Summary

In this chapter, you learned how to install Windows XP Professional. We covered the following

topics:

_ The design goals of Windows XP Professional, which include taking the best features of

Windows 98, Windows Me, and Windows 2000 Professional, providing a wide range

of support for hardware, making the operating system easy to use, and lowering the cost of

ownership.

_ Installation preparation, which begins with making sure that your computer meets the minimum

system requirements and that all of your hardware is on the Hardware Compatibility

List (HCL). Then you need to decide whether you will perform a clean install or an upgrade.

Finally, you should plan which options you will select during installation. Options include

methods of partitioning your disk space, selecting a file system, whether the computer

will be installed as part of a workgroup or a domain, and your language and locale

settings.

_ The methods you can use for installation, which include using the distribution files on the

Windows XP Professional CD or using files that have been copied to a network share point.

_ How to install Windows XP Professional, which proceeds in four main installation phases:

information collection, installation preparation, Windows installation, and installation

finalization.

_ The post-installation update and product activation feature. Post-installation updates are

used to ensure that you have the latest files. Product activation is used to complete the

Windows XP licensing process.

_ How to troubleshoot installation problems. Common errors are caused by media problems,

lack of disk space or memory, and hardware problems. Other common errors include an

improperly configured Boot.ini file or using non-supported hard drives. You can view

Setup log files to check for problems that occurred during the installation.

_ Information about supporting dual-boot or multi-boot environments. Dual-booting and

multi-booting allow you to boot to a choice of two or more operating systems.

Supporting Multiple-Boot Options

You may want to install Windows XP Professional but still be able to run other operating systems.

Dual-booting or multi-booting allows your computer to boot multiple operating systems. Your

computer will be automatically configured for dual-booting if there was a supported operating

system on your computer prior to the Windows XP Professional installation (and you didn’t

upgrade from that operating system).

One reason for dual-booting is to test various systems. If you have a limited number of computers

in your test lab, and you want to be able to test multiple configurations, you dual-boot.

For example, you might configure one computer to multi-boot with Windows NT 4 Workstation,

Windows NT 4 Server configured as a Primary Domain Controller (PDC), Windows 2000

Professional, and Windows XP Professional.

Another reason to set up dual-booting is for software backward compatibility. For example,

you may have an application that works with Windows 98 but not under Windows XP

Professional. If you want to use Windows XP but still access your legacy application, you can

configure a dual-boot.

Here are some keys to successful dual-boot configurations:

_ Make sure you have plenty of disk space. It’s a good idea to put each operating system on

a separate partition, although this is not required.

_ Put the simplest operating systems on first. If you want to support dual-booting with DOS

and Windows XP Professional, DOS must be installed first. If you install Windows XP

Professional first, you cannot install DOS without ruining your Windows XP configuration.

This requirement also applies to Windows 9x and Windows 2000.

_ Never, ever, upgrade to Windows XP dynamic disks. Dynamic disks are seen only by

Windows 2000 and Windows XP, and are not recognized by any other operating system,

including Windows NT.

_ Do not convert your file system to NTFS if you are planning a dual-boot with any operating

system except Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP. These operating systems

are the only ones that recognize NTFS.

_ If you will dual-boot with Windows NT, you must turn off disk compression, or Windows XP

will not be able to read the drive properly.

Troubleshooting Installation Problems

The Windows XP installation process is designed to be as simple as possible. The chances for

installation errors are greatly minimized through the use of wizards and the step-by-step process.

However, it is possible that errors may occur.

In the following sections, you will more about:

_ Identifying and resolving common installation problems

_ Troubleshooting installation problems that relate to the Boot.ini file

_ Installing non-supported hard drives

_ Troubleshooting installation errors using installation log files

Troubleshooting Installation Errors with

the Boot.ini File

If the text-based portion of the installation completes successfully, but the GUI-based portion

of the installation fails, the error may be caused by a device driver that is failing to load properly.

If you suspect that this is causing the installation error, you can edit a file called Boot.ini to

list the drivers that are being loaded during the boot process. The Boot.ini file is located in the

root of the system partition.

In order to cause the device drivers to be listed during the boot process, you need to edit the

Boot.ini file to include the /sos switch, as shown:

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS = "Microsoft

Windows XP Professional" /sos

Troubleshooting with Installation Log Files

When you install Windows XP Professional, several log files are created by the Setup program.

You can view these logs to check for any problems during the installation process. Two log files

are particularly useful for troubleshooting:

_ The action log includes all of the actions that were performed during the setup process and

a description of each action. These actions are listed in chronological order. The action

log is stored as \Windir\setupact.log.

