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Note This document is based on the original spoken Support WebCast transcript. It has been edited for clarity.

Kevin Clarke: Hello. My name is Kevin Clarke and I will be presenting today's WebCast on Upgrading to Microsoft® Windows® XP. On the overview slide (2), we'll see that the presentation covers preparing the system for an upgrade of Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition (Me) to Windows XP Home or to Windows XP Professional.

The information in the presentation will help reduce some of the chances for issues to occur and to help supply information about making the choice between upgrading or clean installing. Here are some of the points we're going to cover.

First, we need to decide if Windows XP will work on our system, specifically whether we have the adequate hardware to support such a robust operating system and whether our application needs will be met by Windows XP. We will also cover some things that should help us decide which is a better avenue to pursue, a clean or fresh installation, or if we can simply upgrade our present operating system.

Second, I'm going to sketch an overview of the setup process and point out important portions regarding the upgrade versus clean install. In doing so, I will touch on a new functionality to setup, Dynamic Update, where we can download fixes on the fly during the setup process if you have Internet connectivity.

Third, the meat of the presentation will touch on some best practices to eliminate many potential problems prior to performing an upgrade of the operating system to Windows XP. Finally, I will round out the talk with some common troubleshooting techniques, as well as citing issues that can be overcome easily.

In the setup steps (slide 3), I386 is the folder that contains folders and files for doing the installation, including Winnt32.exe, which is the main installation engine used to upgrade the operating system. This entire directory can be copied as a flat to the system, so that the installation can be done from the hard drive.

Setup.txt contains the release notes that should be read before installing. Support is the folder that contains the files, such as Readme.doc, which has instructions for loading the tools. Valueadd is a folder that contains some useful tools, including the USMT utility for migrating the user state information, something new. Autorun.inf is a file that tells Setup.exe to start when a CD is inserted. Readfirst.txt is, of course, the release notes for Windows XP, and then Setup.exe, as I mentioned before, which is the program that is invoked by the Autorun.inf program on the Windows XP CD. This program generates the initial Windows XP startup screen and provides the options to install Windows XP, install optional components of Windows XP, such as accessories and utilities, fax services, indexing service, Internet Explorer, the Start menu, and desktop or IIS.

Also, we can perform additional tasks such as set up remote desktop connection, which basically installs the terminal services client that you would find on Windows 2000. Set up home or small office network, transfer files and settings, browse the CD, and view the release notes. Additionally we can check system compatibility, where you can either visit the Web site or run the Upgrade Advisor report with or without dynamic update components.

On the next slide (4), we'll discuss a little bit of the hardware requirements. You'll note that the system requirements for both versions of Windows XP are generally the same. These requirements are provided in the table on the slide. Also, for more information on the system requirements, there is an article at the end of this presentation, if you want to refer to that later. Note that the disk space used for the upgrade requires 925 megabytes (MB) to be free.

In talking about hardware and software compatibility (slide 5), it's important to know what the HCL is, if you don't already. The Windows XP Hardware Compatibility List is a list of hardware devices that have successfully passed the hardware compatibility tests. Only hardware on the Windows XP HCL is guaranteed to work with Windows XP. Installing Windows XP on a computer that has hardware that is not on the HCL might cause the installation to fail or problems to occur after installation. A device that is not on the HCL might function, but is not supported by Microsoft. Contact the device manufacturer for a Windows XP–compatible driver. For more information about hardware compatibility, see the Hardware Compatibility List page at http://www.microsoft.com/hcl/.

As far as WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Lab), this provides test kits that are used to qualify devices, systems, and servers for the Microsoft Windows logos for inclusion on the HCL. This test kit's requirements are based on the Windows logo program for hardware, which can be found online at Microsoft.com/hwdev/winlogo. System and peripheral manufacturers can license the Windows logo for use on product packaging, advertising, collateral, and other marketing materials for all system components that can pass compliance testing. There can be conditions for something to be HCL-compliant, such as an update BIOS or driver. I'll get into that a little bit later.

Why is this important? Products securing the Windows logo for hardware or software include these characteristics. All components install and uninstall properly and do not interfere with other system components. Each component interoperates well with other system components. All components that carry the logo should function normally after the operating system is upgraded to Windows XP. These characteristics result in the following benefits for manufacturers and vendors: There should be increased customer satisfaction, lower support costs, and fewer product returns.

