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Using Operating Systems 233Some of the tasks you can accomplish using Windows Explorer include the following: Viewing files and directories Opening programs or data files Creating dir

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Older versions of Windows (Windows 3.x and Windows 95 original release)

as well as all versions of DOS cannot read FAT32 partitions.

NT File System (NTFS) Introduced along with Windows NT (and available on 2000/XP)

NTFS is a much more advanced file system in almost every way than all versions of the FAT file system It includes such features as individual file security and compression, RAID sup-port, as well as support for extremely large file and partition sizes and disk transaction mon-itoring It is the file system of choice for higher-performance computing

When you’re installing any Windows OS, you will be asked first to format the drive using one of these disk technologies Choose the disk technology based on what the computer will

be doing and which OS you are installing

To create a FAT16 or FAT32 partition, you can use the FDISK command To format a tion, you can use the FORMAT command FDISK.EXE is available only with Windows 9x/Me (not 2000/XP), and you can run it from a command prompt FORMAT.EXE is available with all versions

parti-of Windows You can run FORMAT from a command prompt or by right-clicking a drive in dows Explorer and selecting Format However, when you install Windows it performs the process

Win-of partitioning and formatting for you if a partitioned and formatted drive does not already exist

Be extremely careful with the FORMAT command! When you format a drive, all data on the drive is erased.

In Windows 2000/XP, you can manage your hard drives through the Disk Management component To access Disk Management, access the Control Panel and double-click Admin-istrative Tools Then, double-click Computer Management Finally, double-click Disk Man-agement The Disk Management screen looks similar to the one shown in Figure 4.17.The Disk Management screen lets you view a host of information regarding all the drives installed in your system, including CD-ROM and DVD drives In Figure 4.17, you can see that this computer has three disks (Disk 0, Disk 1, and Disk 2), one DVD (CD-ROM 0), and one CD-ROM (CD-ROM 1) drive installed In this example, you can see that Disk 0 has four partitions

A different drive letter is assigned to each partition on Disk 0 (C:, D:, G:, and H:) The list of devices in the top portion of the screen shows you additional information for each partition on each drive, such as the file system used, status, free space, and so on If you right-click a partition

in either area, you can perform a variety of functions, such as formatting the partition and changing the name and drive-letter assignment For additional options and information, you can also access the Properties of a partition by right-clicking it and selecting Properties

Windows 2000 and XP Professional support both basic and dynamic storage The partition

that the operating system boots from must be designated as active Only one partition on a

disk may be marked active With basic storage, Windows 2000 and XP Professional drives can

be partitioned with primary or extended partitions The difference is that extended partitions

can be divided into one or more logical drives and primary partitions cannot be further divided Each 2000/XP Professional hard disk can be divided into a total of four partitions, either four primary partitions or three primary and one extended partition

sub-Using Operating Systems 229

F I G U R E 4 1 7 The Disk Management screen

Finally, there is the concept of a logical partition In reality, all partitions are logical in the

sense that they don’t necessarily correspond to one physical disk One disk can have several logical divisions (partitions) A logical partition is any partition that has a drive letter

Sometimes, you will also hear of a logical partition as one that spans multiple physical disks For example, a network drive that you know as drive H: might actually be located on several physical disks on a server To the user, all that

is seen is one drive, or H:

Backing Up the Data on Your Drives

Another very important aspect of disk management is backing up the data on your drives Sooner or later, you can count on running into a situation where a hard drive fails or data becomes corrupted Without a backup copy of your data, you’re facing a world of trouble try-ing to re-create the data, if that’s even possible or economically feasible You also shouldn’t rely on the Recycle Bin Although it is a good utility to restore an occasional file or directory that a user has accidentally deleted, it will not help you if your drives and the data on them become unusable

Toward that end, Windows has a built-in backup feature called, you guessed it, Backup To access Backup, click Start  Programs (All Programs)  Accessories  System Tools  Backup This will open the Backup Wizard To move on to the Backup utility, click Advanced Mode Fig-ure 4.18 shows the Windows 2000 Backup utility with the Backup tab selected

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F I G U R E 4 1 8 The Windows 2000 Backup utility with the Backup tab selected

The Backup utility in each of the different versions of Windows has different capabilities, with newer versions having greater capabilities In general, you can either run a wizard to cre-ate a backup job or manually specify the files to back up You can also run backup jobs or schedule them to run at specific time at a specific interval Refer to the Windows Help system for in-depth information on how to use Backup

Checking the Health of Hard Disks and

Optimizing Their Performance

As time goes on, it’s important to check the health of Windows computers’ hard disks and optimize their performance Windows provides you with several tools to do so, some of which we’ve already mentioned in this chapter One important tool is Disk Defragmenter, which exists in all versions of Windows except Windows NT

When files are written to a hard drive, they’re not always written contiguously As a result, file data is spread out over the disk, and the time it takes to retrieve files from disk increases Defragmenting a disk involves analyzing the disk and then consolidating fragmented files and folders so they occupy a contiguous space, thus increasing performance during file retrieval

To access Disk Defragmenter, click Start  Programs (All Programs)  Accessories  tem Tools  Disk Defragmenter In the list of drives, select the drive you want to defragment, and then click Analyze When the analysis is finished, Disk Defragmenter tells you how much the drive is defragmented and whether defragmentation is recommended If it is, click Defrag-ment Be aware that for large disks with a lot of fragmented files, this process can take quite some time to finish

Sys-Using Operating Systems 231

In Windows 2000/XP, you can also access Disk Defragmenter through the Properties of any partition listed in Disk Management Click the Tools tab and then click Defragment.

File Management

File management is the process by which a computer stores data and retrieves it from storage

Although some of the file-management interfaces across Windows interfaces may have a ferent look and feel, the process of managing files is similar across the board

dif-Files and Folders

For a program to run, it must be able to read information off the disk and write information back

to the disk In order to be able to organize and access information—especially in larger new systems that may have thousands of files—it is necessary to have a structure and an ordering process

Windows provides this process by allowing you to create directories, also known as folders,

in which to organize files Windows also regulates the way that files are named and the erties of files Each file created in Windows has to follow certain rules, and any program that accesses files through Windows also must comply with these rules Files created on a Windows system must follow these rules:

prop- Each file has a filename of up to 255 characters

 Certain characters, such as a period (.) and slash (\ or /), are prohibited in the filename

 An extension (generally three or four characters) can be added to identify the file’s type

 Filenames are not case sensitive (You can create files with names that use both upper- and lowercase letters, but to identify the file within the file system, it is not necessary to adhere

to the capitalization in the filename.) Thus, you cannot have a file named working.txt and another called WORKING.TXT in the same directory To Windows, these filenames are identical, and you can’t have two files with the same filename in the same directory We’ll get into more detail on this topic a little later

 In Windows 3.x and DOS, filenames were limited to eight characters and a ter extension, separated by a period This is also called the 8.3 file-naming convention

three-charac-With Windows 95, long filenames were introduced, which allowed the 255-character name convention

file-The Windows file system is arranged like a filing cabinet In a filing cabinet, paper is placed into folders, which are inside dividers, which are in a drawer of the filing cabinet In the Win-dows file system, individual files are placed in subdirectories that are inside directories, which are stored on different disks or different partitions

Windows also protects against duplicate filenames, so no two files on the system can have

exactly the same name and path A path indicates the location of the file on the disk; it is composed

of the logical drive letter the file is on and, if the file is located in a directory or subdirectory, the

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names of those directories For instance, if a file named AUTOEXEC.BAT is located in the root of the C: drive—meaning it is not within a directory—the path to the file is C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT If, as another example, a file called FDISK.EXE is located in the Command directory under Windows under the root of C:, then the path to this file is C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\FDISK.EXE

The root directory of any drive is the place where the hierarchy of folders for

that drive begins On a C: drive, for instance, C:\ is the root directory of the drive.

