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Windows XP Professional Study Notes By Jason Zandri Attended Installation Installing Windows XP Professional from a CD-ROM to a clean hard disk consists of these four stages: Running the Setup program - Partitions and formats the hard disk (if required) for the installation to proceed and copies the files necessary to run the Setup Wizard. Running the Setup Wizard - Requests setup information about the local workstation where the installation is taking place. Networking components - Installs the networking components that allow the computer to communicate with other computers on the local network. Completing the installation - This final phase copies files to the hard drive and configures the final stages of the setup. There are some noted differences in the Windows XP Professional installation and older Windows NT4 and Windows Professional installations. The design of the installation program assumes that your system has the ability to boot directly from a CD-ROM or that you will use a Windows 95/98/ME boot floppy to begin installing from a CD. The ability to directly create setup floppies has been dropped from Windows XP. Setup boot disks are available only by download from Microsoft. The Setup boot disks are available so that you can run Setup on computers that do not support a bootable CD-ROM. There are six Windows XP Setup boot floppy disks. These disks contain the files and drivers that are required to access the CD-ROM drive through generic PCI drivers and begin the Setup process. If your computer does support booting from a CD-ROM, or if network-based installation is available, Microsoft recommends that you use those installations methods. Setup will not prompt the user to specify the name of an installation folder unless you are performing an unattended installation or using winnt32 to perform a clean installation. By default, the Setup Wizard installs the Windows XP Professional operating system files in the WINDOWS folder. If this folder exists on the partition you have chosen for the install, setup will warn you that you are about to overwrite the current operating system installed on that partition. In order to keep it (e.g. dual or multi booting scenario) you would need to choose another partition for the installation. To start the Setup program, insert the Windows XP Professional installation CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive If an operating system is detected on the hard drive, the following message will appear:  In this scenario, you would need to press any key on the keyboard to continue with the CDROM installation. After the computer starts, a minimal version of Windows XP Professional is copied into memory. This version of Windows XP Professional starts the Setup program.  After all of the files are copied and the system is restarted, the text-mode portion of Setup is started which prompts you to read and accept a licensing agreement.  You would select "F8-I agree" to continue. (If you elect not to accept the agreement, the installation will end) You are then prompted to select a partition on which to install Windows XP Professional. You can select an existing partition or create a new partition by using any unpartitioned free space on the hard drive(s).  (The above example shows a partitioned and formatted drive) Once a partition has been selected the next step is to select a file system for the new partition. Next, Setup formats the partition with the selected file system. (This would assume that a file system didn't currently exist. In this example, one already does and it is formatted in NTFS so I have elected to leave it as is. Any formatting done here during setup will destroy any existing data on the partitions formatted.)  From here Setup copies files to the hard disk and saves configuration information.  Setup restarts the computer once the file copy is completed and then starts the Windows XP Professional Setup Wizard, the graphical user interface (GUI) portion of Setup.  The GUI-based Windows XP Professional Setup Wizard is the next stage of the installation process.  Regional settings - In this section you are able to customize settings to your language and where you live as well as setup Windows XP Professional to use multiple languages and regional settings.  Personalize your Software - In this section you can enter the name of the person and the organization to which this copy of Windows XP Professional is licensed. This can be your own name and nothing in the organization field or the name of the company in both places if this installation is being performed in a place of business. Software installed on the system later will often use this information for product registration and document identification.  Your Product Key - This page is where you enter your 25-character product key in order to install the software.  If you incorrectly type the key, an error message will be generated.  Computer Name And Administrator Password - Here you enter a name for the computer or use the auto generated one that Windows XP Professional provided. The computer name will always display in all uppercase letters, no matter how you type it. The name is not case sensitive.  In the Administrator Password box on the same screen, you will enter the password to be used for the administrator account and in the Confirm Password box you will re-enter it to make sure that it is entered correctly.  If the passwords do not match, the above error message will appear and you will need to enter them again.  Modem Dialing Information - This section will begin only if an installed modem has been found on your system. Enter the correct country or region if it is not selected. (It should match your selection from the Regional settings page.) Type your area code or city code and any number you might need to dial to get an outside line. You can also select either tone or pulse dialing on this page as well.  Date and Time Settings - This section of Setup allows you to verify that the correct date, time and time zone are entered and whether or not the system should adjust itself automatically at the daylight savings times events each year. Network Settings - The next section of setup deals entirely with installing the Windows XP Professional networking components on your system. Installing Windows XP Professional networking components involves the following processes: Detect network adapter cards - The Setup Wizard detects and configures any network adapter cards installed on the computer. By default, it attempts to locate a DHCP server on the network. If none is found it will use an Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) IP address. (The APIPA IP address feature of Windows XP Professional automatically configures a unique IP address from the range 169.254.0.1 to 169.254.255.255 and a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0 when TCP/IP is configured for dynamic addressing and a DHCP server is not available.) Select networking components - The Setup Wizard prompts you to choose typical or customized settings for networking components.  The Typical (selected by default) installation includes the following options: 
Workgroup or Computer Domain - This section allows you to choose to join a domain for which you have administrative privileges or to join a local workgroup. You can create the computer account in the domain you are joining ahead of time or during installation. (The Setup Wizard prompts you for the name and password of a user account with authority to add domain computer accounts if you elect to create the account during the Windows XP Professional installation).  After installing the networking components, Setup starts the final steps of the installation process, which include:
 After you start Windows XP for the first time, you will come to the Welcome to Microsoft Windows screen to finish setting up your computer. Click on the Green NEXT arrow at the bottom right hand corner of the display. The system will then check to see how you will connect to the Internet. If Windows cannot detect the settings it will prompt you for input. (You can also select SKIP to by pass this section).  The Registration of your Windows XP Professional software IS NOT REQUIRED. You can skip this step and never go back to it. The Windows Product Activation screen appears next. Windows Product Activation has been designed by Microsoft it protect their intellectual property as much as possible from software piracy. According to Microsoft through the setup feature, you do not need to send any information at all when you activate the product, not even a name. This step is required, at this time or within the first 30 days.  If you decide to skip this registration step now, you will only be able to use Windows XP Professional for 30 days. At that time, the operating system will not function without activating the product. You will have no other option but to either blow the partition away and reinstall the OS for another 30 days or activate the software. If you skip this step, Windows XP will periodically remind us during our 30-day period to Activate the product.  The next screen we are brought to is the Internet Access screen, which allows us to configure our Internet connection at this time as well. You do have the option to skip this step as well. The next screen that appears is the User Setup screen. On this setup page you are able to enter the name of each person that will have local access to this computer. If you choose to do this now, Windows XP Professional would create a separate user account for each name entered.  These names would first appear on the Welcome Screen in alphabetical order. At that point, users would be able to select their name from the Welcome screen to use the computer. The local administrator can use User Accounts in the system Control Panel to assign these users with passwords and system permission limits. It is also where additional users can be created, in lieu of doing here or in addition to entering some here. At least one name needs to be entered. This first user becomes a local administrator by default. Upgrading To Windows XP Professional Before we get started with a direct upgrade to Windows XP Professional we need to know which operating systems support a direct upgrade. Windows XP Supported Upgrade Paths The following direct upgrade paths are supported by Microsoft and are considered viable for both the Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Home operating systems. Microsoft Windows 98 Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
