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Can XP be installed without logging into old OS?

Posted By : daryl of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on February 24, 2006

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Daughter changed the administrator name and password, but after rebooting it will not let her log in. She tried various versions of her password to no avail. It tells her to contact administrator. The previous administrator is her EX and he is not around..... There's a lot of old game stuff etc on the computer that should be dumped. We would like to start over and reformat with Windows XP Pro. Can this be done without logging in. Any other help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Dick

This question was answered on February 24, 2006. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.


Yes If you purchase a copy of Windows XP Professional you will be able to install it without having to log on to the previous version of windows The CD is bootable, meaning that if you start the computer with the CD inserted you will have the option of installing the new operating system and overwriting the old one This will be done without the old version of Windows ever having to start up However you will need to do a full installation, not just an upgrade, or the system will retain the old password.

When you start the computer with the CD inserted you should see a message similar to "Press any key to boot CD" Hit a key and the Windows XP setup program should start

However if this does not happen then you must make sure the computer is set to boot from the CD drive If you are not familiar with how to do this, follow these instructions When your computer first starts up you should notice a line that states something along the lines of "To enter setup press F2" This will allow you to enter the CMOS setup utility where you can make changes to the system's BIOS which is the most basic operating program of the computer and allows it to run Here you can set the boot options for the machine Different manufacturers use different methods to enter the program so hit whichever key it says There are many different CMOS utilities and each is different, so there is no standard menu You need to locate the option for setting the priority of the boot devices, ie Floppy, Cd-Rom, and Hard Drive Set the Cd drive to boot before the hard drive When this is done every time the computer starts the CD drive will be checked first If there is a bootable Cd present( such as the XP installation CD) then the computer will start the CD If there is no bootable CD, then the computer will bypass the CD drive and move on to the next device(for exemple the hard drive) and boot that.(IMPORTANT NOTE: examine the menu options carefully when using the CMOS setup program, and do not make any changes unless you are familiar with the material Wrong settings here can prevent your PC from starting.)

If you can determine the manufacturer (such as Award or Phoenix) and version( usually a series of letters and numbers)of the BIOS, visit their website and check for a tutorial on the specific menu your computer uses For instance if you see the the line "AWARD BIOS R101.7"

you would go to Award's website and look for any information on the R101.7 BIOS Alternately you could enter a Google search for "Award BIOS R101.7" which may yield helpful information.

Once you have successfully booted the CD and started the Windows XP setup, just follow the step-by-step instructions to install it

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Posted by daryl of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on February 24, 2006

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