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I have an HP pc with preloaded XP HOME and some other preloaded software. I have absolutely no discs since the OS and Software were preloaded. The HDD was "factory partitioned" into a C-drive and a Recovery D-drive.
I have had problems with spyware/viruses and want to reformat the entire drive. I have acquired XP PROFESSIONAL and would like to do the following - reformat the entire HDD, create 5 partitions, install XP PRO (not the preloaded XP home) and then re-install the preloaded software.
My problem is - HOW DO I CREATE A CD OF THE PRELOADED SOFTWARE (or move it to my external USB HDD) so that I can re-install it to the reformated HDD after installation of the new XP PRO ?
Could someone PLEASE explain the PROCEDURE to create the CD of the preloaded software (or how to transfer to external HDD) for re-instalation.
If you install your own copy of XP you will want to download all of the XP drivers first because they will not come on the retail disk but that they do come built into the manufacturer's recovery partition or disk. XP typically can't use the ethernet port without manufacturer specific drivers and I have never heard of it being able to use a wireless adapter without manufacturer's drivers. That is why it is important to download the drivers first because you won't be able to connect to the internet. The drivers don't have to be specific for XP pro [as compared to home] unless you are using XP Pro 64-bit but you do have to get the ones for your model. You don't have to download all of the drivers but you do need to make sure that you get the latest ones.
XP Pro should have any drivers it needs to load. It is only hardware "external" or "extra" from the machine to the OS which you will need drivers for.
Post back with drivers you may still need.
Better yet, post an Everest Report of the hardware on the machine.
To get a detailed report of all your (recognized) machines hardware;
Download, install, and run Everest Home Edition on this machine. (Clean FreeWare)
Once it's finished loading and running, click on the Report Wizard in the Menu Bar. Save all hardware related
pages (the default) to a TEXT file. (Or HTM file. It will save it to C:\Program Files\Lavalys\EVEREST Home Edition\Reports by default, unless you redirect it.)
Compress (zip) the Everest Report text file and attach that zipped text document to your next posting. (When posting, click on Advanced, and just below the
posting box you'll see "Additional Options", and within that, "Attach Files". Click on "Manage Attachments" and follow the prompts. Browse to the file and
choose UPLOAD.)
Now please don't laugh if some of my questions reflect how clueless I really am regarding what to do or how to do it.
As I understand it, we are doing the preparatory work before doing the actual new/fresh installation.
With regard to your advice, could you please clarify the following :
1. Townsbg comments have created another question - How do I check whether the XP Pro that I intend installing is 32 bit or 64 bit ? It does not show anything on the CD cover/face or in the accompanying booklet.
2. Does this in anyway impact on installation and/or on the type of pc hardware I need to have OR does it not matter at all ? PLEASE EXPLAIN and also provide the step by step PROCEDURE if possible.
3. Dan - I have attached the Everest report. Note that it just has SP2 since I just did a quick restore to be able to access my personal files in order to copy them to my ext. HDD. I used Driver Magician (Dr.Mag.) to back up all the existing drivers to a folder, which I then copied to my ext. HDD. Dr.Mag. offers a number of ways to back up the drivers including backing up to a self-extractor (.exe) and to an auto-setup package (.exe).
(a) Are the existing drivers (now copied to my ext. HDD) sufficient/adequate for installation of the "new" XP Pro ?
(b) Should I burn a CD with all the drivers or is the backup on my external HDD sufficient?
(c) If I need to burn a CD, which type of back-up (self-extractor or auto-setup) should I use ?
(d) Assuming that I have to burn the backup of the drivers (self-extractor or auto-setup) to a CD, are there any special procedures I need to follow or does the usual process of burning a CD apply?
Would you please explain the step by step PROCEDURE if so required.
4. The HDD was "factory-partitioned" into a C-drive and a Recovery D-drive. The way I understand things is that before I begin the fresh/new installation using the XP Pro CD (remember I do not have any CD for the preloaded XP Home and other preloaded software), I must boot up, then go into the Bios section and ensure that the pc boots from the CD/DVD drive, save and exit.
Also, my original problem still remains - HOW DO I CREATE A CD OF THE PRELOADED SOFTWARE (or move it to my external USB HDD) so that I can re-install it to the reformated HDD after installation of the new XP PRO ?
5. With regard to a "clean/fresh" install with XP Pro, there are 2 folders on my C-drive, viz. C:\i386 and C:\SWSETUP. On the Recovery D-drive there is a folder D:\PRELOAD with a closed/locked icon. I cannot open this folder at all when using windows explore. The folder size is 5.46 Gig.
If I install XP Pro on the C-drive and leave the Recovery D-drive as is, I assume that during the format process of the new install, the 2 folders (C:\i386 and C:\SWSETUP) will be deleted.
Now the way I understand your advice regarding leaving the Recovery D-drive as is, is that it provides the option of at least recovering my pc to the original factory state in case something goes wrong during the new install or something does not work. However, if everything does work well, I could then actually delete the D-drive and make an image of the new system to save as a backup.
Just to be safest side I would like to know - If I ever need to perform a recovery from the D-drive as an "out" (as mnetioned above) and re-install the "old" Xp Home and preloaded software, will the fact that the 2 folders (C:\i386 and C:\SWSETUP) have been deleted cause any problems or will the recovery process create a new C:\i386 and C:\SWSETUP ?
