How To Install Windows Xp On New Pc

(This is a long ~2900 words post, I recommend reading this from a tablet or computer)

Windows XP is the 2d-longest supported operating system (Os) in Microsoft's history. Support by Microsoft finally concluded on 8 April 2022 after a tape-setting 12.5 years.  The number 1 rank is technically* held by Windows i.0 at 16 years from 1985 to 2001.

*I say "technically" as that was when Microsoft finally declared Win 1.0 obsolete merely I uncertainty Microsoft was updating Win 1.0 during its final years. This was unlike WinXP which was updated up to its final moments and even had an emergency patch after its back up ended.

This page here also puts XP's length of back up in perspective with other Microsoft OSes.

Released in Oct 2001, it is nearly 15 years one-time today.  I was simply xi years one-time when this Bone was released so yous tin can imagine I pretty much spent much of my teen years using XP machines other than Red Hat Linux of form.

Despite its historic period, XP continues to live on in embedded systems like ATMs, manufactory and medical machines where replacement costs and re-certification (timelines) makes them infeasible to be replaced in the near future. An extreme example is how the 23-year-sometime Windows 3.ane which crashed is still used in a French aerodrome as of late last twelvemonth.

The problem

I work in a startup chosen Algoaccess where we deal with medical devices specifically optician-related ones. Without going into besides much detail, allow's just say we occasionally have to handle such older systems and test to brand certain our product can work with them. This means we actually need a Windows XP installation for testing purposes. No, virtual machines like VirtualBox or VMWare volition not cut it, nosotros need a native installation for realistic testing.

My company could hands procure a auto of an older era with full Windows XP drivers. At that place are guides like this where people have used an older system to install WinXP in 2022.

Simply where is the fun in that? I saw this as an opportunity to make up one's mind if it is really possible to install WinXP on a much newer arrangement.  It was as well a adept way to relive a fleck of my babyhood that way.

Commencement thoughts? It shouldn't exist that difficult right? I know drivers could be an issue but it shouldn't be a show-stopper? Turns out things are not and then easy to put WinXP on modern hardware.

The machine

A photo to show that I take successfully installed WinXP on this machine abet with lots of missing drivers.

A brusque video for "extra proof"

The target machine is a Lenovo Ideapad U330p which was manufactured in 25 July 2022.

Here are the key specifications:

• Intel Cadre i5-4210U one.7Ghz Haswell CPU
• Intel HD Graphics 4400 GPU
• Intel HM77 chipset
• 8GB DDR3 RAM
• Realtek Hd Sound
• Intel 7260N Wireless-N and Bluetooth 4.0
• 1366x768 screen
• 500GB + viii GB SSHD

The Haswell CPU/GPU was released in Q2 2022, which is almost the time when Microsoft was stopping back up for WinXP. Although the HM77 chipset was released before in Q2 2022, both the processors and chipset are not "officially" supported by Intel for WinXP. If this laptop model was but one generation older aka Ivy Bridge, things would accept been much easier.

This laptop also does non have an Ethernet port.

The installation

I took many steps and trial-and-errors to finally get WinXP on the system. And so the methods I volition detail here contains the finalised set of instructions for it to work.

I take ordered my installation method into 9 steps:

1. Go a legitimate Windows XP license and ISO CD image
2. Configure your BIOS
3. Slipstream AHCI drivers into WinXP installation media to avoid F6 trouble
4. Catechumen GPT partitioning table to MBR and create partitions
5. Actually installing Windows XP
6. Install Drivers
7. Windows Update
8. Install relevant software
9. Optimisations

Step 1: Go a legitimate Windows XP license and ISO CD image

No license, no installation as simple as that. Because that I'll be using this machine for concern purposes, all the more I cannot be using illegitimate copies.

It is impossible to obtain WinXP via normal retail channels as Microsoft has stopped selling it as of 30 June 2008. The deadline for OEM partners too ceased not long after. There is however a style, if your business concern has an Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscription, you win! Every bit Algoaccess is a startup of less than v years, we enrolled into Bizspark which gives u.s. 3 years of free access to Microsoft software.

MSDN provides legitimate software licenses and deejay images of almost every Microsoft production. This fifty-fifty includes old ones like MS-DOS 6 and Windows iii.i. Talk about going farther downwards retentivity lane if you want to!

