Browse to your Windows XP CD, open the “Support” folder then the “Tools” folder. Extract the file “DEPLOY.CAB” to a folder in your PC, double click on “setupmgr.exe”, this will open the Windows Setup Manager Wizard, click next.

New or Existing Answer File – select “Create a new answer file” then click next.
Product to install – select the “Windows Unattended Installation” option then click next.
Platform – select “Windows XP Professional” then click next.
User Interaction Level – Now select the “Fully automated” option in which we will fill in the information needed during the setup and click next.
Distribution Folder – select “No” to install windows from Windows XP Professional CD.
License Agreement – Accept.

Now it is your turn to input your information to customize you’re the installation. When you finish, the wizard will ask you to save this answer file, save it on a formatted disk with the name “winnt.sif”.

It is almost done, if you want to install Windows XP again, just insert the floppy disk in your floppy disk drive and Windows XP Professional CD in your CD-ROM drive, let the setup start and go to do whatever you want.

One may wonder what does “manually” here mean?! We are using this word because there is another Automated installation in which you don’t need to set in front of the PC waiting for each dialog that appears during the installation and filling in the data! This, Automated, can be done using something called “Answer File”, I’ll talk about it in the next few posts.

Visit Install Windows XP link to help you learn more about how to install Windows XP Professional .