In this Daily Drill Down, my goal is to ensure that you understand how to install Windows 2000 Professional by providing you with an overview of the procedure. Please notation that in this Daily Drill Down, I'll employ Windows 2000 to mean Windows 2000 Professional. If another Windows 2000 product is mentioned, I'll specify it, such as Windows 2000 Advanced Server. That said, permit's begin our Windows 2000 installation journey.

Preparing to install Windows 2000
One time you have decided to install Windows 2000, you must verify that the computer you lot're installing information technology on meets the minimum hardware requirements. These requirements are listed beneath and finding a computer that meets them should be relatively easy, since many organizations are retiring computers that are packed with at least this much processing power:

  • Pentium 133-MHz processor (Windows 2000 Professional supports either unmarried or dual processors.)
  • 32 MB of RAM (A minimum of 64 MB is recommended.)
  • A ii-GB difficult disk with at least 650 MB of gratuitous space
  • A VGA video adapter
  • 12x CD-ROM if you lot are installing Windows 2000 using the CD-ROM (This is not necessary if you lot're installing over a network.)

Later on finding a computer that meets the minimum hardware requirements, y'all must ensure that all of the hardware components in the system are on the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL). Because the Windows 2000 operating organisation must have complete control of your calculator's hardware, you have to use drivers that have been written specially for Windows 2000. If you detect your hardware components listed in the HCL, you tin can rest assured they will be compatible with Windows 2000.

You can access the HCL by browsing to \Support\HCL.txt on the Windows 2000 installation CD. It volition expect similar to what is shown in Figure A.

Effigy A
Cheque the HCL earlier installing Windows 2000 on your arrangement.

Considering the HCL that is included on the Windows 2000 CD is a static document, Microsoft provides an up-to-date version on its Spider web site. At the fourth dimension of this writing, the HCL is located here.

This version of the HCL is divided into three categories—Computers, Hardware Devices, and Software—which you can admission by clicking on the category. After clicking on the category, you must enter the visitor proper noun, model number, and device blazon of the hardware you want to verify.

Later on searching the HCL for all the hardware devices in your system and resolving any issues, you will exist ready to move on to the side by side steps in the Windows 2000 installation: selecting a file system to utilise and partitioning the difficult bulldoze.

Selecting a file system and preparing the difficult drive
As with Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 allows you to utilise either the NT file system (NTFS) or file allocation table (FAT). (If you take ii partitions—one with NTFS and one with FAT—NT can read both partitions.) New to Windows 2000 is support for the FAT32 file organisation.

To determine which file organisation to use, yous must offset determine your needs. If y'all are going to install Windows 2000 on a dual-boot workstation with DOS, Windows 9x, or Windows Me, y'all must employ FAT or FAT32. The setup program volition decide which Fatty file arrangement to utilise. If the partition is less than ii GB in size, the segmentation will be FAT; if it is larger than ii GB, FAT32 volition be used.

Unless you are dual-booting the workstation, it'due south probably a expert idea to use NTFS. Y'all will proceeds file and folder level security, disk compression, and encryption capabilities with NTFS. For more than information on NTFS and Windows 2000, see the TechProGuild Daily Drill Downwardly, "The essential Win2K multiboot troubleshooter: Planning partitions and file systems."

Installing Windows 2000
After choosing a file organisation and preparing the difficult drive, you are ready to install Windows 2000. To begin the installation, insert the Windows 2000 CD in the drive and turn the machine on. The computer's BIOS should be fix to boot using the CD-ROM. If it does not have this capability, boot the computer using a floppy disk containing CD-ROM drivers. (A Windows 98 Startup Disk or DOS boot disk with CD-ROM back up will work.) Then, run \I386\WinNT.exe to begin the installation; the Windows 2000 CD's Setup program will non work in DOS fashion.

Installing from DOS mode
When you kickoff installation from DOS, you'll be asked to provide the location of the Windows 2000 installation files. The default value will be X:/I386, where X is the drive letter of the alphabet of your CD. Accept this value.

Adjacent, the installation plan checks to see if y'all take SmartDrive turned on. You can install Windows 2000 without it, just installation may be faster if your DOS deejay has this enabled.

Setup and then copies files to your hard drive and asks you to remove whatever floppy disks prior to rebooting.

The remainder of the installation is identical to booting from a Windows 2000 CD, which I'll cover in the next section.

Installing from a bootable CD
When you lot boot from the CD, Setup loads files onto your difficult disk. The Windows 2000 Welcome screen then appears, offering you the choices of setting upwards Windows 2000, repairing a Windows 2000 installation, or quitting the setup program. To proceed the setup program, you should press [Enter].

The Windows 2000 License Agreement screen appears adjacent. If you concur with the terms outlined in the license agreement, press F8 to continue.

The adjacent task is configuring the hard drive. The setup screen provides you with a couple of options. You can press [Enter] to prepare Windows 2000 on the highlighted division. You can also create a partition in the unpartitioned space past pressing C, and pressing D will allow y'all to delete the selected sectionalisation.

After managing the partitions y'all will be asked to select the file system that will be used in the partition. Highlight either NTFS or FAT and then press [Enter].

Graphical portion of setup
The setup program volition go along past formatting the sectionalisation with the selected file organization. In one case the partition is formatted, the GUI portion of the installation will begin. The Regional Settings screen gives you the opportunity to conform many of the settings that are detail to your geographic location.

On the General tab, you tin can set your geographic location and the linguistic communication to be used on the system. The Numbers tab allows you to select the many settings available for y'all to use. You can specify settings for the appearance of currency using the Currency tab. The Time and Date tabs are used to configure the fourth dimension and appointment settings on your system. Finally, the Input Locales tab provides y'all with options for hot-keying between dissimilar locale settings and selecting diverse keyboard settings.

When you take configured all of the Regional Options settings, click Apply and and then click OK. You volition render to the Regional Settings screen, where you tin click Next to proceed the installation.

As the installation continues, the Setup Sorcerer provides you with the opportunity to enter your name and organization proper noun. After entering the appropriate information, click Next to continue.

The adjacent pace in your Windows 2000 setup is to enter the production central. The key—on the dorsum of the CD's jewel case—consists of five fields that incorporate five alphanumeric characters. Later on entering your key, click Side by side.

The Setup Wizard then suggests a reckoner name for your system. Yous can either have the default name or enter one of your own. If your calculator is connected to a network, you lot may want to devise an organizational standard for computer names that will help you identify them. Avoid using employee or section names, as well as room numbers. In big organizations, the employees and equipment can move around quite a bit, causing your once very helpful and descriptive name to become incorrect and confusing. Generic names, such as Company_Name_0001, might provide a better solution. While non fancy, they exercise the job and will save y'all time in the long run.

The Computer Proper name And Password screen besides provides you with the opportunity to enter the Administrator user's password. This password can exist upwardly to 14 characters in length, and information technology is case sensitive. Because this countersign provides complete access to the local auto, you should employ a combination of upper- and lowercase letters, too equally numbers. This password should exist very difficult to decipher and should be kept hugger-mugger. It should also be ane you won't forget.

After entering the appropriate computer name and ambassador password, click Side by side to continue the installation. The next screen provides you with the opportunity to set the organization appointment and time, also as choose the time zone. The option specifying that the system automatically adjust the system clock for daylight savings time is selected by default. Once y'all have selected the appropriate information, click Next.

The Setup Wizard will install the networking software at this point. After copying some files, the magician asks you to choose either a typical or a custom installation of the networking software. Since most network administrators don't like to go out any setting or configuration to chance, I suggest you lot choose Custom Settings.

Custom installation
Because every network is configured differently, the settings you use when going through this section of the installation must correspond to how your network is designed. This section will serve as a guide to show y'all some of the possible settings. Figure B shows you lot the Local Area Connection Backdrop screen.

Figure B
Install your networking configurations in the Local Expanse Connection Backdrop screen.

The default network customer is the Client For Microsoft Networks, which is basically self-configuring. Highlighting the choice and clicking Properties will take you to the Client For Microsoft Networks Properties screen, where you can choose the name service provider, as shown in Effigy C. The default setting is Windows Locator, and the alternate pick is DCE Cell Directory Service. If you are unsure of which name service to utilize, you will probably desire to accept the default setting of Windows Locator.

Effigy C
Choose your name service provider.

On the Networking Components setup screen, you besides accept the choice of installing File And Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks. Again, depending on your network setup, yous may elect to use this service. Because my network has Novell printers already configured, I highlighted this choice and deselected it.

The terminal component that you tin configure from the Networking Components setup screen is Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). The default settings will let the workstation to use DHCP and DNS servers, as shown inFigure D. You have the option of specifying a static IP address as well as a preferred and alternating DNS server. Clicking the Avant-garde button will provide you lot with more options for customizing your TCP/IP configuration. In addition to configuring DNS settings, you can configure WINS, IP security, and TCP/IP filtering.

Figure D
Adjust your TCP/IP properties.

Once more, the configuration of all of these services and components will exist adamant by the current configuration of your network. For the purposes of this Daily Drill Down, we used the default settings.

