- 1). Save all important files on your computer. Once your drives are formatted, it can be difficult to retrieve files. Transfer your files to another computer or to an external storage device such as optical media (CD or DVD), external hard drives or flash drives.
- 2). Reboot the computer and set your BIOS to "Boot from CD." This will set the computer to read your CD/DVD-ROM first before it reads other drives in your computer. To do this, reboot the computer and press the key to enter to the BIOS settings before the computer fully loads the operating system. The usual keys that corresponds to the BIOS settings are F2, Delete and F10.
- 3). Locate the "Boot Device Priority" or "Boot Order" in the BIOS pages. Set your optical drive (CD/DVD-ROM) as your number one boot priority. Exit the BIOS settings and save your changes.
- 4). Insert the Windows XP installation disc to your CD/DVD-ROM. During initial boot up, the computer will prompt you to "Press any key to boot from CD." Press any key and wait for the computer to load the Windows XP configuration screen. On the next page, the system will let you choose between three selections: "To setup Windows XP press Enter;" "To repair an existing installation press R;" and "To quit the installation and return to Windows press ESC." Press the "Enter" key to proceed to the XP Configuration screen. On the next window, the license agreement will be shown. Press F8 to agree with the license agreement.
- 5). Delete your partitions by pressing "D" as mentioned in the on-screen instructions. Press "L" to confirm the deletion of the partition. The partitions are simply the main drives in your computer, such as drive C or drive D.
- 6). Create a new partition for your computer by selecting an "unpartitioned" space and then pressing "C." Type the size of the new partition and then press "Enter" to confirm. If you want two partitions, you can key in half of the default partition size of the "unpartitioned" space and then create another partition using the remainder of the disk space.
- 7). Select "Format the partition using NTFS files system" which is highlighted by default on the next page that appears. Wait for the system to complete the formatting process. It should automatically reboot after the formatting.
- 8). Follow the instructions on the XP configuration screen after the reboot. Enter the Windows XP product key when prompted. Wait for the setup to finish and automatically enter to a freshly installed Windows XP operating system.
- 9). Install all drivers needed by the computer. These include the motherboard, video card, network adapter and sound card drivers. Restore all your backup files.