Common file extensions you may encounter are EXE for executable files (applications), DLL for dynamic linked library (DLL) files, SYS for system files, LOG for log files, DRV for driver files, TXT for text files, and others Note that DLL files contain additional functions and commands applications can use and share In addition, most applications use specific file extensions for the documents created with each application For example, documents created

in Microsoft Word have a DOC extension You’ll also encounter extensions such as MPG for video files, MP3 for music files, TIF and JPG for graphics files, HTM or HTML for web pages, and so on Being familiar with different filename extensions is helpful in working with the Windows filesystem

Capabilities of Windows Explorer

Although it is technically possible to use the command-line utilities provided within the mand prompt to manage your files, this generally is not the most efficient way to accomplish most tasks The ability to use drag-and-drop techniques and other graphical tools to manage the file system makes the process far simpler, and Windows Explorer is a utility that allows you to accomplish a number of important file-related tasks from a single graphical interface,

com-as shown in Figure 4.19

F I G U R E 4 1 9 The Windows Explorer program

Using Operating Systems 233

Some of the tasks you can accomplish using Windows Explorer include the following:

 Viewing files and directories

 Opening programs or data files

 Creating directories and files

 Copying objects (files or directories) to other locations

 Moving objects (files or directories) to other locations

 Deleting or renaming objects (files or directories)

 Searching for a particular file or type of file

 Changing file attributes

 Formatting new disks (such as floppy disks)

You can access many of these functions by right-clicking a file or folder and selecting the appropriate option, such as Copy or Delete, from the context menu

Navigating and Using Windows Explorer

Using Windows Explorer is simple A few basic instructions are all you need to start working with it First, Windows Explorer interface has a number of parts, each of which serves a spe-cific purpose The top area of Windows Explorer is dominated by a set of menus and toolbars that give you easy access to common commands The main section of the window is divided into two panes: The left pane displays the drives and folders available, and the right pane dis-plays the contents of the currently selected folder In pre–Windows XP versions, along the bot-tom of the window, the status bar displays information about the used and free space on the current directory Some common actions in Explorer include the following:

Expanding a Folder You can double-click a folder in the left pane to expand the folder

(show its subfolders in the left pane) and display the contents of the folder in the right pane Clicking the plus sign (+) to the left of a folder expands the folder without changing the display

in the right pane

Collapsing a Folder Clicking the minus sign (–) next to a folder unexpands/collapses it Selecting a File If you click the file in the right pane, Windows highlights the file by marking

it with a darker color

Selecting Multiple Files The Ctrl and Shift keys allow you to select multiple files at once

Holding down Ctrl while clicking individual files selects each new file while leaving the rently selected file(s) selected as well Holding down Shift while selecting two files selects both

cur-of them and all files in between

Opening a File Double-clicking a file in the right pane opens the program if the file is an

application; if it is a data file, it will open using whichever file extension is configured for it

Changing the View Type Windows 2000 has five different view types: Large Icons, Small

Icons, List, Details, and Thumbnail Then, in Windows XP, the Tiles view was added In XP, you can still choose to view objects with icons, but you can no longer choose between large

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and small icons You can move between these views by clicking the View menu and selecting the view you prefer

Finding Specific Files This option is accessed by using the Search button You can search for

files based on their name, file size, file type, and other attributes

In Exercise 4.8, we will show you how to search for a file type

When you’re searching, you can also use wildcards Wildcards are characters

that act as placeholders for a character or set of characters, allowing, for instance, a search for all files with a text (.TXT) extension To perform such a

search, you’d type an asterisk (*) as a stand-in for the filename: *.TXT An

aster-isk takes the place of any number of characters in a search A question mark (?) takes the place of a single number or letter For example, AUTOEX??.BAT would return the file AUTOEXEC.BAT as part of its results.

Creating New Objects To create a new file, folder, or other object, navigate to the location

where you want to create the object, and then right-click in the right pane (without selecting

a file or directory) In the menu that appears, select New and then choose the object you want

to create, as shown in Figure 4.20

E X E R C I S E 4 8

Searching for a Type of File

Many computers have over 100,000 files Finding one manually can be like looking for a dle in a haystack.

nee-1. In Windows 2000, click the Search button on the toolbar In Windows XP, click the Search button on the toolbar and then click All Files And Folders in the left pane.

2. The Search pane appears You are prompted for the Search information.

3 Type *.TXT in the field that asks for the name of the file(s).

4 In the Look In field, enter C:\, and click Find Now.

5. In Windows 2000, to include subfolders, click Search Options and then select Advanced Options Once you select Advanced Options, Search Subfolders is automatically selected In Windows XP, subfolders are searched by default (To disable this function, click More Advanced Functions and deselect Search Subfolders.)

6. Click Search Now (Windows 2000) or Search (Windows XP).

7. Windows searches the C: drive and eventually displays a Search Results window with all the files it has found.

Using Operating Systems 235

F I G U R E 4 2 0 Creating a new folder

Deleting Objects Select the object and press the Del key on the keyboard, or right-click the

object and select Delete from the menu that appears

The simplicity of deleting in Windows makes it likely that you or one of the people you support will delete or misplace a file or a number of files that are still needed In such a case, the Recycle Bin (mentioned earlier) is a lifesaver.

In Exercise 4.9, we will show you how to create and delete objects in Windows Explorer

E X E R C I S E 4 9

Using Windows Explorer to Create and Delete Objects

The primary file and folder management tool in Windows is Windows Explorer It’s important you be able to navigate through it as well as create and delete objects such as files and folders.

1. Open Windows Explorer In Windows 2000, click Start  Programs  Accessories  Windows Explorer In Windows XP, click Start  All Programs  Accessories  Windows Explorer.

2. To see which applications are installed in the Program Files directory, navigate the archy from My Computer to C: to Program Files You may need to click the + next to one

hier-or mhier-ore of the folders to expand them and see their contents.

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Besides simplifying most file-management commands as shown here, Windows Explorer also allows you to easily complete a number of disk-management tasks You can format and label floppy disks and, in some cases, copy the Windows system files to a floppy so that you can use a disk to boot a machine

Changing File Attributes

File attributes determine what specific users can do to files or directories For example, if a file

or directory is flagged with the Read Only attribute, then users can read the file or directory but not make changes to it or delete it Attributes include Read Only, Hidden, System, and Archive, as well as Compression, Indexing, and Encryption Not all attributes are available with all versions of Windows We’ll look at this subject in more detail in a moment

You can view and change file attributes either with the ATTRIB command-prompt mand or through the Properties of a file or directory To access the Properties of a file or direc-tory in the Windows GUI, right-click the file or directory and select Properties Figure 4.21 shows the Properties screen of a file in Windows XP In Windows XP, you can view and con-figure the Read Only and Hidden file attributes on the General tab To view and configure additional attributes, click Advanced

com-F I G U R E 4 2 1 The General tab of a Windows XP file’s Properties screen

3. Navigate back to the root of C: and right-click in the right pane Select New  Folder and

type TEST as the name of the folder.

