I move this thread be closed.

Quote:Original post by sdlprorammer
hey guys don't be hard with me, just help me learm. First, i know how to install my OS.

Well that's clearly not true.

To install Windows XP, you must restart your PC with the Windows XP CD in the drive and the PC set to boot from the CD. If you don't know how to do this, you shouldn't be doing it.

Windows XP *cannot* be installed without a CD! I'll say this one last time: if you do not have Windows XP on a CD, with a serial number printed on a sticker stuck to the back of the CD case, and a hologram on the CD itself, then you have an *ILLEGAL* copy of Windows XP. Period. We cannot help you until you buy a LEGAL copy of it.

The same goes for all your 'missing' programs for which you claim to have 'lost' the "setup.exe" files: if you have not made backups of downloaded software, tough shit. There is *NOTHING* we can do to help you there. Some things, you'll just have to learn the hard way. Like keeping backups.

One more point: there is no such thing as "90% legal". There is 100% legal and 100% illegal. There is nothing in between. Either you own the right to use the software, or you don't.


SUBTLE HINT:

If you are a student, you can usually get Microsoft software at a big discount. You'll need to find a supplier who can sell educational / student licenses, but once found, you'll find Microsoft's software is much less expensive than you originally thought. (The same goes for Macromedia, Corel and others.)

Quote:
Second, i want to mess with registry.

No you don't.

The Windows Registry is one of those components in Windows which would, if it were a television, have a big, day-glo orange label plastered over it stating, in very large, scary print: "WARNING! NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE".

The Registry is a big database that contains loads of data Windows needs to work. It tells Windows where programs have been installed. It tells Windows what stuff to run when it boots up. It is a bloody important part of Windows. If you mess with it without any idea what you're doing, you *will* kill Windows and need to reinstall it. Again. And again. And again.

Until you learn not to.

Quote:
And third, how do i format? Will "format c:" work? I know that nothing will be left here after a format.

C:\> FORMAT C:
Are you sure? (Y/N)? Y


The above will work. Windows XP's command-line interface uses similar syntax and commands to MS-DOS, so many commands will look familiar.

WARNING! You will wipe absolutely everything on the C partition. However, if you are going to install Windows anyway, you can tell the Windows Installer to format the drive for you before installing. Windows XP's installer will even let you re-partition the drive and tell it what kind of format you want.

(For Windows XP, it's usually better to go for NTFS over FAT32, unless you're deeply into music or video editing. And even then, most CPUs today are more than fast enough to make the speed advantages of FAT32 negligible.)


--
Sean Timarco Baggaley

Heh thats threads become so comical since I last looked in :)

sdlprorammer: Go and buy Windows XP! People on this form dont like helping people with 'warez' software (Understandably as why should we spend our hard earned money on something while you get it for nothing?) and its not fair on the developers (ok so Microsoft isnt that desperate from the £60 but in principal).

And for future note, dont do anything on your computer unless your sure it wont f*ck it up! (take it from me I learned the hard way when I decided to free up harddrive space by deleting a DOS folder :P )

Quote:Original post by sdlprorammer
Why do i have problems now????

I start my computer, go to setup, go to advanced BIOS settings and tell it to boot from CD-ROM. I click save and exit. BUt when my computer opens, it says:

Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM:
Press any key to boot from CD......<cursor here>

i press any key and nothing happens!
what's the problem?

Your keyboard isn't connected?
It should boot from CD then...

Quote:Heh thats threads become so comical since I last looked in :)

Oh my yes! That BIOS one was a clasic - keep 'em comming!

Anyway, If it's a burnt disk, there's a fair chance it's not bootable. Try it with a legitimate XP disk. Either that or boot with a win98 boot disk, select "Boot with CD drivers", and then change to your CD drive ("x:<enter>", where x is whatever CD drive it tells you) and type "setup.exe<enter>".

Hopefuly you're smart enough to work out that you actualy press the enter key, instead of typing those literal charcters, and you don't go putting in the quotes. But I do wonder...

Just mail your computer to me and get a new one. I could do with a print/file server :)

Failing that, make a system boot disk and use that to boot from. From there you will be able to format the hardrive.

I had great fun installing WinXP over the weekend.
I wouldn't take my advice - I didn't have an original disk, but did have a copy of the I386 folder.
So, I burned that to a CD.
I borrowed a copy of Windows 2000 Pro, installed that (clean format).
I copied the I386 folder off my burned CD to my C:\ drive, ran WINNT32 from that.
Once that was installed I booted into XP home, deleted the entire C:\WINNT folder (XP home was in C:\WINDOWS - 2000 was in C:\WINNT) then removed Win2K from the BOOT.INI
Voila! Why couldn't HP just give me an install CD, I don't know. Ah well; I'm surprised deleting the Win2K folder didn't screw it up, but I have no need for it...