No, you should set it to AHCI and install the XP again, you don't need drivers during installation.

So SATA will be supported straight out of the gate? What’s with all the “you need the floppy disk” advice I read about?

The drivers should be copied to a diskette that can be used by pressing F6 key.
Warning: USB floppy drive may be not enough to install that driver because the driver needs to be accessible by BIOS and WinXP 32 bit system.

That’s the problem, I don’t have a floppy disk drive, or a blank floppy disk. Looks like I’ll have to keep everything in IDE mode…

can also NLITE the drivers into an ISO, make sure you integrate the textmode version so the drivers are ready at the time the F6 floppy would be used

A lot of information about AHCI for XP here: Slipstreaming appropriate SATA drivers to install XP

Thank you. That thread suggests that what I described in the OP would indeed work. I’ve saved it for future reference.

You also have to ensure that the SATA drivers are being loaded early enough.
Or you will receive an INACCESSIBLE_BOOTDEVICE

How would one go about ensuring that?

eddman wrote on 2025-07-31, 13:01:

A lot of information about AHCI for XP here: Slipstreaming appropriate SATA drivers to install XP

I just added some links to my old post there.

Matth79 wrote on 2025-07-31, 12:55:

can also NLITE the drivers into an ISO, make sure you integrate the textmode version so the drivers are ready at the time the F6 floppy would be used

this is the way to do this. also burn it off to a cd not a usb drive.

Apologies for the n00b questions but it’s something I’ve never done. If I burn the drivers to a CD, how does it work? Do I remove the WinXP disc during the installation process and insert the driver disc? When should this be done?

Also, what is the textmode version?