4. Double-click the new TEST folder and examine the right pane after its contents are played The folder was just created, so it is empty Right-click in the right pane and select New  Text Document Give the file the name NEW.TXT.

dis-5. To delete the file you just created, select it by clicking it once and then right-click it Choose Delete You are asked whether you are sure you want to send the file to the Recy- cle Bin; click Yes.

E X E R C I S E 4 9 ( c o n t i n u e d )

Using Operating Systems 237

System files are usually flagged with the Hidden attribute, meaning they don’t appear when

a user displays a directory listing You should not change this attribute on a system file unless absolutely necessary System files are required for the OS to function If they are visible, users might delete them (perhaps thinking they can clear some disk space by deleting files they don’t recognize) Needless to say, that would be a bad thing!

File system Advanced Attributes

Windows 2000 and XP use the NT File system (NTFS), which gives you a number of options that are not available on earlier file systems such as FAT or FAT32 A number of these options are implemented through the use of the Advanced Attributes window, shown in Figure 4.22

To reach these options in Windows 2000/XP, right-click the folder or file you wish to modify and select Properties from the menu On the main Properties page of the folder or file, click the Advanced button in the lower-right corner

F I G U R E 4 2 2 The Advanced Attributes window in Windows 2000

On the Advanced Attributes screen you have access to the following settings:

Archiving This option tells the system whether the file has changed since the last time it was

backed up Technically it is known as the Archive Needed attribute; if this box is selected, the file should be backed up If it is not selected, a current version of the file is already backed up

Indexing Windows 2000 and XP implement an Index Service to catalog and improve the

search capabilities of your drive Once files are indexed, you can search them more quickly by name, date, or other attributes Setting the index option on a folder causes a prompt to appear, asking whether you want the existing files in the folder to be indexed as well If you choose to

do this, Windows 2000 and XP automatically reset this attribute on subfolders and files If not, only new files created in the directory are indexed

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Compression Windows 2000 and XP support advanced compression options, which were

first introduced in Windows NT NTFS files and folders can be dynamically compressed and uncompressed, often saving a great deal of space on the drive As with Indexing, turning on Compression for a folder results in your being prompted as to whether you want the existing files

in the folder to be compressed If you choose to do this, Windows 2000 and XP automatically compress the subfolders and files If not, only new files created in the directory are compressed

Compression works best on such files as word-processing documents and uncompressed images Word files and MS Paint bitmaps can be compressed

up to 80 percent Files that are already packed well do not compress as tively; EXE and Zip files generally compress only about 2 percent Similarly GIF and JPEG images are already compressed (which is why they are used in Internet web pages), so they compress a little or not at all.

effec-Encryption First introduced in Windows 2000 and also available in Windows XP,

encryp-tion lets you secure files against anyone else’s being able to view them, by encoding the files

with a key that only you have access to This can be useful if you’re worried about extremely sensitive information, but in general, encryption is not necessary on the network NTFS local file security is usually enough to provide users with access to what they need and prevent oth-ers from getting to what they shouldn’t If you want to encrypt a file, go through the same pro-cess you would for indexing or compression

Encryption and Compression are mutually exclusive—you can set one but not both features on a file or folder Neither feature is available in XP Home edition.

If a user forgets their password or is unable to access the network to ticate their account, they will not be able to open encrypted files By default,

authen-if the user’s account is lost or deleted, the only other user who can decrypt the file is the Administrator account.

File Permissions

Windows 2000 and XP also support the use of file permissions, because these OSs use NTFS,

which includes file-level file system security (rather than just share-level security, as is the case

with Windows 9x/Me) Permissions serve the purpose of controlling who has access and what

type of access to what files or objects Several permissions are available, such as Read, Write, Execute, Delete, Change Permissions, Take Ownership, Full Control, and so on The list is quite extensive For a complete list, consult the Windows Help files These permissions are

called special permissions.

Using Operating Systems 239

Assigning special permissions individually could be a tedious task To make it easier for

administrators to assign multiple permissions at once, Windows incorporates standard

per-missions Standard permissions are collections of special permissions, including Full Control,

Modify, Read & Execute, Read, and Write As we said, each of these standard permissions automatically assigns multiple special permissions at once To see which special permissions

are assigned by the different standard permissions, enter File Permissions (List) into the Help

system’s index keyword area

Note that you can assign permissions to individual users or to groups You assign standard permissions on the Security tab of a file or folder (see Figure 4.23), which you access through the file or folder’s Properties

F I G U R E 4 2 3 The Security tab for a folder on a Windows 2000 Professional computer

In Exercise 4.10, we will show you how to examine file permissions

E X E R C I S E 4 1 0

Examining File Permissions

Being able to set file permissions is a great reason to use NTFS Here’s how to examine file permissions:

1. Open Windows Explorer.

2. Right-click a file or folder and choose Properties.

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Be sure you don’t accidentally make any changes you’re not intending to make Changing permissions without understanding the ramifications can have negative consequences, such as losing access to files or folders.

Summary

In this chapter, you learned about Windows, where it came from, alternative operating tems, the basics of Windows structure, critical boot files, and window management Because Windows is a graphical system, the key to success in learning to use it is to click every option and examine every window By exploring the system to find out what it can do, you will be better prepared to later decipher what a user has done

sys-First, we covered a brief history of Windows, some alternative operating systems, and ating system concepts In order to understand why we are where we are today with operating systems, you need to know where they came from and how their features sprang from necessity.Next, we covered the Windows interface Among other things, we looked at the layout and components of the Desktop, the Taskbar, and the Start menu, as well as at basic icons present

oper-in default Woper-indows oper-installations Next, we covered what the component that gives Woper-indows its name (the window) actually is and how windows are used

We then went over how Windows 2000 and Windows XP boot up, including critical files involved in the boot process

3. Select and then examine the Security tab The Security tab will not appear if Simple File Sharing is selected If this is the case, you can turn off Simple File Sharing by selecting the Tools menu  Folder Options  View tab Then scroll down in the Advanced Settings area to Use Simple File Sharing and uncheck the box.

4. You’ll see the users and/or groups to which permissions have been assigned Select a user or group in the list and examine the list of standard permissions (To add a new user

or group, click Add and follow the prompts.) Any standard permissions that are checked

in the Allow column are applied If a check box is grayed out, this means the permission was inherited To revoke a set of standard permissions, click the appropriate check box

in the Deny column If you click the check box in the Deny column for the Full Control mission, all other standard permissions are denied also.

per-5. Click Advanced to examine advanced options.