_ The error log includes any errors that occurred during the installation. For each error, there

is a description and an indication of the severity of the error. This error log is stored as

\Windir\setuperr.log.

In Exercise 1.2, you will view the Windows XP setup logs to determine whether there were

any problems with your Windows XP installation.

Post-Installation Updates and Product Activation

Once you are done with the Windows XP Professional installation, you can keep your operating

system up-to-date through post-installation updates. Product activation is Microsoft’s way

of reducing software piracy.

Unless you have a corporate license for Windows XP Professional, you will need to perform

post-installation activation. This can be done online or through a telephone call. After Windows

XP is installed, you will be prompted to activate the product. There is a 30-day grace period

when you will be able to use the operating system without activation. After the grace period expires,

you will not be able to successfully log on to the computer without activation if you restart

or log out of the computer. When the grace period runs out, the Product Activation Wizard will

automatically start; it will walk you through the activation process.

Post-Installation Updates

You can perform post-installation updates of Windows XP Professional through Windows

Update. Windows Update is a utility that connects to Microsoft’s website and checks to ensure

that you have the most up-to-date version of XP Professional files. To access Windows Update, confirm that your computer is connected to the Internet and access Start _ Help and Support.

From the Help and Support dialog box, select Windows Update. Your computer will be

scanned, and a list of suggested downloads will be customized and listed for you to select from.

Some of the common update categories include:

_ Critical updates and Service Packs

_ Windows XP updates

_ Drivers

Windows Service Packs

Service Packs are updates to the Windows XP operating system that include bug fixes and product

enhancements. Some of the options that might be included in Service Packs are security fixes

or updated versions of software, such as Internet Explorer.

You can download Service Packs from Microsoft.com or you can pay for a CD of the Service

Pack to be mailed to you. Before you install a Service Pack, you should read the Release Note

that is provided for each Service Pack on Microsoft’s website.

Running the Windows XP Professional Installation Process

This section describes how to run the Windows XP Professional installation process. As explained

in the previous section, you can run the installation from the CD or over a network. The only

difference in the installation procedure is your starting point: from your CD-ROM drive or

from a network share. The steps in the following sections assume that the disk drive is clean and

that you are starting the installation using the Windows XP Professional CD.

There are four main steps in the Windows XP Professional installation process:

_ Collecting information

_ Preparing installation

_ Installing Windows

_ Finalizing installation

Each of these steps is covered in detail in the following sections.

Collecting Information

When you boot to the Windows XP Professional CD, the Setup program will automatically

start the Windows XP installation. In this stage of the installation, you start the installation

program, choose the partition where Windows XP Professional will be installed, and then

copy files.

The following steps are involved in running the Setup program:

1. Insert the Windows XP Professional CD in your computer and restart the computer. Boot

the computer to the CD-ROM.

2. The Setup program will start automatically. If you need to install a third-party disk driver,

you would use F6 during this when prompted. For automatic recovery, you would press F2

when prompted.

3. The Welcome to Setup dialog box will appear. You can press Enter to install Windows XP

Professional, R to repair a Windows XP installation, or F3 to quit the Setup program.

4. The Windows XP Licensing Agreement will appear. Press F8 to accept the agreement—or

ESC to not accept the agreement, at which time the installation process will be terminated.

5. The Windows XP Professional Setup dialog box will appear. This will list all existing

partitions and unpartitioned disk space on your computer. From this screen you can add or

delete partitions and select the partition where Windows XP Professional will be installed.

If you create a new partition, you will have the option to format the drive through the Setup

program.

6. The Setup files will then be automatically copied to the selected partition.

7. Remove the Windows XP Professional CD and restart your computer.

After the file copying is complete, the computer automatically reboots.

Preparing Installation

During the Preparing Installation phase, all the files required by the Setup program will be

copied to the hard drive. This process will take several minutes and will display a tutorial of

helpful Windows XP information.

Installing Windows XP Professional

Once your computer finishes with the file copying and reboots, you will be in the Installing

Windows phase of the installation. This first part of the installation is automated and shows you

how long the installation has remaining in minutes and what is currently being installed, and

gives you interesting reading material while the installation process is running.

Finalizing Installation

Once your computer finishes with the installation, you will be asked to set up your computer.

The options that will be configured include the following:

_ Specifying how the computer will connect to the Internet. You can select Telephone

Modem, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or cable modem, or Local Area Network (LAN).

_ Activating Windows, which can be done over the Internet, or you can specify that you want

to be reminded every few days.

_ Deciding whether or not you want to set up Internet access at the present time.