The MSDN details on my download

Anyway, the disk image I chose is Windows XP Professional person with Service Pack iii. In that location exists a 64 fleck version of XP Pro but I rather not go that way as drivers for that are hard to find fifty-fifty in its era.

This deejay epitome is only 589MB which fits nicely inside a CD, modern OS images are nowhere near that size now.

Step 2: Configure your BIOS

XP was created in an era where in that location was no Serial-ATA (SATA) drives, no SSD drives, no UEFI, no GPT, USB was starting to get more popular and floppy disk drives were still commonplace. Your BIOS settings must take care of these limitations.

Brand certain to disable UEFI booting.

Not shown in the picture is the "USB Legacy" option. As this laptop does not have a CD bulldoze, we have to start off from either a USB CD or wink drive. Both of these will require the USB Legacy choice to exist enabled if your BIOS has it.

Another optional setting is SATA fashion. If yous have a pick for IDE or AHCI mode, you should always pick AHCI if you take the drivers or IDE for maximum compatibility. AHCI is required for the extra features like actress bandwidth, Native Control Queuing and hotplugging. AHCI will crave extra drivers which have to be slipstreamed into the WinXP installation media which is in the adjacent step.

For my case in the U330p, there is no SATA mode option in the BIOS so the AHCI mode is constantly enabled. This means I'll definitely need extra AHCI drivers before installation.

Step 3: Slipstream AHCI drivers into WinXP installation media to avoid F6 problem

What is this F6 problem?

This was a common problem fifty-fifty during the heydays of Windows XP. A more detailed post about this issue has been written by some other blogger hither.

Basically since WinXP was created in an era where at that place were no SATA drives, the installation CD can only recognise IDE/Parallel-ATA drives.  Windows XP also happens to exist the terminal Os I believe to have its installation interface seem like a DOS-lookalike text-based installers of its predecessors.

When you lot kick an original installation CD, this bulletin volition wink for virtually 3 seconds at the starting time. You tin can press F6 to immediately proceed with loading your ain SATA drivers. This is where the event got its name from. If you lot ignore this, you will still get another chance afterwards.

If you ignored the F6 keypress before, this installer tin't see the SATA drives in your system and prompt yous for the difficult disk controller drivers, via no kidding, a FLOPPY Disk as you can run into below.

Seen in the context of that era, the floppy disk thing is quite understandable. If your hard disk drive controller is non recognised, your CD drive is holding the Windows CD and USB wink drives are non yet commonplace then what is left?

How do we solve this?

The proper mode if one does non take an internal floppy drive is to get a USB floppy drive, load the AHCI drivers into the floppy disk and continue as per normal. Believe me, I have tried this solution years before and information technology works provided if yous have the right USB floppy chipset. More details on supported floppy chipsets in the aforementioned F6 explanation link.

The more elegant solution notwithstanding, is to inject the AHCI drivers straight into the installation media then WinXP can recognise your hd controller from the get go. If i is using an older automobile, getting the AHCI drivers is no biggie, just a download away from the Intel website. However, we are at present using a more modernistic viii-Serial chipset.

Thankfully, a Google search brought a lifesaver. Somebody has modded his own universal AHCI drivers with support for the newer chipsets. You can download the driver here or in the picture link below.

Download older version of nLite 1.four.ix.three instead of the newer NTLite which does not work with Windows XP. (For the post-obit nLite steps, I'll non screenshot every footstep, just the important ones)

Extract the WinXP ISO, open nLite and signal nLite to the extracted folder.

You should see the above if everything is done properly.

Select the Drivers and Bootable ISO options.

Just add everything in. Don't worry about conflicts, the XP installer is smart enough to select the correct commuter for your system. If you really exercise get problems, you can consult the TXTSETUP.OEM in the commuter zip to see which is the correct commuter for your Southbridge model to specifically slipstream in.

Once done, just burn this image to disc/file, copy to USB wink bulldoze depending on how yous are starting the system.

Footstep 4: Catechumen GPT sectionalisation table to MBR and create partitions

Mod disks now come pre-formatted with the GUID Partition Table (GPT) instead of the legacy Master Kick Record (MBR). If y'all wish to know why GPT has superceded MBR, just consult the Wikipedia articles. The trouble is that WinXP cannot be installed on hard disks that employ GPT. We take to catechumen them to MBR. Note that MBR merely supports hard disks up to 4 terabytes (TB).