6. Click Cancel twice to close the file or folder’s Properties.

E X E R C I S E 4 1 0 ( c o n t i n u e d )

com-Understand the fundamental reasons for choosing one operating system over another The

most important thing when choosing an operating system is to ensure that your hardware and software will be compatible with the operating system If you have older hardware or mission-critical applications that will not run with Windows XP, for example, then it might make sense

to run an older operating system

Know what the critical Windows interfaces are and how to use them This list includes

using the Desktop, Taskbar, Start menu, icons, windows, Control Panel, the command prompt, My Computer, My Network Places, the system tray, and the Registry editor

Know what the Windows 2000 and Windows XP boot files are and the order in which they load The order is NTLDR, BOOT.INI, BOOTSECT.DOS (for systems booting into an older oper-

ating system, such as Windows 9x or DOS), NTDETECT.COM, NTBOOTDD.SYS (for systems using

a SCSI boot device), and NTOSKRNL.EXE

Know what file systems are available in Windows 2000 and Windows XP and what the ences between them are The two most commonly used file systems used on Windows 2000

differ-and XP hard drives are FAT32 differ-and NTFS (FAT16, often referred to as FAT, is also available but is much less efficient than FAT32.) FAT32 is older and perhaps a bit quicker for smaller hard drives NTFS adds a bunch of important features, including security and auditing

Understand how to manage files in Windows Nearly all file management is accomplished

through Windows Explorer, including moving, copying, renaming, and deleting files and changing file attributes, advanced attributes, and permissions

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Review Questions

1. What is the Desktop?

A. The top of the desk where the computer sits

B. A tool that keeps track of all the data on disk

C. Where all of a computer’s memory is stored

D. The virtual desk upon which all of your other programs and utilities run

2. The screensaver can be changed in the dialog box

4. The Taskbar can be increased in size by

A. Right-clicking the mouse and dragging the Taskbar to make it bigger

B. Left-clicking the mouse and double-clicking the Taskbar

C. Moving the mouse pointer to the top of the Taskbar, pausing until the pointer turns into

a double-headed arrow, and then clicking and dragging

D. Highlighting the Taskbar and double-clicking in the center

5. Which of the following file attributes are available to files on a FAT32 partition?

A. Hidden, Read Only, Archive, System

B. Compression, Hidden, Archive, Encryption, Read Only

C. Read Only, Hidden, System, Encryption

D. Indexing, Read Only, Hidden, System, Compression

6. What was the first 32-bit preemptive multitasking system?

A. Windows 2

B. Windows 3

C. Windows 95

D. Windows 98

Review Questions 243

7. The Windows Explorer program can be used to do which of the following? (Select all that apply.)

A. Browse the Internet

B. Copy and move files

C. Change file attributes

D. Create backup jobs

8. Standard permissions are

A. The same as special permissions

B. Only the Read, Write, and Execute permissions

C. Permissions assigned to users but not to groups

D. Special permissions grouped together for easy assignment

9. Virtual memory is configured through which system tool?

A. Using the Shut Down command

B Typing cmd in the Start Run box

C. Using the Run command and typing in the name of the program

D Typing cmd in the Start box followed by the program name

11. What can you do if a program is not responding to any commands and appears to be locked up? (Choose all that apply.)

A. Open the System control panel and choose Performance to see what process is causing the problem

B. Add more memory

C. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to reboot the computer

D. Open Task Manager, select the appropriate task, and click End Task

12. In Windows, a deleted file can be retrieved using which of the following?

A. My Computer icon

B. Recycle Bin

C. Control Panel

D. Settings panel

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13. To turn off a Windows 2000 machine, you should

A. Run the Shut Down (Turn Off) command at a command prompt

B. Turn off the switch and unplug the machine

C. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del

D. Select Start  Shut Down, choose Shut Down, and turn off the computer

14. Which type of resource do you configure in Device Manager?

D. Windows doesn’t come with a backup program

16. Which of the following files bootstraps Windows XP?

Review Questions 245

19. Within Windows 2000, what is the maximum length of a filename?

A. 8 characters plus a 3-character extension

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Answers to Review Questions

1. D By default, the Desktop contains the Start menu, the Taskbar, and a number of icons Because it is the base on which everything else sits, how the Desktop is configured can have

a major effect on how the GUI looks and how convenient it is for users

2. A The screensaver can be changed in the Display Properties dialog box To access the Display Properties dialog box, you can either right-click anywhere on the Desktop and choose Prop-erties from the menu that appears or go to the Control Panel and open the Display applet

3. B Linux is an open-source operating system Neither the Mac OS nor any of the Windows operating systems are open source Linux was born from the world of Unix, which is tradi-tionally an open-source environment

4. C You can increase the Taskbar’s size by moving the mouse pointer to the top of the Taskbar, pausing until the pointer turns into a double-headed arrow, and then clicking and dragging Keep in mind that in Windows XP, you have to unlock the Taskbar first by right-clicking on

it and deselecting Lock The Taskbar

5. A FAT32 does not have as many options as NTFS, such as Encryption and Compression These attributes are available only on NTFS partitions

6. C The first 32-bit preemptive multitasking system was Windows 95 Windows 95 can emulate and support cooperative multitasking for programs that require it It also supports both 32-bit and 16-bit drivers as well as DOS drivers, although the 32-bit drivers are strongly recommended over the DOS ones because they are far more stable and are faster

7. B, C The Windows Explorer program can be used to copy and move files and to change file attributes

8. D Standard permissions, unlike special permissions, have been grouped together to make it easier for administrators to assign permissions

9. B Virtual memory settings are accessed through the Performance tab or area of the System control panel

10. C To run any program, select Start  Run and type the name of the program in the Open field

If you don’t know the exact name of the program, you can find the file by clicking the Browse button Once you have typed in the executable name, click OK to run the program

11. C, D If an application is locked up, you can use Ctrl+Alt+Del to reboot You can also use Task Manager to deal with applications that have stopped responding

12. B All deleted files are placed in the Recycle Bin Deleted files are held there until the Recycle Bin is emptied Users can easily recover accidentally deleted files from the Recycle Bin

13. D To turn off a Windows 2000 machine, select Start  Shut Down, choose Shut Down, and turn off the computer

Answers to Review Questions 247

14. A Device Manager is used in Windows to configure all hardware resources that Windows knows about

15. B The Backup utility is provided with all versions of Windows, but it has different levels of functionality in the different versions

16. A The NTLDR file bootstraps the system (is the initial file that starts the operating system) and

in turn loads the BOOT.INI There is no file called BOOTSTRAP.EXE, and NTBOOTDD.SYS is called only if you’re using a SCSI boot device

17. C The operating system boots from the active partition Active partitions must be primary partitions, but a primary partition does not have to be active (as there can be up to four primary partitions per hard drive)

18. B There are five basic hives in the Windows Registry, and they are HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_USERS, and HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE stores information about the computer’s hardware HKEY_CURRENT_MACHINE, HKEY_MACHINE, and HKEY_RESOURCES do not exist

19. C In Windows 2000 (and XP for that matter), filenames can be no longer than 255 characters Under DOS, files were limited by the 8.3 standard of 8 characters plus a 3-character file extension

20. A Windows Disk Defragmenter rearranges files on your hard disk so they occupy contiguous spaces (as much as possible) Windows Explorer lets you view and manage files but not man-age their location on the physical hard disk SCANDISK will check the hard drive for errors, and Windows Backup backs up files but does not manage their physical location

5

Understanding Basics of Installing, Configuring,

Optimizing, and Upgrading Operating Systems

THE FOLLOWING COMPTIA A+ ESSENTIALS EXAM OBJECTIVES ARE COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:

