Chapter 3: Installing and Upgrading Windows

Exam Objectives

Understanding boot methods

Knowing the types of installation

Partitioning and file systems

Installing Windows

Upgrading Windows

Dual-booting Windows

Although installing an operating system (OS) has gotten easier over the last few years, it is still important to understand some of the issues surrounding installing and upgrading OSes.

This chapter gives you some background on the issues that surround the installation of Windows operating systems such as Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. In this chapter, I walk you through these installations step by step and discuss the different phases of the installation process.

Understanding Installation Methods

You can use a number of different techniques to install an operating system. But before I discuss the actual installation procedures, you should understand the overall approach you will take to install the operating system.

In the following sections, you find out about the different techniques that are used to invoke the installation of Windows operating systems. As an A+ Certified Professional, it is critical that you know a number of ways to invoke the installation so that you are well versed when the time comes.

Bootable CD/DVD

With Windows OSes today, the DVD that you use to perform the installation is a bootable DVD, so you simply place the DVD in the system and power on the computer. When you power on the computer, the system will boot off the DVD and start the installation!

During the installation of the Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 operating systems, you will have the opportunity to partition and format the drive from within the installation program itself. This is a huge benefit compared to older operating systems because those operating systems would make you partition the drive before you started the installation. Your goal now is simply to start the installation and take care of all partitioning and formatting tasks from within the installation.

To ensure that you do not install Windows over a perfectly functioning system, the folks at Microsoft built a feature into the installation DVDs for Windows so that if you boot from the DVD, you’re asked to press a key (any key) before the installation process continues. This feature keeps you from unintentionally reinstalling the OS if you accidentally leave the DVD in the drive.

USB and PXE

When planning to install the Windows operating system, you can invoke the installation by booting from media other than DVD. Today’s systems can be installed by booting off a USB memory stick and invoking the installation. It will take time to prepare the USB stick so that it is bootable and contains the proper installation files.

Most systems today support the preboot execution environment (PXE), which is booting from a network card and then invoking the installation directly from the network without the use of a CD or DVD. To boot from the network, the system must have the following BIOS settings enabled:

Boot from network: Ensure that your system has the capability to boot off the network and make sure that network boot is enabled in the BIOS.

Boot order: Ensure that you modify the boot order and make the network your first boot device, then the CD/DVD, and finally the hard drive.

After this is set, you can then boot off the network by pressing F12 while the system is starting. The system obtains an IP address from the DHCP server on the network and then can connect to your installation media to perform the installation.

Network installation

A number of network administrators install OSes and other applications to desktop systems via a network. When performing a network installation, you typically boot the system from a bootable CD, which then loads a network card driver and connects to a server on the network. You can also connect to the network using PXE to perform the installation.

The server holds the Windows setup files needed to install an OS to the computer. With Windows XP, these setup files are in the i386 folder located on the Windows CD-ROM. To perform a network installation, the I386 folder is first copied to the network server so that client computers can connect to the folder and perform the installation. After you connect to the server, you run the setup program for the OS, and the installation is run from across the network to your system. You end up installing the OS without even touching the installation CD.

Be aware that this method of installation uses up network bandwidth and can affect the performance of the network! You also need to ensure that you have a valid license for each installation of Windows.

Drive imaging

One of today’s most popular techniques for installing an OS is to use imaging software, which creates a snapshot of a system and stores that snapshot in an image file. When you want to configure other systems with the same setup, you apply the image (snapshot) to the other systems. The contents of the image file overwrite the contents of the hard drive of the destination systems.

Here’s an example of when drive imaging should be used: Your manager asks you to install Windows on 20 new computers. When you receive the systems, you sit down at one system and boot off your Windows DVD to perform a clean installation on that new computer (this computer is known as a reference computer). After the OS is installed, you install any additional drivers and applications that users will need. For example, most users need Microsoft Office, so you install Office on the computer as well.

After you have the system properly configured, you then create an image of that system by using imaging software, such as Ghost, Drive Image Pro, or Microsoft’s ImageX program that comes with the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK). Typically, you would copy the image to an image server so that you can connect to the imaging server from across the network and apply the image to the other systems.

When it comes time to configure the other 19 systems, you boot off the network card or a bootable CD-ROM and connect to the imaging server and download the image to each of the 19 systems. This takes far less time than performing the installation of the OS, drivers, and applications on each system individually. Most companies today use imaging solutions.

Again, be sure that you have valid licenses for the OS and any applications that you run. You need a license for the OS and any applications for each system that has the image applied.

Imaging with Windows 7

Microsoft has a number of tools that can help you deploy Windows 7 on a number of computers, including its own imaging technology that you can use. To get a hold of the installation tools, you first must download them from the Microsoft website www.microsoft.com/downloads. The tools you want to download are called “Windows AIK.”

Creating a bootable Windows PE disc

The first step to working with Microsoft imaging tools, such as ImageX to capture an image, is to create a bootable CD known as a Windows Preinstallation Environment (PE) disc. A Windows PE disc is a bootable disc that runs a mini-version of Windows that is used to run programs like ImageX to image the system.

To create a Windows PE disc, follow these steps:

1. Download and install the Windows AIK from www.microsoft.com/downloads.

2. Choose Start⇒All Programs⇒Microsoft Windows AIK⇒Deployment Tools Command Prompt.

3. Type the following command to create a folder containing the 64-bit Windows PE boot files:

copype.cmd amd64 c:winpe_amd64

4. Copy the base image to boot the CD/DVD from:

copy c:winpe_amd64winpe.wim  c:winpe_amd64isosourcesoot.wim

5. Copy ImageX to the ISO folder:

copy c:program filesWindows AIKToolsamd64imagex.exe  c:winpe_amd64iso

6. Create an ISO image from the ISO folder:

oscdimg.exe -n -bc:winpe_amdetfsboot.com  c:winpe_amd64iso  c:winpe_amd64winpe_amd64.iso

After the ISO file is created, you can then burn that to a CD or DVD and boot off it to create an image of a system with the ImageX program you placed on the CD.