Currently, there are no supported direct upgrade paths for the following Microsoft operating systems: Microsoft Windows 3.x Microsoft Windows NT 3.51 Workstation Microsoft Windows NT 3.51 Server Microsoft Windows NT 3.51 Server with Citrix Microsoft Windows 95 Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server Having this information available or knowing where to look it up is important before you get started. [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - I often get the question, "how do you know all of this stuff", when I am working with desktop or system admins. The truth is, I often do not know the information off the top of my head. Sometimes I do, and it is often due to the fact that many people throughout the course of the year come to ask me different questions and because many of them are repetitive I often have immediate recall of them. Many times, (more often than not) I don't remember the answer, but I have a vague idea of where I looked it up when I was asked it before and I head right "battle" is knowing where to look up the information when you need it. If you can do that, you're ahead of the game and ahead of most other people you might work with. Once you are certain that the operating system you're currently using can be directly upgraded to Windows XP Professional, you then need to be sure that the installed system hardware meets the minimum Windows XP Professional hardware requirements by verifying all of the hardware is on theHardware Compatibility List (HCL) at the Microsoft website. Windows XP Professional supports only the devices listed in the HCL. If your hardware isn't listed, contact the hardware manufacturer and request a Windows XP Professional driver. Support means that while the operating system may load and run on unsupported hardware and software, any issues that come up with the system will not be covered (i.e. supported) by Microsoft Technical Support if you should need to engage them. You can test the computer for compatibility by using the Windows XP Professional Compatibility tool. During a system upgrade you will see the option for this on the introductory screen. (You also run the tool from the command line by typing <CDROM DRIVE>:\i386\winnt32 /checkupgradeonly. You can perform just the check and then exit the tool without installing the operating system, if you wish.) If you have AUTORUN enabled on your system the Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP setup screen will appear.  The Windows XP Professional Compatibility tool can be run by selecting Check system compatibility and then Check my system automatically.   If any issues are found they will be reported in the Microsoft Windows Upgrade Advisor Compatibility window. During an OS upgrade on a system with pre-installed software, you can use upgrade packs to make the existing software compatible with Windows XP Professional. Upgrade packs are usually available from the appropriate software manufacturers. You can also get updated setup files from Microsoft during the upgrade installation if you are connected to the internet.  As time passes from the point of original software distribution, (many vendors often call the first official release of a software platform as a GOLD distribution) many files may be updated before a Second edition of the software (such as Windows 98 Second Edition) or a service release (Office XP Professional SR1.) is distributed. Dynamic update allows you to do this as you start your installation. You can also elect to not perform it during the installation, in order to do so at a later time.  The next point of the Upgrade installation is the setup type. Even though you are within an existing operating system, you are not forced to upgrade to the new operating system. You can choose the option to perform a clean installation at this point. (The default recommended option is Upgrade, as shown above.)  The next page is the License Agreement, where you will need to click I Accept This Agreement, in order to continue. Next, you will need to enter your 25-character product key on the product Key page. The next phase from here will vary slightly depending on whether you are upgrading from a Windows 9x system, where you will be asked whether you want to upgrade to the NTFS file system from your FAT or FAT32 partition, or if you are upgrading from Windows NT4 and already using NTFS, you will be displayed with the Upgrading To The Windows XP Professional NTFS File System page. After you choose how you wish to handle the file system upgrade, setup will continue, reboot the computer and finish the upgrade of your system on its own. Additional Installation Methods of Windows XP Professional Installing Windows XP Professional over the Network Before you can begin a network installation of Windows XP Professional, you need to copy the Windows XP Professional installation files to a server, normally a file or distribution server, and share out the directory so that people who need to perform an over the network installation can attach to the share. (These people will also need the proper level of Folder and NTFS permissions to attach to the share.) The distribution server share will need to contain the installation files from the I386 folder on the Windows XP Professional CD-ROM. From the target system, you connect to this shared directory and then run the Setup program. The target system needs to be prepared ahead of time in order to be successful with an over the network installation. First, you need to create a FAT or FAT32 partition on the target computer of at least 1.5 GB of disk space and format it ahead of time and you also need to either boot from a client diskette that includes a network client that enables the target computer to connect to the distribution server or install the client directly to the local system hard drive with some sort of system installed, such as formatting the hard drive with a Windows 9x boot disk with the "s" switch. (FORMAT The preferred method is to boot from a client diskette that includes a network client that enables the target computer to connect to the distribution server. (As we continue from here, we will assume we are using the preferred methods of installation. As variables come up, I will mention them as a side note.) The Setup program copies the installation files to the target computer, which is why you need to create a FAT or FAT32 partition on the target computer of at least 1.5 GB of disk space and format it ahead of time. You begin from the target computer by booting from a floppy disk that includes a network client that can be used to connect to the distribution server. Once the network client on the target computer is started, you connect to the shared folder on the distribution server that contains the Windows XP Professional installation files and Run WINNT.EXE to start the Setup program. [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - WINNT.EXE is used for an installation using MS-DOS or Windows 3.0 or later versions on the source system. WINNT32.EXE is run for an installation using Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Microsoft Windows Me, Windows NT 4, or Windows 2000 Professional. Running WINNT.EXE from the shared folder does creates the $Win_nt$.~ls temporary folder on the target computer and the Windows XP Professional installation files are copied from the shared folder on the distribution server to the $Win_nt$.~ls folder on the target computer. Once all of the files are copied to the target system, setup will reboot the local computer and begin installing the Windows XP Professional operating system. [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - WINNT.EXE and WINNT32.EXE can be modified by using switches. I have outlined the available switches below. Modifying the Setup Process Using WINNT.EXE switches
Modifying the Setup Process Using WINNT.EXE32 switches
For the most part, an over the network installation of Windows XP Professional from this point forward is almost perfectly identical to installing Windows XP Professional from a CD-ROM to a clean hard disk. For more information, you can take a look at my article Attended Install of Windows XP Professional. Installing Windows XP Professional using Windows Setup Manager. Using the Windows Setup Manager will help you automate certain Windows XP Professional installations. In order to use the Windows Setup Manager you need to install the Windows XP Professional Deployment Tools from the Windows XP Professional CD-ROM. To start, you need to log on with a user account that is a member of the Administrators group and insert the Windows XP Professional CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive. (If you have AUTORUN enabled the Welcome To Microsoft Windows XP screen, shown below, will appear. Click Exit to close it).  Open the Windows Explorer and create the folder where the files can be extracted to.  The E:\Setup Tools folder in our example will be used to contain the files extracted from DEPLOY.CAB on the Windows XP Professional CD-ROM. (You can also choose to create a new folder to where you want to extract the files when you open the CAB files. We have performed this step ahead of time in the example)  Double-click  The Select a Destination window will open. Select the E:\Setup Tools folder we created earlier as the point where to extract the tools to. (Or, as I mentioned before, you could select Make New Folder at this point as well).  When you have finished, the following files will appear in the folder.  We will use setupmgr.exe, the Windows System Manager, to create an unattended setup script. Double clicking the on the executable will start the Windows Setup Manager Wizard.  Clicking Next will bring up the New Or Existing Answer File page. Since we do not have an existing answer file, we will elect to create a new one and continue.  We are then presented with three different options on the Product to Install page. Since we are creating an answer file for a Windows Unintended Installation (which is selected by default) we will keep this setting and continue.  On the Platform page we will choose our platform for the answer file. (This will be Windows XP Professional, but you are supplied with the options for Windows XP Home Edition and Windows 2002 Server, Advanced Server or Data Center when you use setupmgr.exe, the Windows System Manager, from the Windows XP Professional CDROM).  On the User Interaction Level page, the following five options are displayed: Provide Defaults. This setting causes default selections to appear to the end user as the operating system installs itself on a workstation. The user can accept the default answers or change any of the answers supplied by the script. Fully Automated. A Fully Automated installation does not allow the user the chance to review or change the answers supplied by the script. Hide Pages. This setting causes default selections to be hidden. Pages for which the script supplies all answers are hidden from the user. Read Only. Pages for which the script supplies all answers are viewable by the user but the user cannot change the answers. GUI Attended. The text-mode portion of the installation is automated, but the user must supply the answers for the GUI-mode portion of the installation. We will choose FULLY AUTOMATED and continue.  On the Distribution Folder page you can create a distribution folder on your local computer or network containing the required source files. You can add files to this distribution folder to further customize your installation. For this demonstration we will select, No This Answer File Will Be Used To Install From A CD, and then click Next to continue.  