Objective 1.1: Perform and Troubleshoot an Attended Installation of Windows XP Operating System | MCDST Self-Paced Training Exam 70-271(c) Supporting Users and Troubleshooting a Micro[... ]ystem

As a DST, you should be able to install and troubleshoot an attended installation of Windows XP. You should also be able to determine if a computer meets the hardware requirements for installation. It is important that you know how to create a partition and select the appropriate file system.

It is not the users’ job or responsibility to know whether their computers meet the requirements for a clean installation. It is your job. Be sure you understand the minimum hardware requirements needed to install Windows XP Professional.

To answer the questions in this objective, you should know how to install Windows XP Professional from a CD as well as over a network. You should also know how to troubleshoot installation failures using a structured, troubleshooting methodology, as well as using the many available online resources.

Objective 1.1 Questions

You are a DST for a small computer security company. One of your customers has just purchased a custom-made computer from a small business that specializes in building custom computers. There is no operating system on the computer, so she wants you to perform a clean install of Windows XP Professional. The customer informs you that she attempted to load the operating system several times, but the installation failed on all occasions. You suspect that there might be a nonsupported device on the custom-built workstation that is causing the installation errors, but you are not sure which device. The user tells you that they want the installation done. What should you do? (Choose the best answer.)
1. Remove any nonsupported devices to see if you can get past the installation error.
2. Inform the user that you must stop the installation and continue when only supported hardware devices are present.
3. Inform the user that Windows XP Professional cannot be installed on custom computers.
4. The customer should have installed MS-DOS before installing Windows XP Professional because the new computer did not contain an operating system.
Which of the following are valid minimum hardware requirements for installing Windows XP Professional?
1. 233 MHz processor
2. 256 MB RAM
3. 1 GB hard disk space
4. Super VGA display (800 600)
You are a DST for a large furniture distributor. On April 15, you installed 12 new computers with Windows XP Professional for the accounting department. The next month you were asked by the branch manager to install a customized accounting software package on all 25 Windows XP Professional workstations, which are located in the accounting department. You receive a telephone call from the branch manager on May 15, who says: “What did you do? Almost half of my staff is not able to start their Windows XP Professional workstations!” You verify that the accountants having the problems were using the workstations you installed in April. What is the most likely cause of this problem?
1. The accountants that could not start their Windows XP workstations did not have the proper permissions.
2. The workstations that cannot start Windows XP have a boot sector virus.
3. The workstations that cannot start the Windows XP operating system were not activated within the required 30-day period.
4. The workstations that cannot start the Windows XP operating system are not using the NTFS file system.
You are a DST for a help desk. You are installing Windows XP on a client’s computer and choose Typical Setting as the installation option. The customer wants to know what the computer’s default TCP/IP configuration will be. What will you tell the customer?
1. IP address 192.168.0.100, subnet mask 255.255.255.0.
2. IP address 192.168.0.100, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, default gateway 192.168.0.1.
3. There are no default settings. TCP/IP will have to be configured the first time the computer is booted.
4. An IP address is automatically obtained.
You are a DST for a small law firm. You installed Windows XP in an office that has 35 computers that are all running Windows XP. After leaving the user’s office, you immediately receive a telephone call from her claiming that she cannot connect to the Internet. All the other users are able to connect with no problem. You return to the user’s office and type in the ipconfig command at her workstation and see the following IP configuration: IP address 169.254.101.1, subnet mask 255.255.0.0, and no IP address assigned for the default gateway. What could be a possible solution for this problem?
1. You should enter a valid IP address for the default gateway.
2. You should enter the ipconfig /renew command at the user’s workstation to have TCP/IP configuration information sent to the workstation from the DHCP server.
3. You should configure the IP address for the DNS server.
4. You should contact the Internet service provider (ISP) that the company is using and notify it of the problem.
You are a DST for a help desk. One of your customers has purchased a copy of Windows XP Professional to install on their home computer. You notice that the customer has a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator on her desk, as well as a joy stick and several other game peripherals. The client tells you that they have several older games on their Windows 98 computer that they want to continue to use, but that they want Windows XP Professional to be used for their important business applications and tax data because it is more secure. After looking at the configuration of the computer, you note that there are three partitions: C, D, and E. Partition C contains the Windows 98 operating system. Partition D contains games and miscellaneous applications, and partition E is empty. You decide to perform a multiple boot installation and install Windows XP on partition E. What file system should you chose for the user’s workstation?
