Microsoft Windows XP Professional Resource Kit 2003
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2005
Pages: 338
Pages: 338
Your deployment plan must include an assessment of your current infrastructure. The answers to the following questions can help you determine what you must do to prepare the computers in your organization for Windows XP Professional:
Are the computers and other devices in your network compatible with Windows XP Professional?
What applications does your organization use? Are they compatible with Windows XP Professional, or do you need to upgrade to newer versions of the software before upgrading users computers?
Are all of your users connecting locally, or do some of them use remote access to connect to your network?
To determine if your computers and peripheral devices are compatible with Windows XP Professional, see the Hardware Compatibility List link on the Web Resources page at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources For more information about application compatibility, see the Application Compatibility List link on the Web Resources page.
Before you can upgrade your users to Windows XP Professional, you must upgrade other software and your hardware as needed. Be sure to upgrade devices, remote access services, and your organization s applications first.
Make sure that your hardware is compatible with Windows XP Professional, and that all the computers on which you plan to install the operating system are capable of supporting the installation. Table 1-4 shows the minimum and recommended hardware requirements for installing Windows XP Professional.
| Minimum Requirements | Recommended Requirements |
|---|---|
| Intel Pentium (or compatible) 233-megahertz (MHz) or higher processor. | Intel Pentium II (or compatible) 300-MHz or higher processor. |
| 64 megabytes (MB) of RAM. | 128 MB (4 GB maximum) of RAM. |
| 2-gigabyte (GB) hard disk with 650 MB of free disk space (additional disk space required if installing over a network). | 2 GB of free disk space. |
| Video graphics adapter (VGA) or higher display adapter. | Super VGA (SVGA) display adapter and Plug and Play monitor. |
| Keyboard, mouse, or other pointing device. | Keyboard, mouse, or other pointing device. |
| Compact disc read-only memory (CD ROM) or digital video disc read-only memory (DVD-ROM) drive (required for CD installations). | CD ROM or DVD-ROM drive (12x or faster). |
| Network adapter (required for network installation). | Network adapter (required for network installation). |
For more information about the hardware requirements for installing Windows XP Professional, see the Hardware Compatibility List link on the Web Resources page at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources
| Note | Windows XP Professional supports single and dual central processing unit (CPU) systems. |
Before upgrading to Windows XP Professional, check that the computer s BIOS is the latest available version and that it is compatible with Windows XP Professional. You can obtain an updated BIOS from the manufacturer.
If the computer does not have Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) functionality, you might need to update the BIOS. To get ACPI functionality after Windows XP Professional is installed, you are required to do an in-place upgrade of your current installation.
| Warning | Microsoft does not provide technical support for BIOS upgrades. Contact the manufacturer for BIOS upgrade instructions. For more information about BIOS issues, see the Hardware Update link on the Web Resources page at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources |
The Windows XP Professional Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) is a list of hardware devices that have successfully passed the Hardware Compatibility Tests. All hardware on the HCL works with Windows XP Professional. Hardware not included on the HCL is not guaranteed to work successfully with Windows XP Professional.
Installing Windows XP Professional on a computer that has hardware that is not on the HCL might cause the installation to fail, or it might cause problems after installation. For more information about hardware compatibility, see the Hardware Compatibility List link on the Web Resources page at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources
| Warning | A device that is not on the HCL might function, but not be supported by Windows XP Professional. For devices that do not function when the computer is running Windows XP Professional, contact the device manufacturer for a Windows XP Professional compatible driver. If you have a program that uses 16-bit drivers, you need to install 32-bit Windows XP Professional compatible drivers from the device manufacturer to ensure functionality with Windows XP Professional. |
Many updated drivers ship with the Microsoft Windows XP Professional operating system CD. However, when critical device drivers, such as hard-drive controllers, are not compatible with Windows XP Professional or cannot be found, Setup might halt the upgrade until updated drivers are obtained.
| Note | You cannot upgrade from Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft Windows 3.x to Windows XP Professional. If you are migrating from either of these operating systems you must do a clean installation of the operating system, and then install device drivers that are compatible with Windows XP Professional. |
The 16-bit device drivers for Windows Me, Windows 98, Windows 95, and Windows 3.x were based on the virtual device driver (VxD) model. The VxD model is not supported in Windows XP Professional.