On the License Agreement page you will need to select the checkbox to accept the terms of the License Agreement in order to successfully continue.  The next page that comes up is the Customize the Software page. As you can see here and in the left hand column, all of the prompts are exactly like the ones you would expect to see during an attended install. You are answering them all here, just once, for use each time in the future.    The last entry of the General Settings section is Providing the Product Key.  During a fully automated install, you must supply a Product Key or you will receive an error message.  If you were to use Provide Defaults or GUI Attended user interaction levels, you would be allowed to leave this page blank. Also, if you provide a bogus key on the Product Key page, the Wizard will continue, but, the fully automated install will halt when it reaches this point, as the key is invalid. The next page that is presented starts the Network Settings section of the answer file.  The first entry is for Computer names. Here, you can enter as many different workstation names and you want, import them from a text file, or allow the installation program to auto generate names based on your organization name. [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - If multiple computer names were specified in the computers to be installed section, the setup wizard creates a *.UDB file. The Uniqueness Database File (UDB) provides you the ability to specify individually specific computer parameters automatically. The UDB modifies an answer file by overriding values in the answer file, when you run Setup with the /udf:id[,UDB_file] switch. The file overrides values in the answer file, and the identifier (id) determines which values in the .udb file are used. The Administrator Password page is next and has two options, (of which only the second is available): 1) Prompt The User For An Administrative Password 2) Use The Following Administrative Password (127 Characters Maximum) (Because we selected the User Interaction level of Fully Automated, the Prompt The User For An Administrative Password option is grayed out). Enter any password that you want.  There is also two other options on this page, to encrypt the Administrator's password in the answer file and to have the Administrator log on automatically. You can also set the number of times you want the Administrator to log on automatically when the computer is restarted. We will leave these blank continue from here.  The Networking Components page is where we can elect to keep the typical settings or to choose to customize them. We will leave the default selection of Typical and select NEXT to continue. The final page of the Network Settings section is the Workgroup or Domain page.  Here you can choose whether or not the answer file will put the newly installed system into a workgroup or a domain. As with an attended install, if we elect to choose a domain, we need may need to create a computer account in the domain if this hasn't already been done. We will be using the WORKGROUP option, so we will enter a name and continue. (The WORKGROUP "workgroup" is supplied by default, just as DOMAIN in under the Windows Server domain option) The last a final phase of the process is the Advanced Settings section.  The first option is for the Telephony information. Next is the Regional Setting section, which allows us to either use the default regional settings for Windows XP Professional from the CDROM we're installing from or to choose another.  We will keep the defaults as listed above and continue. We are also given the option to add support for other languages.  In the Browser and Shell Settings section we can elect to use the default Internet Explorer settings or use an auto configuration script created by the Internet Explorer Administration Kit.  We could also set Proxy, Home page and other Browser settings at this time as well. We will keep the defaults and continue. [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - The version of Internet Explorer that is deployed with Windows XP Professional is 6. At the time of this writing, there is one security hotfix that should be installed on systems that use Internet Explorer and that is Q313675.exe. The next option of the Advanced Settings section is the Installation Folder window.  Here you can elect to install Windows XP Professional to one of three options as listed, only the third being a variable of your choice. [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - While I cannot find the specific Q article at this time, here is the Windows 2000 Professional article that outlines my next point. Other than the above method of using the answer file, there is no way on a clean installation of Windows XP Professional to choose the installation folder. The folder for Windows XP Professional will always default to The next section allows you to automatically setup networked printers on the target systems if you wish.  You can also configure run once commands to run the first time a user logs on.  The last step in the Advanced Settings section is the Additional Commands option. It allows you to add any commands you wish to run at the end of the unattended installation before Setup restarts the system and runs Windows XP Professional for the first time.  The Windows Setup Manager then will create the answer file with the settings you have provided with all of your previous entries to a place on the local system as a text file. (The default location is the folder where the Setup Tools were extracted to.)   The unattend.bat file that was created from our input here is below. @rem SetupMgrTag @echo off rem rem This is a SAMPLE batch script generated by the Setup Manager Wizard. rem If this script is moved from the location where it was generated, it may have to be modified. rem set AnswerFile=.\unattend.txt set SetupFiles=J:\i386 J:\i386\winnt32 /s:%SetupFiles% /unattend:%AnswerFile% [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - The path of J:\i386\winnt32 /s:%SetupFiles% /unattend:%AnswerFile% is the default path to my CDROM drive on my system. The unattend.txt file that was created from our input here is below. ;SetupMgrTag [Data] AutoPartition=1 MsDosInitiated="0" UnattendedInstall="Yes" [Unattended] UnattendMode=FullUnattended OemSkipEula=Yes OemPreinstall=No TargetPath=XPPRO [GuiUnattended] AdminPassword="RedSox:Rule" EncryptedAdminPassword=NO OEMSkipRegional=1 TimeZone=35 OemSkipWelcome=1 [UserData] ProductID=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX FullName="Jason Zandri" OrgName="Gunderville" ComputerName=* [Identification] JoinWorkgroup=DRINKOFTEN [Networking] InstallDefaultComponents=Yes [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - Because we didn't choose the option to encrypt the Administrator password earlier on the Administrator Password page of the Network settings section, anyone that has access to read the unattend.txt can see what the default administrator password for an installation is. This can be a serious issue in large environments where the passwords are not reset on a regular basis. If encryption were selected the entry in the [GuiUnattended] section would look like this. [GuiUnattended] AdminPassword= f8a2b8ccdf88c616332ed3251640d370c1d991ef0f617f3e7879bc923d175c5a EncryptedAdminPassword=Yes RIS Installations of Windows XP Professional In order to install Windows XP Professional using the Remote Installation Service, you must install the RIS on a Windows 2000 server (either Server, Advanced Server or Datacenter) using the Remote Installation Services Setup Wizard. The server can be a member server or a domain controller, it doesn't make a difference, however, what must be present on the network in order to use RIS are the following services:
The shared volume where the RIS data is installed cannot be on the same drive that is running Windows 2000 Server. The volume must be large enough to hold the RIS software and the various Windows XP Professional images that are installed and that volume must be formatted with the NTFS 5 file system. You begin the RIS server setup by logging on to the server with an account that has administrative permissions, and go to the Control Panel and select Add/Remove Programs. From here you will need to choose Add/Remove Windows Components and make sure that you have either the Windows I386 directory available for the installation or the Windows 2000 Server CDROM. In the Add/Remove Windows Components window, select Remote Installation Services.  From this point, the remainder of the installation is automatic. (If the I386 source files cannot be found the system will prompt you to locate them.) When the installation is completed, you'll need to restart your server to configure your RIS services. You need to go back into the Control Panel and choose Add/Remove Windows Components again in order to start the configuration. (You can also type RIsetup from the run line or a command prompt as well.)  Click on Configure to begin. This will launch the Welcome to the Remote Installation Services Setup Wizard, as shown below. (The window below is the first thing you will see if you choose to type RIsetup from the run line or a command prompt.)  Once you continue you will be prompted with the default Remote Installation folder location of D:\RemoteIstall. You can elect to keep the default path or browse to a new location.  The volume you opt to use must be large enough to hold the RIS software and the various Windows XP Professional images that will be installed and the volume must be formatted with the NTFS 5 file system.  By default, Remote Installation Services servers do not respond to requests for service from client computers. There are two settings available to use on the server. If you select the Respond to clients requesting service option, Remote Installation Services is enabled and will respond to client computers requesting service. Additionally, if you select the Do not respond to unknown client computers option, Remote Installation Services will respond only to known (prestaged) client computers.  You will also need to provide a name for the Windows installation image folder, as well as a friendly description for each image you install on the RIS server.   