1. You should select FAT32 for all partitions because the user will dual boot between Windows 98 and Windows XP.
2. You should use the NTFS file system on all the partitions because the user is concerned about security.
3. You should run the Fdisk command on the hard drive and create a new partition on C:. You should then run the Format command on the partition and install the NTFS file system on all the partitions.
4. You should install Windows XP Professional on the E: partition and convert the FAT32 file system to NTFS.
You are a DST for a small retail company, and one of your customers asks you to install Windows XP Home Edition on his computer, which was previously a Microsoft Windows NT Server. He wants you to do a clean install because he does not need any of the files or programs it contains. The computer contains two Pentium III processors, 256 MB RAM, a SVGA display adapter, and three 4 GB disks. He asks if the Windows XP Home Edition operating system will process data quicker on his computer than his colleague’s Pentium III, which has a similar configuration, but only one processor. What should you tell him?
1. You should tell the user that his system would process data twice as fast because there were two processors in his computer.
2. You should tell the user that his computer would process data quicker if he set the multiprocessor mode to Yes in the Systems Properties dialog box.
3. You should inform the user that he could not install Windows XP Home Edition on his computer because Windows XP Home Edition only supports one processor.
4. You should tell the user that Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional only support one processor, and that he would need to purchase a copy of either Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003.
You are a DST at a local fish distribution company. You are performing an attended installation in a client’s office and cannot get the computer to boot from the CD-ROM. The user informs you that the salesperson said the computer had a bootable CD-ROM drive, yet the computer continues to boot from the hard drive. What steps should you take to resolve this problem? (Choose two answers.)
1. You should first confirm that the computer’s BIOS supports booting from the CDROM, and that the order of boot devices places the CD-ROM before the hard drive.
2. If the computer does not support booting from the CD-ROM, you can create a set of floppy disks that will start the computer and then initiate an installation from the CD-ROM.
3. You should inform the user that he should purchase a new bootable CD-ROM drive before Windows XP can be installed.
4. After confirming that the CD-ROM drive is bootable, you should contact Microsoft and request another installation CD to replace the faulty one.
Which two log files can assist you troubleshooting a failed Windows XP installation? (Choose two.)
1. System log
2. Setupact.log
3. SetupError.log
4. Setupapi.log
You are a DST and you installed Windows XP Professional as a multiple boot so that the user could start her workstation in Windows 98 or Windows XP. After several hours you receive a telephone call from her saying, “I don’t know what you did, but I cannot find any of my Microsoft Office applications. I need to create a PowerPoint presentation in two hours!” What is the most likely reason the user cannot find her Microsoft Office applications?
1. You forgot to create a mapping to the Applications folder.
2. The user needs to run the Quick Switch utility from the System Properties dialog box.
3. The user does not have the correct permissions to access the Microsoft Office applications from Windows XP.
4. You must reinstall the Microsoft Office software, and any other software to which the user needs access, while booted up in the new Windows XP operating system.
Which type of installation is done on a computer that has no operating system installed?
1. An upgrade installation.
2. A migration upgrade installation.
3. There must be an operating system present before a new operating system can be installed.
4. A clean installation is performed on a computer that has no operating system present.
You are a DST and are installing Windows XP in a manager’s office who presently does not have Internet connectivity. You have been informed by the network engineers that the wiring of the manager’s office will take place in several days. The manager has requested that Windows XP still be installed on her brand new computer so that she can work on a sales presentation. You begin the installation but when you are prompted to activate the program, you remember that you are not connected to the Internet. What should you do?
1. Inform the manager that she will have to wait until the engineers connect her computer to the network before you can install Windows XP.
2. You do not need to activate Windows XP if you enter the 25-digit product ID located at the back of the CD case.
3. You should continue with the installation and then select the telephone option to activate the product.
4. You only need to activate Windows XP if you moved it from a different computer than it was originally installed on.

