Correct/Preferred OS Installation Procedure

[Carbo]

I bought a new hard drive and will be doing a clean install of XP Pro on it, (Dell Dimension 4600, by the way). I'm wondering if there is a right way or best way of doing this. I was thinking of first installing the OS, followed by SP2, (using the MS SP2 CD).
I'd follow this with the various drivers that are needed, and then the software programs I use.
Anyone have any suggestions, or a "better" way of doing this? Thanks.

 

[montag451]

OS
SP's
Patches for SP's
Chipset drivers
vga
monitor
sound
nic/modem
everything else

 

[Akki]

Montag's list is fine.

Make sure you install a firewall AND antivirus before you connect to the internet. You'll catch something within ten seconds otherwise, no kidding.

Also, it would be a good idea to defragment in between installing things.

 

[montag451]

yeah, well done akki for spotting the deliberate mistake about the firewall.

Install antivirus as one of the last bits of sw - and it isn't strictly necessary for just connecting to the net as the firewall should do its job.
However, if you are relying on the SP2 firewall, then I would install an antivirus, just as a possible cure if the prevention doesn't do the job.

 

[munruss]

Originally posted by: montag451
OS
SP's
Patches for SP's
Chipset drivers
vga
monitor
sound
nic/modem
everything else

I agree. If you want, you can also put the chipset drivers in before the Sp's. No big difference.

 

[imported_Phil]

I do it like this:

Install Windows.
Install all of my sh!t in a random order, ignoring reboot warnings and finally rebooting after 15-20 installs.
Profit.

Never failed. :thumbsup:

 

[tami]

i do it like this

partition the drive: 5GB or so for C: and the remaining for D:

i allocate C: for windows files only. my D: drive is for program files. in the event that i have to reinstall windows (possibly requiring me to format my C: drive), my programs settings will remain intact (but there may be the need to reinstall the software since the registry has settings).

then, i install XP on C:. when i get into windows, i install all the drivers (usually, my NIC will be detected automatically, so i'll go to support.dell.com and get the recommended driver downloads). it's really not necessary to reboot until all the drivers are installed (it may prompt you to reboot after single driver installations -- just install all of them, THEN reboot).

after that, i usually upgrade to SP2.

finally, i'll install all the programs i need to get the computer up and running, using D:\program files\ as the default installation directory.

 

[hicksman]

If you reformat frequently, the best way to do it is to install all of the stuff in the order everyone else has already said, but then create a ghost image of it so that next time around it takes about 15 minutes to reload your computer to the optimal "fresh" state.

fyi, Symantec makes Ghost