An upgrade does not migrate drivers from Windows Me or Windows 98 to Windows XP Professional. If the driver for a particular device does not exist in Windows XP Professional, you might need to download an updated driver from the device manufacturer.
Some hardware devices that that are supported by Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0 also work on Windows XP Professional; however, it is best to run Setup in Check Upgrade Only mode to check for driver compatibility issues before upgrading the operating system. Windows XP Professional does not support drivers, including third-party drivers, that worked on Windows NT Workstation 4.0. You need to obtain an updated driver for Windows XP Professional from the device manufacturer.
Typically, you can address issues concerning deployment or upgrade of Windows NT Workstation 4.0 during the test phase of deployment.
| Note | To access an NTFS volume that has been upgraded for Microsoft Windows XP, you need to be running Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 or later. |
Because there are new technologies in Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional, you need to test your business applications for compatibility with the new operating system. Even if you currently use Windows NT 4.0, you need to test applications to make sure that they work as well on Windows XP Professional as they do in your existing environment. Also, enhancements included in Windows XP Professional, such as improved security features, might not be supported by some applications.
Identify all applications that your organization currently uses, including custom software. As you identify applications, prioritize them and note which ones are required for each business unit in your organization. Remember to include operational and administrative tools, including antivirus, compression, backup, and remote-control programs.
Applications that comply with the Windows XP Application Specification are compatible with Windows XP Professional and take advantage of the new technologies it provides. The desktop application specification applies to any software that runs on Windows XP Professional, whether it runs as a stand-alone program or as the client portion of a distributed application.
Commercial applications that comply with the Windows XP Application Specification can be certified by an independent testing organization if they meet certain requirements, such as using Windows Installer. Applications can also comply with the specification even if they are not certified. For more information about the Windows XP Application Specification, see the Application Specification Download link on the Web Resources page at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources
System tools in Windows 98, such as ScanDisk and DriveSpace, cannot be upgraded to Windows XP Professional. Also, client software for other networks cannot be upgraded to Windows XP Professional, so you must acquire new versions of these clients to complete the upgrade.
| Note | Novell has included an upgrade for their Client32 on the Windows XP Professional operating system CD. The upgrade detects and automatically upgrades a previous version of Client32 during the upgrade to Windows XP Professional. For the latest Client32 upgrade, see the Novell link on the Web Resources page at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources |
Some applications written for Windows 98 or Windows Me might not run properly on Windows XP Professional without modification. For example, applications might do any of the following:
Maintain registry data in different locations. Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me store this data in different locations than Windows XP Professional or Windows NT 4.0 and earlier.
Make calls to Windows 95 , Windows 98 , or Windows Me specific application programming interfaces.
Install different files when installed on Windows XP Professional than when installed on Windows 98 or Windows Me.
There are four ways to address problems with applications that do not run properly on Windows XP Professional:
Reinstall the applications after the upgrade if the applications are compatible with Windows XP Professional.
Create a new Windows XP Professional based standard configuration with compatible versions of the applications.
Use migration dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) for each application that is not migrated during the upgrade.
Run the application in Compatibility Mode by right-clicking the application, selecting Properties, and then clicking the Compatibility tab.
For more information about the Compatibility Mode tool, see Authorization and Access Control in this book.
Software vendors and corporate developers can use migration DLLs that move registry subkeys and entries, install new versions of files, or move files within the file system. These migration DLLs are used by Windows XP Professional Setup to resolve incompatibilities. Setup calls these DLLs to update the application installation. For more information about migration DLLs, see the Software Development Kit (SDK) information in the MSDN library link on the Web Resources page at: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources
Because Windows NT Workstation 4.0 and Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 3.51 share common attributes with Windows XP Professional, almost all applications that run on Windows NT Workstation versions 4.0 and 3.51 run without modification on Windows XP Professional. However, a few applications are affected by the differences between Windows NT Workstation 4.0 and Windows XP Professional.