Objective 1.1 Answers

Correct Answers: A
1. Correct: Before attempting an installation of Windows XP Professional, you should verify that the hardware and drivers on the computer are listed in the Windows Catalog. If you want to continue an installation that fails, you should try to remove all nonsupported hardware to get past the error, and then reconnect the device after installation.
2. Incorrect: Because the user requested that the installation be done, this is not the best answer. You should first attempt to remove any nonsupported devices to get past the installation error.
3. Incorrect: Windows XP Professional can be installed on any computer as long as the components are listed in the Windows Catalog.
4. Incorrect: Windows XP Professional does not require the presence of an operating system before it can be installed.
Correct Answers: A, D
1. Correct: A 233 MHz processor is the minimum requirement. However, a Pentium III or better processor is recommended.
2. Incorrect: The minimum required amount of RAM is 64 MB.
3. Incorrect: 1.5 GB of available disk is required.
4. Correct: Windows XP Professional requires a Super VGA (800 600) or higher display.
Correct Answers: C
1. Incorrect: Not having the correct permissions would not prevent the Windows XP operating system from starting. Also, because the accountants were able to run Windows XP prior to the software program being installed, this is most likely not a permissions problem.
2. Incorrect: It is unlikely that the installation of the software application infected only 12 of the workstations with a virus, and not all the workstations.
3. Correct: Windows XP Professional requires activation within 30 days from the first boot. Because the operating system was installed on April 15 and the manager called the DST on May 15, this is the most likely cause of the problem.
4. Incorrect: Windows XP Professional does not require NTFS as the file system.
Correct Answers: D
1. Incorrect: When you choose Typical Settings as the installation option, TCP/IP is configured to automatically obtain an Internet Protocol (IP) address from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server.
2. Incorrect: When you choose Typical Settings as the installation option, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is configured to automatically obtain an IP address from a DHCP server.
3. Incorrect: When you choose Typical Settings as the installation option, TCP/IP is configured to automatically obtain an IP address from a DHCP server.
4. Correct: When you choose Typical Settings as the installation option, TCP/IP is configured to automatically obtain an IP address from a DHCP server. If a DHCP server is not available, a private IP address number is selected from the range 169.254.0.1 to 169.254.255.254. A subnet mask of 255.255.0.0 will also be configured for the workstation, but no default gateway IP address number will be assigned.
Correct Answers: B
1. Incorrect: For a user to connect to the Internet, a valid IP address must be configured for the default gateway. However, the IP address issued to the user in the scenario is a non-routable private IP address generated by the Windows XP operating when a DHCP server is not available.
2. Correct: If the Obtain IP Address Automatically option is selected on a workstation, DHCP will issue the TCP/IP configuration information, such as IP Address, subnet mask, default gateway, DNS, and so on, to the workstation. If a DHCP server is not available, the client’s computer will be assigned a private IP in the range of 169.254.0.1 to 169.254.255.254, with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0.
3. Incorrect: For a client’s workstation to be able to use names, instead of IP addresses, to connect to sites on the Internet, a DNS server IP address and a default gateway IP address are required. However, Automatic Internet Protocol Addressing (AIPA) is a private IP address schema that is not routable.
4. Incorrect: Because all the other users can successfully connect to the Internet, you can determine that the problem is isolated to just the user’s workstation. You might want to enter the ipconfig command on one of the other workstations that connect to the Internet to determine its configuration.
Correct Answers: D
1. Incorrect: Because the user wants to play games and also have the security features of Windows XP, you can use the FAT32 file system on partitions C: and D:, but use NTFS on the E: partition where Windows XP Professional can be installed. For Windows 98 to boot, it cannot be on an NTFS partition.