Nosotros shall apply a sectionalization tool chosen GParted to do the job. Merely download the ISO image and boot from it.

Converting to MBR

The GParted program will beginning automatically on kick. Just click Device -> Create Sectionalization Table. Choose the new partition table blazon to be "msdos" which is actually MBR.

Create your partition(s)

You may exist tempted to only restart and allow the XP installer create the partitions during the (side by side) install step. I practise NOT recommend you let XP handle division especially if yous are using an SSD or modern magnetic drives. Modern Advanced Format drives from 2009 at present use a 4KiB sector size instead of 512bytes which was the era where XP was designed. If your created partition is not aligned to 4KiB, which a legacy Bone similar XP will go wrong, you will accept operation issues. More details can be establish here and here.

So it is amend to permit GParted handle the partition creation.

Ensure that your first sectionalization has a Free infinite preceding of 1 MiB to ensure the sectionalisation is aligned to the 4KiB boundary. Remember that in an MBR layout, you can take at most 4 primary partitions. If y'all need more than partitions, then one of the partitions accept to be created as "Extended" and so you place multiple "Logical" drives inside it.

Step 5: Actually installing Windows XP

Boot from your favourite install media, whether it is CD, flash drive or CD-ISO emulators like the Zalman VE-350. Modify your BIOS settings if necessary if you can't kicking from your media.

This screen greets you at the commencement. Future Windows setups volition no longer have this blue groundwork with white text theme. This is a legacy from the Windows 3.0 installer which was released in 1990. Yous tin can encounter the similarity in this Windows 3.0 setup video.

The XP installer should now treat your hard disk controller as if it has recognised information technology from the twenty-four hour period the epitome was made.

It will reboot to the GUI installer after some time. Easiest Windows eh? Integrated CD recording was such a hit thing then, nobody ever does it today.

At ane signal you tin can customise the date range option. The default is 2029 which is awfully shut already, you should change that to something further abroad.

This window indicates your Setup procedure is coming to an end. This section was really introduced in Service Pack 2 in 2004 to encourage more people to update Windows in response to greater security threats. Both options don't matter today, Windows XP no longer has any new updates. In fact, turning off updates is meliorate as the Bone does not need to constantly poll Microsoft'due south servers for non-existent updates.

And nosotros are nearly done! Not totally, but successfully reaching the desktop is a major milestone in whatsoever OS installation. Look at the mass of missing drivers man. I'll effort to rectify that.

Detect the AHCI driver is a third party one I slipstreamed in before. As this is a 32-flake OS, we can't use the entire 8GB of RAM and some of information technology is taken upwardly by the GPU.

Step 6: Install Drivers

I'm mentally prepared that we tin't install all the drivers but the ones I'm targeting are major ones like network, video and sound.

Network

The internal wifi card is an Intel Wireless-Northward 7260 which does not accept Windows XP drivers. This laptop does not take a RJ45 ethernet adapter. To initially tide my way through, I tentatively used a USB-Ethernet adapter. I happened to purchase this USB three.0 hub/Ethernet combo sometime back so I used it. It is based on the ASIX AX88179 which thankfully has a Windows XP driver.

The USB 3.0 is plain in proper name only in this context. USB iii.0 is non supported on Windows XP.

I later used another USB Wifi adapter based on the Mediatek MT7601 which also had Windows XP drivers.

Video

Without graphics drivers, the video functioning of the OS will be very sluggish. The screen will occasionally flicker and frame rate is depression when yous do stuff similar dragging the application window or scrolling in your spider web browser.

The Intel HD 4400 has a grey area when it comes to WinXP driver support. Many sources online merits Intel no longer supports it yet drivers seem to exist floating around similar here and hither. Anyway those drivers didn't work, only caused my laptop to BSOD. I was on the verge of giving upwardly when I stumbled on this Universal VESA/VBE Video Display Driver.

Now VESA is a name I accept non heard in a long fourth dimension. This aim of that commuter is as follows:

"This driver is intended for using in case when your take some new or unknown video carte(s) and you lot don't have drivers for it. It'southward amend to contact manufacturer of your video card or search THE Spider web for the drivers. Merely if you finally cannot discover driver for your video card I recommend you to use mine (vbemp.sys). My driver is very uncomplicated one & does not provide any kind of 3D hardware acceleration (DirectX & OpenGL)."