3.2 Install, configure, optimize and upgrade operating systems – references to upgrading from Windows 95 and NT may be made

 Identify procedures for installing operating systems including:

 Verification of hardware compatibility and minimum requirements

 Installation methods (e.g boot media such as CD, floppy or USB, network installation, drive imaging)

 Operating system installation options (e.g attended / unattended, file system type, network configuration)

 Disk preparation order (e.g start installation, partition and format drive)

 Device driver configuration (e.g install and upload device drivers)

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 Identify procedures for upgrading operating systems including:

 Upgrade considerations (e.g hardware, application and / or network compatibility)

 Implementation (e.g backup data, install additional Windows components)

 Install / add a device including loading, adding device drivers and required software including:

 Determine whether permissions are adequate for performing the task

 Device driver installation (e.g automated and / or manual search and installation of device drivers)

 Using unsigned drivers (e.g driver signing)

 Verify installation of the driver (e.g device manager and functionality)

 Identify procedures and utilities used to optimize operating systems for example, virtual memory, hard drives, temporary files, service, startup and applications4831xc05.fm Page 250 Thursday, September 14, 2006 3:24 PM

At some point, an operating system must be installed, stalled, or upgraded Often, this is the case because you have built a new computer and need to install the OS to get the com-puter up and operating Or you may have an older OS and want to upgrade it to the newest version In either case, the ability to install an OS and configure it properly is an important skill

rein-to have

In this chapter, you will learn how to install the Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems, as well as upgrade earlier versions of Windows to Windows XP You will also learn the procedures that must be followed, both pre- and post-installation, to ensure your com-puter works optimally

Aside from installing operating systems, technicians are frequently asked to install new hardware devices Along with installing the physical hardware, you must install the proper software to make the device work This chapter looks at device driver installation, to help devices work problem-free the first time

Finally, we’ll look at a problem that really doesn’t need to be a problem It’s when your fectly wonderful computer starts showing performance issues and running slower, and slower, and slower This problem can be often fixed by optimizing your Windows installation, and we’ll end the chapter looking at how to do that

per-Installing Operating Systems

Usually, you install an OS from scratch—that is, you install it on a computer that currently has

no OS If the computer already has an OS, you will be essentially performing an OS upgrade

In the following sections, you will learn how to perform an installation of Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional You will also learn the prerequisites for installa-tion of each OS

Installation Prerequisites

Before you can begin to install an OS, there are several items you must consider in order to have a flawless installation You must perform these tasks before you even put the OS instal-lation CD-ROM into your computer’s CD-ROM drive These items essentially set the stage for the procedure you are about to perform:

 Determining hardware compatibility and minimum requirements

 Determining installation options

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252 Chapter 5  Understanding Basics of Installing, Configuring, Optimizing OSs

 Determining the installation method

 Preparing the computer for installation

Let’s begin our discussion by talking about hardware compatibility issues and requirements for installing the various versions of Windows

Determining Hardware Compatibility and

Minimum Requirements

Before you can begin to install any version of Windows, it is important that you determine whether the hardware you will be using is supported by the Windows version you will be run-ning That is, will the version of Windows have problems running any drivers for the hardware you have?

To answer this question, Microsoft has come up with several versions of its Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) This is a list of all the hardware that works with Windows and which versions of Windows it works with You can find this list at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/search.mspx With the release of Windows XP, Microsoft expanded the idea of the HCL to include software as well—and a list that includes both hardware and soft-ware can hardly be called a Hardware Compatibility List The new term is the Windows Cat- alog, and eventually the Windows Catalog will completely replace HCLs

Another name for the Windows Catalog is the Windows Marketplace, able at http://www.windowsmarketplace.com

avail-The point is, before you install Windows, you should check all your computer’s nents against this list and make sure each item is compatible with the version of Windows you plan to install

compo-In addition to general compatibility, it is important that your computer have enough

“oomph” to run the version of Windows you plan to install For that matter, it is important for your computer to have enough resources to run any software you plan to use Toward that end, Microsoft (as well as other software publishers) publishes a list of both minimum and rec-ommended hardware specifications that you should follow when installing Windows

Minimum specifications are the absolute minimum requirements for hardware you should have in your system in order to install and run the OS you have chosen Recommended hard-ware specifications are what you should have in your system to realize usable performance Always try to have the recommended hardware (or better) in your system If you don’t, you may have to upgrade your hardware before you upgrade your OS Table 5.1 lists the minimum and recommended hardware specifications for the versions of Windows tested on in the A+ Essentials exam Note that in addition to these minimums, the hardware must be compatible with Windows Also, additional hardware may be required if certain features are installed (for example, a NIC is required for networking support)

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Installing Operating Systems 253

If there is one thing to be learned from Table 5.1, it is that Microsoft is nothing if not mistic For your own sanity, though, we strongly suggest that you always take the minimum requirements with a grain of salt They are minimums Even the recommended requirements should be considered minimums Bottom line: Make sure you have a good margin between your system’s performance and the minimum requirements listed Always run Windows on

opti-more hardware, rather than less!

Other hardware—sound cards, network cards, modems, video cards, and so on—may or may not work with Windows If the device is fairly recent, you can be relatively certain that

it was built to work with the newest version of Windows But if it is older, you may need to find out who made the hardware and check their website to see if they have drivers for the ver-sion of Windows you are installing

T A B L E 5 1 Windows 2000 and XP Minimum and Recommended Hardware

Hardware

2000 Professional Requirement

2000 Professional Recommendation

XP Professional Requirement

XP Professional Recommendation Processor Pentium 133 Pentium II or higher 233MHz Pen-

tium/Celeron or AMD K6/Athlon/

Duron

300 MHz or higher Intel- compatible processor

CD-ROM

or DVD

better

SuperVGA or better

Mouse Required (but

not listed as a requirement)

Required (but not listed as a requirement)

Required Required

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254 Chapter 5  Understanding Basics of Installing, Configuring, Optimizing OSs

Determining OS Installation Options

In addition to making sure you have enough and the right kind of hardware, you must mine a few of the Windows installation options These options control how Windows will be installed, as well as which Windows components will be installed These options include:

compo- A custom installation usually allows you to choose exactly which components are installed

Some Windows Setup programs include a portable installation type as well, which installs components needed for portable system installations on laptops

It includes such features as power management and LCD display software.

All Windows versions use these, or derivations of these installation types, and you should decide ahead of time which method you are going to use (which may be dictated by the amount

of disk space you have available)

Network Configuration

With many versions of Windows, you can choose whether to install networking options If you do install networking, you can also choose (with some versions of Windows) which net-working components you want installed With Windows 2000/XP, you also must know which workgroup or domain you are going to install

File System Type

As Windows has evolved, a number of changes have been made to the basic architecture, as you might expect One of the architecture items that have changed the most is the disk system structure There have been multiple changes in the file system since DOS (the first Microsoft OS) The file sys-tems available in Windows are covered in detail in Chapter 4, but your primary choices are the 4831xc05.fm Page 254 Thursday, September 14, 2006 3:24 PM

Installing Operating Systems 255

New Technology File System (NTFS) and File Allocation Table (FAT) For Windows 2000 and

Windows XP computers, it’s almost always better to go with NTFS, unless you’re running an older

operating system such as Windows 98 on the same computer as well

When you’re installing any Windows OS, you will be asked first to format the drive using

one of the available filesystems Choose based on what the computer will be doing and which

OS you are installing

Dual-Boot Support

Occasionally, a mission-critical program (one you can’t do your business or function without it)

doesn’t support the OS to which you are upgrading There may be a newer release in the future,

but at the present time it isn’t supported In that case, you may have to install the new OS in a

dual-boot configuration

It is also possible, in some situations, to have a multiboot configuration where you can choose from a list of OSs However, this setup makes it more difficult to choose compatible disk formats and often requires multiple disks

to accomplish properly.

