Installing on a computer with Win XP and Win 8 CP

Fred76

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Hi. I haven't installed Windows 8 before and I don't know what to expect. Let me explain my situation.

I have one hard drive with two partitions, C: and D:.
C: contains Windows XP.
D: contains all my important stuff, and also Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

What I would like to do is a clean install of Windows 8 on C:, with the installer preferably ignoring everything on D:. My fear is that the installer might get some crazy idea that it should try to carry things over, either from Windows XP or from Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Do I need to make any special preparations before I install to make sure everything goes as planned?

Thank you in advance.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP now, Windows 8 soon
Hi there

1) Backup all your USER data (photos, docs, pictures, email etc etc) on to a separate disk -- a USB external drive is good for this -- even a 1TB external drive costs very little these days --probably about what a 32 GB flash stick did a year or two ago -- I've seen these for around 55 USD. A 500 GB one is really cheap too. If you don't have any decent backup software just do it with Windows explorer -- copy all the files manually via cut and paste (actually COPY and paste).

Even if there isn't any problem with the install it's always a good idea to have your user data backed up - often this can be more valuable than the machine itself. - I'd hate to re-rip 5,000 CD's again or try and find those torrents where I've downloaded loads of movies / TV shows etc even if the trackers are still there !!. Remember HDD's can fail.

2) Take a note of any serial numbers you have for products say like Office / Photoshop or whatever you've installed and keep it safe somewhere. Find the install media as well. If these are .exe files on your HDD copy these to a separate folder on an external drive to a directory say INSTALL_APPS.

3) (Optional) -- Image the XP system in case you want to recover it in the event of W8 being unsuccessful. - My gut instinct is to image it with a free imaging program but if you are really sure you want to see the back of XP you can omit this .

Incidentally you can TRY W8 for free by downloading and installing the W8 ENTERPRISE version -- you get I think 60 days trial so it IMO is a good test to see if you like it before spending any money.

4) Wipe the C disk -- Windows XP will have booted from an MBR disk -- the whole boot mechanism in W7 / W8 is different so you'll need to completely wipe the C disk -- free partition wizard is good for that - it's bootable too.

5) install Windows.

6) Post install / updates plus install your applications.

(If you are installing the evaluation Windows enterprise for a test just install one or two applications just to make sure they work. After trialling - if you like W8 then you can install your REAL copy over the W8 enterprise version -- Clean install will re-wipe the C drive).

If the install process detects the Windows8 CP it might create a file called Windows.old which you can delete - but since you are installing on your C drive it probably won't find it or even look for it.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
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