This is EXACTLY my apply instance hither!

I happily used the VBE 3 version and am happy to report that things are much improved. Non as practiced as one by the manufacturer itself as at that place is no hardware dispatch but notwithstanding much improve performance than no driver at all. The effulgence is likewise locked at maximum so exist wary near straining your eyes if you are using a laptop. The HDMI output of the laptop is also unusable.

Sound

This is an like shooting fish in a barrel one, Realtek's website still provides Windows XP drivers for its High Definition Audio Codecs so I just got the drivers from there.

The effect

I still don't take all the drivers just at least the major stuff is working. The missing USB controller driver is not mandatory for usage of the USB ports. However, USB 3.0 speeds may still exist possible fifty-fifty though the proper drivers are not be loaded. Thanks to AJ'due south annotate below.

Contrast this with the complete reference installation on Windows 7

Step 7: Windows Update

Although WinXP no longer has new updates, it does not hateful we practice not install the existing ones. Microsoft fortunately did non pull the product activation and update servers. Hundreds of updates wait. The .Net frameworks that come with Windows Updates will also be useful.

You tin can turn off Automatic Updates. Think to run Windows Update repeatedly until no more than updates are displayed as the installation of some updates will "spawn" more than updates.

This was i of the last updates by Microsoft, the End-of-life notification.

(June 2022 update): I recently reinstalled a fresh Windows XP system and could not get Windows Update to piece of work. Notwithstanding, I found someone has made an unofficial Service Pack 4! Check it out here.

A separate update that you might want to install is the exFat update which will allow you lot to handle external drives formatted with the exFAT file system. The update was originally available here only Microsoft pulled the update file. Thankfully some other blogger has downloaded a copy and is hosting it.

You lot might as well want to install a patch to defend against the Wannacrypt attack if Windows Update does non do information technology for you. More details tin exist found in this Microsoft blog mail.

Pace 8: Install relevant software

One of the offset software yous should install is a mod web browser. Windows Update will upgrade you lot to Internet Explorer 8 from half-dozen just that is all the same grossly out of appointment. Google Chrome volition terminate supporting Windows XP as of April 2022 which is this month and then I won't be using that. This leaves Mozilla Firefox which is still supported for XP.

Here is my recommended listing whose latest versions nevertheless support Windows XP as of fourth dimension of writing.

1. Mozilla Firefox
2. 7zip
3. VLC
4. Sumatra PDF Reader

If you like, you can install some Powertoys for Windows XP. They are a collection of tools I used to enjoy using years dorsum when XP was nonetheless my principal OS.  I especially similar Tweak UI, Open Control Window Here, Epitome Resizer and Alt-Tab Replacement. Yous can download the entire collection from Majorgeeks.

Pace nine: Optimisations

You lot can follow this guide written by another blogger.

On top of his steps I ordinarily practise this list of non-exhaustive steps also:

1. Solve .Net Framework 4.0 service startup time

• "%systemroot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\ngen.exe executequeueditems"

1. You must exist wondering what is the black theme in the screenshots in a higher place. It is the Royale Noir theme, a unique Microsoft-signed theme that was not released initially.
2. Enable Cleartype for screen fonts every bit they brandish better on LCDs. Call up XP was created in an era where Cathode ray tubes (CRT) monitors were more common and LCDs were a luxury.
3. Disable Security Heart to avert being irritated by updates and antivirus alerts that are no longer applicable.
4. Display subconscious files, folders and extensions

The End

So I have come to the end of my postal service. I assume most of you readers will not really try to install XP in this day and age, at the virtually you volition merely practise and then in virtual machines. Nonetheless, I accept learned lots especially the universal AHCI and video drivers part which volition keep to be applicable in hereafter.

Other than the latest Windows 10, currently supported operating systems like Windows 7/viii will eventually meet the fate of WinXP years from at present and the bug will repeat again once more than. I'k not surprised somebody volition write a future guide: "How to install Win vii on a mod arrangement". Till then, I had fun writing this post and going down retentivity lane and I promise you will too.

If you like this postal service, you can read about how I got Windows 3.1 working on both a vintage and modernistic machine in 2022.

Source: https://yeokhengmeng.com/2016/04/installing-windows-xp-on-a-modern-unsupported-haswell-system-in-2016/

Posted by: vuthistil.blogspot.com

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