In a dual-boot configuration, you install two OSs on the computer (Windows 98 and

Windows 2000, for example) At boot time, you have the option of selecting which OS you

want to use

It is possible to multiple-boot to all Microsoft OSs, including DOS and all versions of

Windows (95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP) Microsoft recommends that each installation be done

to a separate disk (or partition) in order to avoid conflicts with built-in programs like

Internet Explorer In addition, you should install the oldest OS first (usually MS-DOS or

Windows 98) and then proceed in chronological order to the newest (Windows XP)

For more information on dual-boot and multiboot configurations, visit the Microsoft support website at http://support.microsoft.com

Determining the Installation Method

Another item you must determine is which method you are going to use to install Windows

Most versions of Windows come on a CD-ROM (which is bootable for every version after and

including Windows 98 Second Edition) It was possible to install older versions of Windows

(pri-marily Windows 95 and, to some degree, Windows 98) using floppy disks Granted, there were

several disks (the first Windows 95 installation used 19 3 1/2-inch floppy diskettes) However,

this isn’t the most efficient method CD-ROMs, because of their large storage capacity, are the

perfect medium to distribute software

Windows 2000 and Windows XP each come on a single CD-ROM (not together, of course,

but each on its own CD-ROM) It is possible to boot to this CD and begin the installation

pro-cess However, your system must have a system BIOS and CD-ROM capable of supporting

bootable CDs

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256 Chapter 5  Understanding Basics of Installing, Configuring, Optimizing OSs

If you don’t have a bootable CD, you must first boot the computer using some other

boot-able media (a floppy disk, for example), which then loads the CD-ROM driver so that you can

access the installation program on the CD With Windows 2000, these bootable disks usually

come with the packaged operating system

There’s one more thing to consider when evaluating installation methods Some methods

only work if you’re performing a clean installation, and not an upgrade (For details on

perform-ing upgrades, see the “Upgradperform-ing the Operatperform-ing System” section later in this chapter.) Table 5.2

shows you four common unattended installation methods, and when they can be used

Two common categories of installations are attended and unattended In an

attended installation, a user must be present to choose all of the options when the installation program gets to that point As you can imagine, if you have sev- eral hundred computers to install, this isn’t exactly efficient The other option is

an unattended installation, which does not require human intervention once started and is frequently used when installing over the network

Let’s look at each of these in a bit more detail

Unattended Installation

Answering the myriad of questions posed by Windows setup doesn’t qualify as exciting work

for most people Fortunately, there is a way to answer the questions automatically, and it’s

through an unattended installation In this type of installation, an answer file is supplied with

all of the correct parameters (time zone, regional settings, administrator user name, and so on),

so no one needs to be there to tell the computer what to choose or to hit Next 500 times

Unattended installations are great because they can be used to upgrade operating systems to

Windows 2000/XP The first step is to create an answer file Generally speaking, you’ll want

to run a test installation using that answer file first before deploying it on a large scale, because

you’ll probably need to make some tweaks to it After you create your answer file, place it on a

network share that will be accessible from the target computer (Most people put it in the same

place as the Windows 2000/XP installation files for convenience.)

T A B L E 5 2 Windows 2000 and XP Unattended Installation Methods

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Installing Operating Systems 257

Boot the computer that you want to install on using a boot disk or CD, and establish the

network connection Once you start the setup process, everything should run automatically

Sysprep

Another common unattended installation tool is the system preparation tool, or sysprep The

sysprep utility works by making an exact image or replica of a computer (called the master

com-puter), to be installed on other computers Sysprep removes the master computer’s Security ID,

and will generate new IDs for each computer the image is used to install

All sysprep does is create the system image You still need a third-party cloning utility to copy the image to other computers.

Perhaps the biggest caveat to using sysprep is that because you are making an exact image of an

installed computer (including drivers and settings), all of the computers that you will be installing

the image on need to be identical (or very close) to the configuration of the master computer

Oth-erwise, you could have to go through and fix driver problems on every installed computer Sysprep

images can be installed across a network or copied to a CD for local installation Sysprep cannot

be used to upgrade a system; plan on all data on the system (if there is any) being lost after a format

There are several third-party vendors which provide similar services, and you’ll often hear it

referred to as disk imaging or drive imaging The process works the same way as sysprep, except that

the third-party utility makes the image as well Then the image file is transferred to the computer

without an OS You boot the new system with the Ghost (imaging software) floppy and start the

image download The new system’s disk drive is made into an exact sector-by-sector copy of the

original system

Imaging has major upsides The biggest one is speed In larger networks with multiple new

computers, you can configure tens to hundreds of computers by using imaging in just hours,

rather than the days it would take to individually install the OS, applications, and drivers

Bootable Media

For computers not connected to a network, images can be copied to a CD-ROM for local

installation This is a quick way to perform a clean installation of an operating system without

consuming all of your network bandwidth However, keep in mind that most CD-ROMs can

only store in the neighborhood of 650MB of data, which can be limiting

Remote Install

Windows 2000 Server and newer Windows Server operating systems have a feature called

Remote Installation Service (RIS), which allows you to perform several network installations

at one time A network installation is handy when you have many installs to do and installing

by CD is too much work for many computers

In a network installation, the installation CD is copied to a shared location on the network

Then individual workstations boot and access the network share The workstations can boot

either through a boot disk or through a built-in network boot device known as a boot ROM

Boot ROMs essentially download a small file that contains an OS and network drivers and has

enough information to boot the computer in a limited fashion At the very least, it can boot

the computer so it can access the network share and begin the installation

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258 Chapter 5  Understanding Basics of Installing, Configuring, Optimizing OSs

Preparing the Computer for Installation

Once you have verified that the machine on which you are planning to install Windows is capable of running it properly, you’re sure all hardware is supported, and you have chosen your installation options, you need to make certain that the system is ready for the install The primary question is whether you are planning to perform a fresh install of Windows or whether you are going to upgrade an existing system We’ll deal with upgrading later in the chapter; for now, we’ll focus on new installations

Preparing the Hard Drive

If you are installing Windows onto a system that does not already have a functioning OS, you have a bit of work to do before you get to the installation itself New disk drives need two critical functions performed on them before they can be used:

 Partitioning is the process of assigning part or all of the drive for use by the computer.

 Formatting is the process of preparing the partition to store data in a particular fashion.

