IT Support Notes

When installing Windows XP Professional, it is important to have hardware that meets the minimum system requirements of the operating system. Not having the proper hardware will result in poor performance and the user being frustrated.

Below you will find the minimum system requirements for Windows XP Pro as recommended by Microsoft. If you have any questions, please ask them by using the add comment link at the end.

Windows XP Professional System Requirements

1. PC with 300 megahertz or higher processor clock speed recommended; 233 MHz minimum required (single or dual processor system);* Intel Pentium/Celeron family, or AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended; For better performance you will want something running at least 800 Mhz
2. 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features); For better performance 512 Mb
3. 1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available hard disk space
4. Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution video adapter and monitor; If you plan on having all the XP visuals on the the graphics card should have a minimum of 16 Mb of memory
5. CD-ROM or DVD drive; DVD drive required for using DVD Media
6. Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

Requirements for Certain Windows XP Features

Networking 

1. For Internet Access - 14.4 kilobits per second (Kbps) or higher-speed modem if using a high-speed internet connection you will need a network adapter or open USB port
2. For Networking - If you plan to network you computer you will need a network adapter appropriate for the type of local-area, wide-area, wireless, or home network you wish to connect to, and access to an appropriate network infrastructure.

Multimedia

1. Audio & Music - You will need a  sound card and speakers or headphones.
2. DVD Playback - DVD drive and DVD decoder card or DVD decoder software are required to be able to play movies or other video on DVD media.  You will also need a video card with 8 MB of video RAM.  This is importand because Windows XP will install a run fine with a video card with less than 8MB of video memory but you will encounter problems if you attempt if you try to watch a DVD with less.

XP Professional vs. XP Home

 There are only a few differences between Windows XP Pro and Windows XP Home.  The biggest difference is the Windows XP Home Edition can not be part of a domain.  Below are a few of the other differences.

Windows XP Home Edition	Windows XP Professional
Intended for home or small office use	Intended for use in a professional environment (examples include a business office, a graphic design company, a centrally administered corporation or educational organization)
User login designed for ease of use. No provision for network domain authentication; network resources must be authenticated to individually	Default user login identical to XP Home Edition, but can be configured to do domain authentication like NT and 2000
All users by default are in the Owners group, which has unrestricted control of the computer; Owners are essentially the equivalent of Administrators in Professional. A Restricted User group does exist; users must be explicitly assigned to it. No other groups exist.	All users must be assigned to one of the system’s defined groups. Membership in a certain group assigns rights and permissions to that user. For example, an Administrator has unrestricted control of the computer; a Power User has many, but not all, administrative powers; a Guest has no power to change anything system wide. The groups available are Administrator, Backup Operators, Guests, Power Users, Replicator, Users, and Debugger Users.
Administrative shares (hidden shares accessible to administrators over a network) do not exist, in spite of the fact that XP Home is strongly based on 2000 and XP Professional. They have been deliberately removed.	Administrative shares exist and are accessible in the same manner that they were in NT and 2000.
Supports only a single CPU computer	Supports up to a dual processor system; multiprocessor support available only in server editions of XP Professional