Under construction. Here you will be able to find most frequently asked questions related to settings, management and customization about this Operative System. Written by Fernando Muñoz (fermu) and collaborations of José Gallardo.
But it is recommended: Pentium 300 or higher and at least 128 Mb of RAM. Really, WinXP does use a lot of RAM memory, so it is better to have 256 Mb of RAM. As far as processor is concerned, the minimum is Pentium III at 500 MHz, or equivalent.-
The main difference between both versions is that WinXP Home is designed for home users, then some features of WinXP Professional are not available in Home Edition. Some of them are the following:
Dynamic disks support.
Microsoft IIS unavailable as well as SMTP mail server.
EFS not allowed, that is, it is not possible to encrypt any file.
Multiprocessing support unavailable, but it is able to benefit Hyperthreading processor.
Remote client unavailable, but these features can be installed aside, and so it can be connected to a machine with HyperTerminal o remote desktop.
WinXP Home cannot be joined to a domain.
Gpedit is unavailable. This feature allows changing group policies by graphic interface.
WinXP Home only allows 5 concurrent connections, and WinXP Prof, 10.
WinXP Home does not support corporative networks features, such as IPSEC, SNMP, Netware networks support, so on.
ACL (Access Control List) editor unavailable.
Some commands such as gpudate, tasklist, are unavailable,
When starting Windows, before logo appears, if we hold down F8 key, we will be able to access to a menu, containing some boot options. This article discusses these options.
After WinXP SP1, this operative system has LBA 48-bit support for disk drives higher that 137GB in size. This support is enabled by default.
BIOS must provide these LBA 48-bits routines, that is, if the BIOS does not recognize our hard disk, we have to update our BIOS.
Anyhow, the maximum size recognized depends on the file system in our partitions. As far as FAT32 is concerned, the maximum is 32GB; NTFS supports a very big size. In principle, this file system supports up to 16 exabytes, though WinXP limits it up to 256 terabytes.
In WinXP Prof, this tab can be seen unchecking use simple file sharing feature. To do this, go to My Computer / Tools / Folder options / View.
In WinXP Home, you have to boot into Safe Mode and log in with de Administrator account, in order to see the tab. In WinXP Home case, you may want to download this application . By installing it, you will be able to see the “Security” tab without booting into Safe Mode. If we have installed XP on a FAT partition, there is no "Security" tab.
Under some circumstances, we are forced to take ownership of the content of another user “My Documents” folder. To do this:
Go to “My Documents” folder, right click on it, and go to Security tab (to see this tab, see FAQ 6 above), click on “Advanced”. In the list click on you user name and check “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects”. If you see an advertisement message, accept it, and click on OK. That’s all. This is called “to take ownership”.
These viruses exploit RPC/DCOM and LSASS vulnerabilities, respectively. The patches for solving these vulnerabilities are released from time by Microsoft, and if we have installed SP2, these viruses cannot infect us. In any case, if infected, the solution goes through format and a clean install.
The recovery console is a Windows XP feature. It allows us to solve several issues and start a damaged operative system. In KB Article number 314058 you can read further information, and learn how to start it and what you can do in it.
These folders contain uninstallers for uninstalling the downloaded patches from Windows Update. If we are not going to uninstall them, we can safely delete these folders, for freeing up space.
Some of the differences have been seen in FAQ 5. Speaking in general, it is better to format our partition in NTFS, because it provides journaling, that is, this system guarantees the integrity of our data in case of power cut, or if the system hangs. Moreover, the maximum size for a file in FAT is 4GB. Cluster size is bigger than FAT one and the drives supported are also bigger. Using NTFS we are able to give support to drives bigger than FAT. FAT is limited to 8 terabytes but NFTS is limited to 16 exabytes.
We can make a boot disk when we cannot start Windows XP. It can be done by copying the files boot.ini, ntldr, ntdetect.com. These files are located on root directory in C drive, they are hidden, so to unhide them we have to remove their attributes read-only and system.
It is possible that we may need to copy bootsec.dos. This file will appear if we have installed Win9x. Anyway, what is meant by a boot disk in Win9x can only be achieved using XP CD. Using it, we will be able to go to recovery console.