With older operating systems, you dealt with these two procedures by using the FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM commands Running any sort of command on a machine that has no OS is impossible, though You need a way to boot the computer: either a floppy disk that is bootable

or, more likely, the Windows 2000 or Windows XP CD-ROM

For Windows 2000/XP the process will always be to boot up (which starts the installation process), partition the drive, and then format the drive

Partitioning the Hard Drive

Partitioning refers to establishing large allocations of hard-drive space A partition is a

con-tinuous section of sectors that are next to each other In DOS and Windows, a partition is referred to by a drive letter, such as C: or D: Partitioning a drive into two or more parts gives

it the appearance of being two or more physical hard drives At the beginning of each hard

drive is a special file called the master boot record (MBR) The MBR contains the partition

information about the beginning and end of each partition

The size of a partition determines certain aspects of a file pointer table called the File Allocation Table (FAT) The larger the drive partition, the more space will be wasted on the drive NTFS partitions are less wasteful of space than FAT partitions are, beecause of limitations in FAT cluster sizes.

Formatting the Hard Drive

The next step in management of a hard drive is formatting, initiated by the FORMAT mand (or automatically by the installation program) When formatting is performed, the surface of the hard drive platter is briefly scanned to find any possible bad spots, and the areas surrounding a bad spot are marked as bad sectors Then magnetic tracks are laid down

com-Installing Operating Systems 259

in concentric circles These tracks are where information is eventually encoded These

tracks, in turn, are split into pieces of 512 bytes called sectors Some space is reserved in

between the sectors for error-correction information, referred to as cyclic redundancy check (CRC) information The OS may use CRC information to re-create data that has been par-tially lost from a sector An operating system boot record is created along with the root directory Finally, the File Allocation Table (FAT) or Master File Table (MFT) is created This table contains information about the location of files as they are placed onto the hard drive Windows 2000 Professional Installation

The installation processes for operating systems has arguably gotten easier over time Being able to boot to a CD and automatically begin the installation is an example Although modern operating systems have more options for you to choose from, care has also been taken to min-imize the stress involved in the process We will look next at the Windows 2000 installation process and, in doing so, cover the following topics:

 Installation requirements

 Accessing the Setup files

 Running the Setup program

Accessing the Setup Files

Unlike Windows 9x Setup, which must run from a functioning OS (an earlier version of DOS

or Windows or a boot disk), Windows 2000 is generally a breeze to install on a machine To start the install process, place the Windows 2000 Professional CD into the CD-ROM drive and restart the computer After the POST routine for the computer has completed, a message

appears that says Press any key to boot from CD Hit a key, any key, and the Windows 2000

Setup program will start

That is a “perfect world” situation, and sometimes reality intrudes If the Press any key

mes-sage does not appear, that generally means your PC is not configured to boot from CD-ROM

or does not have that capability In such a case, you need to do one of two things:

 Go into the BIOS to set the machine to boot to its CD drive Consult your computer’s user guide for more information about examining and making changes to the BIOS

 Create and use Windows 2000 boot disks to start the setup

260 Chapter 5  Understanding Basics of Installing, Configuring, Optimizing OSs

Starting a Windows 2000 Installation

The startup options we’ve listed all eventually lead you to the same point: executing the Setup routine for Windows 2000 Professional Professional has two different executables used to start Setup, depending on the OS you are using to start the install These executables are WINNT

(used from DOS or Windows 9x) and WINNT32 (used from Windows NT/2000) These

com-mands have various options associated with them, as shown in Tables 5.3 and 5.4

T A B L E 5 3 Common WINNT.EXE Options

/s:sourcepath Allows you to specify the location of the Windows 2000 source files

/t:tempdrive Allows you to specify the drive that Setup uses to store temporary

installation files.

/u:answer file Used in an unattended installation to provide responses to questions

the user would normally be prompted for.

/udf:id [,UDB_file] If you are installing numerous machines, each must have a unique

computer name This setting lets you specify a file with unique values for these settings.

/e:command Allows you to add a command (such as a batch script) to execute at

the end of Setup.

/a Tells Setup to enable accessibility options.

T A B L E 5 4 Common WINNT32.EXE Options

/s:sourcepath Allows you to specify the location of the Windows 2000

source files.

/tempdrive:drive_letter Allows you to specify the drive Setup uses to store

temporary installation files.

/unattend Used to run the install without user intervention.

/unattend[num ]:[answer_file] Allows you to specify custom settings for machines during

an unattended installation.

Installing Operating Systems 261

If you start the install from CD-ROM or create the Windows 2000 boot disks, WINNT.EXE starts the install by loading a number of files and then presents you with a screen that says,

Welcome to Setup.

If you use a Windows 9x boot disk, change to the i386 directory and run WINNT

from that directory.

Partitioning the Drive in Windows 2000

To start Setup, click Enter at the welcome screen, and you will be shown a list of the partitions currently configured on the machine If one of them is acceptable, select that partition and click Enter If you wish to create a new partition, you can do so using the Setup program itself, which replaces FDISK as a way to set up the system’s hard drive(s)

To delete an existing partition, highlight the partition and press D You will be asked to confirm your choice and will be reminded that all information on the partition will be lost If the disk is new or if the old information is no longer needed, this is fine

If you are not sure what is on the drive, find out before you repartition it!

To create a new partition, highlight some free space and press C You will be asked how big you want the partition to be Remember that Windows 2000 Professional wants you to have about 2GB as a minimum, but the partition can be as large as the entire drive

/cmd:command_line Executes a command (such as a batch file at the end

of Setup).

/debug[level ]:[filename] Used to troubleshoot problems during an upgrade.

/udf:id [,UDB_file] Allows certain values that need to be unique to be set

separately for each machine installed.

/checkupgradeonly Performs all the steps of an upgrade, but only as a test

The results are saved to an UPGRADE.TXT file that can be examined for potential problems

/makelocalsource Specifies that the i386 installation directory from the CD

should be copied to the hard drive, allowing for easier updates later.

T A B L E 5 4 Common WINNT32.EXE Options (continued)

262 Chapter 5  Understanding Basics of Installing, Configuring, Optimizing OSs

Formatting the Partition in Windows 2000

Once you have created or decided on a partition to use, you are asked to format that partition

In doing so, you need to choose between NTFS and the FAT filesystem FAT is the file system

of DOS, and its advantages include the following:

 Compatible with DOS and Windows 9x dual-boot configurations

 Excellent speed on small drives

 Accessible and modifiable with many standard DOS disk utilities

NTFS, as you might expect, comes from Windows NT and is a more sophisticated file system that has a number of enhancements that set it apart from FAT:

 Supports larger partition sizes than FAT

 Allows for file-level security to protect system resources

 Supports compression, encryption, disk quotas, and file ownership

In most cases, you will find that it is better to go with NTFS.

When you choose one of the format options, the machine goes out and formats the lation partition This generally takes a few minutes, even on a fast PC

instal-Installing Windows 2000

After the installation partition is formatted, the system checks the new partition for errors and then begins to copy files While the files are being copied, a progress indicator displays on the screen showing you how far along the process is Windows installs files into temporary instal-lation folders on the drive and asks you to reboot once the copy is complete If you do not reboot within 15 seconds of the end of the file copy, the system automatically reboots for you

If Setup detects any problems during the partition check, it attempts to fix them and immediately asks you to reboot At that point the install will need to start over If problems are found, this often indicates problems with the hard drive, and you may want to run a full SCANDISK before returning to the install.