One example is antivirus software. Due to changes between the version of NTFS included with Windows NT 4.0 and the version of NTFS included with Windows XP Professional, file system filters used by antivirus software no longer function between the two file systems. Another example is third-party networking software (such as TCP/IP or IPX/SPX protocol stacks) written for Windows NT Workstation 4.0. The following features and applications cannot be properly upgraded to Windows XP Professional:
Applications that depend on file-system filters. For example antivirus software, disk tools, and disk quota software.
Custom power-management solutions and tools. Windows XP Professional support for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) and Advanced Power Management (APM) replaces these. Remove all such custom solutions and tools before upgrading.
Custom Plug and Play solutions. These are no longer necessary, because Windows XP Professional provides full Plug and Play support. Remove all custom Plug and Play solutions before upgrading.
Fault-tolerant options such as disk mirrors.
Third-party network clients and services.
Virus scanners.
Uninterruptible power supplies.
| Warning | You must remove virus scanners, third-party network services, and third-party client software before starting the Windows XP Professional Setup program. |
You can run Windows XP Professional Setup in Check Upgrade Only mode to test commercial applications for compatibility. As Setup runs, it checks installed software against a list of applications that are known to be incompatible with Windows XP Professional and logs any that it finds.
| Note | Running Setup in check-upgrade-only mode can alert you to known incompatibility problems with applications installed on the computer that you are checking. However, the fact that an application does not generate a log entry does not mean that the application is compatible. |
For more information about check-upgrade-only mode, see Using Check Upgrade Only Mode later in this chapter.
Test application installation and removal, as well as functionality. Use the features, configurations, and application suites normally used by your business to access, edit, and print data files. The following are some useful tests you might do:
Terminate application installation before it is complete.
Try all of the installation options used in your business.
Test the installation by logging on as an Administrator and as a Power User.
Log on as a User and as several members of the Users group to test the features most important to your end users.
Apply Group Policy to users and computers.
Test combinations of applications, such as standard desktop configurations.
Run several applications for several days or weeks without quitting them.
Test automated tasks that use Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications.
Test to verify that long file names are consistently supported.
Manipulate large graphics files.
Perform rapid development sequences of edit, compile, edit, compile.
Test object linking and embedding (OLE) custom controls.
Test with hardware, such as scanners and other Plug and Play devices.
Test the applications on a Terminal Services server. Test with multiple users running the same and different applications and with user-specific settings.
Test concurrent use of a database, including simultaneous access and update of a record, and perform complex queries.
For custom applications, you need a more extensive testing strategy than for pretested commercial applications.
The Windows XP Application Compatibility Toolkit can help you develop a test plan, even for applications that were not developed internally. The test plan offers ideas about functional areas to test. To download the specification and test plan required for application certification from the MSDN Web site, see the Windows XP Application Specification link on the Web Resources page at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources
The MSDN Web site also contains information about testing, such as white papers about exploratory testing and the methods that independent testing organizations use to test applications that vendors submit for certification.
Windows XP Professional Setup includes a Check Upgrade Only mode, which can be used to test the upgrade process before you do an actual upgrade. Check-upgrade-only mode produces a report that flags potential problems that might be encountered during the actual upgrade, such as hardware compatibility issues or software that might not be migrated during the upgrade. To run Setup in check-upgrade-only mode, select Check system compatibility from the menu displayed when you insert the installation CD.
You can also run Setup in check-upgrade-only mode by running Winnt32.exe, from the i386 folder, with the command-line parameter -checkupgradeonly.
The Upgrade Report is a summary of potential hardware and software upgrade issues. The following entries are in the report.
This includes entries in Autoexec.bat and Config.sys that are incompatible with Windows XP Professional. These entries might be associated with older hardware and software that is incompatible with Windows XP Professional. It also suggests that more technical information is provided in the Setupact.log file located in the Windows folder.
This includes hardware that might not be supported by Windows XP Professional without additional files.
This includes upgrade packs that are required for some programs because they do not support Windows XP Professional, or because they can introduce problems with Windows XP Professional Control Panel. Before upgrading to Windows XP Professional, gain disk space by using Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel to remove programs not being used.
