INFO: Solve Microsoft Windows NT Setup Problems Like a Professional

This article lists resolutions to common Windows NT setup problems. This article also contains a link to a list of Microsoft Knowledge Base Articles that Microsoft Technical Support Engineers use most to resolve Windows NT setup and usability issues. The articles were created in response to customers' issues, and therefore these issues are the ones you will probably encounter when you install and use Windows NT 4.0. Note that Microsoft Technical Support tracks the number of times these articles are accessed.

NOTE: Microsoft recommends that you use Windows NT-compatible hardware. This is the best first step you can take to ensure that no problems occur during setup and use of Windows NT 4.0.

Windows NT Setup

The following is a list of common Windows NT setup resolutions:

1. Power off and remove hardware, especially any hardware that is not listed on the "Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility List" Web site:
   http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/whql/default.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/whql/default.mspx)
   • Plug and Play (PnP) network cards.
   • Sound cards (Integrated Device Electronics [IDE] interface may cause the system to stop responding or hang).
   • CD-ROM drives.
2. Be sure that memory cards are seated properly.
3. Power up and verify the basic I/O system (BIOS) version. Update it if appropriate on:
   • Motherboard.
   • Small computer system interface (SCSI) adapters.
4. Enter the BIOS setup and disable the following:
   • Shadow RAM.
   • Internal/external cache.
   • Power management.
   • PnP.
   • Enhanced drive access.
   • Set the hard drive to boot first.
5. Boot with a floppy disk and virus scan the hard disk and the floppy disk that you just booted with.
   
   NOTE: Do not skip this step. This step is very important.
6. SYS the hard drive, and then:
   • Remove temp directories.
   • Copy \I386 from the Windows NT CD to the hard drive.
   • Run "plain" Windows NT setup (winnt /b).
7. Replace bad hardware or switch to a device that is listed on the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL):
   • Change the SCSI controller.
   • Change the hard drive.
   • Change the network interface card (NIC) (especially PnP).

If this troubleshooting allows Windows NT to install, congratulations! Now you should go back and add features/functionality one-by-one until you locate the exact problem.

Once you have a reliable hardware platform, preinstall the operating system as described in the "Windows NT Preinstallation Documentation,"For additional information on the top articles for Windows NT that may help you solve most Windows NT support issues, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: NOTE: To access the Microsoft OEM Web site, you must be registered in the System Builder Program. If you are a registered System Builder, then use your User login and password to gain access to the site. If you are not a registered System Builder, then register at the following Microsoft OEM World Wide Web Site:

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: