Supporting Users and Troubleshooting a Windows® XP Operating System Exam Cram™ 2 (Exam 70-27)

................................................

Chapter 1

34

Installing Windows XP with One or More Operating Systems

Windows XP is designed to co-exist with one or more Microsoft operating

systems installed on the same computer. If you install Windows XP in addi-

tion to one other operating system, you have a dual-boot configuration. If you

install Windows XP in addition to two or more operating systems, you have

a multiboot configuration. The Windows XP Setup program automatically

installs a dual-boot or a multiboot configuration when one or more

Microsoft operating systems already exist on a computer. You should inves-

tigate third-party products if you want to dual-boot or multiboot Windows

XP with non-Microsoft operating systems such as Linux or OS/2 to ensure

compatibility. When setting up a computer for a dual-boot or multiboot con-

figuration, keep the following guidelines in mind:

➤ Install the oldest operating system first. Install each additional operating

system in the sequence of oldest to newest.

➤ Install each operating system into its own drive letter on the hard drive.

➤ Maintain file system compatibility across the different operating systems

by using the file system accessible to all the installed OSs on the com-

puter. This often means using FAT or FAT32, not NTFS. Windows 9x

and Windows Me do not support NTFS. Windows NT 4.0 does not

support FAT32, but it does support FAT and NTFS.

Migrating User Settings to Windows XP

You might choose to migrate a user to a new Windows XP computer rather

than upgrade the existing computer because the hardware might simply be

too old to support the hefty requirements of Windows XP. In this scenario,

a user gets a brand new machine with (presumably) new versions of applica-

tions, but what about the user’s previous settings for the Windows desktop,

the various preferences for his or her programs, and the user’s favorites and

files stored in the My Documents and My Pictures folders? Well, the

Windows XP FAST Wizard copies these important items from a user’s old

computer to the new computer using a GUI interface. For command-line

aficionados, you can use the USMT.

The FAST Wizard is available from the Windows XP Start menu, under

Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools. The wizard collects and then

stores the necessary user information from the user’s previous computer, and

then you need to run the wizard again on the new Windows XP computer so

that it can copy the user’s information onto the new PC (see Figure 1.16).

The FAST Wizard requires that you transfer the user’s information using a

................................................

Installing the Windows XP Desktop Operating System

35

serial cable connection, a network connection, or removable media to tem-

porarily store the migration data. You can migrate user settings and files

using the FAST Wizard from the following operating systems:

➤ Windows 95

➤ Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE

➤ Windows Me

➤ Windows NT 4.0

➤ Windows 2000

➤ Windows XP

Figure 1.16 The FAST Wizard.

Migrating User Settings with the USMT

The USMT is a more robust utility than the FAST Wizard, but it is also

more complex to use. The advantage of the USMT is that it offers cus-

tomizable options that the FAST Wizard does not support. The USMT uses

several .dll files; however, it employs only two executable files—

scanstate.exe and loadstate.exe. The USMT tools are located on the

Windows XP CD-ROM in the Valueadd\MSFT\USMT folder. Ideally, you should

copy the entire USMT folder to a central server computer that will store

each user’s migration settings and files.

By mapping a network drive to the folder on a server where you placed the

USMT programs, you must first run the scanstate command at a command

prompt on the old (source) computer to transfer the user’s data to the server.

Next, on the user’s new Windows XP (target) computer, you also need to map

a network drive letter to the share on the server where the USMT programs