How to do a 'clean' install of Windows 2000 Professional

How to do a 'clean' install of Windows 2000 Professional / How to Format and Install Windows 2000 Professional

Excerpted from relevant Microsoft Knowledge Base Articles (Q304868)

The following article is for a specific type of isntallation in which it is not advisable to use boot disks that might be infected by viruses etc. It is a tutorial on how to completely format and start anew with Windows 2000. Do not use this tutorial unless you want to erase all the information on your computer. As always, if you give birth to triplets after using this tutorial I am not responsible.

Installing Windows 2000 Professional

1. Start from the Windows 2000 Professional installation CD-ROM. Make sure that the CD-ROM is set to start before the hard disk starts (NOTE: Yew can set this in BIOS, lemme know if you need help). Insert the CD-ROM, and then when you are prompted, press any key to start the Windows 2000 Professional Setup program.

Laymans terms: You are going to boot off the CD, you need to put the CD in, and reboot your puter. If it just boots normally and goes to windows you need to make the CD-ROM the primary boot device in BIOS. I can give instructions if needed.

2. Setup inspects your computer's hardware configuration and then begins to install the Setup and driver files. When the Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional screen appears, press ENTER to set up Windows 2000 Professional.

Laymans terms: blah blah blah blah, when do I get to push a button?

3. Read the license agreement, and then press the F8 key to accept the terms of the license agreement and continue the installation.

Laymans terms: An ounce of flesh? No prob, these be boring to read.

4. When the Windows 2000 Professional Setup screen appears, either press ENTER to set up Windows 2000 Professional on the selected partition, or press C to create a partition in the unpartitioned space.

Laymans terms: Press C.

5. specify whether you want to

• leave the current file system intact,
  
• format the partition as FAT16,
  
• convert the existing file system to the NTFS file system, or
  
• format the partition by using the NTFS file system.
  

Laymans terms: You need to choose one of teh format options. This is the crucial step you need to get to. As to FAT16 vs NTFS, NTFS is newer and better but sometimes has compatibility issues (should be rare nowadays).

Press ENTER after you make your selection. Setup examines the existing hard disks and then copies the files that are needed to complete the installation of Windows 2000 Professional. After the files are copied, the computer restarts.


... For the rest just follow the prompts.