If you've never
installed an OS before, it's remarkably easy. If you have, I'd still suggest
reading through this guide to make sure you've got it all down. Installing
Windows on a custom machine can take a few extra steps than installing it on a
pre-built machine. For this guide, we're going to use Windows 7 as an example,
but you can of course install Windows XP, Linux, or even Mac OS X, if you're
building a Hackintosh. Refer to our Getting Started
with Linux series and easy Hackintosh
guide if you're using those OSes instead.
Step One: Edit your BIOS
When you first
start up your computer, it'll tell you to press a key to enter setup, usually
DEL. This takes you to the setup of your Basic Input/Output System, or BIOS.
Here, you can configure some of the lowest-level aspects of your new machine.
You may not actually need to edit any of these settings, but it's a good idea
to go through, get acquainted with them, and make sure everything's in good
order before moving on.
Note that the
BIOS will be a little bit different on different brands of motherboard, so your
screen may not look exactly like the images here, but it should be close.
First, make sure that everything's been installed correctly. If
you have a System Information page in your BIOS, head there and make sure the
amount of RAM listed is the same amount you put in. If it isn't detecting all
of your RAM, some of it might not be seated correctly, so go back and fix that
before continuing. If there isn't a System Information page in your BIOS, your
motherboard probably lists the amount of RAM it detects on the POST screen,
right after you press the power button.
Find the SATA configuration option, and make sure its configured
as AHCI. If you're running Windows XP you'll need to change this to IDE,
otherwise AHCI is probably what you want to go with.
Lastly,
find the "Boot Order" or "Boot Priority" page. Make sure
your DVD drive is the first drive on the list (or your USB drive if you're
installing from a flash drive), and that the hard drive you'll be installing to
is second. Note that some BIOS utilities split this up into two menus—one for
setting the boot order for your different media (CD-ROM, hard disks, USB disks)
and another that lets you choose the order of just the hard drives.
If
you don't see your hard drive listed, it may not be plugged in correctly or it
may be dead. Turn your computer off and re-check the connection if necessary.
These are the most crucial BIOS options you want to tweak, but
there's a lot of other stuff going on in there. I encourage you to explore and
look things up that you don't know, since it has some other useful settings. If
you want to know more about your BIOS options, our friends at the How-To Geek
have a nice rundown of useful tweaks, so check that
out when you have some time. For now, we're going to get on with the
installation process.
Step Two: Install Windows
Before you install Windows,
make sure you have the optimal version for your system. That is, if you have
more than 2GB of RAM, you'll want to use 64-bit Windows instead of the standard
32-bit—that will allow your system to take advantage of all of your RAM. You
can read more about this in our guide to 64-bit
vs. 32-bit operating systems.
Once you've got the right version of Windows, grab the
installation DVD (or flash drive, if that be the case) and pop it in. Start up
your computer and it should automatically boot into the Windows installer. If
you ever get a "Press any key to boot from CD" option, make sure to
hit a key on your keyboard to continue.
Once the
installer loads, hit the "Install Now" button, accept the terms of
use, and choose "Custom (advanced)" when asked what type of
installation you want. Find your primary hard drive (if you have more than
one), click on the "Unallocated Space" partition, and hit Next. Windows
should start installing.
If you aren't using a brand new drive, you may have to format it
first. Click on the currently-used partition, click "Drive options
(advanced)", and then hit "Format". It should format the drive
to be Windows-compatible, after which you can hit next and let the installation
run.
From there, the
rest is just a waiting game. Leave your computer alone to do its thing. It'll
copy all the necessary files to your disk and reboot a number of times in the
process. You'll know you're done when you hear the familiar startup chime and
boot into the default Windows 7 desktop.
Step Three: Install Your
Drivers
The last thing you need to do before you actually use your computer is install your drivers.
If your Ethernet or Wi-Fi works out-of-the-box, Windows may find most or all of
your drivers for you. If not, you'll need to pop in the CD that came with your
motherboard to install the Ethernet or Wi-Fi drivers you need to access the
internet. Don't install any other drivers from that CD just yet.
Once you've got
the internet up and running, Windows will install drivers for you. It might not
catch everything though, so you'll have to install some manually. The CDs that
came with your motherboard, video card, and other hardware are probably already
out of date, so I don't recommend using them to install drivers.
Instead, you'll
want to download the drivers manually from the manufacturer's web site. Head to
your motherboard's support page and download any necessary drivers, including
chipset, audio, SATA, and any other drivers listed. Note that you probably only
want the drivers—you don't want the extra bundled software it offers, unless
there's something in there you really want. For your video drivers, download them straight from NVIDIA or AMD's web site rather than the card manufacturer's
site.
Congratulations!
You've bought, built, and set up a working computer from start to finish! Don't
be alarmed if you feel an overwhelming sense of pride; that's normal. Enjoy
your new custom-built machine, and be sure to come back tomorrow for more useful
PC-building resources, as well as a handful of fun projects you can take on with
your new computer.
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