How to Reinstall Windows XP After a Hard Drive Change

Reinstalling Windows XP after a hard drive change is not that much different than reinstalling after formatting your hard drive. It doesn't matter if you are changing to the same size hard drive or upgrading to a larger drive, the process is the same. Plan on spending several hours to reinstall the Windows XP operating system after a hard drive change.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• New hard drive
• Windows XP Install Disk, with Key Code numbers, or
• Recovery Disk set made from your computer

1. Make sure all cables and power plugs are attached to the new hard drive in your system.

2. Place the Windows XP install disk or the first disk of the recovery set in the CD or DVD drive.

3. Turn on your system. If needed, enter your BIOS settings to insure that the system will boot from the CD or DVD drive. This can usually be accomplished by pressing the key specified when your first turn on your system.

4. Wait for the Windows XP install disk to start automatically. The same holds true for the recovery disk.

5. Enter your name and the Key Code when prompted.

6. Follow all onscreen instructions to complete the install process.

7. Connect to the Internet to validate your Windows XP software.

8. Download any updates to the Windows XP software from the Microsoft website. This includes Service Pack and security updates.

Tips & Warnings

• Many computers come preloaded with a hidden partition on the hard drive that you use to create recovery disks for the system. Some companies, such as IBM/Lenovo have the Windows XP operating system assigned to the individual computer. When Windows XP validates, the server reads a BIOS setting on the system and no other information will be needed. Make sure you use the same name, address and phone number you used originally when validating Windows XP on the new hard drive. Any validation problems with installing Windows XP on a new hard drive can generally be resolved with an email or phone call to Microsoft.

Resources

• Microsoft Website

[w5aack]

on 7/23/2009 Why doesn't eHow provide feedback to those commenting on articles the maximum number of characters/length allowed for comments?

[w5aack]

on 7/23/2009 (continued from previous comment) ...retail (non-hardware specific ) installation CD.
Finding and installing drivers (if they not supplied by the hardware manufacturer) is typically a "learning experience" and problematic. Good luck.

[w5aack]

on 7/23/2009 (continued from previous comment) ...posters who say, and my personal experience has been with installing XP Pro a couple of times, that you must have the SATA driver(s) on a floppy and install the drivers at a specific point early in the installation process. Watch the bottom of the screen for "Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver." More info can be found on this webpage http://www.logicsupply.com/faq Look for the FAQ "How do I install Windows XP on an SATA hard drive?" My experience has been that even if you are not installing the OS to a SATA hard drive, if you have other SATA devices such as a CD/DVD writer, you should still install the driver(s) at the proper time during the OS install. As I said, there is strong disagreement among various posters on various forums whether SATA drivers are automatically installed using a retail (non-hardware sp...

[w5aack]

on 7/23/2009 Unfortunately the author of the article did not mention driver installation. Windows XP comes with default drivers (except for SATA devices per Microsoft), so it is likely that a person installing XP will at least get the system up and running, but will be missing all of the specialized drivers needed for their particular hardware. It is a lot of work to track down and find the proper drivers for the hardware if you are using a generic XP install CD. But if you are using a CD supplied by the manufacturer specifically for your machine, or using install/restore information supplied by the manufacturer on a hidden partition, then they would have provided the needed drivers for the hardware.
As for SATA drivers, there is a continual debate on forums whether XP can be installed from a retail or generic OEM CD without special handling of the SATA drivers. I believe those posters who s...