Day 14. Windows Installation

Objective 1.2: Given a scenario, install Windows PC operating systems using appropriate methods.

When looking at a 32-bit versus a 64-bit OS, it is important to consider the following rules regarding installations and upgrades:

32-bit versions of Windows cannot be upgraded to 64-bit versions.

32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows can be installed on a computer with a 64-bit processor.

A 32-bit processor can accept only a 32-bit version of Windows.

To check the version of Windows Vista and Windows 7, right-click Computer in the Start menu and then select Properties. To check Windows 8/8.1, swipe from the right edge of the Start screen, select Search, type system, and then tap or click Settings. Most programs designed for 32-bit will work on 64-bit, with the exception of device drivers. Device drivers must match the OS type.

Windows provides a utility called Windows Explorer in Vista/7 and File Explorer in 8/8.1. The syntax for the File Explorer program would show the path to a folder like this: Local Disk (C:) > Users > Username > Downloads. If using a path at the command-line interface, this would read: C:UsersUsernameDownloads.

When working in Windows, the locations of the following files are important to technicians:

Program files—When installing 64-bit editions of Windows, two folders are created to hold program files. One is for the 32-bit programs, Program Files (X86), and the other is the Program Files folder that holds 64-bit programs.

Personal documents—Under the Users folder is a folder with the login name of every user who is added to the system. Each of these folders contains a set of subfolders that hold information for that specific user. The most common are

C:UsersUsernameDesktop—Anything stored on the user’s Desktop.

C:UsersUsernameDocuments—The user’s Documents folder.

C:UsersUsernameDownloads—Most commonly used download folder for browsers and other programs

C:UsersUsernameMusic—A common location used to hold music files such as .mp3, .wav, and others

C:UsersUsernamePictures—A common location used to hold picture files such as .png, .gif, .jpg, and others

C:UsersUsernameVideos—A common location used to hold video files

On a Mac OS X system, the Finder utility is used to view and maintain files and folders. Each user in OS X has his/her own User folder that holds the same type of files and folders Windows provides.

With OS X, you also have the Spotlight utility that can help find files and folders. Spotlight will search for files, folders, e-mails, apps, music, printers, as well as other computers. It will also search online using search engines. On a Linux machine the only difference would be a Home folder rather than a user folder.

For a clean install, partitioning unallocated drive space is available after Windows has detected and loaded the disk drivers. You can select the entire available space or use only a portion and deal with the unallocated space once Windows has been installed. After this, the rest of the installation is accomplished by extracting the files to the hard drive.

At this point, you should see a graphical version of your hard drive. This phase of Setup has two options: refresh, in which a view of partitions and disks available is displayed, and load driver, in which if you are using an advanced controller you might need to load a third-party driver you need to use. This is also where you can create a new partition, extend it, and format it, or you can work with existing partitions to delete or extend them.

The next phase will configure and personalize the OS. It requests a username and password. Then, it asks for a computer name. Each computer name on a network should be unique. Next, set up how you want automatic updates to be handled, the date and time settings, and finally the network settings.

When the installation is finished and the OS is loaded, double-check that the network is connected and running. In Windows each of the following networking location settings implements a higher level of security: Home, Work, and Public. Home and Work are considered private connections, whereas Public is considered open and available to others. Usually this means it is available online. Once in the OS, specific networking configurations are made. For example, you might need to set TCP/IP settings, select a Domain or a Workgroup network, join a Homegroup, or connect to a wireless network using the proper Service Set Identifier (SSID) and authentication information. Finally, you will need to configure file and printer sharing if necessary.

The Windows System Image Manager creates and manages unattended Windows Setup answer XML-based files in a GUI environment. It is part of the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK), which is downloaded from Microsoft.

A hidden partition can be considered a possibility for installing Windows. It usually contains a factory image of the Windows installation for recovery purposes. To access it, read the computer documentation.

The PXE uses the following protocols to boot from a network location: TCP/IP, DHCP, and DNS. To enable, configure the NIC for PXE settings in the BIOS/UEFI settings. If these settings do not exist, the NIC probably does not support this option.

Multiboot installations have two or more OSes on the same hard drive, although only one can be booted at a time. A small menu appears at boot allowing the user to choose which OS to boot into. The Boot Configuration Data (BCD) file contains the multiboot information. With the advent of virtual machines, multiboot scenarios are not as popular any longer. For OS X, the Boot Camp program provides a way to load Microsoft Windows on an Intel-based Macintosh computer. The Boot Camp Assistant can be used to guide you through the installation process.

Table 14-3 contains the minimum hardware requirements for the Microsoft OS versions covered in the CompTIA A+ 220-902 exam:

Some upgrade paths enable users to keep Windows settings, personal files, and applications, but most require a clean install. The exam may refer to an upgrade as an in-place upgrade, while installing to an empty hard drive or newly created partition is called a clean installation. An in-place upgrade is performed while in the older OS by inserting the installation media and running the Setup program.