To continue with the Setup Magician, click Next to move on to the Workgroup Or Computer Domain screen. From this screen you can choose to bring together an existing domain past selecting the choice to make the computer a member of a domain that you specify. The default option of the Setup Wizard is that the workstation is non a member of a domain or is non a network computer.

At this indicate in the installation, the Setup Sorcerer will copy files and install Windows 2000 components. Depending on the computer you are using, this can take a few minutes. As long as the progress bar is moving, you tin can patiently expect for it to consummate what information technology's doing.

After the file copy completes, the Setup Wizard will do some more backside-the-scenes work, such as installing the Start menu items, setting registry components, saving all of the settings that have been fabricated, and finally removing all of the temporary files used during the installation. This pace of the installation takes a while, and I recommend doing something else while the setup continues. When this step completes, you volition be asked to remove all floppy disks and CDs and click the Stop push button. The reckoner volition reboot, and Windows 2000 will beginning.

Some more behind-the-scenes setup procedures will occur, and the Network Identification Wizard volition launch. This wizard volition assist you configure the network settings for the computer. To begin using the Network Identification Sorcerer to configure the network settings for your Windows 2000 workstation, click Next.

The first screen in the wizard asks y'all to specify how you would like the computer users to log in. The default choice assumes that the aforementioned user will be using the workstation almost of the fourth dimension, and you lot can enter a username and password for that person then that he or she tin automatically log in. To keep your network secure, you will want users to specify their own usernames and passwords each time that they endeavor to log in. You can do this by selecting Users Must Enter A User Proper name And Countersign To Utilise This Computer.

After clicking Next to continue, the Network Identification Wizard is completed, and you can click Finish. Windows 2000 will finish starting, and you will exist greeted with a friendly Getting Started With Windows 2000 screen. To prevent this screen from existence displayed when Windows is started next time, deselect the Show This Screen At Startup option located in the lower-left corner and then click the Get out push button.

Installing the Novell Client
If you are going to connect your Windows 2000 reckoner to a Novell network, you should use the Novell client software that is available from the download section of Novell's Spider web site. The Novell client that Microsoft includes with Windows 2000 relies on IPX and cannot be used in a pure IP environs.

After you download and unzip the client software, you can run the setup plan to begin the installation. The first screen asks you lot to read the license agreement and after doing and then, you may have the terms by clicking Yep.

Effigy E shows the Novell Client Installation screen. You may choose to perform a typical installation, but as with Windows 2000, you'll probably desire to do a custom installation.

Figure E
Y'all volition most probable want to cull a custom installation of Novell Customer.

Every bit y'all can run across in Figure F, Novell has elected to make Novell Distributed Print Services a default choice in its client software setup. Unless y'all need this service, it's a good idea to deselect it before clicking Next and moving on, in club to minimize system overhead.

Figure F
Deselect Novell Distributed Print Services before continuing with the Novell Customer installation.

The following screen will provide yous with the opportunity of selecting the correct protocol to install. Your choice will depend on your network configuration. For the purpose of this example, nosotros will select the default setting of IP And IPX, as shown in Figure M.

Figure Yard
Select your network protocol to use with Novell Client.

The subsequent screen asks whether you are using NDS or Bindery. Again, your selection here depends on your network configuration. Chances are good that your file servers are running NetWare four.x or better, which is the default selection.

Afterward clicking Next, you are told that the client configuration is completed. You can click the Finish button to brainstorm the file copy and install the Novell client for Windows NT/2000. When the file copy has completed, y'all will exist prompted to reboot the computer so that the changes will take effect.

When Windows restarts, the Novell client software will exist running, and you will be able to locate an NDS tree and authenticate to a NetWare file server. To do this, click the Avant-garde button and utilize the browse buttons to locate a tree, context, and file server. Once past the Novell security, y'all volition yet need to log in as Administrator on the local Windows 2000 workstation.

A little play a joke on that can save yous some confusion afterwards is to rename the local Windows 2000 Administrator user to Admin, which is the default name of the administrator account on a Novell network. You may also want both accounts to apply the same password, although this would provide an unauthorized user with the password for both Admin accounts.

Conclusion
Your installation of Windows 2000 is now consummate. That wasn't so hard, was information technology? Microsoft has washed a skilful job of making this installation rather straightforward, and many of the default settings should piece of work well in many environments.

Windows 2000 seems to be a stable production, and yous should accept quite a while to become familiar with it, every bit more and more organizations are beginning to use information technology equally their main desktop client.
The authors and editors have taken care in training of the content contained herein but make no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for any damages. Ever have a verified backup before making any changes.