We can make our partitions in two ways: right click on Mi Computer > Manage > Disk Management, and also using diskpart in a command line (Start / Run / cmd.exe)
No, you cannot. Current versions of Windows XP cannot be installed on an external driver if no internal drive is involved. And this is so because this operative system does not support an USB drive as first boot device. For further information, see this article.
Yes, you can install it so, but you will not be able to activate it, because Windows XP license forbids this matter. After 30 days grace period, you must uninstall it.
Certified drivers are those that have been successfully tested in Microsoft laboratories (Windows Hardware Quality Labs, WHAL). These drivers are sent by manufacturers, and when its quality proved they are named as “Designed for Windows”. This logo ensures a perfect stage of compatibility with Windows. But not all manufacturers do certify their drivers, so we must always install drivers form XP. Non suitable drivers will probably cause a BSOD.
System restore is a powerful and useful tool provided by XP. By using it, we can restore the system to a previous state. This is useful when does appear an issue installing something (software or hardware). System restore does not affect to personal files created (Word archives, emails, images, so on). If we restore the system to a previous state we will not lose these files.
Besides Windows XP creates periodically restoration points, it is recommended to create one of them when installing some software or hardware or when changing Windows registry. To create one: Start > All programs > Accessories > System Tools > System restore. We can create a new restoration point or to restore the system to a chosen point.
FOOTNOTE: if the activation grace period has finished, we do not obtain extra days b restoring system to a previous state.
You can read further information about this feature in Fernando Muñoz (fermu)’s article Entendiendo el registro de Windows
If we go to Start > Control Panel > Security center, we see a window containing some security options. Specifically, related to Firewall, Automatic updates and Antivirus software. We will see different options according to our customization. Automatic Updates allows XP to connect to Windows Update and to see what updates are available and if it is properly customized, to download them. Depending on our band width all this may be customized (clicking on “Automatic updates” at the low side of security center window). Perhaps the best choice is Notify me but don’t automatically download or install them. If it is so enabled, when updates be available we will see a shield in the notification area and we can download them whenever we want.
On Security Center screen, left side, we may want to use Change the way security center alerts me. So we could choose the way on which security center alerts us, and remove that annoying message about “non recognized” antivirus software.
16-bit MS-DOS Subsystem path to the program that you are trying to start or install C:\Windows\System32\Autoexec.nt The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application.
To solve this issue you can use expand command in msconfig (start/run), or use expand command in command line (start/run(cmd.exe)
where ‘X’ is CD-ROM drive letter and ‘c’ system drive. You should have a copy in the folder C:\WINDOWS\repair, if so, copy it to \windows\system32
Ensure that you autoexec.nt folder is such as this:
- ------------------------------------------- ~ @echo off ~ lh %SystemRoot%\system32\mscdexnt.exe ~ lh %SystemRoot%\system32\redir ~ lh %SystemRoot%\system32\dosx ~ SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330 T3 - ---------------------------------------------------
(this is its content by default)
At the mean time, you may have a similar issue related to config.nt file, and the workaround is the same. Currently, a virus is causing these issues. So, perform a scan using some online antivirus software. You may want to review our weblinks section for online antivirus.
No, you cannot. If your XP is OEM, this software is linked to the machine and EULA would be broken. If XP is retail, you have to remove XP from one machine before installing it in another one. As hardware has slightly changed you will have to activate by phone.
If this language is not English, and we want to change it to another language (English included), we cannot do this neither it be Home nor Professional. We have to purchase a new copy of XP in that particular language. If our XP is an English version, we can change the language by MUI pack (MUI = Multilingual User Interface) with restrictions. This pack is only available for XP Professional and is sold only through Volume Licensing. Moreover, it is more expensive than a new copy of XP in that language.