Software compatibility is a bit trickier. However, understand that Knowledge Base articles are continually being updated with lists of applications that are known to be compatible. Windows XP has a new feature called Application Compatibility, otherwise known as ApCompat, which will allow a particular application to be run as if it were running in a different Microsoft operating system. I've listed an article to describe this process more, but it is outside the scope of this discussion. Finally, using patches on the Windows Update site, many more applications are continually becoming able to run properly on Windows XP.

Let's go to the next slide (6), where we will discuss the Upgrade Advisor. You can use the Microsoft Windows XP Upgrade Advisor tool to audit the current status of your computer and get a report to known hardware and software compatibility issues based on Microsoft testing prior to release. If you're concerned about the results of the report, you should not upgrade until these issues are corrected. Contact your hardware or software manufacturer for updates that enable their products to run properly on Windows XP. Whether you're considering upgrading to either Windows XP Home Edition or the Professional, if you do not have a Windows XP CD, you can download the Upgrade Advisor tool by clicking on the link labeled Download the Upgrade Advisor from the Web site listed on this slide (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp).

When choosing to run Setup from within the GUI, that is while booted into a previous operating system, such as Windows 98, and inserting the Windows XP CD, Windows XP automatically runs the Upgrade Advisor upon invocation of the upgrade process. The default is to only display blocking issues, not the entire report. However, it is very useful to create this report and it's also known as Upgrade.txt on the hard drive after doing so. In order to do this, to create the report without running the upgrade process, run the following command from the I386 folder on the Windows XP CD-ROM: winnt32 /checkupgradeonly. For instance, type the following path in a command shell or in the Run box (click Start, click Run) e:\i386\winnt32 /checkupgradeonly, where e represents the CD-ROM drive letter.

Note that if you choose dynamic update when running winnt32 /checkupgradeonly, the appropriate drivers and fixes will be downloaded, but not installed. Afterward, when attempting to run the upgrade choosing dynamic update, which is obviously recommended, the drivers need not be downloaded again. I'll discuss the concept of dynamic update a bit later in the discussion. This Upgrade Advisor report may help you to decide whether or not to upgrade the computer to Windows XP.

After you've read the report, make sure that any hardware that is listed as not being supported has Windows XP drivers available from the manufacturer, unless you do not need that hardware to work in Windows XP. Check the software listing for software that may need to be reinstalled after the upgrade or for software that requires upgrade before it can work with Windows XP. You may want to determine whether there are any updates or service packs available for the software before you begin the upgrade process. Having these available during the upgrade process may allow the software to work correctly with Windows XP. Additionally, if you doubt the compatibility of a particular software program, it is advised that you uninstall the software before upgrading the operating system, because you may be unable to properly uninstall it after upgrading Windows XP.

On to the next slide about BIOS (slide 7). We're going to talk about the hardware of the system. BIOS stands for basic input/output system, and it is essentially the first set of instructions that are used to dictate how hardware interacts with the PC. For an x86-based computer, the BIOS contains operating system–independent code necessary to start the computer as soon as power is applied to the system. The BIOS instructions or code are contained in the system firmware on the system board or the motherboard. It is important to remember that many adapters in the BIOS contain their own firmware, which also runs during the power-on self test, or POST.

Depending on the firmware, the POST routine may be responsible for the following: rudimentary hardware checks, such as determining the amount of memory present, verifying that devices need to start an operating system, such as a hard disk are present. During the system startup, configuration settings are retrieved from non-volatile memory located on the motherboard. These settings include boot device order, Plug and Play information, video bus, initialization sequence.

If the BIOS on the system board is incorrect or out-of-date, devices installed in the system may not work correctly. When this happens, the Windows XP fails during installation or the system may not boot. ACPI is hardware and software interface specifications that has evolved the existing collection of power management BIOS code and application programming interfaces (APIs). ACPI provides for an orderly transition from existing legacy hardware to ACPI-compliant hardware. It allows for both ACPI and legacy devices to exist in a single machine and to be used as needed. ACPI is a key element in OS-directed configuration and power management, or OSPM.

Some ACPI-based BIOS versions are not compliant with the current standard. When Windows XP detects a non-compliant BIOS during setup, a message is displayed with instructions for contacting your hardware manufacturer and other steps to resolve the problem.