User State Migration Tool (usmt.exe) is a command-line tool that is used to copy settings and data from one or more computers. It can be downloaded from Microsoft’s website. It also is included in the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) for Windows 8 and newer versions.

Two different tools are used with USMT. scanstate.exe saves the files and settings on a computer (known as the user state), and loadstate.exe transfers the files to the new computer.

Multiple websites and system analysis tools are available to determine whether a system’s hardware will be compatible with Vista. These include the System Information tool. Table 14-4 compares the features included in the different editions of Vista.

Upgrading to Vista requires Windows XP, which is no longer supported by Microsoft. Table 14-5 shows the upgrade paths for moving from Windows XP to Vista. Remember that a 32-bit system cannot be upgraded to a 64-bit system.

Upgrade installations are performed similar to a clean installation process. The settings, applications, and user files from the version being upgraded can be carried over to the new version. To determine whether a system meets the Windows 7 requirements, use the Windows Upgrade Advisor. The Upgrade Advisor can be run prior to installation to scan your hardware, devices, and installed programs for known compatibility issues. It will give you guidance on resolving issues and recommendations on how to prepare your machine before upgrading it.

Vista needs Service Pack 1 or 2 installed before it can be upgraded to Windows 7. Upgrade paths are shown in Table 14-7.

Note that just as with any other version of Windows, a 32-bit version cannot be directly upgraded to a 64-bit version. An Anytime Upgrade refers to upgrading from one version of an OS to the same version, but one with more functions such as Professional to Ultimate.

The Windows 8 version is also called Core and is the edition aimed at the home market. The professional version of Windows 8 is called Windows 8 Pro. It is designed for the business and organization user. Additionally, an RT version (32-bit ARM) of Windows 8 is available, but only preinstalled on tablet devices.

Windows 8.1 comes in three versions called Basic, Pro, and Enterprise. The Basic Edition is intended for home users because it contains just the core features and no business features. Windows 8.1 Pro is designed for small to medium-sized businesses and provides the ability to join a corporate domain as well as other networking features. Enterprise contains business premium features, including Windows Software Assurance, Windows To Go, AppLocker, and other advanced networking features.

Windows 8 supports clean installs, in-place upgrades, and migrations. The migration option is where Setup backs up your settings and your data first and then does a clean install of Windows. It then applies the settings and/or data to the new version. Windows 8 does not support all these options in all circumstances. If you run Windows 8 within previously supported versions of Windows, the choice of what to keep occurs after you agree to the license agreement. Table 14-8 provides a comparison of the Windows 8 editions and its features.

Because Windows 8.1 is an upgrade to Windows 8, it did not introduce many new capabilities but did provide better functionality, updates, fixes, and tweaks. The Start Button was brought back, and the ability to boot to the Desktop, better searching capabilities, the ability to show more than one app on the screen at a time, and better organization and customization options were added. It also now provides support for 3D printers.

Upgrading to Windows 8 or 8.1 from Windows Vista or 7 is relatively easy. An Upgrade Assistant provides a report on the hardware compatibility and asks what you want to keep in terms of settings and data. The Windows Installation Media Creation Tool can be downloaded from Microsoft to create Windows 8.1 OS media. If upgrading from XP or Vista, Windows 8 requires installation media. Table 14-9 shows the upgrade paths to Windows 8.

Upgrading to Windows 8.1 is available through the Windows Store, although you cannot change editions. To get a different edition, you must purchase the media. Table 14-10 shows the upgrade path from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1

After the drive is partitioned, it needs to be formatted. During installation, this happens relatively quickly in the background. Formatting the disk creates an internal address table that it uses to locate and store information.

After installation, the Disk Management tool is used for analyzing and configuring partitions and volumes as well as adding more drives. It can be found under Computer Management in the Control Panel.

A Windows storage type that contains partitions and logical drives that are then formatted with a file system is called a basic disk. The concept of basic disks started in the MS-DOS OS and still uses the same Master Boot Record (MBR) partition style. You can create and delete primary and extended partitions using the Disk Management tool. You also can create and delete logical drives within an extended partition and format a partition, as well as mark it as active so the OS can be installed on it.

The GUID partition table (GPT) was originally used in Linux file systems. It can be booted only with the new UEFI, which replaced the BIOS. It is a table that provides a GUID for every partition on a drive. The GPT stores multiple copies of this data across the disk so it is easier to recover from corruption or accidental deletion. It also can support an unlimited amount of partitions with the OSes being the limiting factor (128 partition limit for Windows).

Restrictions and rules for BIOS-based MBR partitions require that a primary partition is the first partition on the drive. A secondary partition, perhaps a second drive, is considered an extended partition. An extended partition can contain logical partitions that also can receive drive letters. A volume can be extended, shrunk, or split. You can have up to four primary partitions, or three primary and one extended partition. Figure 14-1 shows the Disk Management utility with a drive separated into primary partitions and extended partitions and notes which are logical drives.