The last step the wizard performs is actually a series of events, as outlined in the image above. Once the final step is completed, the setup wizard starts the required services for RIS to run. The server is complete at this point and will service client requests for CD-based installs. Additional details of RIS configuration and administration from this point forward actually goes beyond the scope of what is required for installing Windows XP Professional CD-based installs via RIS. For additional information on RIS for Windows XP Professional, you can visit the Microsoft Website Client computers that support remote installation must either meet the Net PC specification (which is, effectively, a system which can perform a network boot) or have a network adapter card with a PXE boot ROM and BIOS support for starting from the PXE boot ROM. Some client computers that have certain supported PCI network adapter cards can use the remote installation boot disk as well. This support is somewhat limited and can only be used with certain motherboards, as the BIOS settings for booting the system from the network needs to be configurable. The RIS service provides the Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator if your system does support starting from the PXE boot ROM. You can create a Remote Boot Disk by typing <DRIVE LETTER> RemoteInst\Admin\i386\rbfg in the RUN box or at a command prompt. (The drive letter is the drive where you installed the RIS services and will vary from server to server). The boot disk simulates the PXE boot process on your system when your network card does not have the required PXE boot ROM for a RIS installation. (Again, only a small number of PCI network cards currently support using the Remote Boot Disk. This includes mainly 3COM and a small cross section of other major vendors.)  The user account used to perform a RIS installation must be assigned the user right of Log On as a Batch Job. The users must also be assigned permission to create computer accounts in the domain they are joining if this has not been done ahead of time. There are other factors as well, such as prestaging a client. For the purposes of this overview, we will go through a "plain vanilla" RIS installation from a boot floppy. When the client system starts from the boot floppy you would press F12 when prompted to boot from the network. The Client Installation Wizard will start and you will need to supply a valid user name and password for the domain you're joining as well as the DNS name of the domain. Once this is done you can press Enter to continue. You are then given the option of performing an Automatic Setup, Custom Setup, or to Restart a Previous Setup Attempt, or use the Maintenance and Troubleshooting Tools installed on the RIS server. You would choose one of the options and then press Enter. The next screen will show a number of RIS images (including the default CD-based image) that you can use. (The number will depend on what has been placed on the server by the administrator and whether or not you have the proper access permission to read them.) Choose an image and then press Enter. You will be presented with one last opportunity to verify that the settings are correct. Once you're sure that they are, you would press Enter to begin the RIS installation. When it is complete, Windows XP Professional will be deployed to the client system and available for use upon restart. Troubleshooting the Windows XP Professional Setup Usually when you are going about your Windows XP Professional installation, you will not run into any issues, particularly if you are sure that the installed system hardware meets the minimum Windows XP Professional hardware requirements by verifying all of the hardware is on the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) at the Microsoft website. Windows XP Professional supports only the devices listed in the HCL. If your hardware isn't listed, contact the hardware manufacturer and request a Windows XP Professional driver or replace the hardware to avoid potential issues. Support means that while the operating system may load and run on unsupported hardware and software, any issues that come up with the system will not be covered (i.e. supported) by Microsoft Technical Support if you should need to engage them. If this has been done beforehand and issues do arise, there are a couple of "textbook" events that can be looked at first that will cover some of the more common problems you might encounter during installation and these will generally be what is at issue most of the time. Common installation problems and Troubleshooting Tips Media errors - When you are installing Windows XP Professional from a CD-ROM and run into problems, the quickest way to try to resolve the issue is to use a different CD-ROM. Even if the CD-ROM you are using has worked a dozen times before, the drive it is in at the time of the error may have trouble reading it or the disk itself may have been newly damaged by a fall or some other issue. You can attempt to clean a finger print laced CD-ROM as a troubleshoot point as well. If you should need to request a replacement CD-ROM, you can contact Microsoft or your point of purchase. You can also try using a different computer and CD-ROM drive. If you can read the CD-ROM on a different computer, you can perform an over-the-network installation if that option is available to you. If one of your Setup disks is not working, download a different set of Setup disks. (The ability to directly create setup floppies has been dropped from Windows XP. Setup boot disks are available only by download from Microsoft. The Setup boot disks are available so that you can run Setup on computers that do not support a bootable CD-ROM. There are six Windows XP Setup boot floppy disks. These disks contain the files and drivers that are required to access the CD-ROM drive through generic PCI drivers and begin the Setup process. You may also find that the Windows XP Professional setup program is unable to copy files from the CD-ROM. In this event, it may be possible to either replace the drive with a supported drive (as this is usually the issue) or you can attempt your installation via a different method such as installing over the network (as mentioned above) or by copying the files to the local drive first, outside of the installation program, as sometimes the copy failure only crops up after the Windows XP Professional setup program is running. Insufficient disk space errors - The current minimum hardware requirements for Windows XP Professional at the time of this writing is as follows:
You can use the setup program to create additional partitions that are large enough for the installation if there is enough space on the drive or you can elect to delete existing data on the current partition to make enough room for the installation. Troubleshooting using Setup Logs Windows XP Professional generates a number of log files during the setup routine that contain information that was logged during installation that will assist you when you are attempting to resolve problems that may have occurred during the setup. [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - For the purpose of the Windows XP Exam you need not remember the exact contents of these files, they are supplied here so that you can get an overview of what would be in them commonly. Error codes are often cryptic, whether in a log file or the system event viewer but taking the time to understand what error has occurred and why, will help you better understand and troubleshoot the system. The list below outlines the purpose of each file, and also a portion of the file contents for you to examine. Action Log (SETUPACT.LOG) - The action log records the actions that the Setup program performs in chronological order and is saved as SETUPACT.LOG. Click here for the sample log. The setup log that I have available from my system is 165KB in size and too large to post here in its entirety, but I have cut a few sections out so that you can see what some of the entries look like. (The SETUPACT.LOG can be found in the As I mentioned before, the log file is much larger and has a lot more to it, but this cross section gives you an idea of what is there. Error Log (SETUPERR.LOG) - The error log shows any errors that occurred during setup and their severity level. If errors do occur, the log viewer displays the error log at the end of setup. (The SETUPERR.LOG can be found in the <DRIVE LETTER>\Windows directory in a default Windows XP Professional installation) The log will be created even if no errors occur. (I do not have anything available to show you from the error log as mine is empty. Sorry.) Setup also creates a number of additional logs during setup. <DRIVE LETTER>\Windows\comsetup.log - Outlines installation for Optional Component Manager and COM+ components. A subsection of mine is here. <DRIVE LETTER>\Windows\setupapi.log - Receives an entry each time a line from an .inf file is implemented. If an error occurs, this log describes the failure. A subsection of mine is here. (The full size was 245KB) <DRIVE LETTER>\Windows\debug\NetSetup.log - Logs activity when computers join domains or workgroups. (This entire log was only 7KB, so I copied all of it). Click here for the sample log. <DRIVE LETTER>\Windows\repair\setup.log - Provides information that is used by the Recovery Console. A subsection of mine is below. (The full size was 204KB) [Paths] TargetDirectory = "\WINDOWS" TargetDevice = "\Device\Harddisk0\Partition3" SystemPartitionDirectory = "\" SystemPartition = "\Device\Harddisk0\Partition1" [Signature] Version = "WinNt5.1" [Files.SystemPartition] NTDETECT.COM = "NTDETECT.COM","b28f" ntldr = "ntldr","3a7b2" [Files.WinNt] \WINDOWS\system32\drivers\kbdclass.sys = "kbdclass.sys","e756" \WINDOWS\system32\drivers\mouclass.sys = "mouclass.sys","8cd9" \WINDOWS\system32\drivers\usbuhci.sys = "usbuhci.sys","11ded" \WINDOWS\system32\drivers\usbport.sys = "usbport.sys","22ffd" \WINDOWS\system32\drivers\usbd.sys = "usbd.sys","40af" \WINDOWS\system32\drivers\hidparse.sys = "hidparse.sys","acd7" \WINDOWS\system32\drivers\hidclass.sys = "hidclass.sys","88de" \WINDOWS\system32\drivers\usbhub.sys = "usbhub.sys","ee45" \WINDOWS\system32\drivers\intelide.sys = "intelide.sys","dec0" \WINDOWS\system32\drivers\pci.sys = "pci.sys","1a257" \WINDOWS\system32\drivers\oprghdlr.sys = "oprghdlr.sys","b001" (The whole remainder of the file looked as it does above, detailing drivers and path information for the whole system). Disk Management in Windows XP Professional In Microsoft Windows XP Professional, you can perform most disk administrative tasks, both local and remote, by using the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in tool called Disk Management. A command-line tool, DiskPart, is also available in Windows XP Professional which allows the administrator to handle disk administrative tasks from a command prompt. You can use both tools to convert disks, as well as format current partitions and unallocated space. You can also check on the status of fixed and removable disks and their associated properties. Disk Management Normally, you will need to be a local administrator to perform most system configuration functions (even just taking a look at the current configuration settings) on a Windows XP Professional system, and in some cases, there may be a local policy set by some other administrator or if your system is in a Domain, a Domain policy setting which may prevent you from performing some actions. To open the Disk Management MMC, you can select Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage, which will open the Computer Management MMC. Under the Storage icon, click Disk Management to open the Disk Management MMC. 