_ Providing the name(s) of the user(s) that will use the computer.

When you are done, the primary user will be logged on and you will see the new Windows XP

Professional interface.

Choosing Your Installation Method

You can install Windows XP Professional either from the bootable CD or through a network

installation using files that have been copied to a network share point. If your computer can’t

boot to a CD, you can start the installation with the WINNT or WINNT32 command-line utilities,

dependant on the current operating system you are using, once the computer has started and the

CD-drive is accessible.

The Windows XP Professional CD is a bootable CD. To start the installation, you simply

reboot your computer and boot to the CD. The installation process will begin automatically.

Language and Locale

Language and locale settings are used to determine the language the computer will use.

Windows XP supports many languages for the operating system interface and utilities.

Locale settings are used to configure the locality for items such as numbers, currencies, times,

and dates. An example of a locality is that English for United States specifies a short date

as mm/dd/yyyy (month/day/year), and English for South Africa specifies a short date as yyyy/

mm/dd (year/month/day).

Membership in a Domain or Workgroup

One Windows XP Professional installation choice is whether your computer will be installed as

a part of a workgroup or as part of a domain.

You should install as part of a workgroup if you are part of a small, decentralized network

or if you are running Windows XP on a computer that is not part of a network. To join a

workgroup, you simply choose that workgroup.

Domains are part of larger, centrally administered networks. You should install as part of

a domain if any Windows 2000 and Server 2003 servers on your network are configured as

domain controllers with the Microsoft Active Directory installed. There are two ways to join

a domain. You can preauthorize a computer before installation, through the Active Directory

Users and Computers utility. The second way is done during the Windows XP Professional

installation, when you specify an Administrator name and password (or other user who has

rights to add computers to the domain). To successfully join a domain, a domain controller for

the domain and a DNS server must be available to authenticate the request to join the domain.

File System Selection

Another factor that determines your disk-partitioning scheme is the type of file system you use.

Windows XP Professional supports three file systems:

_ File Allocation Table (FAT16)

_ FAT32

_ New Technology File System (NTFS)

The following sections briefly describe these three file systems.

FAT16

FAT16 (originally just FAT) is the 16-bit file system widely used by DOS and Windows 3.x. FAT16

tracks where files are stored on a disk using a file allocation table and a directory entry table.

The disadvantages of FAT16 are that it only supports partitions up to 2GB and it does not

offer the security features of NTFS. The advantage of FAT is that it is backward compatible, which

is important if the computer will be dual-booted with another operating system, such as DOS,

Unix, Linux, OS/2, or Windows 3.1. Almost all PC operating systems read FAT16 partitions.

FAT32

FAT32 is the 32-bit version of FAT, which was first introduced in 1996 with Windows 95,

with OEM (original equipment manufacturer) Service Release 2 (OSR2). With FAT32, disk

partitions can be as large as 2TB (terabytes). It has more fault-tolerance features than FAT16,

and also improves disk-space usage by reducing the size of clusters. However, it lacks several

of the features offered by NTFS for a Windows XP or Windows 2000 system, such as local

security, file encryption, disk quotas, and compression.

If you choose to use FAT, Windows XP Professional will automatically format the partition

with FAT16 if the partition is less than 2GB. If the partition is over 2GB, it will be automatically

partitioned as FAT32.

NTFS

NTFS is a file system designed to provide additional features for Windows NT, Windows 2000,

Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 computers. Some of the features NTFS offers include

the following:

_ The ability to set local security on files and folders.

_ The option to compress data. This feature reduces disk-storage requirements.

_ The flexibility to assign disk quotas. Disk quotas are used to limit the amount of disk space

a user can use.

_ The option to encrypt files. Encryption offers an additional level of security.

Unless you are planning on dual-booting your computer to an operating system other than

Windows NT, Windows 2000, or another instance of Windows XP, Microsoft recommends

using NTFS.

Partitioning of Disk Space

Disk partitioning is the act of taking the physical hard drive and creating logical partitions. A

logical drive is how space is allocated to the drive’s primary and logical partitions. For example,

if you have a 5GB hard drive, you might partition it into two logical drives: a C: drive, which

might be 2GB, and a D: drive, which might be 3GB.

The following are some of the major considerations for disk partitioning:

_ The amount of space required

_ The location of the system and boot partition

_ Any special disk configurations you will use

_ The utility you will use to set up the partitions

These considerations are covered in detail in the following sections.

Partition Size

One important consideration in your disk-partitioning scheme is determining the partition size.

You need to consider the amount of space taken up by your operating system, the applications

that will be installed, and the amount of stored data. It is also important to consider the amount

of space required in the future.