6. I read interesting articles on Planning Your Partitions and Virtual Memory in Windows XP. The bottom line of these articles is that making use of several partitions has many advantages, and perhaps it is something I should consider since I will effectively be starting from scratch. Your comments/advice on this issue please.
7. Based on the articles in point 6 above, does this imply that it would be more efficient to set partitions in multiples of 4096 bytes (or am I off track again) ?
See a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
8. I am working on the steps that need to be followed based on my situation. Please correct me if I'm wrong but the steps as I see them are :
Step 1 - Back up data, drivers, Outlook Express (emails and addresses) and then my major and unresolved problem so far - back up preloaded software for re-installion.
Step 2 - Plan the partitions, e.g no. of partitions, size and and the function/purpose of each.
Step 3 - Boot from XP PRO CD. Format HDD (or C-drive if I keep the recovery D-drive) as NTFS and create partitions on the HDD (or C-drive).
Step 4 - Install XP Pro
Step 5 - Drivers : Not sure about this one if XP Pro has already installed them.
How will I know to install the drivers I backed up ?
Step 6 - Move folders to specific partitions as per step 2 above
Step 7 - Visit MS site to download the latest updates for XP Pro.
Step 8 - Install back ups (data, emails and addresses and then my major and unresolved problem so far - re-install preloaded software.
Step 9 - Download updates for all items mentioned in step 7.
Step 10 - Visit MS site AGAIN to download the latest updates for MS Office, etc.
Step 11 - Use Tuneup Utilities to optimise my system.
Step 12 - Assuming that steps 1 - 10 went well, backup the complete system (XP Pro, programs and data) in case of emergency.
It sounds so easy, but hopefully I will acomplish everything without too much hassle with YOUR SUPPORT.
Why do you want to replace XP home with pro? Your easiest option is to do a restore of home. As for making disk backups of your restore partition manufacturers usually include a tool that will automatically create disks however I don't know if you can use that to only install certain programs. That depends on how it is designed. As for drivers on the XP disk, there are only "generic" drivers that will provide limited functionality of all essential hardware such as key board, mouse, basic graphics drivers, etc on all computers; enough to get you on your feet. For better display you'll need graphics drivers from the manufacturer. You might need chip set drivers. You'll need drivers for your ethernet port/wireless adapter so that you can connect to the internet which might or might not be included in your chip set drivers. For laptops there are other drivers. If you can find the drivers on their website you will need all of the most recent drivers and most of the utilities. If you can find the drivers/utilities online I don't see why you even need anything from the partition so why specifically are you wanting to back it up? If you can't find any them online you will just need to do a restore of home. As for backing up your files, you need to or you will lose them. An external hard drive would be the easiest way. Be sure to put the downloaded drivers on there as well as any files needed to reinstall programs that you don't have disks for.
Once you have installed windows and the drivers you will need to install SP 3 and the updates. If you have something like acronis (there are also some free ones but I don't know what they are) once you have done all that you could make your own recovery partition onto your external hard drive so that, if need be, you can avoid all of that in the future. Then you will need to reinstall/reconfigure your programs. You can put your documents on your hard drive or leave them on the external or do both which is what I'd do. Does this answer all of your questions?
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Townsbg, the initial reasons for the step-up (as MS refers to it) from XP Home to XP Pro were:
1. It seemed to offer more features (especially ASR) and more security - see the article "Windows XP Home Edition vs. Professional Edition: What's the difference ?" on the webpage http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...p_home_pro.asp.
2. While removing some software I have never used, I inadvertently altered some system files and this caused a crash.
3. I had 3 extremely-difficult-to-remove viruses on my system and I thought it would be better to reformat the entire HDD to ensure that no traces of any virus or messed up system files remained.
4. Since I had the full XP Pro package anyway, I thought it an opportune time to do the installation and that it would also serve as a good learning experience.
Following the crash and removal of the viruses, I just did a quick recovery so that I could get to all my personal stuff and copy them as well as the drivers - these I now have on my ext. HDD. This is why I only downloaded all the updates of my anti-virus and not SP3 - it was was just a quick recovery with the intention of doing a fresh, complete re-install later.
I have looked around for the tool you referred to but didn't find what you were referring to - perhaps I missed it.
With reference to point 5 in my previous post, I intend leaving the Recovery D-drive as is and only reformatting the C-drive, so that if anything goes wrong during the installation, at least I have an "out", as Dan recommended.
However, if everything goes well, I would have the option of deleting the D-drive, if I so desired.
I am EXTREMELY interested in your comment "you could make your own recovery partition onto your external hard drive so that, if need be, you can avoid all of that in the future." I can see how this would be of great benefit, but I think that it would be best to store that one for a while until I have my system up and running in pristine condition.
At the moment I think I require more direct answers to the questions/issues raised in my previous, very long post to get a better understanding of all the issues.
I also need to thank you and Dan for indulging me, and for giving advice and comments that force me to think a bit deeper, that question my reasoning for wanting to do certain things and which in turn, improve my understanding.
THANKS ONCE AGAIN and please keep the advice and comments coming.
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