You can also type compmgmt.msc in the RUN box or from a command line to launch the Computer Management MMC. 
[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - What your Start Menu options look like all depend on how you have the menu set. If you are using the Classic Start Menu, you would not see My Computer as a selection to right click on. Your options would be to click Start, select Administrative Tools and then select Computer Management. Not a whole lot different, but perhaps just enough to confuse you. 
The Windows XP Professional exam rarely tests you on Classic anything. You need to know how to get from Windows XP Professional settings to Classic and back, but in 90% of the cases you're going to find instructions laid out in the Windows XP Professional vein. I will do my best to point out alternatives in the [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] section as I have done here. If you want to directly open the Disk Management MMC you can type diskmgmt.msc from the RUN box or from a command line. This will run the tool independently from the Computer Management MMC. 
As you can see from the image above, we have a number of basic physical and logical drives on the system, as well as two CD-ROM drives (not shown in the above image). If there were removable drives on this system, such as Jaz or ORB drives and the like, they would appear here as well. The removable drives, as well as the CD-ROM drives, will either show "no media" when they are empty (or some error is preventing them from seeing inserted media) or the file system of the installed media. 
(When I inserted a CD-ROM in my DVD drive, the Disk Management MMC automatically detected the change, refreshed it's view, and displayed the data. The Compact Disk File System (CDFS) is file system of the inserted disk and is displayed.) When you select a drive in the upper window (which is currently set to the default Volume List View) by left clicking on it once, not only will it become highlighted (in blue), but it will also become shaded in the lower part of the window (which is currently set to the default Graphical List View). 
You can change the appearance of both the top and bottom window views by selecting VIEW from the menu and then selecting whichever (or both) views you wish to change. Top and Bottom, along with Settings and Drive Paths are controlled here. 
You can change the colors and wallpaper for volumes and disk regions by selecting VIEW and then SETTINGS. The APPEARANCE tab shows all of the current default colors for the available disk regions. Even disk regions that are not currently installed on the system are set with specific colors by default. 
You can change how disk sizes are displayed on the SCALING tab. The default settings are shown below. 
That's the five cent tour of the Disk Management MMC. DiskPart The command line tool, DiskPart, is available in Windows XP Professional, which allows the administrator to handle disk administrative tasks from a command prompt. You start your session at the command prompt by typing the following: H:\Documents and Settings\JZANDRI>diskpart Microsoft DiskPart version 1.0 Copyright (C) 1999-2001 Microsoft Corporation. On computer: P42GHZ DISKPART> This will put you into the DiskPart program session. If you needed to get a little more information on DiskPart before starting your session and tried the standard H:\Documents and Settings\JZANDRI>diskpart /? Microsoft DiskPart version 1.0 Copyright (C) 1999-2001 Microsoft Corporation. On computer: P42GHZ Microsoft DiskPart syntax: diskpart [/s <script>] [/?] /s <script> - Use a DiskPart script. /? - Show this help screen. However, if you started the program and then typed HELP, you'd get much more information: H:\Documents and Settings\JZANDRI>diskpart Microsoft DiskPart version 1.0 Copyright (C) 1999-2001 Microsoft Corporation. On computer: P42GHZ DISKPART> help Microsoft DiskPart version 1.0 ADD - Add a mirror to a simple volume. ACTIVE - Activates the current basic partition. ASSIGN - Assign a drive letter or mount point to the selected volume. BREAK - Break a mirror set. CLEAN - Clear the configuration information, or all information, off the disk. CONVERT - Converts between different disk formats. CREATE - Create a volume or partition. DELETE - Delete an object. DETAIL - Provide details about an object. EXIT - Exit DiskPart EXTEND - Extend a volume. HELP - Prints a list of commands. IMPORT - Imports a disk group. LIST - Prints out a list of objects. ONLINE - Online a disk that is currently marked as offline. REM - Does nothing. Used to comment scripts. REMOVE - Remove a drive letter or mount point assignment. RESCAN - Rescan the computer looking for disks and volumes. RETAIN - Place a retainer partition under a simple volume. SELECT - Move the focus to an object. DISKPART> For the most part, this command line tool is highly effective when you are using any of the above commands via scripting. The only other time it is easy / necessary to use it, is from the Recovery Console, as it is one of the commands that are available from it. [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - Do not modify the structure of dynamic disks with the DiskPart command line tool because you might damage your partition table within the dynamic disk structure. To exit the DiskPart program simply type EXIT at the program prompt. The Diskpart Command Line Utility is available for download from Microsoft for Windows 2000 and it is part of the Windows 2000 Resource Kit Tools as well. (It is included as part of Windows XP Professional.) As with any software available for use from any version of the Resource Kits or the download site, it is not supported under any Microsoft standard support program or service. You use it at your own peril. Using the Disk Management tool in Windows XP Professional In Microsoft Windows XP Professional, you can perform most disk administrative tasks, both local and remote, by using the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in tool called Disk Management, which can be used to convert disks, as well as format current partitions and unallocated space. You can also check on the status of fixed and removable disks and their associated properties. Using the Disk Management tool Just as a quick review from last week, you would normally need to be a local administrator to perform most system configuration functions (even just taking a look at the current configuration settings) on a Windows XP Professional system, and in some cases, there may be a local policy set by some other administrator or if your system is in a Domain, a Domain policy setting which may prevent you from performing some actions. To open the Disk Management MMC, you can select Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage, which will open the Computer Management MMC. Under the Storage icon, click Disk Management to open the Disk Management MMC.
