Make sure to get files from all of the possible locations, including My Documents, Desktop, and any other folders you may have created and placed files in. You should also track down your Windows Product Key in case you end up needing to do a complete reinstall. Your Product Key is typically located on the case that the Windows disc came in, or on a sticker affixed to your computer.
If Windows begins to load, the Setup key was not pressed in time and you will have to retry.
Normally, the hard drive is the primary boot device. This means that the system attempts to boot from the hard disk first, loading your installed copy of Windows. You want to change it so that it attempts to boot from your Windows disc before trying the hard drive. Once you’ve changed your boot order, save your changes and restart your computer.
Setup will load the files necessary to install Windows. This may take a few moments.
Press F8 to agree to the Windows License Agreement.
No personal files should be deleted during the repair.
With Microsoft ending all support for Windows XP in April 2014, this might be the perfect time for an upgrade. See this guide for upgrading to Windows 7 and this guide for upgrading to Windows 8.