Just for Windows XP, Microsoft recommends that you allocate at least 2GB of disk space.

This allows room for the operating system files and for future growth in terms of upgrades and

installation files that are placed with the operating system files.

The System and Boot Partitions

When you install Windows XP, files will be stored in two locations: the system partition and the

boot partition.

The system partition contains the files needed to boot the Windows XP Professional operating

system. The System Partition contains the Master Boot Record (MBR) and boot sector of the

active drive partition. It is often the first physical hard drive in the computer and normally

contains the necessary files to boot the computer. The files stored on the system partition do not

take any significant disk space. By default, the system partition uses the computer’s active

partition, which is usually the C: drive.

The boot partition contains the files that are the Windows XP operating system files. By

default, the Windows operating system files are located in a folder named Windows. You can,

however, specify the location of this folder during the installation process. Microsoft recommends

that the boot partition be at least 2GB.

Special Disk Configurations

Windows XP Professional supports several disk configurations. Options include simple,

spanned, and striped volumes. These configuration options are covered in detail in Chapter 8,

“Managing Disks.”

Installation Options

You will need to make many choices during the Windows XP Professional installation process.

Following are some of the options that you will configure:

_ How your hard disk space will be partitioned

_ The file system your partitions will use

_ Whether the computer will be a part of a workgroup or a domain

_ The language and locale for the computer’s settings

Before you start the installation, you should know which choices you will select. The following

sections describe the options and considerations for picking the best ones for your installation.

Clean Install or Upgrade?

Once you’ve determined that your hardware not only meets the minimum requirements but

also is on the HCL, you need to decide whether you want to do a clean install or an upgrade.

The only operating systems that can be upgraded to Windows XP Professional are Windows 98,

Windows Me, Windows NT 4 Workstation, and Windows 2000 Professional.

compatible with Windows XP Professional.

Driver Requirements

To successfully install Windows XP Professional, you must have the critical device drivers for

your computer, such as the hard drive device driver. The Windows XP Professional CD comes

with an extensive list of drivers. If your computer’s device drivers are not on the CD, you should

check the device manufacturer’s website. If the device driver can’t be found on the manufacturer’s

website, and there is no other compatible driver, you are out of luck. Windows XP will not

recognize devices that don’t have XP drivers.

If you are upgrading from Windows 98 or Windows Me, the device drivers will not migrate

at all. These versions of Windows used virtual device drives (VxDs) and these drivers are not  compatible with Windows XP Professional.

BIOS Compatibility

Before you install Windows XP Professional, you should verify that your computer has the most

current BIOS (Basic Input/Output System). This is especially important if your current BIOS

does not include support for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) functionality.

Check the computer’s vendor for the latest BIOS version information.

The Hardware Compatibility List (HCL)

Along with meeting the minimum requirements, your hardware should appear on the Hardware

Compatibility List (HCL). The HCL is an extensive list of computers and peripheral hardware that

have been tested with the Windows XP Professional operating system.

The Windows XP Professional operating system requires control of the hardware for

stability, efficiency, and security. The hardware and supported drivers on the HCL have

been put through rigorous tests to ensure their compatibility with Windows XP Professional.

Microsoft guarantees that the items on the list meet the requirements for Windows XP and do

not have any incompatibilities that could affect the stability of the operating system.

If you call Microsoft for support, the first thing a Microsoft support engineer will ask about

is your configuration. If you have any hardware that is not on the HCL, you won’t be able to

get support from Microsoft.

To determine if your computer and peripherals are on the HCL, check the most up-to-date

list 

Hardware Requirements

To install Windows XP Professional successfully, your system must meet certain hardware

requirements. Table 1.1 lists the minimum requirements for an

x

86-based computer, as well

as the more realistic recommended requirements.

The minimum requirements specify the minimum hardware required before you should even

consider installing Windows XP Professional. These requirements assume that you are installing

only the operating system and not running any special services or applications. For example,

you may be able to get by with the minimum requirements if you are just installing the operating

system to learn the basics of the software.

The recommended requirements are what Microsoft suggests to achieve what would be

considered “acceptable performance” for the most common configurations. Since computer

technology and the standard for acceptable performance are constantly changing, the recommendations

are somewhat subjective. However, the recommended hardware requirements are

based on the standards at the time that Windows XP Professional was released.

Depending on the installation method you choose, other devices may be required, as

follows:

_ If you are installing Windows XP Professional from the CD, you should have at least a 12x

CD-ROM drive.

_ If you choose to install Windows XP Professional from the network, you need a network

connection and a server with the distribution files.