changing operating systems

[denilson]

we just bought a few used computers for a volunteer organization at an auction. They have Win NT 4.0 installed on them and I want to put in Win XP. Is it as simple as getting an XP cd and following instructions that pop up after you put in the cd. Will there be any other issues? We don't have access to the NT administrator's password .
The computers are pentium 3 , about 1 ghz, with at least 128 mb ram

 

[wherzwaldo]

You won't need the NT password if you boot from the XP CD. Just load the disc, reformat, and install.

I'm a little surprised that they didn't reformat the drive themselves. Usually when we get rid of computers at work, we use a program to destroy all of the data (goes beyond reformatting).

Also, you're gonna want to put some more RAM in those computers. XP is gonna scuffle with 128MB.

 

[denilson]

Waldo,
Practically everything on the computer was erased. It's pretty much just the OS and nothing else. We got them from a city auction. One thing that concerned me was that on the display properties, the only option was 16 bit color. Would this be taken care of when i install XP or is it a more significant problem.

Funding is 100% donations but we got these computers for:
2 for $30 each (celerons)
1 for $55 (p3 w/ 384 mb ram)
they included a monitor,keyboard,mouse

 

[wherzwaldo]

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[denilson]

after taking a while to figure out how to boot the computer from the xp cd (i had to press some function key right after turning on the power) I was finally able to install XP pro. The computer works fine.
Also, now when i click display properties, i get up to 24 bit color and the on board graphics chip turns out to be an Intel one with 32 mb video ram.