Installing the Operating System

If you are starting with a new drive, you must install the operating system. If you are using a non-Windows operating system, follow the documentation for the installation procedures.

On a newer system in which you are installing an OEM version of Windows 98 or later (which comes on a bootable CD), there isn't really anything you need to do, other than simply booting from the CD (you might have to enable the CD-ROM as a boot device in your BIOS Setup) and following the prompts to install the OS. Windows 98 or later versions automatically recognize that the drive needs to be partitioned and the partitions formatted before the installation can proceed. Additionally, Windows 98 or later versions execute these functions for you, with prompts guiding you along the way. This is the method I recommend for most people because it is relatively simple and straightforward.

If you want to do the partitioning and formatting manually (prior to installing the OS), follow the guidelines in the next few sections.

Partitioning the Drive with DOS and Windows 9x and Me

From the A:> prompt, with the startup disk inserted in the floppy drive, type the following command:

FDISK

This command is used to partition your drive. Follow the menus to create either a single partition for the entire drive or multiple partitions. Usually, the first partition must also be made active, which means it will be bootable. I recommend you answer Yes to the prompt Do you wish to enable large disk support (Y/N)?. This enables the partition to be created using the FAT32 or NTFS file system. Then, you can continue accepting default entries for all the prompts to partition the drive as a single bootable partition that covers the entire drive.

Next, exit FDISK; this restarts the system.

Note

Using FDISK was covered extensively in Chapter 12.

Formatting the Drive with DOS and Windows 9x and Me

After rebooting on the startup floppy, you need to format each partition you've created. The first partition is formatted using the FORMAT command as follows:

FORMAT C:

All other partitions are formatted in the same manner: Merely run the command, changing the drive letter for each partition that needs to be formatted.

After the FORMAT command completes on all the drives, you should reboot again from the startup floppy. Now you are ready to install Windows.

Note

Drive formatting was covered extensively in Chapter 9, "Hard Disk Storage." Refer to Chapter 12 for more details on installing and setting up a hard drive.

Preparing the Hard Drive with Windows 2000/XP

If you are using Windows 2000 or Windows XP, the operating system prepares the drive for you during installation if you install the operating system to an empty drive. If unpartitioned space is available on an existing boot drive, you can direct Windows Setup to use that space and install as a "dual-boot" configuration. This configuration enables you to select your old version or new version of Windows each time you start your computer. You can also replace your existing version of Windows.

If Windows Setup prepares your drive, you can select the file system (FAT32 or NTFS) during the process. After Windows has partitioned and formatted the drive, it completes the installation process.

Loading the CD-ROM Driver

If your system supports booting from the CD and you are installing a version of Windows that comes on a bootable CD, you can disregard this section because the CD-ROM drivers automatically are loaded as you boot from the CD. You can then either proceed with the installation from the CD or copy the OS files from the CD to the hard drive and install from the hard drive instead.

If you must first boot from a floppy (because your system can't boot from a CD or your version of Windows isn't bootable), you must make sure your startup floppy disk is properly configured to support the CD/DVD drive in your system. This requires that real-mode (DOS-based) drivers be installed on the disk that is compatible with your drive. The easiest solution is to use a Windows 98 or later startup floppy disk because it is already prepared with the proper drivers for 99% of all systems on the market. Even if you are installing Windows 95, you can still use the Windows 98 or later startup disk to start the process.

If you are using a Windows 95 startup disk and you don't have the CD-ROM drivers on it, you should look for a CD-ROM driver disk that usually comes with your drive. It should have a driver installation batch file on it that, if run, will copy the drivers to your startup disk and create the appropriate CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to enable CD-ROM support. If the driver is called CDROM.SYS, that filealong with the following line (or something similar)should be added to the CONFIG.SYS file on your Windows 95 startup disk:

device=CDROM.SYS /D:oemcd001

This causes the CDROM.SYS driver to be loaded and assigns it an in-memory driver designation of oemcd001. Any designation can be used here, but it should be eight characters or fewer and must match a similar designation in the next step.

Next, you must load the Microsoft CD-ROM extensions driver in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. This driver is called MSCDEX.EXE and is already included on the Windows 95 startup disk. If you used the designation I listed in the previous step, add the following line to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file on the Windows 95 startup disk:

LH MSCDEX.EXE /D:oemcd001

This loads the MSCDEX.EXE driver (in upper memory via the LH or LoadHigh command if possible) and looks to attach to the CD-ROM driver loaded earlier via the driver designation oemcd001 in this case.

After these statements are added to the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, you should reboot on the startup floppy. Now you also should be able to access your CD-ROM drive. It will appear one drive letter after your last drive partition. If your hard disk partitions are C: and D:, the CD-ROM drive will be E:.

Note that these procedures require that you find your CD-ROM driver and copy it onto the startup disk. If you can't find the driver or have a SCSI hard disk (which uses different types of drivers), I recommend you borrow a copy of a Windows 98 or later version startup disk. These startup disks already include a series of drivers that work with virtually any CD-ROM drive on the market, even SCSI versions.

After you have successfully created a startup disk with the CD-ROM drivers (or have the Win98 startup disk), insert the Windows CD-ROM in your CD/DVD drive. After booting from the startup floppy, change to the CD/DVD drive letter. Then at that prompt, run the SETUP command. This starts the Windows installation program. From here, you can follow the prompts to install Windows as you see fit. This procedure can be somewhat lengthy, so be prepared to spend some time. You will be installing not only Windows, but also the drivers for any hardware detected during the installation process.

Whether you are booting from floppy or CD, I recommend copying the Windows files to your hard disk and actually running the installation from the hard disk and not the CD. This is helpful in the future should you want to reinstall or install any additional parts of Windows because it will then work directly from the hard disk and you won't be asked to insert the CD.

To do this, first check the CD for the directory containing the *.CAB files and copy them to the hard disk. For example, using Windows 98 it would go something like this:

copy E:\WIN98\*.* C:\WIN98 /S

This copies all the files from the WIN98 directory on the CD-ROM (E: drive in this example) to the hard disk and places them in a directory called WIN98. Then, you can remove the CD (it is no longer needed) and run the installation directly from the hard disk by entering the following commands:

C: CD\ C:\WIN98\SETUP 

These commands change you to drive C:, place you in the root directory, and then run the Windows SETUP program to start the installation. From there, the menu-driven Windows installation routines guide you. If you are using a different version of Windows, merely change the directories used in the previous example to the appropriate directories for your version of Windows.

Note

If you want to create a bootable CD containing your Windows installation files, refer to Chapter 11, "Optical Storage." For more information about installing CD/DVD drives, refer to Chapter 12.

After Windows is installed, you can install any additional drivers or application programs you want. At this point, your system should be fully operational.

Note

If you prefer to install a version of Linux or other non-Windows operating system, follow the instructions given for the particular distribution you are using.

Installing Important Drivers

After installing the operating system, the first thing you need to do is install drivers for devices where drivers were not found on the Windows CD. This often includes things such as chipset drivers for your motherboard, drivers for newer video cards, USB 2.0 drivers, and more. Of these, the motherboard chipset drivers are the most critical and should be installed first. A CD containing these drivers should have been included with your motherboard; insert this disc and follow the prompts to install the chipset drivers. Then install other drivers, such as video, network, modem, and so on.