You can also type compmgmt.msc in the RUN box or from a command line to launch the Computer Management MMC.
[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - What your Start Menu options look like all depend on how you have the menu set. If you are using the Classic Start Menu, you would not see My Computer as a selection to right click on. Your options would be to click Start, select Administrative Tools and then select Computer Management. Not a whole lot different, but perhaps just enough to confuse you. I seem to continually repeat this from article to article, but it is important to stress, the Windows XP Professional exam rarely tests you on Classic anything. You need to know how to get from Windows XP Professional settings to Classic and back, but in 90% of the cases you're going to find instructions laid out in the Windows XP Professional vein. I will do my best to point out alternatives in the [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] section as I have done here. If you want to directly open the Disk Management MMC you can type diskmgmt.msc from the RUN box or from a command line. This will run the tool independently from the Computer Management MMC. Disk Management, which was introduced in the Windows 2000 line of NT-based Windows operating systems, replaces the Disk Administrator utility found in Windows NT 4.0. There are two different types of disk storage in Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional: basic disks and dynamic disks. Basic Disks The number of partitions you can create on a basic disk depends on the disk's partition style. On master boot record (MBR) disks, you can create up to four primary partitions, or you can create up to three primary partitions and one extended partition. Within the extended partition, you can create an unlimited number of logical drives. [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - You used to be limited to the number of logical drives that could be created on a system by the number of remaining drive letters that were available to assign to the formatted partitions. With volume mount points this is no longer the case. On GUID partition table (GPT) disks, you can create up to 128 primary partitions. Because GPT disks do not limit you to four partitions, you do not need to create extended partitions or logical drives. [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - The GUID partition table (GPT) disk-partitioning scheme is a format that is used by the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) in Itanium-based computers. GUID partition table offers more advantages than master boot record (MBR) partitioning because it allows up to 128 partitions per disk, provides support for volumes up to 18 exabytes in size, allows primary and backup partition tables for redundancy, and supports unique disk and partition IDs. A primary partition of a basic disk is a portion of the physical disk that functions as though it were a physically separate disk. On most Intel based systems this partition is the one that is marked as active which allows the computer to start up. You can create up to four primary partitions (sometimes called volumes) on a single disk or three primary partitions and an extended partition with multiple logical drives. Extended partitions allow you to create more than four individual volumes on a basic disk. Unlike primary partitions, you do not format an extended partition with a file system and then assign a drive letter to it. Instead, you create one or more logical drives within the extended partition. It's the logical drive of the extended partition that you format and assign a drive letter to. You can create an unlimited number of logical drives per disk. [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - Volume mount points allow a volume to be mounted on an existing folder rather than at the root of a new drive letter. Establishing a volume mount point for an empty NTFS directory allows an administrator to create new volumes without requiring additional drive letters. Some of the properties and characteristics of basic disks are outlined below.
In order to convert a basic disk to dynamic you would start the Disk Management tool and Right-click the basic disk you want to convert, click Convert to Dynamic Disk. You can upgrade a disk from basic storage to dynamic storage at any time without loss of data in much the same way that you might run the CONVERT command line utility to change a FAT or FAT32 partition to NTFS without losing any data. Along the same lines, all data on a dynamic disk will be lost when you convert it to a basic disk just as you would going from NTFS "back" to FAT or FAT32. In order to convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk there needs to be 1 MB of free disk space for the upgrade to succeed. This 1 MB of free disk space is needed to hold the configuration data for the dynamic disk structure. Converting basic disks to dynamic disks produces the following results.
There is a very good article on the Microsoft Web site entitled Description of Disk Groups in Windows Disk Management (Q222189). While it is based off of the Windows 2000 line of operating systems it is still for the most part pertinent and a good read. Dynamic Disks The dynamic disk format can be accessed only by Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional operating systems. You convert basic disks to dynamic by using the Disk Management snap-in or the DiskPart command line utility. When you convert a basic disk to dynamic, all existing basic volumes become dynamic volumes. Dynamic disks provide features that basic disks do not, such as the ability to create volumes that span multiple disks (spanned and striped volumes), and the ability to create fault-tolerant volumes (mirrored and RAID-5 volumes). [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - Windows 2000 Servers and the up and coming .NET server line provide fault tolerance on dynamic disks in the form of software based (operating system) disk mirroring (RAID-1) or striping with parity (RAID-5). Windows XP Professional does not provide fault tolerance. Hardware devices that support fault tolerance, such as RAID controllers, can make a Windows XP Professional fault tolerant, but it is this third party hardware solution that is providing the fault tolerance, not the Windows XP Professional operating system. Windows XP Professional supports dividing dynamic disks into volumes, which can consist of a portion, or portions, of one or more physical disks. There are five types of dynamic volumes: simple, spanned, striped, disk mirroring (RAID-1) and striping with parity (RAID-5). Mirrored and RAID-5 volumes are fault tolerant and are available only on computers running the Windows 2000 Server family of operating systems. When you have converted a basic disk to dynamic storage, you can create Windows XP Professional volumes, of which there are three different types that can be utilized on the local system: Simple volumes. All of the disk space from a single disk is used and it is not fault tolerant. Spanned volumes. Includes disk space from multiple disks up to a total of 32. Data is written to a spanned volume on the first disk, completely filling the space, and continues to the next until it is full and then the next, and so on, through each disk that you include in the spanned volume. These volumes are not fault tolerant either. If any one single disk in the whole entire spanned volume fails, all the data in the entire volume is lost. Striped volumes. Combines areas of free space from multiple hard disks (up to 32) into one logical volume. In a striped volume, Windows XP Professional optimizes performance by adding data to all disks at the same time in succession, a direct contrast to spanned volumes. If any one single disk in the whole entire striped volume fails, all the data in the entire volume is lost. Some of the properties and characteristics of dynamic storage are outlined below.
Dynamic Disk Limitations Just like anything else, with certain advances there are certain limitations and drawbacks. Volumes converted from partitions on Windows 2000 systems have an entry in the partition table. On Windows XP Professional systems, volumes converted from partitions do not have an entry in the partition table unless the partitions were originally system or boot partitions. You can see if a volume has an entry in the partition table by right-clicking the volume in within the Disk Management tool. If the Extend Volume option is disabled, the volume has an old entry in the partition table. Windows XP Professional File Systems Overview To have a good understanding of how and why you can set up or deny access to data on a Windows XP Professional system, you need to have an underlying understanding of any native file security that may or may not be in place. One place to start would be the file system the operating system is utilizing. Windows XP Professional supports the three major computer files systems of File Allocation Table (commonly known as FAT or FAT16), FAT32 and NTFS. FAT16 File Allocation Table (commonly known as FAT or FAT16) is supported by Windows XP Professional, all Windows operating systems, DOS, as well as a host of other non-Microsoft OSes. FAT is allocated in clusters, the size of which are determined by the size of the partition. The larger the partition, the larger the cluster size. The larger the cluster size, the more space is "required" when using it to store data. FAT file system cluster sizes
As you can see, with a 2GB partition size, (the maximum allowed under FAT16 in most cases) if you were to save 50 different files, all 1024 bytes (1KB) in actual size (or to have 50 fractions of larger files "fall over" to the next cluster by that same amount), the amount of hard drive space used up would be 1,638,400 bytes (a little over 1 MB), for 51,200 bytes of actual data. You can obviously see that this is a serious problem when there are thousands of small *.DLLs and other types of small files. Also, with the advent of super-inexpensive hard drives that are 80GB in size, you can see where using FAT would be an issue as well. In summary, there are "advantages" for using the FAT file system on a Windows XP Professional installation: MS-DOS, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, and some UNIX operating systems can use FAT16. If there is some reason to dual boot the system, FAT16 allows you the greatest number of options. There are many software tools that can address problems and recover data on FAT16 volumes. If you have a startup failure, you can start the computer by using a bootable floppy disk to troubleshoot the problem. FAT16 is efficient, in speed and storage, on volumes smaller than 256 MB. (Those 50 files I mentioned above, all 1024 bytes (1KB) in actual size, would use up "only" 409,600 bytes on a 400MB partition formatted with FAT16 and "only" 204,800 bytes on a 250MB partition.) There are also some FAT16 disadvantages as well: The root folder (usually the C:\ drive) has a limit of 512 entries. The use of long file names can significantly reduce the number of available entries. FAT16 is limited to 65,536 clusters, but because certain clusters are reserved, it has a practical limit of 65,524. The largest FAT16 volume on Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional is limited to 4 GB and uses a cluster size of 64 KB. To maintain compatibility with MS-DOS, Windows 95, and Windows 98, a volume cannot be larger than 2 GB. (Those 50 files I mentioned above, all 1024 bytes (1KB) in actual size, would use up 3,276,200 bytes of hard drive space to store 51,200 bytes of actual data on a 4 GB FAT16 partition used in this scenario.) FAT16 is inefficient on larger volume sizes, as the size of the cluster increases. We have seen this in the examples above. The boot sector is not backed up on FAT16 partitions. Because FAT16 does not include a backup copy of critical data structures they are susceptible to single point of failure issues, more so than other file systems. There is no native file level security, compression or encryption available in the FAT16 file system. Below is a table of Microsoft Operating systems and which file systems they can natively access.