Non-ACPI-based computers, the system BIOS configures Plug and Play according to the Plug and Play and APM (Advanced Power Management) standards. The beauty of ACPI is that this will do this for you dynamically. APM is a legacy power management scheme based on a hidden hardware BIOS approach that was first widely supported in Windows 95. APM consists of one or more layers of software that supports power management in computers with power manageable hardware. Advanced Power Management defines the hardware-independent software interfaces between hardware-specific power management software and an operating system power management policy driver. It masks the details of the hardware, allowing higher-level software to use APM without knowledge of the hardware interface.

As far as the BIOS goes, upgrading the firmware of the motherboard is often referred to as flashing the BIOS. Microsoft recommends that you refer to the manufacturer of the system, if it's an OEM. Otherwise, refer to the manufacturer of the motherboard to see if there is a more recent BIOS version. Often doing so can overcome many hardware issues.

Warning Make certain to use the proper version for the exact model of the motherboard, because using an incorrect one could severely damage the motherboard. Also, with any major change, it is extremely important to back up all pertinent data. This should be done prior to flashing the BIOS or upgrading an operating system.

Once satisfied that our hardware will suffice, let's briefly discuss, on the next slide (8), some factors that can help us decide whether we want to upgrade or clean install. Here you'll note on this slide the upgrade paths. Upgrading can save hours of labor, compared to rebuilding a system, and allows users and applications to be easily migrated. However, there are several things to consider before upgrading. Some of these considerations are different depending on the operating system that you are upgrading from. If you upgrade, Setup automatically installs Windows XP into the same folder as the currently installed operating system. Upgrade can be launched from within the existing operating system and if you want to do so manually, you can use the Winnt32, as I mentioned before. This table shows the upgrade process that Windows XP supports and what it doesn't support.

We'll continue this discussion on the next slide (9) with upgrade versus clean installation. During an upgrade, existing user settings are retained, as well as installed applications. If you perform a clean installation, the operating system files are installed in a new folder, and you must reinstall all of your applications and reset user preferences, such as desktop and application settings; so performing an upgrade can save time and effort.

However, you need to choose a clean installation of Windows XP Professional or Home Edition in the following cases. Number one, no operating system is installed on the computer, so naturally, there is no operating system to upgrade. Number two, the installed operating system does not support an upgrade to Windows XP or to Home Edition. Windows XP Professional provides upgrade paths from Windows 2000 Professional, Windows NT® 4.0, 98, Windows Millennium Edition, as noted in the previous slide. If you're using Windows 95, Windows 3.x, or another operating system, you need to choose a clean install.

Also note the graphic in this slide, which states that you are unable to upgrade Windows 2000 to Windows XP Home Edition, but you can upgrade to XP Professional. Going from Windows 2000 Professional to Windows XP Home Edition is actually considered a downgrade. Even though Windows XP Home Edition was released later than Windows 2000 Professional, there are some features that Windows 2000 Pro has that XP Home Edition does not support. Finally, if the computer has more than one partition and needs to support a multiple boot configuration, installing multiple operating systems on the same partition is not supported. Doing so can prevent one or both operating systems from working properly, because they will attempt to share folders and may overwrite code needed by the other. The most basic advantage of a clean installation is that all of your systems can begin with the same configuration. All applications, files, and settings are reset. You can use a single disk image or answer file to make sure that all of the desktops in your organization are standardized as far as a rollout. In this way you can avoid many of the support problems that are caused by irregular configurations.

I should also point out that if you have no choice but to perform a clean installation, but did not want to go through the trouble of configuring the settings that you had in your current operating system for Windows XP or earlier, there is something called Files and Settings Transfer Wizard, which I will discuss a bit later.

On the next slide (10), we'll discuss planning the partitions and the file systems. Disk partitioning is a way of dividing hard disk into sections that function as separate units or drives. Partitions can be set up to organize data or to install additional operating systems for multiple boot configurations. Partitioning involves dividing a disk into one or more areas, each formatted for use by a particular file system. Depending on your existing hard disk configuration, you have the following options during setup. If the hard disk is unpartitioned, you can create and size the Windows XP partition. If an existing partition is large enough, you can install XP on that partition, but again, remember if you already have an OS on there, that's not supported. If the existing partition is too small but you have adequate unpartitioned space, you can create a new XP partition in that unpartitioned space. If the hard disk has an existing partition, you can delete it to create more unpartitioned disk space for the Windows XP partition. Keep in mind that deleting any existing partition also disallows you access to the data that was on that partition. I'll caution you, before changing file systems on a partition or deleting a partition, back up the information on that partition, because reformatting or deleting a partition deletes all existing data on that partition.

