| Unfortunately, sometimes installations of Windows 2000 Server fail. A variety of factors might cause this to happen. As a system administrator, you need to know as much about the causes for failure as possible to ensure a quick recovery from such a failure. Believe it or not, most installation problems are caused by simple mistakes made by the installer not following the correct procedures. Granted, some failures are caused by faulty media. However, failures of media are the exception more than the rule. In general, if you follow the procedures outlined in this chapter, you will have successful installations. If there is any question about any of your hardware or software being Windows 2000 compatible, it is recommended that you run the upgrade check tool, which is part of the winnt32.exe program. Executing winnt32/checkupgradeonly from the Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM will generate a report telling you about possible issues. This report details hardware that may not work without new drivers and software that is not Windows 2000 compatible, that might not be Windows 2000 compatible, or that needs to be reinstalled after the upgrade. It also will identify system settings that will not function the way they used to or that will be disabled by the setup routine. If you have many servers, you are advised to run the upgrade check on a representative sample of your servers so you can anticipate problems and, using hardware and/or software upgrades, preempt them. The most frequent reasons for failure are listed here: -
Minimum hardware requirements are not met ” Windows 2000 Server has minimum hardware requirements that must be met for installation to be complete. If the processor is too slow, there is not sufficient RAM, or the amount of free disk space is insufficient, you will have to upgrade your server before installation can continue. This may be the case even when you are upgrading from Windows NT 4.0 because of the increased minimums in these areas. -
Hardware is not on the HCL ” If hardware is not on the HCL, it may not be detected and installed properly. If the hardware is a network card, you might not be able to contact a domain controller or a network server, and the installation may fail. Check the Microsoft HCL Web site and run the upgrade check to see if there are going to be any HCL problems. -
Media errors ” If there seems to be a problem with the Windows 2000 Server Installation CD-ROM, contact your software vendor to request a replacement. -
Failure of dependency service to start ” At installation, this error is most often caused by an improperly configured network adapter. Make sure that the hardware is detected properly, and then manually change properties if required. -
Inability to connect to the domain controller ” If you are joining a domain, you will have to contact a domain controller to create or check for a computer account. Ensure that the correct name has been given for the domain and that a domain controller can be contacted from your location. -
Automated Installation fails ” Check the parameters you specified for the installation. If you got information incorrect or if you manually created or modified the answer file or .udf file, you might have introduced errors. |