Capturing an image with ImageX

You can use Microsoft’s ImageX.exe program to create images that come from the Windows AIK. After you have created your Windows PE boot disc, you can create an image of a system by following these steps:

1. Install Windows on a system, and then install any drivers that are needed.

2. Install any applications that are needed, such as Microsoft Office.

3. Prepare the system by running sysprep.exe:

c:windowssystem32sysprepsysprep.exe /generalize /oobe

This command is very important because it prepares the system for imaging by removing unique data from the system, such as the security ID and the computer name. The system is shut down and ready to image after the command completes.

4. Boot off the Windows PE disc and connect an external drive to the system, which you will use to store the image on.

5. To create an image of a system, use the following command:

imagex /capture c:  e:imagesWin7.wim “Compaq Laptops - Windows 7”

This command creates an image of the C: drive and stores it in an images folder on the E: drive (the external USB drive).

Applying an image with ImageX

After the image has been created, you can then apply the image to another system by following these steps:

1. Boot off your Windows PE disc and create a primary partition on the target system with the following commands:

Diskpart

Create partition primary

Format fs=NTFS label=”Boot Drive” quick

Assign letter=C

2. Apply the image by using the following command:

imagex /apply e:imagesWin7.wim 1 c:

In the preceding command, you are applying the first image that is inside the Win7.wim file to drive C: of the system.

3. Make the drive bootable:

Bcdboot c:windows

Now that you understand a bit about imaging technology, I’ll go back to performing a manual installation.

Preparing for Installation

After talking to many people in the industry about installing different OSes or servers, I have come to realize that one thing that always requires more time is planning. Many people tell me that they can’t do any actual work until their head office sends them the server. However, the best time to do your installation and disaster planning might be while the server is being shipped. Planning your installation or deployment of the OS to the desktops can save you time and money in the long run by helping you to anticipate any issues that might arise and to have the solutions ready when the time comes.

This section helps you identify some points you need to consider when installing a new Windows OS. Before jumping into the installation, be sure that you plan a number of installation decisions. Some things you will be asked about during the installation are

Hardware requirements

Computer name

Workgroup/domain

Partitions

File systems

Application support

Hardware requirements

You first prepare to install an OS by finding the OS’s hardware requirements and making sure that the computer fits the bill. Table 3-1 shows the minimum hardware requirements for the different Windows OSes.

Not only should you verify that the computer meets the minimum hardware requirements before installing an OS, but you should also make sure that the hardware components you are using will work with the OS. For example, make sure that the make and the model number of your network card are compatible with the OS you want to install. For years, Microsoft published a list of hardware components — the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) — that had been tested with each version of their operating systems. You can find the HCL for a given OS on the Windows installation CD in the hcl.txt file, or you can find the listing online at the Microsoft Web site.

The HCL is not a list of the only devices that will work with Windows; it is a list of devices that have been tested. If you have a network card that is not on the HCL list, it might still work with the OS, but it hasn’t been tested. There is only one way to find out whether it works — install it! Just make sure that you are installing it on a test system and not a production system, just in case it causes the system to crash.

You can view the HCL for Windows 7 by checking out www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/default.aspx.

Computer name

When you install Windows, you must specify a computer name for the machine you are installing. This computer name is a unique name assigned to the system and will be used to identify the system on the network. You want to plan the computer names because you are not allowed to have two Windows systems on the network with the same name. The computer names can be up to 15 characters, and they are not allowed to include spaces. For more information on computer names, check out Book VIII, Chapter 3.

Workgroup/domain

When installing Windows on a system, you need to specify the workgroup or domain that you want the system to be a part of. A workgroup is a logical grouping of computers. For example, you could logically organize all the accounting systems into an accounting workgroup — the benefit being that when users browse the network for resources, they can double-click the accounting workgroup to access all computers in the accounting workgroup.

If you are installing Windows into a Windows domain, you need to specify the domain name instead of the workgroup name during the installation. A domain is the term that Microsoft uses for its networking environments. A domain has a central server that stores all the user accounts so that users have to log on to the domain only once to access resources across a network.

If you are not sure whether you are installing your Windows system into a workgroup or a domain, choose a workgroup. You can always join the domain later by going to the properties of My Computer. For more information on changing a computer name, check out Book VIII, Chapter 3.

Partitions

When you install Windows, you need to partition the hard drive or select which partition you want to install Windows to. Plan this ahead of time! Partitions are logical divisions of the hard drive that you can use to help separate the different types of information stored on the system.

The following is a review of partition types you can read about in Book II, Chapter 6:

Primary partition: A partition that you can boot from.

Extended partition: A method to extend beyond the four partition limitation. You can create an extended partition to hold a large number of logical drives.

Logical drives: An area of space in the extended partition that is formatted and assigned a drive letter.

For more information on partitioning a hard drive, check out Book II, Chapter 6.

The default disk type when installing Windows is a basic disk, which supports up to four partitions per disk. You can convert the drive to a dynamic disk after installation and then create a number of volumes on the drive. For more information on basic disk and dynamic disk, check out Book II, Chapter 6.

When installing Windows, you can manage the partitions from within the Windows setup program instead of having to boot from a startup disk first and then create the partitions before installing the operating system, like you had to do in the old Windows 9x days. You can build all of your partitions from within the setup program.

Within the Windows XP setup program, you can build the partitions by choosing an area of free space and then pressing C (for create). The setup program then asks you the size of the new partition. You want to be sure that you create a partition that is large enough to hold the operating system and any future patches or updates to that operating system. For example, the laptop I am using to write this book has a 100GB hard drive. I have created a partition to hold the operating system which is 35GB in size. By the time I have installed the operating system, patched it, and installed my applications, I only have 50 percent of that space available for future updates. Windows Vista/7 now allow you to create partitions using a graphical screen within the setup program.

The Windows setup program also offers a delete command, which lets you delete any existing partitions. After creating the partitions and choosing a partition in which to install the Windows OS, you are asked what file system you want to use.

