How To: Microsoft Windows XP Pro Operating System (OS) Rebuild
Since many users never re-install Microsoft Windows XP Pro I thought I'd just toss together a little how to rebuild your operating system guide for when it crashes or blows up using the original OEM CD.
1. Download the latest AGP/PCI-e drivers for your video card and burn them onto a CD or copy them onto a USB Key.
2. Boot up your system from your origial Windows XP CD. Choose to delete the current partition and create a new one.
3. The OEM XP Pro CD has its own install script so just let it do it's thing before you start changing settings and messing things up.
4. When my OEM CD installs Windoes XP it defaults to auto login to the Administrator account. You may want to change this so you can login using your own username. You will need to set the AutoAdminLogon = 0 in the registry. You will find it stored in the registry at
HKEY_LOCAL_machine\software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
If it auto logon is set the value will be AutoAdminLogon = 1. Change value to 0
5. Also in your System Properties your PC maybe Registered to
My User Name
My Company Name
What you will need to do is edit the registry again. Use regedit and search for the string "Company Name" and you will able to edit your details as you need. You will find that you will need to change these values in 2 places in the registry.
6. Driver Install
- Install your chipset and video card drivers
- Install all your other perphieral device drivers (Soundcard, PCMCIA, Modem etc)
7. Run the Microsoft Windows update to ensure all patches are up to date.
8. Install latest version of direct X 9.0c from http://www.microsoft.com/directx
After all this you should have a rebuilt version of Windows XP on your system. Hope this helps someone.