If we suspect our XP could be a pirated copy, we can prove it here . Click on Validate now and if we obtain It appears that your Windows Product Key is valid message, it is a legal copy. In other case, we can report this matter in this link . If we have installed (or someone has done that) a pirate copy of XP andwe purchase a legal one, we can change the pirate product key for the legal one without formatting or reinstalling. It is enough to follow the instructions of this KB article:
A repair installation is also known as in-place upgrade or simply as reinstallation. Through this feature we can replace all the files of our system for those one in its original state. It is useful to do this if we meet to problem hard to solve or even if they prevent the system to start or to work in a usual way. A reinstallation of the operating system will keep, when possible, our customizations and also the programs installed and our personal files. But, we will lose all the patches and updates downloaded from Windows Update, and all the restoration points up to date. Therefore, after doing a reinstallation we have to go to Windows Update to download the updates again (included SP2 if we have not install it slipstreamed with XP). We have to do a repair installation after doing significant changes in our hardware, for instance, a change of motherboard. Further information: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341/en-us
If we have space without partitioning available, we can create and format the partitions both from XP CD and disk manager. When the partition is created it cannot be enlarged, reduced, nor divided without formatting it. When formatting two adjacent partitions, since they add to non partitioned space, we will be able to create a new larger one. If they are not adjacent, we cannot sum the non partitioned space of them.
We have to login in an administrative account and go to Start > Control Panel > User accounts. From there we can create administrative and/or limited accounts. We can access to the whole PC in an administrative account. We cannot create an account named "Administrator".
First of all, the BIOS must allow it, and also ACPI. If so, Start > Control Panel > Power Options > Hibernate and check "Enable Hibernate". If "Hibernate" tab is missing this means that our BIOS does not support it.
By means of native XP tools, you cannot set a password such as was done in Windows 98. If we have installed XP in a NTFS partition we can assign or not permissions for a user to access to the folder or not (this is due to Windows is a user-level system not a resource-level one). All this is done in the “Security” tab which we see if we click right on the folder. To see the “Security” tab, you may want to read FAQ number 6, and to set permissions read these KB articles:
**/HOW TO: Set, View, Change, or Remove File and Folder Permissions in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308418
**/HOW TO: Set, View, Change, or Remove Special Permissions for Files and Folders http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;308419 **/HOW TO: Disable Simplified Sharing and Password-Protect a Shared Folder in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;307874
If despite the above, you want to put a password for the folder you have to do it by means of third party software.
To prevent other users going into a folder you may want to encrypt it. This task uses EFS (Encrypting File System) which is only available in XP Professional. You cannot encrypt folders in a FAT partition. You have to be careful and save or export the encrypting key. If not, you will not be able to recover the folder. To encrypt a folder you may want to read this KB article:
How To Encrypt a Folder in Windows XP
and to remove encryption, this one:
How To Remove File Encryption in Windows XP
To encrypt a folder in XP Home, you have to install a third party software.
This account will appear if we have installed .NET FRAMEWORK. In this case, this account is important and it is not recommended to remove it. But, if we have downloaded from Windows Update some update related to .NET FRAMEWORK (and, in principle, if we have not installed it we do not need any update related to it) the acount will appear. So, if we have not installed .NET FRAMEWORK, we can safely remove the account.
Due to a virus infection, to physical troubles in the hard disk o even to a slip, it it possible that we delete an user profile. If so, and if we did not back it up, XP does not provide tools for recover it.. Even we cannot recover it be means of system restore. We could use third party software for recovering files (you may want to review this http://www.fermu.com/content/view/246/2/lang,es/ ) but the profile as it is cannot be recovered.
¡After six attempts or DMA transference fails (whether for some fails in the drive itself or in the CD), XP downgrades DMA mode to PIO. To restore DMA mode, right click on My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager and locate “IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers” and on them remove (right click on each one and choose “Uninstall” option) “Primary IDE Channel” and “Secondary IDE Channel”. Restart Windows.
This is one of the core folders of the operaing system, and it is not recommended to relocate it. When moving it, the system could be unstable. Microsoft states a method for doing this task, but the risk is for the user.
It can be done in
several ways. The quickest is: Start and place the mouse on “My
documents” icon. Right click on it and choose Properties. In
“Target” section, you can type in the path of the folder on which
“My documents” will be located, or click on “Move” and browse
to that folder.
By default it is not
installed on XP Home. To install it, put the XP CD on the drive and
browse to the folder VALUEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP and locate on it the file
ntbackup.msi; click twice on it to install Backup.