When you install Windows, you don’t have any control over the types of partitions that are created during the setup. For this reason, it is best to only create one partition (to install the OS on) during the installation. Then, after the OS has been installed, use Disk Management to create the remaining partitions. You will get more options and flexibility from the Disk Management console than from the Windows installation program.

File systems

Windows supports three file systems: FAT, FAT32, and NTFS. The primary advantage of using the FAT file system is that it is common to all Windows OSes. The FAT file system has its limitations, however, in that it can handle only up to 2GB partitions. The FAT32 file system, however, supports up to 2000GB partitions (although the Windows setup program cannot create a partition larger that 32GB with FAT32).

Neither version of FAT supports security features, so beware of these file systems!

NTFS (New Technology File System) is a file system supported by Windows that offers a richer set of features than FAT or FAT32. For example, NTFS supports setting permissions on folders and files so that you can control who can access what files. NTFS also supports auditing, compression, encryption, and quotas — a feature that allows you to limit how much hard drive space a single user can use. None of these features are available with FAT or FAT32. If you need any of the features provided by NTFS, you need to use an NTFS file system on each partition.

For the exam, be sure to be familiar with the different file systems that Windows supports. Also note that NTFS is the only file system that gives you features such as permissions, auditing, and quotas.

Another file system that you should be familiar with for the A+ certification exams is the Compact Disc File System (CDFS). This file system allows the operating system to access the data on optical drives, such as CD-ROMs or DVDs.

Other preparation steps

Before you install Windows to your production systems, you also want to make sure that you prepare for the installation by checking that the applications that are going to run on the systems work and that your CMOS is prepared to boot from CD-ROM. This section outlines these two additional preparation steps.

Application support

Make sure that you test each application that will be running on the OS completely to verify that it functions correctly. Today, you may have a mix of some 32-bit applications and some 64-bit applications. Be sure to test each application with the new operating system you are installing. For more information on application support in Windows, check out Book VI, Chapter 2.

CMOS

When you install the Windows OS, you will boot from the Windows CD or DVD, and the setup program will start. Because you are booting from a CD, you need to prepare for the installation by verifying in the CMOS settings that the CD-ROM or DVD device is the first device in the startup order. This ensures that you can boot off the Windows setup CD. For more information on configuring CMOS, check out Book II, Chapter 4.

Other considerations

You want to consider a number of things when planning your installation of the Windows operating system. The following items should be planned carefully:

Repair installation: The great thing about the Windows installation DVD is that it is also used to repair a corrupt installation of Windows, so keep that installation DVD handy!

Multiboot: If you need to support older applications that will not run on the new version of Windows you are installing, you may need to install Windows in a dual-boot configuration. If installing Windows 7 in a dual-boot configuration, be sure to install it on its own partition.

Remote network installation: As mentioned earlier, you can install Windows across the network. If you are planning to install from across the network, be sure that the system has been prepared to boot off the network card on the system.

Image deployment: The best way to install an operating system is to prepare an image to be installed. Spend some time preparing images of your systems to simplify the installation at a later time.

Third-party drivers: Your new Windows installation may not have drivers for the hardware in your computer, so be sure to spend some time downloading new drivers from the vendor’s website.

Time/date/regional settings: Ensure that you set the date and time ­settings on the system during installation.

Factory recovery partition: When partitioning the system, do not overwrite any of the default partitions, created by the manufacturer of the system, that have the recovery tools; these partitions are needed if you intend to recover the system to its original state.

Automatic Updates: Ensure that you enable automatic updates so that your system is updated on a regular basis. This will help improve the security of the system.

Performing Attended Installations of Windows

This section begins with an overview of the installation process for Windows XP, and then Windows Vista and Windows 7. The attended installation processes for these two OSes are very similar, so if you know how to install one OS, you will be able to install the others with no problem.

I begin with attended installation of the OS. That is, installations that you attend, or sit through, and answer all the questions that the setup program asks.

The Windows XP attended installation is broken down into three major phases:

Setup loader: The setup loader phase is initiated by calling winnt.exe or winnt32.exe or by booting from the Windows XP CD-ROM. This phase copies setupldr, which is a mini version of ntldr used by the setup program, and copies to the hard drive any files that the Windows setup utility needs.

Text-mode phase: The text-mode portion of the Windows installation is typically identified by the text-based environment that has a blue background. You will recognize the text mode phase by the lack of a graphical interface. The text-mode portion of the install is controlled by a mini kernel that is started by usetup.exe, which is located in the i386 folder and called automatically.

The text-mode phase of setup is responsible for detecting basic hardware components such as CPU, motherboard, and hard drives. This phase also creates the Registry, partitions and formats the drives, creates the file systems, and verifies that you have enough hard disk space to complete the installation. After the setup verifies that you have enough hard disk space, it copies files that are needed by the setup program to the hard disk.

GUI-mode phase: After the text-mode portion of the install, the system restarts and moves into the GUI-mode phase. This phase of the setup can be quickly identified by the use of a wizard and its Windows-like shell. The wizard asks questions; you answer each question and click Next to progress to the next question.

This phase of the setup detects additional devices, installs drivers for those devices, and copies additional necessary setup files that weren’t copied during the text-mode phase. During this phase, you are asked for information, such as your name, your organization, and your product key for the Windows OS, and you are asked to agree to the end-user licensing agreement (EULA).

Performing a Windows XP attended installation

Before I go through how to boot from the Windows CD to start the setup program, I want to first talk about how you can launch the Windows setup program from a command line. You can call the setup executables manually with the winnt.exe or winnt32.exe program. You execute winnt.exe if you are installing the OS from a 16-bit client, such as a DOS-formatted system. If you are installing Windows XP on a system that has a 32-bit operating system already installed, you will run the upgrade program, which is winnt32.exe. Tables 3-2 and 3-3 show popular setup switches (with placeholders) with these programs.

