good XP info,,

Question: I'm trying to install Windows XP and for some reason it stops responding while it is trying to copy files. My friend told me to use a DOS boot disk to install Windows XP, but is that causing the problem?

Answer: Actually that may be the cause of the problem. If you booted off that DOS boot disk and it didn't have something called smartdrv on it or if smartdrv has certain switches turned on then the Windows XP installation may hang. One fix is to make sure your DOS boot disk runs the smartdrv command without any switches. You may have to modify your autoexec.bat to edit how smartdrv is run. For more information on how to run setup from MS- DOS in Windows XP then please read Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - Q307848. I will propose that you use a different fix, and that is to run setup by booting off the Windows XP CD, assuming you have a bootable CD-ROM drive. You may need to modify your BIOS setting to reflect this and I would refer you to your system documentation for the steps on changing boot devices. Once you boot off the Windows XP CD then you shouldn't have this problem anymore and you can choose any number of install options.

(thanks to GnomeREPORT/Chris Pirillo)

Personally I reccomend installation of all Windows OS's through bootable CD's. From what I understand every OS from Win95 (Thought I have only done it for all os's from Win 98) will work. It's quicker, and easier, and I would guess that about 98% of all computers will boot from CD rom now a days.

I think QT has a point there.

As I recall, even Pentium MMXs (some, not all) had the "Boot from CD" feature available in the BIOS.

But that SMARTDRV comment from Chris "Ultimate Geek" Pirillo makes sense. I'll have to check out that "defective" WinXP boot disk when I get the chance.

ya,it was just some good info I thought,I subscribe to 3 different lockergnome newsletters,andthey are always full of cool stuff,,,,,, :)
and this tip does pertain to a specific problem I thought might be useful to some.