Fresh Install

[WorldWarGeneral]

I'm thinking of doing a fresh install because I've been having some problems with my current one. Anyway, reading the install guide (http://www.bcentral.ca/xp/clean_install.asp), am I to assume that when I pop the disc in (I've got XP running now) and choose "fresh install", my hardrive will be formatted automactically, or do I have to format it manually myself? Also, when I got my PC, it was a month or so after XP shipped, so I had numerous nvidia updates installed. Is there a way to save these, so I don't have to download them again?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Rootz]

You should boot the computer from the CD and instruct setup to start a clean installation of WindowsXP.
You should be able to choose to which disk or partition you want to install the system.
At that time select the existing installation partition (assuming it's C:\ ) but don't install now, remove the partition (that will destroy all existing data) and choose to install to the same disk space that is now displayed as unpartitioned/unformatted.
Setup will then prepare a clean NTFS disk/partition for the new system installation.

 

[Rootz]

Forgot...
Backup all sensitive and personal data to another drive, CD or floppy disk before doing anything of the above.

 

[WorldWarGeneral]

Okay, thanks. I'm backing up data to a CD as we speak. I wasn't sure about deleting the partition, but if that's the best way to go, I'll do that. Since I'm not changing hardware or anything, I shouldn't expect any problems with the product activation, right?

 

[Rootz]

If you delete the system partition you will also remove ANY kind of information and content, so you will have to activate the product again.
You are not allowed to activate the same copy of WindowsXP more than once via the internet (Pro version for sure, maybe you have up to three product activation available for the Home version, don't know that).
You might be requested to activate the product by phone.

 

[Vorpal]

And this is why the lord gave of Norton Ghost 2002.


Hmm... what's this "corportate" XP CD laying on my desk here???

(muuuhhahahahaha)