Installing
Widows XP On A Computer That Has A i Series Processor
DIY-Computer-Repair can help!
If you have a newer computer and it has a i series processor it will more
than likely come with Windows 7.
But what if you don't want Windows 7 for various reasons and would like to
have Windows XP?
After doing some research I have not found one computer manufacture that
offers backward compatibility to XP when they have Windows 7 on their products.
I also did some research in to why if you have a newer computer you either
get a BSOD or the computer hangs when you try to install Windows XP on the
computer.
It is not that Windows XP is incompatible with the i series processors but
the way the BIOS is written and the fact that XP lacks the correct drivers for
a SATA hard drive. It is that simple.
Note: Microsoft has all but dropped XP as a viable product, it is like
when Windows 2000 came out, MS supported NT 4 for an additional three years but
only if you paid for it and some large companies did that. I haven't found any
proof that the big companies are doing this for XP. This means that the last SP
will be 3 and very few new 'Security' updates will be forthcoming in the near
future.
Along with my research I found that you can make a new install cd for XP with
the correct drivers for you hard drive and it will install.
You face a few challenges in getting XP to run on newer computers because in
some cases of proprietary devices there may not be any drivers for XP.
Before you think this is going to be a piece of cake, believe me it isn't!
First you need to check your Windows 7 / Vista installation, you need to know
the chipset manufacture and names of any device that you may think the XP install cd will not
have. (Do not rely on Microsoft's Windows Update service to get the hardware
drivers you are lacking, they aren't there anymore).
The drivers I found I would need were:
SATA chipset drivers
Network Interface Card (NIC) wired and wireless drivers
Sound device drivers (if embedded)
Video device drivers (if embedded)
Pointing device and/or touchpad drivers (Laptop)
Once you have decided to go forward with your project the first thing to
check is the BIOS settings for the SATA hard drive.
You are looking for one of two settings:
Legacy
IDE
I found these settings in the Advanced section and in the Drive section on
different computers.
If you have these settings then you will not need to do the next step, just
set the SATA drive to either Legacy or IDE, XP will not recognize a SATA setting
of OIHC or AIHC
(it sees these settings as an USB setting not a hard drive
setting). Then install XP, do the normal setup routines, add the drivers you
collected for the devices XP doesn't recognize. Then finish it off with the
normal optimization.
If you do not have these settings (three computers, a desktop, and two
laptops) did not have the settings to allow you to change the SATA interface
type from SATA OIHC or AIHC to Legacy or IDE) then you will need to 'add' the
correct SATA drivers to the install cd.
In the IT world this is called 'injecting' or 'slipstreaming' (I don't know
why they change the words!) but basically you are adding the drivers XP
needs to see the SATA drives, thus going around the BIOS settings of Legacy or
IDE.
When I made my new cd I copied the cd to my hard drive, found the correct
Intel SATA chipset drivers and used a free program called nlite.exe
(be careful of where you download this program the thieves have made a
virus with the same name!) to add the files
to the cd, then made an ISO image with the new drivers and burned a new install
cd. (A lot simpler than the old System Admin way of doing it with Sysprep, for
sure!)
The help file for nlite is pretty skimpy so here is what you need to do:
Make a folder, call it what you want, I called mine SATA.
Go to the chipset manufactures web site and find the drivers you need.
Unpack the new drivers in to the SATA folder.
Get nlite and install it at the ROOT of a hard drive (the root is the base
directory of the hard drive or volume).
Next make a folder (I called mine XP-SATA) then copy all the files from your
original install cd in to that folder.
Now you are ready to add your new SATA drivers to your cd.
From the control panel of the program tell it where your install files are,
it will do a search for the list under the browse box.
Next it will ask if you want to import the last 'session' the first time
through there won't be any 'Last Session', click next.
This page is where you make your choices on what you want nlite to do for
your new cd.
At this time I would suggest you only use two components:
Integrate: Drivers
Create: Bootable ISO
(Once you have made a good bootable cd/dvd with your new drivers you may want
to experiment with the other options, for this article on the two above are
explained.)
When you click next the
'Integrate drivers in to the installation page' is where you tell nlite where the new drivers
you want to put in the cd are located. Click the 'Insert' button, then select
'Single Driver' or 'Multiple driver folder' (in my case I wanted to add as many
SATA drivers to the cd as I could find - fifteen of them).
The next page will tell you what driver you picked was, you can pick either 'Regular
PNP driver' of Textmode driver'. (I found that which ever radio button is
selected is the mode of the driver listed, you can change it but you may wind up
with a useless cd). Highlight the driver the click the 'Ok' button.
Back on the 'Integrate drivers in to the installation page' click the next
button.
A box will pop up: "Do you want to start the process?" you can select yes or
no, if you are unsure about your selections select 'No' and go back and check
them. If you are sure then click the 'Yes' button.
A task bar will fill out as the process does the tasks you set for nlite.
Click the next button when it is complete.
The next page is the "Create a bootable ISO to burn on CD/DVD or for testing.
The mode box has:
Direct burn (you have to have a cd/dvd burner installed!)
Burn Image ( same as above but opens the cd/dvd burning program)
Create Image (create an ISO image for later burning, backup copy)
Erase RW (erases a Rewriteable cd/dvd)
Next block is for the name of the cd/dvd/image when made.
On the 'Advanced' block if you selected Create Image all you need to do is
click the Make ISO button, nlite will ask you for the folder to save the ISO
image and the name you want to give it.
If you want to look at the newly created cd before you create an actual
CD/DVD or ISO image use the 'Explore' button.
Once you have made your selections click the next button.
And it will either burn your cd/dvd or create the ISO image.
Next step would be to test the cd, I did four images before I found the right
combination of drivers that would work on three different computers, you may not
need 15 SATA drivers on one cd and may only make one. :)
Enjoy your computer with XP on it, I am.
P.S.
If my new server motherboard hadn't had the IDE settings I would have had to
do this to my Server install cd also...
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