This includes anti-virus software and upgrade packs that are recommended for programs because they use different files and settings in Windows XP Professional. If an upgrade cannot be obtained, remove the program before upgrading by using Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel. After upgrading to Windows XP Professional, reinstall or upgrade the program.
This includes how much additional disk space or memory is required to install Windows XP Professional, and whether the computer contains operating systems that cannot be upgraded to Windows XP Professional.
The Upgrade Report also displays links to Microsoft Windows XP Professional Web sites, including the Hardware Compatibility List, as well as to Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel where appropriate.
If you have applications that have been identified while running in Check Upgrade Only mode as incompatible, you must remove the conflicting applications before installing Windows XP Professional.
When upgrading from Microsoft Windows NT Workstation, most applications can migrate. Certain proprietary applications, such as applications that were custom-made for your business, might not migrate. For more information on testing for compatibility of such programs, see Application Compatibility in this chapter.
If an incompatibility prevents the upgrade from continuing, a wizard appears to inform the user. You can view details about the incompatibility, if available. Unless you can fix the problem by supplying a missing file (by clicking the Have Disk button), you must quit Setup and fix the problem before rerunning Winnt32.exe.
If the incompatibility does not prevent a successful upgrade to Windows XP Professional, you are warned that this application might not function correctly with Windows XP Professional. At this point, you can choose to quit, or to continue the upgrade. The Have Disk button is also supported in this case.
The Upgrade Report also lists issues discovered by Check Upgrade Only Mode that do not prevent a successful upgrade, but might be useful for the user to know. This might include information about incompatible hardware accessories or applications that might need to be updated or are replaced by Windows XP functionality, as well as program notes. A General Information section lists information you need to be aware of before upgrading, such as files found on the computer (these might include backup files that need to be saved to a different location so they are not removed by Setup), excluded or inaccessible drives, configurations that might be lost during the upgrade process, and other reference information.
Assess your network infrastructure by identifying existing network protocols, network bandwidth, and the network hardware. Table 1-5 describes how these issues affect your deployment plan.
| Attribute | Effect on Project Plan |
|---|---|
| Network protocols | Network protocols determine how you customize several of the networking sections of answer files, such as [NetAdapter], [NetProtocols], and [NetServices]. For more information about creating and customizing answer files, see Automating and Customizing Installations in this book. |
| Network bandwidth | Network bandwidth affects which method of installation to use. For example, in low-bandwidth networks or on computers that are not part of a network, you might need to use a local installation method. For high-bandwidth network connections, you might choose to install Windows XP Professional by using a remote-boot CD ROM or a network-based disk image. |
| Network servers | The servers you have in your network affect the installation tools available to you. If you have an existing Microsoft Windows 2000 Server infrastructure in place, you can use a wider range of tools to automate and customize client installations, including Remote Installation Services (RIS). |
Next, collect information about both the hardware and software in your network infrastructure. This should include the logical organization of your network, name- and address-resolution methods, naming conventions, and network services in use. Documenting the location of network sites and the available bandwidth between them can help you decide which installation method to use.
Document the structure of your network, including server operating systems, file and print servers, directory services, domain and tree structures, server protocols, and file structure. You should also include information about network administration procedures, including backup and recovery strategies, antivirus measures, and data storage and access policies. If you use multiple server operating systems, note how you manage security and users access to resources.
Network security measures should also be included in your assessment of the network. Include information about how you manage client authentication, user and group access to resources, and Internet security. Document firewall and proxy configurations.
Create physical and logical diagrams of your network to organize the information you gather. The physical network diagram should include the following information:
Physical communication links, including cables, and the paths of analog and digital lines.
Server names, IP addresses, and domain membership.
Location of printers, hubs, switches, routers, bridges, proxy servers, and other network devices.
Wide area network (WAN) communication links, their speed, and available bandwidth between sites. If you have slow or heavily used connections, it is important to note them.
The logical network diagram can include the following information:
Domain architecture.
Server roles, including primary and backup domain controllers, and WINS and DNS servers.
Trust relationships and any policy restrictions that might affect your deployment.