Table 3-2 winnt.exe Setup Switches

Switch	Description
/u:<filename>	Tells the installation program the name of a file that has all the answers to the questions asked during the installation. This is used to automate the setup and is also known as an unattended installation.
/udf: <id>, <filename>	Points to a database file (really a text file) with a list of unique settings for each computer in the network. This is another file used in automating setup.
/s:<path>	Specifies the source path to the Windows installation files.
/t: <drive>	Tells the setup program to store the temporary files used during the installation process on a different drive.
/r: <folderpath>	Specifies an additional folder that will be copied to the system during setup. This folder remains on the system after the installation is complete.
/rx: <folderpath>	Specifies an additional folder to be copied to the system during setup but is deleted after the setup program is completed. Using this switch is a great way to place some additional files needed by the setup program but have them removed after setup.
/e: <command>	Specifies a command that executes after the graphical portion of the setup is complete.

Table 3-3 winnt32.exe Setup Switches

Switch	Description
/unattend: <filename>	Tells the installation program the name of a file that has all the answers to the questions asked during the installation. This is used to automate the setup and is also known as an unattended installation.
/udf: <id>,<filename>	Points to a database file (really a text file) with a list of unique settings for computers on the network. This is another file used in automating setup.
/s:<path>	Specifies the source path to the Windows installation files.
/t:empdrive: <drive>	Tells the setup program to store the temporary files used during the installation process on a different drive.
/copydir: <folder>	Specifies an additional folder to be copied to the system during setup. This folder remains on the system after the installation is complete.
/cmd: < command>	Specifies a command that executes before the final phase of the setup program.
/cmdcons	Installs the Recovery Console on the system. The Recovery Console is used to help recover a system that cannot be booted. You can install the Recovery Console after Windows has been installed.
/checkupgrade only	Verifies that your existing hardware and software are compatible with the Windows XP operating system. You would use this command before you upgrade your Windows 9x system to Windows XP.

For the A+ exam, be familiar with the setup program switches that are listed in Tables 3-2 and 3-3.

Realistically, installing Windows XP is fairly straightforward because you are simply going to boot from the CD-ROM and the installation will start. A number of years ago, administrators would perform network installations by running the winnt.exe or winnt32.exe program, so they did not need the Windows CD-ROM. Today, though, you install Windows from CD or DVD and then image that system.

With Windows XP, you don’t necessarily need to call the winnt.exe or winnt32.exe program yourself — you can boot off the CD.

To perform a Windows XP attended installation, follow these steps:

1. Put the Windows XP installation CD in the CD-ROM drive and restart the computer.

2. When the screen says, “Press any key to boot from CD,” press a key.

After you boot from CD, the text-mode portion of the installation begins. You can always tell when you’re in the text-mode portion of the installation because of the blue background and the lack of the “Windows-ish” look.

After booting from the CD-ROM, setup copies temporary files to the hard disk and then asks you whether you want to install Windows or to recover Windows, as shown in Figure 3-1.

3. Press Enter to start the Windows XP installation process.

4. Read the licensing agreement (shown in Figure 3-2) and then press F8 to agree to the terms.

You are asked to partition the disk. You can manage partitions here and perform actions such as deleting and creating partitions.

5. To create a partition, press C, type 8000 (MB) as the partition size (as shown in Figure 3-3), and then press Enter.

6. Select the newly created partition to install Windows XP to and then press Enter.

You are asked what file system you would like to format the partition with. You may format the partition with the FAT file system or NTFS, as shown in Figure 3-4.

7. Choose to format for NTFS (Quick) and press Enter.

With a quick format, Windows does not scan for bad sectors; with a regular format, Windows does scan for bad sectors. Scanning for bad sectors can be time consuming, so I chose a quick format.

Setup formats the partition and then copies files to the Windows folder on the hard disk. After the files are copied to the hard disk, setup reboots and the GUI-mode portion of the installation starts, as shown in Figure 3-5.

Setup installs devices that are detected during installation, and then asks you to choose your Regional options, such as language settings.

8. Click Next to accept the default regional settings.

For this example, I accept the default settings. However, you may change your regional settings at any time through the Windows Control Panel.

9. Fill in your name (I suggest something generic, like IT Support) type your organization name (see Figure 3-6), and then click Next.

10. Type the product key (found on the CD case that the installation CD came in) and then click Next.

11. Enter a computer name and type (twice) an Administrator password; then click Next.

The administrator account has full access to the system, so you want to supply a strong password that incorporates letters (uppercase and lowercase) and numbers.

12. Choose your time zone and then click Next.

You are asked about network settings.

13. Click Next to accept the typical network settings.

If you install the typical network settings, you will have File and Printer Sharing, TCP/IP, and the Client for Microsoft network installed.

14. Click Next to accept the default workgroup for Windows XP.

Windows continues with installation and finally reboots. After the reboot, Windows finalizes the setup by walking you through a configuration wizard, as shown in Figure 3-7.

The wizard first asks whether you want to connect to the Internet through the LAN setup.

15. If your computer will connect to the Internet through the network, select this option and then click Next.

You may then choose whether you wish to register Windows with Microsoft.

16. Choose your registration preference and then click Next.

17. Type the name of a username to use as your own user account and then press Next to finalize the setup.

Because you have not been given the opportunity to assign a password for this user account, you will log on without a password for this account until you assign the password through the User Accounts applet in the Control Panel.

When you install Windows XP, you are also asked to prove the validity of your Windows installation by activating Windows. When you activate your installation of Windows, no other installation of Windows can be activated with the same product key, assuming that you used a single-use product key. You may activate Windows via the Internet, or via telephone by calling the phone number provided in the wizard.

Performing a Windows 7 and Vista attended installation

The steps to perform an attended installation of Windows 7 or Windows Vista are very similar to other versions of Windows, but the architecture of the installation program has changed. Windows Vista no longer uses the text-mode installation phase that was part of all other Windows installations. Instead, it uses the Windows Preinstallation Environment (PE), which is a scaled-down version of Windows that runs when you boot from a CD or DVD. The installation sports a GUI right off the bat, as compared with Windows XP, which had a text-mode phase where the screen was very DOS looking.

