How to make a bootable USB drive or reformat/partition and install XP

rcfant89

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So I have a brand new computer that I'm trying to install Windows XP on. I have a 2 gig USB drive, a 500 gig USB drive and 3 different internal hard drives to use and I have a CD titled:

"Operating System
Re installation CD
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Including Service Pack 1"

That I got with a previous computer.

I popped in the CD and started installing XP as usual but about half way through it froze. After waiting about an hour I restarted it and it didn't work (of course). I popped in a different hard drive from another computer and loaded up off of that and then I cleared the files from my new HDD that had the failed installation install on them.

Then I removed the HDD with the working OS and put the CD back to try again and install the OS on my new drive and now I get this message:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

<Windows root>/system32/hal/dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

I need a VERY clear and easy STEP by STEP post of how to get a OS (XP or Windows 7) on my new hard drive. I have a legitimate windows 7 key but no windows 7 CD (got it through school) and I have a legitimate .ISO windows XP file on my thumb drive but it is not bootable for some reason.

Please help. Thanks.


 
Solution
Don't format your system drive, it will be erased.

Format the data drive (I hope you're using a different drive) and you can save a lot of time by clicking to do a "Quick Format"

rcfant89

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No, it was a download from the school website. Students in tech classes have access to software but you have to pay extra for a physical CD (and wait for it in the mail).

I downloaded the OS to a thumb drive as ISO format but when I plug it in and run the computer it just doesn't work.

I have the full thing downloaded I just can't seem to get it to run right. Here is what it looks like on my thumb drive:

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/yy323/rcfant89/Public%20Album/thumbdrive.jpg
 

rcfant89

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Oct 6, 2011
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Thanks but one more question.

When I started downloading the old file to my hard drive and the computer froze I just deleted all them and tried again. Then I got an error message.

Do I need to reformat my hard drive?

(It is band new and the only thing I did was install some files and erase them)

Thanks
 

Brand new?? Download this ISO and burn it to disk. Install the program and run it. It will initialize your new drive and set up partitions, and format all in a matter of seconds, (after you make the choices of what you want). Choose "Custom Partitions" and make partition sizes as you want or it will divide the drive in about 4 partitions of equal sizes.

The file is at 4Shared.com and was put there by me. I named it Hitachi (random name). Get it
HERE



Edit: If you don't like the partition sizes after running the program you can go back and run it again.