MaximumPC 2004 10

How To...^ A step-by-step guide to tweaking your PC Experience

TIME TO COMPLETION

2:30

HOURS MINUTES

MA XIMUMPC

T

hink of how you treat a brand-new car: You

cherish and pamper it at first. You even give up

your Sunday afternoons to wash and wax it by

hand. Your heart skips a beat whenever you see that

gleaming steel beast waiting for you in the parking lot.

A newly installed version of Windows XP can

inspire similar devotion. Not only do you thrill at its

pristine condition but you patiently, and even eagerly

download all the latest patches from Windows Update

so as to keep your OS shipshape.

But over time, most of us begin to take that new car—

or that clean WinXP installation—for granted. As it accu-

mulates miles and wear and tear, your erstwhile pride

and joy becomes just another drain on your wallet—and

your time. Hand-washing, you discover, just isn’t worth

the effort anymore. In its place: a quickie car wash at the

local gas station. If only there were a simple wash-and-

rinse equivalent for WinXP.

Guess what? Such a thing does exist. It’s called a

Windows XP reinstall —and the quickest, easiest method

for reinstalling is to create an up-to-the-minute Windows

XP setup CD with the latest Service Pack and drivers

preinstalled (aka “slipstreamed”), so you won’t have to

spend half your life on Microsoft’s Windows Update web

site. As always, Maximum PC is here to show you how

it’s done. Heck, we’ll even help you add RAID or Serial

ATA controller drivers to your CD so you won’t need a

floppy drive (or the F6 key) to install Windows.

Windows XP CD

UPDATE YOUR

By Omeed Chandra

Ingredients

68 MAXIMUMPC OCTOBER 2004

Add RAID drivers and

Service Pack 2 to your

original Windows CD!

Windows XP CD

Internet connection

CD burner

ISO Buster (www.isobuster.com)

Nero 5.5.9.0 or newer (www.nero.com)

Collect the Necessary Files

STEP 1

Before getting started, we’ll need to download the full, stand-alone

installation of Service Pack 2 (as opposed to performing a web-

based upgrade). Go to download.microsoft.com and look under the

Windows XP section.

While you’re at it, grab the latest drivers for your RAID or

Serial ATA controller. If you add them to your install CD, you

won’t need to use an old-fashioned floppy drive to install

Windows. For an add-in RAID or SATA card, look for the drivers

on the web site of your controller chip’s manufacture. Some of the

most popular controllers are made by Promise ( http://www.promise.com ),

Intel ( http://www.intel.com ), Silicon Image ( http://www.siliconimage.com ), and

HighPoint ( http://www.highpoint-tech.com ). If your controller is integrated

onto your motherboard, hit up your mobo manufacturer’s web site.

Before getting started, we’ll need to download the full, stand-alone

onto your motherboard, hit up your mobo manufacturer’s web site.

You can roll your RAID

drivers into your XP

install disc by

slipstreaming.