Windows Setup GUI

Look what we have here… We’re almost halfway home to actually being able to use our operating system. We are at the beginning of the Windows Setup. This is the first of many screens we will go through on our way to fully customizing your Windows Operating System Setup. The Regional and Language Settings screen allows you to tailor keyboard layouts, currencies, and date formats. Since most of us live in North America, we will click on Next to continue and leave the settings as is.

The next page is the owner’s input page. This page allows you to input your name and group or company name and to let Windows store it for future reference. You can access this information in Windows by right clicking on “My Computer” and clicking properties. Another easy way to access this information is by holding the Windows Key down and pressing Pause/Break. Type your full name and company name and press continue.

Once you proceed you end up at the Product Key input page. This page is pretty self-explanatory. Type in the product key found with your Microsoft Windows XP Operating System CD and continue to the next screen.

Here we will be naming our computer system i.e. “MONSTERPC”, “BIGRIG2005”, or “IBM 5150PC”. We can also setup an administrator’s password to keep unwanted people out of our personal files. This is good if you have kids or pesky friends. Once you are finished, proceed to the Date and Time Zone Setting screen.

Since your date and time are set by the stored in your computer’s internal clock (CMOS battery) this page will only be used for setting your time Zone. So hopefully your BIOS displays correct time settings or this page will also show incorrect time. Set your time zone and continue.

Network Setup, Copying Files, Completing Install

Windows setup is at work now. You see the green progress meter appear and start to move. You are on the last leg of the install! Right now the setup process is loading your Network Configuration Files. Depending on your network setup, you may be asked to use typical TCP/IP settings or to specify customized settings. We are using typical settings so press next and continue.

The rest of the Windows install process is pretty much automated. Once it finishes with the network setup, you will see the progress bar change to “Copying Files”. This is where Windows Setup creates your Documents and Settings, Program Files, and Windows folders. Once this part is done, you will see the “Completing Installation” phase briefly followed by installing “Start Menu Items.” From here the final step is to create registry entries and then to save all the settings. Once your computer is finished with the install it removes all temporary files used and reboots.

As it is rebooting make sure to not press any keys as you don’t want to boot back into the setup again, just allow it to boot into Windows. The screen that will appear will have a popup that asks to change your resolution. Go ahead and click yes. Then it asks you if the display looks correct. Once more say yes. CONGRATULATIONS ladies and gents, you have just installed Windows XP on your system!