Windows 2000 Tutorial: Windows 2000 Installation

WINDOWS 2000 INSTALLATION

       This chapter steps you through the installation process of your Windows 2000 operating system.

Launching Windows 2000 Server:
       To launch Windows 2000 Server, power up the system with the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server CD in your primary CD-ROM drive. Be sure that your system’s Setup specifies the primary boot process, starting with CD-ROM. Then follow these steps:

Step 1
In the Welcome to Setup screen, you are given three options:
Press Enter to set up Windows 2000.
Press R to repair a Windows 2000 installation.
Press F3 to quit Setup without installing Windows 2000.
In this case, press Enter to continue with the installation process.

Step 2
License Agreement. View the entire Windows 2000 Licensing Agreement by pressing Page Down. At the end of the agreement, press F8 to accept its terms and continue.

Step 3
Location Selection and Drive Format. Select an installation location for Windows. In this step, you may create/delete active hard drive partitions; after which, select the partition to which you want to install the operating system, and press Enter. By pressing Enter, you may now choose to format the partition by using the File Allocation Table (FAT) system or the NT File System (NTFS).
In this case, select NTFS.


What is   FAT or NTFS?

FAT SYSTEM:

FAT is the least complicated type of Windows-supported file system. Because it begins with very little overhead, it is most applicable to drives and/or partitions under 400 MB. It resides at the top of the fixed quantity of allocated storage space, or volume, on the hard disk. For security purposes, two copies of the FAT are maintained in case one copy becomes corrupt.

The FAT system establishes a table that the operating system uses to locate files on a disk. Even if a file is fragmented into many sections—that is, scattered around the disk— the table makes it possible for the FAT to monitor and find all the sections.FAT formats are allocated in groups or clusters, the sizes of which are determined by the correlating volume size. For example, when a file is created, an entry is made in the directory and the first cluster number—set by the system—containing data is recognized. This entry either indicates that this cluster is the last of the file or points to the next cluster.

It’s important to note that the FAT must be updated regularly; otherwise, it can lead to data loss. However, also note that each time the FAT is updated, the disk-read heads must be repositioned to the drive’s logical track zero. This is a time-consuming process. Note, too, that because there is typically no organization to the FAT directory structure, files are given the first open location on the drive. It’s important to be aware that for successful booting, the FAT and the root directory must be stored in a predetermined location.

The FAT supports only read-only, hidden, system, and archive file attributes. A filename or directory name may be up to eight characters long, be followed by a period (.), and then have an extension of up to three characters. The FAT uses the traditional 8.3 filenaming convention—that is, all filenames must be created with the ASCII character set.

All FAT names must start with either a letter or a number; they may contain any characters except the following:

Period (.)
Double quotation marks (“”)
Forward and backward slashes (/ \)
Square brackets ([ ])
Colon (:)
Semicolon (;)
Pipe symbol (|)
Equals sign (=)
Comma (,)

FAT has two primary advantages:

In the case of hard disk failures, a bootable DOS floppy can be used to access the partition for problem troubleshooting.

Under Windows, it is not possible to perform an undelete. However,
if the file was located on a FAT partition, and the system is
restarted under MS-DOS, the file can be undeleted.

FAT has the following two disadvantages:

As the size of the volume increases, FAT performance decreases; therefore, the FAT file system is not recommended when one works with drives or   partitions larger than 400 MB.

It is not possible to set security permissions on files located in FAT partitions. Also,FAT partitions are, under Windows, limited to a   maximum size of 4 GB.

NTFS FILE SYSTEM:

The NTFS has features that improve manageability, including transaction logs and file security that help resolve disk failures. Access control permissions can be set for directories and/or individual files. For large disk-space requirements, NTFS supports spanning volumes, which make possible the distribution of files and directories across several physical disks. Because NTFS performance does not degrade, it is best used on volumes of 400 MB or more.NTFS file and directory names may be up to 255 characters long, including extensions separated by a period (.). Although these names preserve whatever case the names are typed in, they are not case-sensitive. NTFS names must start with either a letter or a
number; they may contain any characters except the following:

Question mark (?)
Double quotation marks (“”)
Forward and backward slashes (/ \)
Asterisk (*)
Pipe symbol (|)
Colon (:)

The advantages of the NTFS are the following:

Its recoverability functions mean that disk-repair utilities would ever be required.