I'll briefly discuss dual booting, although it is a bit outside of the scope of this discussion. A workaround for users who must use hardware or software that is unsupported in Windows XP is to create a dual-boot computer, where there is more than one operating system on a single PC. Note that the operating systems must be installed in separate partitions, the applications must be installed in each operating system, and only one operating system may be booted into simultaneously. The main reasons installing more than one operating system on the same partition is that you may have erratic results, probably stemming from one operating system overwriting files installed by other operating systems or overwriting the system directory, unless you specify a different directory in which to install Windows XP. There is plenty of documentation about this and there ought to be a WebCast developed before too long regarding this. Meanwhile, if you wanted to know more, at the end of the slide deck, I do have an Internet link to the Microsoft site that contains the multi-booting information.

As far as sizing partitions, it's recommended that you install Windows XP on a 2 gigabyte (GB), which is 2,048 MB, or larger partition. Although Windows XP requires a minimum of 650 MB of free disk space for installation, using a larger installation partition provides flexibility for adding future updates, operating system tools, and other files, such as applications. During setup, you need to create and size the partition on which you plan to install Windows XP. After XP is installed, you can use the Disk Management snap-in to make changes or create new partitions on your hard disk. For more information about disk management, see disk management later on in the presentation.

As far as converting versus reformatting existing disk partitions, before you run setup, you should decide whether to keep, convert, or reformat an existing partition. The default option for an existing partition is to keep the existing file system intact, thus preserving all files on that partition. You can reformat a partition during a clean installation only. If you decide to convert or reformat, select an appropriate file system, such as NTFS, FAT16, or FAT32. Because NTFS has all of the basic capabilities of FAT16 and FAT32 with the added advantage of advanced storage features such as compression, improved security, larger partitions and file sizes, it is the recommended file system in Windows XP.

Some features that you can use when you choose NTFS are file encryption, which allows you to protect files and folders from unauthorized access. Permissions can be set on individual files as well as on folders. Recovery logging of disk activity helps restore information quickly in the event of power failure or other system problems. Better scalability allows you to use large volumes. The maximum volume size for NTFS is much greater than that of FAT. Additionally, NTFS performance does not degrade as volume size increases, as it does in FAT systems. When you perform a clean installation of Windows XP, it is recommended that you use NTFS. If you upgrade computers that use NTFS as the only file system, continue to use NTFS with Windows XP. Again a caution, if you reformat a partition as either FAT or NTFS, this reformatting of a partition erases all of the files on that partition, so make sure to back up the files before you do so.

On to the next slide (11), we'll go into starting the setup. If your computer supports booting from a CD-ROM, you can start the installation by using the XP Pro or Home CD-ROM. When the system boots from the CD-ROM, Winnt.exe is used to run the setup. Start the computer and wait for setup to display a dialog box. Some systems may require you to hit a key during POST in order for the system to boot from the CD. The operating system requires you to hit a key to boot from the CD before setup will start.

Winnt32, as I mentioned before, is a powerful utility, which does more than just start an install on the operating system. Some of the things that can be done with Winnt32 include checking the current operating system for upgrade compatibility with Windows XP, as I had mentioned before, using the /checkupgradeonly switch. Specify a command to be carried out after the graphical user interface (or the GUI) portion of the setup finishes. Create a debug log at the specified level. Upgrade your previous version of Windows in an unattended setup mode. Speed up the file copy phase of setup by allowing multiple distribution servers. Most of those really refer to the corporate rollout.

Some of the switches are /checkupgradeonly, /cmd, /cons, which adds a Recovery Console option for repairing a failed installation. The /m switch, that's /m:foldername, instructs the setup to copy replacement files from an alternate location. It directs setup to look at the alternate location first, then to copy the files from that location if the files are present, instead of from the default location. The /makelocalsource switch is another switch that instructs setup to copy all installation source files to your local hard drive. Use /makelocalsource to obtain the installation files, in case you begin the installation from the CD and the CD then becomes unavailable during the installation. The switch /noreboot instructs setup to not restart the computer after their file copy phase of Winnt32 is complete, so that you can execute another command. Finally there is the switch /tempdrive. This directs setup to place temporary files in a specified partition and to install Windows XP on that partition. Remember the following points: if you use this switch you must always use the /tempdrive option with the /syspart switch option. Both /tempdrive and /syspart must point to the same partition of the secondary hard drive.