A volume is any logical space among one or more drives that receives a drive letter. Volumes can be folders or files within a disk or a partition itself. Regular partitions on a basic drive are called simple volumes. This makes it difficult to keep the two terms straight. You can create a new volume by clicking any unallocated space in the Disk Management utility.

You can use the Disk Management program to view the status of the drives. Some of the other options that can be performed on hard drives using this utility are listed here:

Initialize a new drive to make it accessible.

Create a volume, partitions, and logical drives.

Format drives.

Make a partition active.

Extend or shrink volumes.

Convert basic disks to dynamic.

The reason to convert basic disks to dynamic is to support a type of RAID volume for a more secure environment. To do this, the disk must be first converted to a dynamic disk. Figure 14-2 shows how to create a new simple volume on unallocated space.

Linux handles volumes with the Logical Volume Manager or the Enterprise Volume Management System. OS X comes with the Disk Utility for viewing and managing the drives. It also provides the ability to create disk images and burn DVDs and CDs.

When formatting a drive that has data on it, know that a reformat does not erase data on the drive—just the address tables. The data can be retrieved until it is overwritten. Options for formatting include creating a volume label, setting an allocation unit size (default is best), and performing a quick format. A quick format will not check a drive for bad sectors. A full format checks each sector on the drive, and any bad sectors are marked as unusable.

The File Allocation Table (FAT) file system has been around for years. Each of the FAT versions uses a table to identify the location of files on the drive based on clusters. The FAT file system is used only with older versions of the Microsoft OSes such as Windows XP and earlier. It can still be used with flash drives, but for the most part NTFS is the most widely used file system for Microsoft OSes. See Table 14-11 for a listing of FAT file system versions and their capabilities.

exFAT was developed for flash drives. It was designed to overcome FAT32 size limitations but not to include a lot of the overhead typically seen with files systems such as NTFS. OS X and Linux both can use the exFAT file system. A Mac will actually recognize an NTFS partition as exFAT. Linux requires the installation of an update to read and write to an exFAT system.

NTFS is a secure system and the best choice to use for newer OSes. It uses a FAT called the master file table (MFT). It keeps a backup copy of the table in the middle of the drive. Beginning with Windows 7, NTFS is a requirement.

Theoretically, NTFS can support up to 16 TB partitions if the cluster size is set to 4 KB. If the cluster size is set to 64 KB, drives up to 256 TB can be supported. The limiting factor is the partition table. Industry standards limit some systems to 2³² sectors, or 2 TB, on MBR-based drives.

NTFS provides many features that previous versions of the file system cannot address. NTFS features and capabilities include the following:

Permissions—Assign permissions, such as modify, read and execute, and read and write, to control access to files; and for folders an additional permission is list folder contents

Encryption—Encryption with the Encrypting File System (EFS)

Compression—Provides more space on the hard drive; know that you cannot compress and encrypt at the same time

Larger Volumes—Up to 2 TB on MBR drives or 256 TB on GPT drives that use UEFI instead of the BIOS

Efficiency—Uses clusters more efficiently than FAT

Built-in fault tolerance—Can detect and recover from disk-related errors without user intervention

In version 3.0 of NTFS, Microsoft introduced a feature that provided file system–level encryption. By right-clicking a file or folder and selecting encryption, the Encrypting File System (EFS) is enabled. This enables files to be transparently encrypted using advanced cryptographic algorithms. If another computer does not have the appropriate key, the files cannot be read or accessed.

The compact disk file system (CDFS) is a file extension that came from the Linux world. It exports all tracks and boot images on a CD as normal files. In Windows, it is used as the driver for CD-ROM players.

The file system Fourth Extended File system (ext4) is used in most Linux distributions. The ext4 file system supports volumes up to 1 EB (exabyte) with file sizes up to 16 TB. Older distributions used earlier versions such as ext2 and ext3. It can read and write to the Windows file systems, including NTFS.

During the installation, the time, date, region, and language settings are requested. In Windows 8, you can change the format of numbers, currencies, dates, and time after the installation by using the Region tool. Use the Language tool to change or install an additional language. In Windows 7 and Vista, these two tools are combined into one called the Regional and Language tool. Figure 14-3 shows the Windows 8 Region tool.

To keep the OS running smoothly, it is not only important to install the latest drivers for any devices that have been installed, but to keep any software updated as well. The OS also will need to be updated regularly to protect it from any exploitations and to fix any errors. To ensure that these items are kept up-to-date, create a software maintenance schedule and regularly review and install updates.

Some computers have a hidden partition installed on the hard drive that contains a recovery image that can be used to restore the computer after a crash. It is hidden from the user and requires a special key or key combination used during bootup to access it. Of course, if the hard drive is damaged, the recovery partition will not be able to recover the OS.