many problems in the future.

We split the disk into partitions

If you install Windows XP on a completely new disk, then you will have to distribute the partitions yourself, since this step-by-step procedure has never been performed before. The window that appears will indicate the size of the unallocated area - it will coincide with the size of the entire hard drive.

Here you need to create a so-called The system partition is the one where the OS will be installed. To do this, you need to indicate its size in megabytes (1 GB is equal to 1024 MB) and press “Enter” on the keyboard. After this, you will again return to the window in which the hard drive is partitioned. The created section will already be displayed in a separate line with a Latin letter assigned to it (usually C).

You should not skimp on the size of the system partition - the stability of the system will depend on it. The minimum space for installing Windows XP is 20 GB, but it is better to allocate not 20, but 40, or even all 60 GB.

Similarly, from the remaining unallocated area, we create other sections for personal data, however, you should not get carried away with the quantity - in this case, large files and folders will be distributed less efficiently, and navigation through the sections will become more confusing.

Format the system partition

Next, you will need to select the partition to install the system (in our case, drive C) and press the “Enter” key. A window will open asking you to format the partition.
Choose quick formatting using the NFTS system (FAT is obsolete). After formatting is completed, the process of installing system files will begin.
The most difficult stage of installation has been completed.

By the way, if the disk that you partitioned is not formatted, then you can carry out this procedure with each of the created partitions for personal data even after completing the installation of Windows XP using standard means.

If you are rearranging the system and the disk is already partitioned, then you should simply select the partition with the system to be reinstalled, format it and start the installation process. If you decide to format the remaining partitions, then all information on them will be lost.

Finishing the installation

Once the system files have been copied, the computer will restart and the installation will continue.

We determine the initial parameters: