Chapter 3 : First Start Up
First Start Up
I
nstalling the OS
There are several operating
systems that you can
choose to install in your
new PC, including a range
of free open source
Linux-based systems such
as Unbuntu, Debian,
Fedora and many others.
However, the majority of
PC users will be most familiar with Microsoft Windows operating systems. The latest Microsoft
Windows OS is Windows 8, which uses a simple GUI-based installation process. For the
purpose of this guide we will use Windows 8 Pro 64-bit. However the installation process will
be the same for any version of Windows 8, and very similar for Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
Once you set the boot priority (see above) the Windows 8 installation will automatically begin.
After a short time you will be asked to simply press the install button and agree to a legal
disclaimer.
You will then be asked, ‘Where do you want to install Windows?
This is essentially asking which hard drive to want to use as
your primary disk partition where Windows 8 will be installed.
All installed hard drives will be shown in a list. It is most likely
that your hard drive will be shown as ‘Disk 0: Unallocated
Space’. If you select this disk and press ‘New’ to create a new
partition, you will then be asked to decide the size of the
partition.
Note: Many users prefer not to use the entire disk as the primary boot partition, choosing to
create a smaller partition within the hard drive and use that as the primary boot partition. The
remaining space can then be used as a dedicated storage partition which need to not be
erased on subsequent future OS installs. However, if you are installing the OS on a smaller SSD
drive (perhaps 64GB or 128GB) then you may simply want to use the entire disk to create one
large partition.
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How to Build Your Own PC