Tested Skills and Suggested Practices

The skills that you need to successfully master the Installing a Windows Desktop Operating System objective domain on the Supporting Users and Troubleshooting a Microsoft Windows XP Operating System exam include the following:

• Perform and troubleshoot an attended installation of a Windows XP operating system.

  • Practice 1: Prepare a hard drive for installation using the Fdisk and Format commands, as well as the Windows XP Professional Setup utility. Understand the different file systems that can be configured on a partition or volume, and know when either FAT32 or NTFS should be used.

  • Practice 2: Install Microsoft Windows XP from CD-ROM, and understand the computer hardware requirements. Check for hardware compatibility by using the Microsoft Windows Catalog. Be sure you understand how to start the installation program from MS-DOS if you are installing Windows XP Professional on a computer that does not support a bootable CD-ROM drive. Change the boot order process for a PC using the basic input/output system (BIOS) interface.

  • Practice 3: Review the steps you should take in troubleshooting a failed installation, and know where to go for assistance. Practice using the Help And Support Center, the Microsoft Knowledge Base, Windows XP newsgroups, and the Microsoft support site.

• Perform and troubleshoot an unattended installation of a Windows desktop operating system.

  • Practice 1: Install Windows XP Professional using the winnt32.exe /unattend command on a workstation that is running Windows 98. Be sure you understand that all Windows XP Professional configuration settings will be based on your Windows 98 settings, so you will not be prompted as you were when performing an attended installation.

• Upgrade a previous version of Windows.

  • Practice 1: Install Windows XP Professional on a computer running Windows 98. During the upgrade, pay close attention to the report that is created indicating possible problems that might occur with your current hardware or software configuration.

  • Practice 2: Uninstall Windows XP Professional from the workstation you installed in Practice 1 using the Add or Remove Programs utility in Control Panel. Be sure you understand that this feature is available when an upgrade is made from Windows 98. The uninstall feature returns the computer to its original state if the Windows XP Professional upgrade is unsuccessful.