Hello, guys. Jeremy from BeYourOwnIT.com with a video for a user request on how to install windows on a blank hard drive and/or reinstall it on an existing hard drive. The first step involved here… Oh, by the way, I should tell you I just recorded a 40 minute version of this hoping to show you every in and out of the Windows install only to watch it through beginning to end on my own part and nearly falling to sleep, so I am going to try to condense it.

First step is to always backup your data. Make sure that you have good copies of all your data on a jump drive or CD-ROM, all the important stuff. The second most important step is to make sure you have drivers. Make sure you’ve got drivers downloaded and backed up on a disk. They’re what make your sound card, your video card, your network card all work. So make sure you have these things. If you need help finding a driver, just submit a request at Help@BeYourOwnIT.com and I’ll gladly show you where to get the driver or how to find it.

After you’ve done that, you want to make sure your computer is set to boot up to a CD-ROM. By the way, you’ve already put the Windows XP CD in. The way to get into the BIOS to check that is that most computers the second you turn on your computer start tapping Delete. Some Gateways, I think, use F10, but most of them are Delete.

And you’ll need to find the boot order. This computer you may have to scroll through these. Don’t mess with anything else in here, just look for that. OK, here it is: “Boot Device Select” and, as you can see, my first device is CD-ROM. You can move it, it will give you instructions in there how to move things. Make sure your CD-ROM is first. As long as it is, you can exit out and get going with the reinstall.