First you start virt-manager and select the New tab to create a new virtual machine. As you install a Windows based virtual machine you need to select the option to install a Fully virtualized guest:

Next you choose a descriptive system name:

Specify the location for the ISO image you want to use for your Windows installation:

Select the storage backing store, either a file based image can be used or a partition or logical volume:

Specify the virtual machine resources such as CPU and Memory:

Before the installation will continue you will see the summary screen. Press Finish to proceed to the actual installation:

Now the actual Windows installation will start. As you need to make a hardware selection it is important that you open a console window very quickly after the installation has started. Once you press Finish make sure you set focus to the virt-manager summary window and select your newly started Windows guest. Double click on the system name and a console window will open. Quickly press F5 to select a new HAL, once you get the dialog box in the Windows install select the 'Generic i486 Platform' tab (you can scroll through the selections using the Up and Down arrows.

The installation will proceed like any other standard Windows installation:

You will be asked to partition your drive:

After your drive has been formatted Windows will start copying the files onto your new hard drive:

After setup has completed your Windows virtual machine will be rebooted:

You will have to halt the virtual machine after its initial reboot as you need to manually edit the virtual machine's configuration file which is located in /etc/xen/VirtualMachineName. You can halt the virtual machine using the xm destroy WindowsGuest command, where WindowsGuest is the name of your virtual machine.

You will need to modify the disk entry and add a cdrom entry to the config file. The old entry will look similar to the following:

disk = [ 'file:/var/lib/xen/images/winxp.dsk,hda,w' ]

and the new entry should look like the following:

disk = [ 'file:/var/lib/xen/images/winxp.dsk,hda,w' ,
'file:/xen/pub/trees/MS/en_winxp_pro_with_sp2.iso,hdc:cdrom,r', ]

Now you can restart your Windows virtual machine using the xm create WindowsGuest command, where WindowsGuest is the name of your virtual machine.

Once you open the console window you will see Windows continuing with the setup phase:

If your installation seems to get stuck during the setup phase you can restart the virtual machine using the command mentioned above. This will usually get the installation to continue. As you restart the virtual machine you will see a Setup is being restarted message:

After setup has finished you will see the Windows boot screen:

Now you can continue with the standard setup of your Windows installation:

After you completed the setup process you will be presented with your new Windows desktop or login screen: