How to choose the installation method Before installation, we still need to understand the installation method of Windows XP, because different installation methods will lead to different results. There are three types of installation methods: upgrade installation, new installation, and multi-system shared installation. The upgrade installation covers the original operating system. If you want to replace the operating system with Windows XP Professional, the upgrade can be performed in Windows 98/Me/2000 and other operating systems; the new installation is installed without any operating system. Windows XP operating system; multi-system shared installation refers to the installation mode that keeps the original operating system and coexists with the newly installed Windows XP. The installation does not overwrite the original operating system, and the new operating system is installed in another partition. Some operating systems can be used separately without interference. Let's start with the easiest new installation. Tip: Windows XP requires the CPU to be Pentium II 300MHz or more, the memory is 128MB or more, and it is better to have more than 5GB of free disk space. It is recommended to install Windows XP system partitions from 6GB to 10GB. There are also two ways to install a new one: one is to boot the system through the Windows XP installation CD and automatically run the installer; one is to boot from a floppy disk, a hard disk or a Windows 98 boot CD, and then manually run the CD on the CD or in the hard disk. XP installer. The former installation method is simple to operate and can save a step of copying files, and the installation speed is much faster. In the first case, you only need to set the boot order to CDROM first in BiOS, and start it with the Windows XP installation CD. After booting, you can start the installation. In the second case, you need to manually run the installer on your hard drive or CD after booting. Don't forget to run the "smartdrv.exe" disk buffer before installing it, otherwise the first step of copying files will take more than two hours. Windows XP installation and execution files are generally "winnt.exe". In the i386 directory of the installation CD or installation files, you can type something like "E:\\soft\\winxp\\I386\\winnt" at the DOS prompt. The "cd" command, go to the directory where i386 is located, run the "winnt" command (Figure 1), you can run the Windows XP installer. This installation method will have one more step of copying the file, and the rest is the same as the first case. Figure 1 After the installer runs, the “Welcome to Installer” interface appears (Figure 2). Press Enter to start the installation. Figure 2 Next, the Windows XP license agreement screen will appear. Here, you can press the F8 key to agree to the next step. Then you will see the existing partition in the hard disk or the space that has not been divided (Figure 3). Here, use the up and down cursor keys to select the partition that Windows XP will use. Press the Enter key when selected. Figure 3 After you have selected or created a partition, you also need to format the disk (Figure 4). The FAT (FAT32) or NTFS file system can be used to format the disk. It is recommended to use the NTFS file system, which has many benefits (see the file system introduction at the end of the article). Use the cursor keys to select here, press the Enter key to start formatting. Figure 4 After the formatting is completed, the installer will start copying the installation files from the CD to the hard disk (Figure 5), and will automatically restart after the copy is completed. Figure 5 This time, you will see the Windows XP startup interface you are familiar with, but don't be too happy, there is still a long distance from the Windows XP installation! The next installation process is very simple, in the installation interface (Figure 6) The left side shows several steps of the installation. In fact, the entire installation process is basically automatic, and there are not many places that require manual intervention. Figure 6 will first pop up the "Regional and Language Options" dialog box, you can use the default settings, press "Next". Next, the “Customize Software” dialog box will appear, asking for the name and unit to be filled in. You will then be asked to fill in a 25-digit product key (Figure 7). This key will usually be included on the software CD or in the manual. Figure 7 In the Computer Name and System Administrator Password dialog box, you are asked to enter the computer name and system administrator password. If the computer is not on the network, you can set the computer name and password (Figure 8). Figure 8 Next you are asked to set the date and time, you can click "Next" directly. After the above is completed, the network should be set. If the computer is not in the LAN, you can use the default settings. Press “Next”. If it is a user on the LAN, you can install it under the guidance of the network administrator. Then the installer will automatically perform other settings and file copying, there may be several short black screens, but don't worry, this is normal. The system will automatically restart after the installation is complete. This time the reboot is really running Windows XP. However, the first time you run Windows XP, you will be asked to set up the Internet and users, and perform software activation. Windows XP needs to set at least one user account. You can enter the user name in the "Who will use this computer" step (Figure 9). Chinese and English can be used. Figure 9 As for the other steps are not required, you can do it after starting, you can jump to the next step in the lower right corner. When everything is done, you can finally see the Windows XP desktop that makes you extremely excited. Does it feel very fulfilling? File System Introduction
File system refers to the whole of file naming, storage and organization management. Windows file system mainly has three kinds of FAT16, FAT32, NTFS. In the installation process of Windows XP, only FAT32 and NTFS are available. What is the difference between them? FAT32 is a file system derived from FAT16, which can use smaller clusters than FAT16, greatly improve the utilization of disk space, and can support more than 32GB of disk space. FAT32 is currently the most widely used disk file system. In addition to the earlier Windows 3.X/95/NT 4.0, other versions of Windows systems can support FAT32. The NTFS file system was originally developed for Windows NT and later supported by Windows 2000 and Windows XP. It is a security-based file system that encrypts, compresses, and sets shared permissions in the NTFS file system. It uses smaller clusters than FAT32, which allows for more efficient disk space management than the FAT file system, minimizing wasted disk space and supporting up to 2TB (2047GB) of disk space. It has a wide range of uses in the era of large-capacity hard drives.