Because of the size of the newer versions of Windows Vista, Microsoft ships it on DVD instead of CD-ROM: something you will notice more for future software releases as well. To install Vista, follow these steps:

1. Place the Windows 7 or Vista installation DVD in the system and restart the computer.

The computer boots off the DVD and then starts the Vista installation by loading files into memory.

2. After Windows 7 or Vista loads the GUI installation shell, you are asked to set your preferred language, and also time and currency format; see Figure 3-8. Then click Next.

3. (Optional) Like previous versions of Windows, you can perform a repair of a system from the Windows installation media.

4. Because I assume this is a clean install, click Install Now. (See Figure 3-9.)

5. Read the licensing terms, choose the I Accept the License Terms option, and then click Next.

You are then asked whether you want to upgrade your current version of Windows to Vista or perform a clean installation by choosing Custom (see Figure 3-10).

6. In this example, I choose Custom.

7. When next presented with a list of hard drives where you can install Windows Vista, choose the drive you wish and then click Next.

If you don’t want to use the entire drive to host the OS and you are interested in partitioning the disk, click the Advanced link to access options for creating, deleting, and formatting partitions shown in Figure 3-11. When partitioning the disk, you will notice that Windows creates a system reserved partition of 100MB, which is used by Windows for features such as BitLocker.

Windows copies the files it needs, expands them, and then continues installation. The screen shows the progression; see Figure 3-12. This step might take the good part of 30 minutes.

After Windows Vista installs, you are then walked through some final steps.

8. Create a user account (for yourself), which will have administrator capabilities (Figure 3-13). Type a username and a password; then click Next.

Note: In Windows Vista and Windows 7, the default administrator account is disabled by default.

9. When asked the name of the computer, enter a name of less than 15 characters. Also choose your desktop background. Then click Next.

10. When asked whether you want Windows to automatically protect your system (enabling automatic updates), choose Use Recommended Settings.

11. Choose your time zone, verify that the date and time are correct (see Figure 3-14), and then click Next.

12. Set your computer location; see Figure 3-15.

Because I am using this system for a home network, I opt for Home.

The location is important. For example, say you chose Public Location here. Vista security settings are tighter — a good thing — if you let it know that you are in a public site, such as an Internet cafe.

13. With installation now complete, click Start.

After Vista reboots, you can log on with the account you created during installation.

After you installed Vista, you need to activate it to prove you have a licensed installation of Windows Vista. You will need your software key, which is usually located on the side of the computer or inside the CD case. With key in hand, configure your install to use that key and then choose the Activate feature in Vista. That prompts Vista to connect to the Microsoft site to verify that the software key has not been used.

To activate Windows 7 or Vista, follow these steps:

1. Click Start. Right-click Computer and choose Properties.

2. In the System Properties window, click Change Product Key (bottom of Figure 3-16).

3. Type your product key into the product key window that opens; then click OK.

4. Back in System Properties, click the Active Windows Now link.

Performing Unattended Installations of Windows

An unattended installation (compared with an attended installation) frees you from having to be present when the installation is run. Before installation, you place all the answers to the installation questions in a text file, and the setup program reads the text file.

Windows XP and Server 2003

When you need to install an OS on many computers, you can do an automated, unattended installation. You start this process by creating an answer file (also known as an unattend file) that holds all the answers to questions asked during the installation. The Windows XP/2003 setup program then uses the answers in this file instead of prompting you for each answer during installation. A typical answer file is shown in Figure 3-17.

The answer file is divided into different sections, indicated by square brackets. For example, see the section in Figure 3-17 labeled [UserData]. Here, you can set what you want the setup program to use for your name and organization, and the computer name of the system being installed.

[UserData]

  ComputerName=WORKSTATION1

  FullName=”Glen E. Clarke”

  OrgName=”CompanyABC”

In the preceding sample, ComputerName is a setting that corresponds to a question asked during the installation, and the WORKSTATION1 is the value you are assigning to that entry.

To get a list of settings that can be assigned in the answer file, look at the help file located in the deploy.cab file, which you can find on the Windows CD-ROM in the SupportTools folder.

To make it easier to create the answer file, Microsoft offers Setup Manager (setupmgr.exe), a wizard that you can run. You can find Setup Manager in the deploy.cab file on the Windows CD as well.

After extracting the Setup Manager from the CAB file, you can run it by double-clicking setupmgr.exe. The wizard launches, asks all the questions you would be asked during a typical installation, and then creates the answer file. Figure 3-18 shows Setup Manager asking for your name and organization. Notice that after you answer a question, you click the Next button to get the next question in typical wizard format.

After you create the answer file, you pass it to the Windows setup program by calling the winnt.exe or winnt32.exe program and supplying the switch that tells the program what answer file you would like to use. Pop quiz time: Do you remember what switch to use to specify an unattended file for winnt.exe? If you answered /u, you are correct!

Setup Manager is a Windows program used to create answer files. You can then pass the answer file to the Windows setup program by using winnt.exe /u: <filename> or winnt32.exe /unattend: <filename>.

Assume that you copied the CD contents to a folder on the server and created a network drive (J: in this example) to point to that folder. To perform an automated installation of Windows, connect to the J:i386 directory and upload your newly created answer file (companyabc.txt for the sake of this example).

To start the installation process for Windows XP, type the following at the command prompt:

J:i386winnt.exe /s:j:i386 /u:companyabc.txt

The preceding example code runs the winnt.exe file and supplies J:i386 as the source directory (where the Windows files are located) to the setup program. The /u switch tells the winnt.exe program to use the company abc.txt file as the answer file — pretty cool technology!

To install Windows to a system running a 32-bit OS, run the winnt32.exe program. Note: The switches are a bit different. For example, use the /unattend switch instead of the /u switch.

If you don’t have a network and you want to automate a Windows installation from CD, you can do that! You simply create an answer file (on a computer already running), name it winnt.sif, and copy that file to a floppy disk. When you boot from CD to install Windows, quickly pop in the floppy disk. The setup program will automatically read the winnt.sif file, and you are off to the races with an automated, unattended installation! With Windows XP, the winnt.sif file can be placed in the i386 folder and burned to a bootable installation CD so you do not need to use a floppy disk.

