I'm about to give my old comuter to a niece. I want to clean out ALL

personal data and as I was having sporadic crashes in my old installation I

want to do a clean install.

 

I have both my original OEM Windows XP home Edition CD plus I have a Windows

XP Service Pack 2 CD that I ordered from Microsoft. Two Questions:

 

1. Can I do the clean install using only the Service Pack 2 CD using the

OEM product Key that is on my CoA Sticker from my original installation or do

I need to install the original Win XP first then to updates?

 

2. Do I need to format my 'C' drive and wil the Service pack 2 CD do this

for me or is it sufficient to just install to the C drive overwriting

existing files?

 

Thanks in anticipation

Iain

"Thomi" <Thomi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:134E0723-465D-4227-8226-490CD6D1C1B1@microsoft.com...

> I'm about to give my old comuter to a niece. I want to clean out ALL

> personal data and as I was having sporadic crashes in my old installation

> I

> want to do a clean install.

>

> I have both my original OEM Windows XP home Edition CD plus I have a

> Windows

> XP Service Pack 2 CD that I ordered from Microsoft. Two Questions:

>

> 1. Can I do the clean install using only the Service Pack 2 CD using the

> OEM product Key that is on my CoA Sticker from my original installation or

> do

> I need to install the original Win XP first then to updates?

>

 

The answer is the second option - the SP2 CD ONLY contains Service Pack 2 -

it does NOT contain Windows XP.

 

> 2. Do I need to format my 'C' drive and wil the Service pack 2 CD do this

> for me or is it sufficient to just install to the C drive overwriting

> existing files?

 

The OEM XP CD will give you an option to delete the existing partition and

re-format a new one - just set the BIOS to boot from CD and follow the

instructions.

 

HTH

On Tue, 3 Jul 2007 09:46:04 -0700, Thomi

<Thomi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> I'm about to give my old comuter to a niece. I want to clean out ALL

> personal data and as I was having sporadic crashes in my old installation I

> want to do a clean install.

>

> I have both my original OEM Windows XP home Edition CD plus I have a Windows

> XP Service Pack 2 CD that I ordered from Microsoft.

 

 

Was this the free SP2 CD, that you chose to order instead of download?

 

> Two Questions:

>

> 1. Can I do the clean install using only the Service Pack 2 CD

 

 

Assuming that the answer to the question above is yes, no you can not

do this. The SP2 CD contains just SP2. It does *not* contain Windows

plus SP2.

 

> using the

> OEM product Key that is on my CoA Sticker from my original installation or do

> I need to install the original Win XP first then to updates?

 

 

Yes. Or you could first "slipstream" SP2 into your original CD. That

process combines the two. Read here:

 

http://forum.aumha.org/viewtopic.php?t=7262

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/slipstream.htm

 

 

> 2. Do I need to format my 'C' drive and wil the Service pack 2 CD do this

> for me or is it sufficient to just install to the C drive overwriting

> existing files?

 

 

 

You do not need to (and generally should not) format first. When you

correctly do a clean installation (using the Windows CD, *not* the SP2

CD), the first step of the installation is to format the drive. Just

boot from the Windows XP CD (change the BIOS boot order if necessary

to accomplish this) and follow the prompts for a clean installation

(delete the existing partition by pressing "D" when prompted, then

create a new one).

 

You can find detailed instructions here:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

 

or here

http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_install_windows_xp.htm

 

or here http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm

 

or here http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

 

--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User

Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Thank you both Gordon and Ken,

 

That's pretty clear so I know what I'll be doing this afternoon. Your

prompt replys are much appreciated.

 

Iain

 

"Thomi" wrote:

> I'm about to give my old comuter to a niece. I want to clean out ALL

> personal data and as I was having sporadic crashes in my old installation I

> want to do a clean install.

>

> I have both my original OEM Windows XP home Edition CD plus I have a Windows

> XP Service Pack 2 CD that I ordered from Microsoft. Two Questions:

>

> 1. Can I do the clean install using only the Service Pack 2 CD using the

> OEM product Key that is on my CoA Sticker from my original installation or do

> I need to install the original Win XP first then to updates?

>

> 2. Do I need to format my 'C' drive and wil the Service pack 2 CD do this

> for me or is it sufficient to just install to the C drive overwriting

> existing files?

>

> Thanks in anticipation

> Iain

On Tue, 3 Jul 2007 11:22:01 -0700, Thomi

<Thomi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Thank you both Gordon and Ken,

>

> That's pretty clear so I know what I'll be doing this afternoon. Your

> prompt replys are much appreciated.

 

 

You're welcome. Glad to help.

 

> "Thomi" wrote:

>

> > I'm about to give my old comuter to a niece. I want to clean out ALL

> > personal data and as I was having sporadic crashes in my old installation I

> > want to do a clean install.

> >

> > I have both my original OEM Windows XP home Edition CD plus I have a Windows

> > XP Service Pack 2 CD that I ordered from Microsoft. Two Questions:

> >

> > 1. Can I do the clean install using only the Service Pack 2 CD using the

> > OEM product Key that is on my CoA Sticker from my original installation or do

> > I need to install the original Win XP first then to updates?

> >

> > 2. Do I need to format my 'C' drive and wil the Service pack 2 CD do this

> > for me or is it sufficient to just install to the C drive overwriting

> > existing files?

> >

> > Thanks in anticipation

> > Iain

 

--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User

Please Reply to the Newsgroup