Windows 2000 Installation Process

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Before installing Windows 2000 or any other Windows operating system, you must verify that your computer meets the minimum hardware requirements. The minimum hardware requirements for Windows 2000 Professional are as follows:

• 133MHz Pentium processor

• 2GB hard drive with 650MB of free drive space

• 64MB of RAM

• VGA monitor

• Keyboard

• Mouse

• 12x CD-ROM (not required for over-the-network installation)

The second pre-installation step is to verify that your hardware is in compliance with the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) located at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/search.mspx.

Note 

The Windows 2000 Professional installation CD-ROM contains a copy of the HCL, but this HCL is outdated. Your best bet is to visit the Web site to review the most recent hardware compatibility updates.

Next, you need to choose one of three Windows 2000 Professional installation methods. The three installation methods and their general descriptions are as follows.

CD-ROM Installation

Installing Windows 2000 Professional by CD-ROM is by far the easiest method. If your system BIOS supports the ability to boot to CD-ROM, all you have to do is place the installation CD-ROM in your CD drive and reboot. The installation process will begin by copying the installation files to your hard drive. Your system is then rebooted, and the GUI phase of the installation process begins.

Four Setup Disks

The Windows 2000 Professional CD-ROM can create four installation floppy disks to be used for installation if your system cannot boot from a CD-ROM.

If you are currently running DOS or Windows 3.x, open the Bootdisk folder located on the Windows 2000 Professional Installation CD-ROM and run the makeboot.exe program. If you are currently running Windows 9.x, Windows NT, or Windows 2000, run the makebt32.exe program, which is also located in the Bootdisk folder on the installation CD-ROM. After you have created all four floppy diskettes, place the first diskette in the floppy drive and restart the system.

Network Installation

To implement an over-the-network installation of Windows 2000 Professional, you need to copy the entire contents of the Windows 2000 Professional CD-ROM to a shared network folder. It is advisable to have this shared location on a server computer. In Windows 2000 lingo, this server is called a distribution server.

To begin an over-the-network installation from a Windows 9.x client or Windows NT Workstation, connect to the shared folder and execute the winnt32.exe program. To perform an over-the-network installation from a blank hard drive, boot the system from a bootable network floppy disk and execute the winnt.exe program from the distribution server.

No matter which installation method you choose, the Windows 2000 installation process will progress through the following modes and steps:

Text mode setup:

• A partition for Windows 2000 is created.

• A file system is chosen.

• The partition on which the file system will be installed may need to be formatted.

• The installation files are copied to the hard drive.

• Setup Wizard (GUI mode of setup) commences.

• Choose your regional settings.

• Enter the name and organization.

• Enter the product key.

• Enter a 15-character computer name.

• Select and enter a local administrator account password.

• Enter the date and time.

• Network configuration commences.

• Setup attempts to autodetect installed NICs and proceeds to install Windows networking protocols and services, including TCP/IP, file and print sharing, and Client for Microsoft Networks.

• You are prompted to join the computer to a workgroup or a domain.

Final phase of installation:

• Startup menu shortcuts are created.

• Installation configurations are saved to the hard drive.

• Temporary installation files are removed.

• The system restarts.

Automated Installation

Although you will not be tested on the fine details of carrying out an automated installation of Windows 2000, it is important that you have a basic understanding of the tools used to carry out this type of installation. Passing the A+ exam is an important step toward a career in the computer industry. Understanding and implementing the newest operating system tools is just as important.

Like Windows NT, Windows 2000 offers the ability to carry out automated, unattended installations. In order to configure and carry out these types of Windows 2000 Professional installations, you need to understand the following three important installation tools—Setup Manager, SYSPREP, and RIS—and you must do some planning.

Setup Manager

The Windows 2000 installation CD-ROM comes with a utility called Setup Manager. Setup Manager can be used to create an unattended installation file called UNATTEND.TXT. UNATTEND.TXT is a file that Setup Manager uses to store and automate answers to installation questions that would normally have to be answered by a person sitting at a computer.

To install Setup Manager and implement the UNATTEND.TXT file, you must first extract Setup Manager from the Windows 2000 installation CD-ROM. To do this, navigate to the Support\Tools folder located on the CD-ROM and double-click the file DEPLOY.CAB. Next, you extract the file’s SETUPMGR.EXE and SETUPMGR.DLL to a common folder located on the hard drive. To do this, right-click each file (separately) and select the extract option. After this process is complete, executing the SETUPMGR.EXE file on the hard drive starts a wizard program that allows you to create the UNATTEND.TXT file and asks you which options you would like UNATTEND.TXT to perform. You can also use UNATTEND.TXT to create an automated installation of SYSPREP or RIS.

Here are some of the installation questions that can be answered by using UNATTEND.TXT.

• Confirmation (agreement) to the End-User License (EULA)

• Name and organization

• Computer name

• Password for the local administrator account

• Display settings, such as monitor refresh rate and number of colors

• Network settings, such as protocols, services, and IP address settings

• Whether to join a workgroup or a domain

• Time zone settings

If you recall the installation process mentioned earlier in the chapter, the bulleted items above should look familiar to you.

System Preparation Tool (SYSPREP)

The System Preparation Tool (SYSPREP) is a Windows 2000 utility that allows you to prepare for the creation of a Windows 2000 disk image by making sure that the Security Identifiers (SIDs) are unique for all target systems that will have an image copied to them.

With the use of third-party disk imaging software, such as Symantec Ghost, an exact duplicate or mirror image of a system can be made and distributed to multiple systems on a network. SYSPREP prepares a system for this image. Besides generating a unique computer SID, SYSPREP contains a mini-setup wizard that is used to specify settings such as computer name, regional settings, network settings, time zone, and workgroup or domain membership.

SYSPREP is a very useful tool for configuring many computers with the same operating system, configuration settings, and software. The process for installing SYSPREP as well as RIS was described under “Setup Manager,” earlier in this chapter.

Remote Installation Service (RIS)

RIS is a Windows 2000 Server utility service that is used to deploy Windows 2000 Professional to connected client computers over a network. You can use RIS to deploy the images you have created with third-party software to connected systems, or to repair bad or corrupted installations you have already deployed.

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