To practice automating a Windows XP installation, check out Lab 3-2. Lab 3-2 can be found on the companion website at www.dummies.com/go/aplusaio.

Windows 7 and Vista

To automate installing Windows 7 or Vista, you use different tools than with the previous OSes mentioned. The concept is pretty much this: You still need to build an answer file, but the tools you use are a little different.

The first change that Microsoft made with automating Vista is that the answer file is no longer a TXT file. It is now an XML file! (An XML file is a plain text file supported by a number of different products.)

To create an answer file for Windows Vista or Windows 7 installations, download the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) from the Microsoft Web site. In the Windows AIK is the Windows System Image Manager (SIM) tool, which you use to create an answer file to automate Vista installations.

Verifying and Troubleshooting the Installation

In the previous two sections, I showed you how to perform attended and unattended installations of Windows. In this section, you look at some tips for verifying and troubleshooting a Windows installation.

First things first. After Windows is installed, ensure that all device drivers have been installed. In Device Manager (choose Start⇒Control Panel⇒System and then click the Device Manager button on the Hardware tab in Windows XP; or click Start, right-click Computer, and then choose Manage⇒Select Device Manager in the Computer Management Console for Vista), verify that all drivers are present. If you are missing drivers for some devices, Device Manager will have a category called Unknown Devices, which are indicated by a yellow question mark.

Check out Book VI, Chapter 1 to find out more about updating drivers.

Windows creates a number of log files during installation. If installation does not go as you planned, peruse these logs for more information about an error. These log files report information only for events that happen during the installation, so if you’re troubleshooting something like booting Windows or networking, these files won’t help.

The log files created during installation are

Setupact.log records information about the files that are copied during installation.

Setuperr.log records information about errors that happen during installation.

Setupapi.log records information about device driver files that are copied during installation.

Setuplog.txt records additional information about the device drivers.

Be sure to remember the log files that are created when you install Windows. These files can be used to help troubleshoot problems with the installation of Windows.

A number of problems may arise during Windows installation. The following list outlines a few common ones:

Bad CD-ROM: If you experience failure to copy files during the setup process, you might have a bad CD-ROM device, or maybe the CD itself is bad. Try booting from another Windows CD to find out whether the problem is with the media or the CD-ROM device.

Can’t boot after install: If you have trouble rebooting after you complete an installation, be sure that you did not leave a floppy diskette in the floppy drive. Also check CMOS to ensure that the hard drive appears as a boot device. (See Book II, Chapter 4, to find out how to tweak CMOS settings.)

Can’t start Windows install: If you can’t start the Windows setup by booting off the CD-ROM, make sure that the CD-ROM device is listed as a startup device in CMOS. Also, ensure that the CD-ROM is listed before the hard disk.

RAID not detected during installation: When installing Windows, if you have a hard drive controller or a RAID controller in the system that is not detected during installation, press F6 during installation to supply third-party drivers.

Not enough disk space: The Windows setup program checks available hard disk space. If your computer doesn’t have enough space, Windows indicates this with an error, and the Windows installation stops. You will need to restart the installation again after cleaning up disk space.

Overall, Windows installations have become more reliable with each successive version, so you are less likely to have installation problems with the current version than you would have back in the Windows 9x days.

Upgrading Windows

You will be responsible for understanding how to upgrade from previous versions of Windows to Windows XP, and Windows 7 or Vista. The following sections introduce you to the theory of upgrading an OS.

Preparing to upgrade

Many businesses run Windows, so understanding how to upgrade is important. Whether installing the OS from scratch or performing an upgrade, the process is pretty much the same. Note: With an upgrade, though, you will find many installation decisions already made for you during the installation of the previous OS. For example, when you upgrade an older version of Windows, you will not be asked the computer name of the system as this information is inherited from the previous operating system installation that you are upgrading.

Before you upgrade any OS, backup the system and any important data. You never know when an upgrade is going to go bad, so make sure you can at least put the system back to its previous state.

Upgrading to Windows XP

A number of OSes can be upgraded to Windows XP, including Windows 98, 98 SE, Me, NT 4.0 (SP5 or higher), and 2000. You cannot upgrade Windows 95 or Windows NT 3.51 to Windows XP directly, though: You must first upgrade those OSes to Windows 98 (for existing Window 95 systems) or to Windows NT 4.0 SP5 (for Windows NT 3.51). Table 3-5 gives a summary of the OSes that can be upgraded to Windows XP.

Table 3-5 Client Upgrade Paths to Windows XP

Current Operating System	Upgrade Directly to Windows XP?
Windows 3.1	No
Windows 95	No
Windows 98	Yes
Windows NT Workstation 4.0	Yes (Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 5)
Windows Me	Yes
Windows 2000	Yes

Before you upgrade to Windows XP, check the existing system for known compatibility issues with Windows XP by using the Upgrade Advisor. The Upgrade Advisor identifies compatibility issues and gives details on resolution for these issues.

To run the Upgrade Advisor, execute winnt32.exe with the /checkup gradonly switch, or you can launch it from the splash page that appears after inserting the Windows XP CD. Select the Check System Compatibility option and then choose to Check My System Automatically. The Upgrade Advisor runs and displays any compatibility problems, as shown in Figure 3-19.

In Figure 3-19, the Upgrade Advisor has identified an issue upgrading the system because the existing system has CD Creator installed. You can save the report to a file by pressing the Save As button, or you can view the details in an HTML page by clicking the Details button, as shown in Figure 3-20.

Upgrading to Windows Vista

You can perform an in-place upgrade of an OS to Windows Vista, but you must prepare for the upgrade. Start by verifying that your existing hardware and software are supported by Windows Vista. To do so, check with each manufacturer’s Web site, or run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor (downloadable from Microsoft online). The Upgrade Advisor will run on your system and report any installation issues that could arise if you tried to install Vista.

The goal here is to prevent you from installing Vista and then finding out none of your applications run or hardware is supported.