It enables setting file and directory control permissions. Activity logging makes troubleshooting failures easier.

It enables large disk-space management and long filename support (up to 255)

The disadvantages of the NTFS are the following:

Because of the amount of space overhead, NTFS should not be used on volumes smaller than 400 MB.

It does not have integrated file encryption. Therefore, it is possible to boot under MS-DOS or another operating system, and use a low-level disk-editing utility to view data stored on an NTFS volume.

The NTFS overhead does not fit on a floppy disk; therefore, it is not possible to format a floppy with the NTFS. Windows always uses FAT during the formatting procedure.

Step 4
Setup will copy the installation files to the selected partition. When Setup is finished, press Enter to restart the system and continue with the installation.

Step 5
Windows 2000 Setup Wizard. Windows 2000 Server Setup wizard will complete the installation process. Press Next to acknowledge. The wizard will detect and install devices on the system.

Step 6
Regional Settings. You can customize Windows 2000 Server for different regions and settings. For local settings, click Customize and set the current local, time, date, and currency. Click OK to accept the changes. For keyboard settings, click Customize and select your keyboard properties. Click OK to accept the settings. Click Next when you are ready to continue with the installation.

Step 7
Personalizing Windows 2000. Type your full name and the name of your company or organization; then click Next.

Step 8
Licensing Mode. Based on Microsoft’s definitions as they are extracted here, choose either the per-seat or the per-server licensing type; then click Next.

PER-SEAT LICENSING

A per-seat license associates a Client Access License with a specific computer or “seat.” Client computers are allowed access to any Windows NT Server or Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition on the network, as long as each client machine is licensed with the appropriate Client Access License. The per-seat mode is most economical in distributed computing environments where multiple servers within an organization provide services to clients, such as a company that uses Windows NT Server for file and print services.

PER-SERVER LICENSING:

A per-server license associates a Client Access License with a particular server. This alternative allows concurrent-use licensing: If customers decide to use the server in per-server mode, they must have at least as many Client Access Licenses dedicated to that server to accommodate the maximum number of clients that will connect to that server at any one point in time. The server assigns Client Access Licenses temporarily to client computers; there is no permanent Client

Step 9
Server Name and Password. Enter a name for the computer and the administrator password (up to 14 characters); then click Next.

Step 10
Windows 2000 Components. To add or remove a component, click the checkbox. Ashaded box means that only part of the component will be installed. To see what’s included in a component, click Details. You may elect to install services such as DNS from the Components window; however, for our purposes here we’ll accept the default settings for accessories, utilities, and services (including Internet International Server [IIS]) and then click Next to continue.

Step 11
Date and Time. Verify the correct date, time, and time zone; click Next to confirm and accept.

Step 12
Networking Settings. The setup wizard will install the networking components. Choose whether to use typical (auto install of common services) or custom settings (manually configure networking components). For now, select Typical settings and click Next.

Step 13
Workgroup or Computer Domain. Select to make this computer a member of a domain or workgroup. Click Next to continue.

Step 14
Installing Components and Completing Setup. The setup wizard will install your component selections (this may take several minutes) and will also perform final tasks, such as registering components, saving settings, and removing temporary files.

Step 15
Click Finish to complete the setup wizard. Remove the CD-ROM; then restart the computer.

Step 16Logging in. After you restart the system, you’ll have to log in with the administrative password configured during the setup process. For security, the password will display as asterisks as you type it in.

Active Directory:

Active Directory stores information about network objects, such as user accounts and shared printers, and provides access to that information. Security is integrated with Active Directory through logon authentication and access control to objects in the directory. With a single network logon, administrators can manage directory data and organization throughout their network, and authorized network users can access resources anywhere on the network. Policy-based administration eases the management of even the most complex network.

To make this server a new domain controller, you must install Active Directory. A domain controller in a Windows 2000 Server domain is a computer running Windows 2000 Server that manages user access to a network, which includes logons, authentication, and access to the directory and shared resources. The Active Directory Installation wizard configures this server as a domain controller and sets up the DNS if it is not already available on the network. DNS is a system for naming computers and network services; these names are organized into a hierarchy of domains. DNS is used in TCP/IP networks, such as the Internet, to locate computers and services through userfriendly names. When a user enters a DNS name in an application, DNS services can resolve the name to other information associated with the name, such as an IP
address.