[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - There is no test requirement to memorize these tables, but it's good to understand the "how and why" of it. Also, it is never a "best practice" to dual boot any workstation or server that has sensitive data on it with any file system installed that cannot secure those files or any operating system that threatens that security. The maximum FAT partition that can be created and accessed by the operating systems listed above is 2GB in most cases. 4GB FAT partitions can be created and properly accessed only under those operating systems specifically listed above. A dual boot NT family of operating system can create a 4GB FAT partition and a lower level OS such as Windows 98 may be able to see data on it, however, issues will arise when data access is attempted above the 2GB threshold that the OS normally uses. For more information on the Maximum Partition Size Using the FAT16 File System in Windows XP, you can look up Q310561 at the Microsoft PSS webpage. The "OSR" in "Windows 95 OSR2 and OSR2.5" stands for OEM Service Release. The "OEM" in "OEM Service Release" stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer. For more information on Accessing FAT16 Drives Larger Than 2 GB, or Maximum Partition Size Using FAT16 File System, feel free to follow the links I have provided to the Microsoft web site. * There are some exceptions, but for the most part, DOS 3.3 and higher can access up to 2GB of single partition space, as outlined in Q67321 at the Microsoft PSS webpage. The MS-DOS Partitioning Summary (Q69912) names some exceptions and points out the fact that some earlier versions didn't support many of today's FAT16 standards. The maximum single file size on a FAT16 partition is 2 GB, regardless of the fact that some OSes can have a 4GB partition. FAT32 FAT32 is supported by Windows XP Professional, as well as a number of the newer Microsoft Operating systems. FAT32 was first introduced with Microsoft Windows 95 OSR2 and the major differences between FAT and FAT32 are volume and cluster sizes for the most part and the fact that only Microsoft Operating systems can natively access FAT32 and these are a reduced number from FAT16. The FAT32 file system can support drives up to 2 terabytes in size (in theory) and because it uses space more efficiently, FAT32 uses smaller clusters (that is, 4,096 byte clusters for drives up to 8 GB in size), resulting in more efficient use of disk space relative to large FAT16 drives. FAT32 file system cluster sizes
The 50 files I mentioned in the FAT16 section, all 1024 bytes (1KB) in actual size, would use up only 409,600 bytes on a 16GB partition formatted with FAT16 and only 204,800 bytes on a 8GB partition. As you can see however, we are now running into the issue with FAT32 drives with 80GB and 100GB partitions that we did a few years ago under FAT16, wasted space. Those same 50 files would use 819,200 bytes on either of the two large drives I mentioned. There's a Windows 2000 Professional and XP Professional catch, however. While the FAT32 file system can support drives up to a standard theoretical size of 2 terabytes, (it "can" be jury-rigged under Windows Millennium Edition to support partitions of up to 8 TB). Windows 2000 Professional and XP Professional cannot FORMAT a volume larger than 32 GB in size using their native FAT32 file system. The FastFAT driver can mount and support volumes larger than 32 GB that use the FAT32 file system, such as those created locally by Windows 98 or ME in dual boot configuration, (subject to other limits listed here for Windows 98, ME and 2000 and here for Windows XP), but you cannot CREATE one using the Format tool from within either Windows 2000 Professional or XP Professional. If you attempt to format a FAT32 partition larger than 32 GB, the format fails near the end of the process with the following error message: Logical Disk Manager: Volume size too big. In summary, the advantages of the FAT32 file system are: FAT32 allocates disk space much more efficiently than FAT16. The root folder on a FAT32 drive is not restricted in the number of entries in the root folder as was FAT16. FAT32 is a more robust file system than FAT16 was. FAT32 has the ability to relocate the root directory and use the backup copy of the FAT instead of the default copy. In addition, the boot record on FAT32 drives has been expanded to include a backup of critical data structures. This means that FAT32 volumes are less susceptible to a single point of failure than FAT16 volumes. Just as there were disadvantages to the FAT16 file system, so there are in FAT32 as well: FAT32 volumes are not accessible from any other operating systems other than certain Microsoft ones. FAT32 partition sizes are limited to 32GB in size using the native FAT32 file system format tools under Windows 2000 and Windows XP. (The maximum size is 127.5 GB practical and 2TB standard theoretical.) There is no native file level security, compression or encryption available in the FAT32 file system. Below is a table of Microsoft Operating systems which support native access to the FAT32 file system.