If you wish to upgrade to Vista, you must have one of these three prerequisite OSes: Windows 2000, XP, or another edition of Vista. Yup, you read that right: You can upgrade from Vista to Vista if you upgrade a lower-end edition (such as the Home edition) to a higher-end edition (say, Enterprise).

The other issue to watch for when upgrading to Vista is that the edition of Windows you are upgrading is upgradeable to the edition of Vista. For example, you cannot upgrade Windows XP Professional to Windows Vista Home edition because XP Professional supports features not supported in Vista Home Edition (such as domain environments). Really, when you think about it, if you were successful in that action, you are downgrading — not upgrading!

Upgrading to Windows 7

If you are running Windows Vista, you can upgrade to Windows 7, but no upgrade path exists for other operating systems such as Windows XP to be upgraded to Windows 7. Also, like upgrading to Windows Vista, you must upgrade to an operating system edition of similar functionality. For example, you cannot upgrade a Vista Professional edition to a Windows 7 Home edition.

Also note that you cannot upgrade between 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. You must do a clean install to switch from a 32-bit copy of Windows to 64-bit. Remember this for your A+ certification exams because I am sure that you will be tested on what systems can be upgraded to Windows 7.

Installing or Removing Additional Windows Components

After installing Windows, you can add or remove components (or portions of the Windows OS) by going through Add/Remove Windows Components. For example, if you would like to create a Web site, you will most likely want a Web server installed on your system. Windows does not come with Web server software installed by default, so you would need to add one after you install the OS.

To install additional Windows components after the installation of the operating system, follow these steps:

1. Choose Start⇒Control Panel (in Windows XP).

2. In the Control Panel, click Add or Remove Programs.

In the Add or Remove Programs dialog box is the Add/Remove Windows Components option (left). Use this option to add software that comes with Windows but was not installed by default, such as accessories (including games) and Internet Information Services (IIS; Microsoft Web server software).

3. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.

The Windows Components Wizard appears as shown in Figure 3-21.

4. Select each component to install and then click Next.

The files are copied to your system from the Windows CD, so be sure to have the Windows CD close by in case you are prompted to insert the CD.

5. After the files are copied, click Finish.

6. Close the Add or Remove Programs dialog box.

To add or remove Windows components from Windows Vista, navigate to the Control Panel applet.

1. Click Start, click Control Panel and then click the Programs link.

2. Under the Programs and Features heading, click the Turn Windows Features On or Off link.

3. From the Windows Features window that opens, choose which Windows features you wish to install (see Figure 3-22).

Understanding How to Dual-Boot Windows

Dual-booting — running multiple OSes on the same computer — is different than performing an upgrade. With an upgrade, all applications and their ­settings carry forward into the new OS. When configuring dual-boot, you should install each OS into a different partition instead of into different ­folders on the same partition. Installing both OSes into the same partition could cause problems: for example, using the same Program Files folder. With a dual-boot scenario, you need to install the applications within each installed OS.

One reason why you might want to dual-boot multiple OSes is to test or support applications in the different OSes. You might also want to dual-boot if your company uses an application that won’t function on your primary OS (for example, Windows 7) but works great in an older OS (for example, Windows XP). You can install both OSes on the computer and then install the application that doesn’t work in Windows 7 on the Windows XP system; anytime you want to use that application, you just boot to Windows XP.

To dual-boot multiple OSes, the following criteria must be met:

The bootable drive (usually drive C:) must have a file system supported by all OSes on the computer.

Install each OS into its own partition.

In dual-boot scenarios, any application you want to use in both environments must be installed on both OSes. For example, to use Microsoft Word in both Windows XP and Windows 7, you need to install it in both OSes.

Updating Installation Files

A number of organizations copy the contents of a Windows CD to a folder on a server and then install Windows from that folder by calling the winnt.exe or the winnt32.exe setup programs. This folder is called a distribution point because it is used to distribute the OS to the client systems.

Eventually, Microsoft will release Service Packs that you will apply to the OS on each computer, but you will also want to update the distribution point so that it contains the Service Pack updates for any new systems that install from the folder. The benefit is that after the folder has been updated with the Service Pack, when new systems install the OS over the network, it will already include the updated Service Packs. Updating the source files of an OS at a distribution point to include Service Pack files is slipstreaming.

Slipstreaming is the term used when you update your Windows source files with Service Pack files. The benefit is that any new installation of Windows from the updated source files will already have the Service Pack installed.

To slipstream a Windows XP CD, follow these steps:

1. Create a folder called c:WindowsXP_CD.

2. Copy the contents of the Windows XP CD to the c:WindowsXP_CD folder.

3. Download the full network installation of the service pack.

I am using SP2 for this example.

4. Create a folder to store the extracted service pack.

In my example, I created a folder called c:XP_SP2.

5. Run the service pack executable to extract the files:

xpsp2.exe -x:c:XP_SP2

6. After the extraction is complete, navigate to the update folder and update your Windows XP source files with the service pack files by calling the update.exe program (shown here).

cd c:XP_SP2i386Update

update -s:c:WindowsXP_CD

7. After the update is complete, burn the folder to a bootable CD-ROM or DVD.

You need to prepare the folder by adding a file from the original XP CD that makes the CD bootable before burning the files to CD. You can use a program such as ISOBuster to extract the Microsoft Corporation.img file, which is needed to make your CD bootable, and then burn the folder to a CD/DVD.

Restoring User Data Files

You can move a user’s computer’s state from one system to another. The state of a user’s computer comprises the information and settings important to that user. This includes files in the My Documents folder, e-mail settings, Internet Explorer favorites, and the desktop wallpaper, just to name a few.

Saving a computer’s state

If you are going to replace a user’s computer, you should know how to save the computer’s state. You will replace a system for a number of reasons. Maybe the system is running Windows XP, and you feel that to run Windows 7, the user should have up-to-date hardware. Or maybe the user is running Windows XP on a system, and your manager has a new laptop for the user that will run Windows XP. Bottom line: You have to move the settings from one computer to another.

Windows XP offers the User State Migration Tool (USMT) feature, which is  set of features that can simplify your life when you need to move computer settings from one system to another. The USMT is made up of the Files and Settings Transfer (FAST) Wizard and the command line tools. Just a note that Windows Vista/7 have a similar feature called the Windows Easy Transfer!

