Appendix A: Installing or Upgrading to Windows XP
What Are the Windows XP Installation Requirements? To install Windows XP, you need the following:
- A Windows XP CD-ROM and a CD-ROM drive
- A Pentium II, Celeron, or compatible CPU running at a speed of at least 300MHz
- At least 128MB of RAM memory (you can install Windows XP with only 64MB, but it's not reliable)
- A hard disk with at least 2GB total space, with at least 1.5GB free, depending on which options you choose to install
- A VGA or better monitor
- A keyboard and mouse (or other pointing device)
- CD-ROMs or floppy disks with hardware drivers for devices needing drivers that don't come with Windows
Windows itself is stored in compressed format in a group of cabinet files (CAB files) with the extension .cab on the CD-ROM. The setup program copies and decompresses the Windows programs during installation.
For information on network (remote) or unattended installations, see Windows .NET Server: The Complete Reference, by Kathy Ivens (published by Osborne/McGraw-Hill).
