Preparation
Gather installation DVD and serial numbers for Windows as well as installation files and serials for any licensed applications. Have the motherboard and network card drivers at hand and any usernames and passwords needed for internet access. Decide on a partitioning scheme.
Ideally set up 3 partitions: one for the OS, one for user files (documents, pics, music, videos, email ) and one for backups and software and drivers.
If possible set up a separate partition for downloads.
Split the user files on 2-3 partitions if you have more than 50Gb in any of the categories.
Split the backups and software on different partitions if you have more than 50Gb of software and drivers.
The backup partition should be about 2.5 times as large as the OS partition + the combined size of the user files.
If you have several physical hard drives, move the backups on a separate drive, then move the partition(s) containing user files out of the drive that will contain the OS if space permits. Ideally the drive containing the OS should only contain the OS and the downloads partition. A second drive should be used for user created files. The Backups and software can be on an external drive, but make sure that drive is attached if you are going to use scheduled backups!
Disconnect all hardware not needed for the installation (network cards, external drives, internal drives except the one where the OS will be installed, printers, video cameras..). Insert the Windows DVD.
Reboot and when prompted press any key to boot from CD. If you don’t get this message and the computer doesn’t boot to DVD, check the boot order in bios: should be set to boot from CD/DVD
If you don’t know how to access BIOS on your system watch the bottom of the screen closely during a boot, a message should appear for a second or so telling you which key or combination of keys to press to access setup, for example Del or F2. If you can’t see any message Google for “how to access bios on NAME OF YOUR MOTHERBOARD or PC MANUFACTURER”, for example “how to access bios on a Rampage Extreme II” or “how to access bios on a dell computer”
· Choose your language, and keyboard, choose “install now”, accept the license
· Choose custom installation, choose the drive/partition where you want to install, click on “drive options” under the list of available drives. Delete existing OS partition and any other you will not need any more and then create a new partition for the OS, minimum 30GB, recommend 60Gb. Create additional partitions as needed until the whole drive is partitioned.
· Make sure the partition where you want to install Windows is selected, and then click on “next”. When prompted with dialog box saying “To ensure that all Windows features work correctly, Windows might create additional partitions for system files”, click on Cancel button.
· Setup will now start. After a while the computer will reboot. Do not press a key to “boot from CD” or you’ll have to restart the installation! Setup will continue after the first reboot and configure registry and services before a second reboot. Once again, don’t press any key to boot from CD!
· When asked for a user name, type the name you want to use. Choose a computer name. Don’t enter a password at this time, especially if you want to use the built-in Administrator account later on. Type your product key if you have one, otherwise leave this blank. Uncheck the “automatically activate” check box. Choose “ask me later” for Windows updates.
· Set up date/time and time zone. Choose Home network for the network if prompted. Click on skip if asked about a homegroup. Another couple of screens and you are in the desktop! Do not allow windows to update itself or to activate, ignore messages about security for now. Eject the installation DVD.
Click on Start, right click on Computer and choose Manage.
In the left pane click on Local Users and groups, in the right pane double-click Users. Double click Administrator, remove the check-mark from “account is disabled”, give it a name and click on Apply and OK.
Close all open windows. Log off ( click Start then on the arrow next to “shut off”). Log in as the built-in Administrator.
Repeat the above steps until you have the list of users in the right pane. Delete the first user.
Click on Start, right click on Computer and choose Properties. In the left pane click on Advanced System Settings
In the new window click on the Advanced tab, then in the Startup and Recovery section click on Settings.
Uncheck Automatically restart and click on OK. Click OK again. Close all open windows and shut the computer down.
Reattach all peripherals and reboot.
Click on Start, right click on Computer and choose Manage. In the left pane click on Disk Management. Check that all your drives/partitions are listed. Format and assign letters and labels (names) to partitions if necessary (to acces the format and naming options right click on a partition or an unformatted area and go through the options as applicable)
When you are done with drives and partitions, in the left pane click on Device Manager
Look for devices with Question marks, or devices listed under Other Devices. Those are the ones for which you have to install drivers.
· If the manufacturer of the device has provided you with a file that ends in .exe, double click the file to install the driver.
· If the drivers are in a file ending in zip, right click the file and choose Extract all. Choose where you want the files to be extracted, for example in a folder on your Backup drive. In device manager right click on the device that needs the driver you have just extracted and choose “update driver software”. Click on “browse my computer for driver software”. Now browse to where you have extracted the files and click Next.
Reboot when all devices are installed.
The bottom right of your screen should look like this on a wired network:
The middle icon is the network icon. On a wireless network right click to see available networks. Click on connect by the network you want to connect to and provide the password when required.
Click once on the network icon to see what network you are connected to, click on the link to open “Network and sharing center”.
If you want to share files/folders over the network or use files/folders shared by others, set up your shares or make sure you can access the network shares now.
I don’t use the public folders or the Homegroup options, so I just use the good old right click and choose Properties then click on the Sharing tab and go through the options from there...........
Click on Start, right click on Computer and choose Properties. At the bottom of the page click on Activate Windows now
TIME FOR BACKUP: CLEAN INSTALL. Clean up, defrag and backup. A Windows based backup will do at this point. If you have a bootable recovery CD from Acronis or Macrium or any other backup software, use that to create a backup.
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