To save a computer’s state, follow these instructions:

1. Activate the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard by choosing Start⇒All Programs⇒Accessories⇒System Tools⇒Files and Settings Transfer Wizard.

When you run the wizard, it asks you whether you are on the old computer or on the new computer (see Figure 3-23).

2. Select the Old Computer option and click Next.

The wizard asks how you want to transfer the settings.

3. Specify where the wizard should save the computer’s files and settings and then click Next.

You can specify a floppy disk or a folder in which to store the settings. If you choose a folder, you can specify to write to a folder on either a removable drive or a network drive.

4. Select the appropriate option for saving only the user’s settings, only the user’s files, or both; then click Next.

See Figure 3-24. Normally, you opt for Both Files and Settings.

The FAST Wizard copies all the user state information that you specified on that computer. If you selected the Both Files and Settings option, the FAST Wizard saves these items by default to the location you specified:

• Contents of My Documents

• Contents of My Pictures

• Contents of Desktop

• Contents of Favorites

• Internet Explorer Favorites

• Browser and mail settings

• Accessibility options

• Display properties

• Folder and Taskbar settings

• Mouse and Keyboard settings

• Regional settings

• Microsoft Office applications settings

5. Click Finish to exit the wizard.

The FAST Wizard allows you to migrate only one user’s settings at a time. To migrate a number of user’s settings simultaneously, use these executables:

scanstate captures a user’s settings from a source computer and dumps the settings to an intermediate folder.

loadstate loads those settings from the intermediate folder to the destination system.

Restoring a computer’s state

When time to restore the settings to the destination system (assuming that the destination system is running Windows XP), simply invoke the FAST Wizard (Start⇒All Programs⇒Accessories⇒System Tools⇒Files and Settings Transfer Wizard) and select the New Computer option. Provide the location of the user’s state, and the state will be restored.

When replacing an older system with a new Windows XP system, you can back up the user settings and files with the Windows XP Files and Settings Transfer Wizard found in the Start menu.

The Windows 7 and Windows Vista feature for transferring files from one system to another, or off a computer before it is upgraded, is Windows Easy Transfer and is very similar to the USMT in Windows XP. To launch the Windows Easy Transfer tool, choose Start⇒All Programs⇒Accessories⇒System Tools⇒Windows Easy Transfer.

Getting an A+

This chapter introduces you to some of the guidelines for installing the different Windows OSes. Some key points to remember are

When planning your installation, be sure to plan the partition size, file system, and the computer name that you will use when installing Windows.

You can boot off the Windows CD-ROM/DVD-ROM to invoke an ­installation.

Launch the winnt.exe setup program from a DOS system; launch winnt32.exe from an existing 32-bit Windows interface, such as Windows 9x.

To dual-boot multiple operating systems, make sure that you are using a file system common to each OS, and then install each OS to a different partition.

Slipstream your distribution folder so that new installations will deploy with the current Service Packs already installed.

The user state migration tools are used to copy a user’s settings and files from one computer to another. A great feature to make your life easier if you need to do this some day!

Prep Test

1 You want to create an image of a Windows 7 installation. What program would you use?

A dism.exe

B imagex.exe

C oscdimg.exe

D copype.cmd

2 What term describes updating the Windows source files on a server to contain Service Pack updates?

A service packing

B Windows Update

C slipstreaming

D patching

3 What setup switch verifies that existing hardware and software will work with Windows XP?

A /checkcompatibility

B /verifyhardware

C /verifycompatibility

D /checkupgradeonly

4 What setup switch points the Windows installation to an answer file?

A /U: <file>

B /UDF:<file>

C /UDF:number,<file>

D /A:<file>

5 What is the command used to remove unique data from a system before it is imaged?

A dism.exe

B imagex.exe

C oscdimg.exe

D sysprep.exe

6 Where would you go to install additional operating system components after the installation is complete?

A Add/Remove Hardware

B System icon

C Add/Remove Programs

D You can’t install additional operating system components after the OS is installed.

7 What are the minimum RAM requirements for Windows XP?

A 32MB

B 64MB

C 128MB

D 168MB

8 What switch on the Windows setup program allows you to pass a file that ­contains unique settings per computer?

A /u

B /upgradeonly

C /udf

D /a

9 After installing Windows XP, what will you need to do to prove you have a valid copy of XP?

A Register it.

B Restart it.

C Activate it.

D Shut it down.

10 What is the minimum RAM requirement for Windows Vista?

A 64MB

B 128MB

C 512MB

D 1GB

Answers

1 B. You can create an image of a Windows 7 machine with imagex.exe, which comes with the Windows AIK. Review “Applying an Image with ImageX.”

2 C. When you want to update the source files on the server, you can run the service pack executable with a /s switch. This is known as slipstreaming. Review “Updating Installation Files.”

3 D. The /checkupgradeonly switch is used by the winnt32.exe program to verify compatibility with existing hardware and software. Check out “Upgrading Windows.”

4 A. To point Windows to an answer file, run winnt.exe with a /U: switch followed by the path to the file that has the answers to use for the installation. Peruse “Performing Unattended Installations of Windows.”

5 D. Sysprep.exe is used to prepare a system for imaging by removing unique data from a system. Take a look at “Capturing an Image with ImageX.”

6 C. To install additional Windows components, go to Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. Peek at “Installing or Removing Additional Windows Components.”

7 B. Although 128MB of RAM is the recommended minimum, Windows XP needs at least 64MB of RAM. Look over “Hardware requirements.”

8 C. The /udf:<id>,<file> switch allows you to provide unique information on a per-computer basis. Study “Performing Unattended Installations of Windows.”

9 C. The first time you log on after installing Windows, it prompts you for product activation. Each copy of Windows is validated through activation with Microsoft. Refer to “Performing a Windows XP attended installation.”

10 C. The minimum RAM requirement for Windows Vista is 512MB of RAM. Examine “Hardware requirements.”