2. Incorrect: The NTFS file system is not available for Windows 98. If you installed Windows XP over the Windows 98 operating system, you could use the NTFS file system on all the partitions. However, there is a likely chance that the older game programs and possibly some of the game peripherals will not work properly under the Windows XP operating system.
3. Incorrect: Creating a new partition and formatting the disk will erase the user’s programs and data. This was not something that the user requested.
4. Correct: This option will enable the user to boot the workstation in either operating system. If the computer is booted into the Windows 98 operating system, the user would have no access to the NTFS partition because Windows 98 does not recognize the NTFS file system. This option will give the user the security feature she requested, while allowing her to play the computer games in Windows 98.
Correct Answers: C
1. Incorrect: Windows XP Home Edition supports only one processor, so he could not install it on his computer. The user would have to upgrade to Windows XP Professional, which supports two processors.
2. Incorrect: There is no such mode in Windows XP.
3. Correct: Windows XP Home Edition supports only one processor.
4. Incorrect: Windows XP Professional supports two processors. He would not need to purchase server versions of Windows.
Correct Answers: A, B
1. Correct: The computer’s BIOS must support booting from the CD-ROM, and the BIOS must be configured to boot from the CD-ROM first, followed by the hard drive or floppy drive.
2. Correct: In situations where a computer does not contain a bootable CD-ROM, you can create the floppy diskettes that will start the computer and then initiate an installation from the CD-ROM.
3. Incorrect: Windows XP can be installed by creating the floppy diskettes that will start the computer and then initiate an installation from the CD-ROM drive.
4. Incorrect: After verifying that the BIOS supports booting from the CD-ROM drive, you must confirm that the CD-ROM boots first, followed by the hard drive or floppy drive. If the BIOS is configured to boot from the hard drive first, the computer will never boot from the CD-ROM unless you were performing a clean install in which the hard drive did not contain a bootable partition or operating system.
Correct Answers: B, D
1. Incorrect: The System log file will not be available if your installation was unsuccessful. The Setupact.log and Setupapi.log files are created by the Setup utility and help you determine which files or drivers might have caused a problem during installation.
2. Correct: The Setupact.log and Setupapi.log files are created by the Setup utility to help you determine which files or drivers might have caused a problem during installation.
3. Incorrect: There is no such file in Windows XP. The Setupact.log and Setupapi.log files are created by the Setup utility to help you determine which files or drivers might have caused a problem during installation.
4. Correct: The Setupact.log and Setupapi.log files are created by the Setup utility to help you determine which files or drivers might have caused a problem during installation. You can view these text files using Notepad or any other text editor.
Correct Answers: D
1. Incorrect: Mappings to folders are done to make them easily accessible to users, not to make programs available in a multiple boot configuration.
2. Incorrect: There is no such utility.
3. Incorrect: Not having the right permissions would not prevent the user from seeing Microsoft Office. In this scenario, the user claims that her Microsoft Office software is missing.
4. Correct: When performing a multiple boot installation, any software that needs to be accessed must be reinstalled into the new operating system.
Correct Answers: D
1. Incorrect: Upgrade installations are performed on computers that have an operating system present.
2. Incorrect: There is no such installation.
3. Incorrect: An operating does not need to be present when performing a clean install.
4. Correct: Clean installations can be done on a computer that has no operating system.
Correct Answers: C
1. Incorrect: You can choose to activate the product by telephone instead of over the Internet.
2. Incorrect: Windows XP must be activated within a 30-day period after installation.
3. Correct: Windows XP can be activated at a later time by selecting Start, All Programs, System Tools, and then clicking on the Activate Windows option. You can then select an option to activate using the telephone.
4. Incorrect: You must activate Windows XP within 30 days from the first boot up of the operating system.