[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - There is no test requirement to memorize the FAT32 tables either, but again, it's good to understand the "how and why" of it. Also, it is never a "best practice" to dual boot any workstation or server that has sensitive data on it with any file system installed that cannot secure those files or any operating system that threatens that security. This would include the FAT32 file system. For answers to some common questions about the FAT32 File System, you can look up Q253774 at the Microsoft PSS webpage. For more information on the Limitations of FAT32 File System on Windows 98, ME and 2000, you can look up Q184006 at the Microsoft PSS webpage. You can find the information for the limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP information available at Q314463. You will also find the maximum partition sizes, both practical and theoretical listed there as well. The maximum single file size on a FAT32 partition is 4 GB, regardless of the size of the partition. NTFS NTFS is the preferred file system for all computers running Windows XP Professional. The version of NTFS that is in use on Windows XP Professional is called NTFS 5. (Windows 2000 uses version 5 as well.) If you are running Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 or later, you can read basic volumes formatted by using NTFS 5 locally on dual boot systems. Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional can read NTFS 5 on both basic and dynamic volumes. (Computers systems accessing either version of NTFS across networks are not affected. Version differences are usually only considered in local / dual boot situations.) The following NTFS features are available under version 5;
If you are running Windows XP Professional in a dual boot scenario with a system running Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 or later, most of the NTFS 5 features are not available. Most read and write operations are permitted provided as they do not attempt to make use of most NTFS 5 features. Issues that may occur under this type of configuration may include some of the following:
Windows XP Professional manages dynamic volumes in a special database instead of in the partition table, so dynamic volumes are not subject to the 2-terabyte physical limit imposed by the partition table. This is why dynamic NTFS volumes can be as large as the maximum volume size supported by NTFS. Default NTFS file system cluster sizes
In summary, the advantages of NTFS 5 are as follows:
For more detailed answers to questions about the NTFS File System, you can look up the information in the Microsoft Windows XP Professional Resource Kit Documentation, which can also be found online. NTFS stands for New Technology File System. The maximum single file size on a NTFS partition is 16 EB (exabytes), in theory. Well, that's a wrap for this week. On my way out the door I'd like to drop one more table into your lap and a few more bullet points. Default Cluster Sizes for partitions under Windows XP Professional
Quick points and summary tidbits:
Using the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard The Windows XP Professional Files and Settings Transfer Wizard can be used to simplify the task of moving data files and personal settings from your old computer to your new one. By utilizing this helpful tool properly, you won't have to reconfigure all of your personal settings on your new system because you will be able to move your old settings, such as display, Outlook Express, dial-up connections, Internet Explorer, as well as your folder and taskbar options to your new system. You can also use the Wizard to move specific files and / or specific folders to your new system as well. This can include the My Documents, My Pictures, and Favorites folders. You should connect your new system and your old system together in some way, in order to perform the transfer with the least amount of difficulty. You can use a null modem cable if you have one that is long enough to connect the two systems and you will need an available serial port on both systems as well. The preferred option would be to have NICs installed in both systems and have them connected via a crossover cable or through a hub. After the physical connection between the two systems is established and working properly, you can run the Wizard. To open the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard you can click Start, select All Programs, select Accessories, select System Tools, and then click Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. You can also type migwiz.exe from the Run line of the start menu [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - What your Start Menu options look like all depend on how you have the menu set. If you are using the Classic Start Menu, you would not find the All Programs selection. Your options would be to click Start, select Programs, select Accessories, select System Tools, and then click Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. Not a whole lot different, but perhaps just enough to confuse you. The Windows XP Professional exam rarely tests you on Classic anything. You need to know how to get from Windows XP Professional settings to Classic and back, but in 90% of the cases you're going to find instructions laid out in the Windows XP Professional vein. I will do my best to point out alternatives in the [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] section as I have done here. The first window that appears is the Welcome to the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard startup window.  From here you would select NEXT to continue. The next screen that appears is the WHICH COMPUTER IS THIS screen, where you would select either NEW COMPUTER, where you would want to transfer your files and settings to, or OLD COMPUTER, which is what you would select if the system you were working on was where the current files and settings are that you want transferred.  Let's select NEW COMPUTER and click NEXT. [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - The OLD COMPUTER can be running Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 98SE, Microsoft Windows Me, Microsoft Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, or Windows XP (32-bit). We will go through the OLD COMPUTER settings a little later. You will also find that if you are running a personal firewall product (I use Zone Alarm Pro) you may find, depending on how you have it set up, that it will alert you that the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard wants to act as server process on your system and it wants access to the internet. This is a little misleading, as it is not actually looking for an internet connection so much as it is looking for the local LAN. (Notice the broadcast address.) You need to allow the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard to act as a server process and access the network or it will not be able to reach the remote system.   You will need to run the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard on the OLD COMPUTER shortly (unless you have already done so) and the next screen will ask you whether or nor you will use a Wizard Disk (which can be created by using the default selected "I want to create a Wizard Disk in the following drive" selection,) or you can bypass the step if you already have a disk or intend on using the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard from the Windows XP Professional CD-ROM.  We will elect to use the default selection, as shown above. When we click on NEXT to continue, the Wizard asks us to make sure there's a formatted disk in the floppy drive. Select OK to continue. The Files and Settings Transfer Wizard will create the disk and when the disk is finished it will display a window that tells you to go to the OLD COMPUTER and insert the Wizard Disk (A:\ disk) and run the Wizard. We would now go to the OLD COMPUTER with the floppy disk and run FASTWiz.exe, which would expand the migwiz.cab file and run the Wizard on the OLD COMPUTER.  Once it starts, you will again see the WHICH COMPUTER IS THIS screen, however, this time we will select OLD COMPUTER.  After selecting NEXT, you will be asked to select a transfer method. (Basically, this is a point where the settings will go so that the NEW COMPUTER can get them. It can be via an across the wire transfer, sent to a share point or to a floppy disk or other removable media. We will use the D:\ drive.)  The Files and Settings Transfer Wizard will then ask you whether you want to migrate settings only, files only or both. You can also elect to choose a custom list of files and settings as well. This could be used if you only needed some of the files and / or some of the settings.  [NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - The following settings can be transferred: Accessibility, Command Prompt Settings, Display Properties, Internet Explorer Settings, Microsoft Messenger, Microsoft NetMeeting, Mouse And Keyboard, MSN Explorer, Network Printer And Drives, Outlook Express, Regional Settings, Sounds And Multimedia, Taskbar Options, Windows Media Player, and Windows Movie Maker. The following folders can be transferred: Desktop, Fonts, My Documents, My Pictures, Shared Desktop, and Shared Documents. The following files types can be transferred: *.asf (Windows Media Audio/Video file), *.asx (Windows Media Audio/Video shortcut), *.AU (AU format sound), *.avi (video clip), *.cov (fax cover page file), *.cpe (fax cover page file), *.doc (WordPad document), *.eml (Internet e-mail message), *.m3u (M3U file), *.mid (MIDI sequence), *.midi (MIDI sequence), *.mp2 (Movie File MPEG), *.mp3 (MP3 Format Sound), *.mpa (Movie File MPEG), *.mpeg (Movie File MPEG), *.MSWMM (Windows Movie Maker Project), *.nws (Internet News Message), *.rft (Rich Text Format), *.snd (AU Sound Format), *.wav (Wave Sound), *.wm (Windows Media Audio/Video file), *.wma (Windows Media Audio file), *.wri (Write document). When you select NEXT, the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard will begin the collection. I ran the default selection of both files and settings on my 2 GHZ Pentium 4 system, which has three SCSI-3 18.2 GB 10,000 RPM hard drives, set up as individual basic drives and one ATA-100 80GB IDE hard drive, also set up as an individual basic drive, all using the NTFS file system. Of all of that space, almost 135GB total, I have data on about 62 GB. The process took about an hour an fifteen minutes to complete and while I could use my system while all of this was going on, it was a little sluggish as migwiz.exe wanted as much system resources as it could get it's hands on, often pegging the processor. (Memory seemed to stay pretty constant at around 128MB of my physical 512MB of PC800 memory being used.)  The final result was 9 GB of data to be transferred to the new system.  As you can also see, there is a 2 GB limitation to the DAT files. Once you exceed this amount the Wizard will automatically start another file an enumerate it.  Once the process is completed the Completing the Collection Phase window will display with the above message. This page would indicate any files and settings that you had selected that the Wizard could not collect. You would have to manually transfer these files and settings or they will not be transferred to your NEW COMPUTER. (There were none in our example.) Click FINISH to close the Wizard on the OLD COMPUTER. Now that we have finished the process on the OLD COMPUTER, we can head back over to the NEW COMPUTER and continue from the last screen we were presented with there. (SHOWN BELOW)  We would select NEXT to arrive at the WHERE ARE THE FILES AND SETTINGS page. Since we elected to use the D:\ drive, this is where we would point the Wizard to and select NEXT to continue.  The Wizard will begin the transfer by organizing the files and settings for transfer and then complete the process. Once this last step finishes the transfer of files and settings will be complete. Managing Users Accounts in Windows XP Professional In Microsoft Windows XP Professional, you will find one of three different accounts in use on any given system.
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