System freezes at the "Welcome to Setup" screen in Windows XP

For issues where the Windows setup program freezes at the "Welcome to Windows" screen, you need to restart the setup app without loading ACPI. To do so, when you get the message "Press any key to boot from CD", rather than tapping Enter, begin tapping on F7 until the setup app begins loading files. This will disable ACPI and the system will not freeze and you can begin installation or boot to the Recovery Console as required.

Also find the other Windows setup function keys listed below:

•	F5 - For computer type or hardware abstraction layer (HAL) selection
•	F6 - To install third-party SCSI and host controller drivers
•	F7 - To run Setup without Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)

When the "Welcome to Setup" screen is displayed, the following function keys can be used:

•	F2 - To automatically start the Automated System Recovery (ASR) process.
•	F10 - To bypass the menu screens and to load the Recovery Console

During graphical user interface (GUI)-Mode Setup, the following function keys can be used:

•	SHIFT+F10 - To enable access to a command prompt during GUI-Mode Setup

•	SHIFT+F11 - To display "old-style" wizards that give more detail