When Windows 2000 Professional reboots, it automatically brings you into a graphical setup that resembles a massive Windows wizard (as shown in Figure 5.1) This is generally referred to as the graphical phase of Windows 2000 Setup, due to the contrast between this phase and the earlier blue-background-and-text text phase where you configured partitions and copied temporary files

During this phase, Windows attempts to identify and configure the hardware in the puter, which may take a few minutes One of the more unsettling parts of Setup occurs during this time, because the screen flickers—and often goes completely black—while monitor detec-tion occurs

com-Installing Operating Systems 263

F I G U R E 5 1 The Windows 2000 Setup Wizard

Windows 2000 comes packaged with an impressive array of drivers and is able to identify and load most modern hardware Still, not all devices have compatible drivers on the Windows 2000 CD-ROM If your hardware is not detected during startup, you can install additional device drivers after Setup completes, as shown later in the chapter.

After hardware detection is completed, the ever-polite Windows 2000 Setup Wizard welcomes you once again To move through the wizard, click the Next and Back buttons along the bottom

of the window The screens of the setup process are as follows:

Regional Settings The first screen rarely needs to be modified if you are configuring the

machine for use in the U.S., but users in other countries will find that this is where they can change keyboard and language settings

Personalize Your Software Enter the name (required) and organization (optional) of the person

to whom the software is registered Both fields are just text boxes Enter any values that apply

Personalize Your Software If you’re using a retail version of the OS, you will be prompted

for the 25-character product key You must enter it in to proceed

Computer Name and Administrator Password The computer name is the name by which a

machine will be known if it participates on a network This name is generally 15 characters or fewer The administrator password is used to protect access to the powerful Administrator

account Unlike Windows 9x, where usernames and password security are optional, all users

must log on with a username and password to use a Windows 2000 Professional Desktop

Modem Dialing Information If a modem has been detected, you are asked for country, area

code, and dialing preference information If you do not have a modem, this screen is skipped

264 Chapter 5  Understanding Basics of Installing, Configuring, Optimizing OSs

Date and Time Settings The Date and Time dialog box also has time zone and daylight

sav-ings time information Any data on this screen can easily be changed later

Networking Settings/Installing Components After you enter the date and time, you will wait

a minute or two as Windows 2000 installs any networking components it has found and pares to walk you through the network configuration As you are waiting, the Status area shows you which components are being installed

pre-Performing Final Tasks The Final Tasks page reports on Setup’s progress while it does

the following:

Installs Start Menu Items Shortcuts are created to the applications and options installed

during Setup

Registers Components The Registry is updated with Setup information.

Saves Settings Configuration information is saved to disk, and other defaults and user

selections are applied (such as area code, time zone, and so on)

Removes Any Temporary Files Used The temporary files saved to the hard drive at the

start of Setup and used to install Windows are removed to free drive space

This last screen can take quite a long time to complete In general, the install

of Windows 2000 takes about twice as long as an install of Windows 9x.

Eventually, the wizard completes, and you are asked to reboot by clicking the Finish button When the system restarts, Windows 2000 Professional Setup is complete, and the standard Windows 2000 boot process initiates

Windows XP Installation

As of the writing of this book, Windows XP is the most common end-user operating system

in the Microsoft OS family Installing it is a breeze compared to previous editions of Windows

As a matter of fact, you can install it with a minimum of user interaction Microsoft has designed Windows XP to be the simplest OS to install yet

As with other versions of Windows, you will go through various phases of the installation:

 Starting the installation

 Text-based installation phase

 Graphical installation phase

Notice, however, that Windows XP does almost everything for you It is a very quick OS installation

This installation process assumes that there is no OS on the computer already

If there is, check out “Upgrading to Windows XP” later in this chapter.

Installing Operating Systems 265

Starting the Installation

During this phase, you begin the installation of Windows XP, configure the disk system to accept Windows XP, and start the graphical phase of Windows XP Setup

In order to start a Windows XP installation, as with the other Windows OSs, you must first check your prerequisites (hardware support, available disk space, and so on) Plus, you must ensure that your computer supports booting to a CD-ROM (most do these days, especially those that are able to support Windows XP)

Once you do, to start the installation, power up the computer and quickly insert the

Win-dows XP CD-ROM If you don’t do this quickly enough, you may get an Operating system not

found message because the CD-ROM wasn’t ready as a boot device (it hadn’t spun up yet) If

this happens, leave the CD in the drive and reboot the computer

You may have to press a key on some systems A phrase like Press any key to

boot from CD-ROM may appear If it does, press a key to do just that so you

can begin the installation.

If the CD is inserted successfully, the screen clears, and the words Setup is inspecting your

computer’s configuration appear After that, the Windows XP Setup main screen appears, as

in Figure 5.2

If your computer was produced after the release of Windows XP and you need

to install a third-party SCSI, IDE, or RAID driver in order to recognize the disk drives, press F6 as soon as the screen turns from black to blue (Setup will prompt you at the bottom of the screen).

F I G U R E 5 2 Windows XP main Setup screen

266 Chapter 5  Understanding Basics of Installing, Configuring, Optimizing OSs

Text-Based Installation Phase

When the Setup screen appears, you can press Enter to begin the installation The End User License Agreement (EULA) screen appears, which you must accept (otherwise you can’t install Windows XP—as with other versions of Windows) Windows Setup then presents you with a series of screens similar to those in previous versions, where you can set up the disk to accept Windows XP with either FAT or NTFS It is best to choose NTFS for performance reasons.Windows Setup now formats the partition as you specified and copies the files needed to start the graphical portion of Setup When it’s finished copying and unpacking the files, Setup reboots the computer and starts the graphical portion of Windows XP Setup If all is success-ful, you will see a screen similar to that in Figure 5.3

Graphical Installation Phase

During the graphical installation phase, Windows XP Setup performs almost all of the actions essary to bring Windows XP to a functional level The first thing it does is copy files to the hard disk and begin installing devices (as shown in Figure 5.4) This process takes several minutes and should not be interrupted

nec-Now, follow these steps:

1. Setup asks you for regional and language settings The defaults are English (United States) for the language, United States for the location, and US Keyboard Layout for the default text-input method If you are in a different location or prefer a different input method, you can change either item by clicking the button next to that item (Customize for lan-guage and location, Details for text-input method) If you accept the displayed options, click Next to continue the installation

2. Identify yourself to Windows XP Setup by entering your name and company

3. Windows asks you for the product key You must enter the product key that comes with your version of Windows XP This product key can be used only on this computer To prevent product key theft, Microsoft requires that you go through product activation after the installation is complete

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F I G U R E 5 3 Windows XP Setup

F I G U R E 5 4 Installing devices in Windows XP Setup

The activation process is simple After installation is complete, a wizard pops up, asking if you want to activate Windows You can choose either the Internet or Phone option If you have a connection to the Internet, the Activation Wizard asks you only which country you live in No other personal information is required You can then click Activate, and the Activation Wizard will send a unique identifier built from the different types of hardware in your system across the Internet to Microsoft’s activation servers These servers will send back a code to the Acti- vation Wizard that activates your copy of Windows XP The phone process is similar, but you must enter the code manually after calling Microsoft and receiving it.

For more information about the process, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/ evaluation/features/activation.mspx.