im currently trying to install xp home, in dos. it is copying the files from the cd to the hard drive, but it is VERY slow, its on 6% now and its been doin it for about an hour now. It also regularly says that it cannot copy a file so i just have to keep retrying the copy of that certain file and it will eventually copy it. Any ideas why it does this and why it is so slow? Cheers Martin

Martin: Your DOS problems are probably related to large file sizes, and/or memory management. Why are you trying to install from DOS? It will run much faster (and probably with no errors) if you boot from the XP install CD.

This is the process which i am currently doing: after downloading xpboot.exe extract it to a floppy by double clicking it, then after its ready put it in the floppy drive of the pc you want to install xp on, follow the on screen instructions. after changing to your cd-rom drive letter, type: cd\i386 press enter then at i386 type winnt.exe and press enter Is this the wrong way?

You need to run smartdrv.exe before installing XP in DOS. It probably told you that when you started. It can take up to 6 hours and longer just to copy all the installation files to the Hard Drive. Afterwards the installation runs normal. With running smartdrv.exe before, it takes only about 20 min to copy the installation files. So just have patience, it will install properly. There is nothing wrong with your system. Cheers de Peter

ok cool, ill just wait this installation out, thanks very much Martin

Martin, Its me again. The way you started it is all correct. That's most of the time the way I install XP because I run fdisk before and format first of all in FAT32, run smartdrv.exe and install XP from i386 as you did. The XP Install CD let you format only about 32GB in FAT32 and there begins the problem with all the partitioning etc. I formatted the other day a 120GB Hard Drive in FAT32 this way. Later I can convert to NTFS but I stick with FAT32 on a single privat machine. Sure, NTFS is good but I read to many users having problems, espesially if they use several partitions and different formattings such as FAT32 and NTFS. Best way is either only FAT32 or only NTFS, I prefer only FAT32. Cheers de Peter

Martin: You asked: "...Is this the wrong way?" It is not necessarily the wrong way but it is most definitely a slow way. The Windows XP CD is bootable. Just boot from the CD. The install process will start automatically.