Install System Commander (if not already installed).

Select OS Wizard. The OS Wizard appears.

Select the type of installation (New), the OS by name, and select the installation type (Isolated).

Complete the OS Wizard operation (this entire process is documented in detail in the manual). Once the drive is properly partitioned by the OS Wizard, instructions are provided for completing the OS installation.

You can also use the steps described below at "OS Installation" step 5.

Go to Installing Windows XP below.

Go to the manual partitioning screen.

To do this under System Commander, reboot the system and at the OS Selection menu, select Partitioning.

Create a primary partition for the new operating system.

Remember that you can have 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions and 1 extended partition on a hard drive. While you can have multiple logical drives residing in the extended partition, Microsoft operating systems cannot boot from a logical drive.

You can only create a partition in a free space area. Free space, by definition, is unpartitioned space. You may need to manipulate existing partitions in order to generate the free space, such as resize an existing partition smaller.

Once you have the desired contiguous free space, click on the free space so it is highlighted by black bars and then click on the Create button. Choose to create a primary partition with the desired size. Windows XP can be installed into a FAT16, FAT32 or NTFS partition. We would recommend that you create and install into a FAT32 partition and then later convert it to NTFS, if you prefer a NTFS file system, during the installation procedure.

FAT16 partitions are limited by size. The maximum FAT16 partition is 2 GB (2047 MB). FAT32 and NTFS have no practical size limitations.

Once the partition is created, reboot your computer.

The reason to do this is to prevent this operating system installation program from corrupting or writing over other operating systems and data (the OS Wizard would have done this automatically).

When you reboot, a new selection appears on the OS Selection Menu. This corresponds to the new partition you just created. For a created FAT16 partition it will be labeled "No OS (FAT)", for a FAT32 partition it will be labeled "FAT-32 OS".

Select "Settings" and then the "Specific OS options.

In the current selection area, select the partition you are going to install the new OS.

Move down to the Partitions Visible/Hidden field. For "Drive-0" press Enter and mark all partitions as hidden.

Press the Esc key 3 times to return to the OS Selection Menu.

Insert the Windows XP bootable Installation CD or diskette and press Ctrl-Alt-Del to boot from this media to gain access the CD drive.

If this fails to boot, you may need to configure your computer's BIOS to boot from the diskette or CD-ROM before other devices. Your computer and/or BIOS manual should provide instructions to accomplish this.

The Windows XP installation will begin.

Install the new operating system. From this point on, you are in the hands of the operating
system's installation program. Remember that you are installing into the new partition, whether created manually or with the OS Wizard. This is the active partition, C drive.

At some point in the installation, it will ask you where you would like to install Windows XP. This screen will show you all of the partitions and free space on your drive. It is possible to direct the installation to another partition or even another hard drive. You can even create a partition here
to install into.

Most users will continue to install into the partition where they began the installation. You will then be given the option to convert the file system from FAT16 or FAT32 to NTFS. This is optional. You should continue with FAT16 or FAT32 if you would like to be able to access your Windows XP partition from within Windows 9X or Me. The advantage of a NTFS file system is primarily system security and a few advanced Windows XP features are only available under NTFS.

Important note - Different versions of NTFS can corrupt other versions of NTFS. System Commander will automatically hide all NTFS primary partition from the active NTFS. Keeping these partition hidden from each other is the safest way to proceed. For more information on Super Hiding, please see Why can't I see a NTFS data partition from NT/2000/XP/Vista?

Restore System Commander's OS Selection Menu.

Windows will typically overwrite the Master Boot Record during installation. When your OS is completely installed, you may find that at every reboot, you will boot back into the new OS. System Commander needs to be "re-enabled" in the MBR in order to get the OS Selection Menu back. Boot from the System Commander CD and select "Enable System Commander". This will run the program checkmbr automatically, and restore System Commander's OS Selection menu.

When you next reboot, the OS Selection menu will appear, and the OS name Windows XP will appear as an OS selection. Select this to go into your new Windows.