As far as Winnt.exe, this file is used to launch the Windows XP setup from Windows 3.x or MS-DOS. To run setup from MS-DOS, you can run Winnt from the I386 directory on the Windows CD-ROM. Winnt could be used to install from floppies or you could have an MS-DOS boot disk with CD-ROM support. Here are some of the disadvantages of Winnt. Upgrades of Windows XP can only be done from within the OS, but is the upgrade path of the OS being installed. In other words, Winnt really doesn't come into effect. That's where you would use Winnt32. You actually need more disk space when you're using Winnt and it's much slower. This is because we first create the OS and the NT directories, which stand for local source. This is the flat on the I386 directory. Winnt cannot be used to install XP Pro multiple-language as well. This can only be installed from the Winnt32. That's probably above and beyond the scope of this discussion, but it's also helpful to have if you are planning a rollout.

On the next slide (12), we'll discuss a little bit further the upgrade process from Win9x. Note that the applications today install differently depending on which platform you're running, either XP or 98. Here are some considerations. Most applications often write to different registry locations on Windows 9x and NT. They install different files for each platform, either DLL or executable. Install different versions of files that may be common to both Win9x and XP. Make operating system–specific calls on Win9x that are not available on XP. Windows XP cannot guarantee that all installed applications will work properly after the upgrade to XP or that an upgraded machine will retain all features and customizations from the Windows 9x or Millennium installation. Users may have to reinstall their applications to guarantee full application functionality. In corporate environments, reinstalling applications on each computer is unacceptable because it increases deployment costs and may lead to lost productivity time. For most non-corporate end users, the original installation media may not be available because their software came pre-installed in their computers. To solve these problems, Windows XP ships with a Migration-Extension Interface that provides a mechanism for vendors to plug into the upgrade process and correct the problems listed above.

The following improvements were implemented in the upgrade to Windows XP process: Migration.dll interface, better upgrade report, dynamic update added, uninstall added, better device and application support, also virtual devices and virtual drivers are removed and Plug and Play detected for them to pick up and install new drivers, and true Windows driver model files are migrated keeping the .inf.

Some of the limitations, some Windows 98/Millennium features may not be supported. The upgrade has the following limitations: No upgrade of Windows 98–only devices; no upgrade of Windows 98–only device settings and features; no upgrade of Windows 98–only system configuration options, such as drive space compressions; cannot migrate 98 system tools; no migration of 98 or third-party shells; and no migration of 98 passwords.

Some other features that may be lost: Backup is not available in the Home Edition. Windows Millennium does not install backup by default, so this is not something that many users will miss. The Win9x backup may be removed or disabled. The ScanDisk is actually replaced by check disk (Chkdsk.exe). Personal Web Server, the upgrade report will indicate that Windows XP is needed for Personal Web Server features, if Personal Web Server is installed. Note that it is not installed by default on Windows 98. The user took additional steps to install it. If you haven't done so, it doesn't really apply. Many updated drivers ship with the Windows XP operating system CD; however, when critical device drivers, such as hard drive controllers, are not compatible with Windows XP and cannot be found, setup halts the upgrade process until updated drivers are obtained. Older 16-bit device drivers for Windows 98 are based on the Virtual Device Driver model. The Virtual Device Driver model is not supported in XP and upgrade does not migrate drivers from Windows 98 or Millennium to Windows XP. If the driver does not exist in XP for a particular device, you will need to download an updated driver from the device manufacturer.

Continuing on the upgrade process on the next slide (13), I want to give you an idea what goes on and point out that there are essentially two to three phases of setup, depending on whether you boot from the CD or launch the setup process from within a running operating system. Naturally, the better way to upgrade is to insert the CD after the previous operating system is up and running. You'll note that we have the three modes of setup during the upgrade process. The upgrade process is much the same as a normal setup process, but adds steps to allow the user the ability to uninstall.

In the first mode, Winnt32 must be used to upgrade. Winnt32 captures the current user's configuration information and files. Prior to the first reboot there have not been any changes made to the Win9x directory and no files have been deleted. From this point, we have only backed up the information and can return to Windows 98 or Millennium. Information is gathered and moved to the Temp directory. Finally, the system reboots into Text mode, to load the NT Kernel.

In Text mode, Winnt32 is responsible for the backup process for uninstall. In a clean installation, when booting directly from CD, the Text mode in the first phase is setup. However, in an upgrade Text mode is the second setup phase, which occurs after the first reboot when running Winnt32. At this point, we do a clean install of Windows XP. We do not touch the Temp directory. We also begin copying files for Win XP. At this point the Win 9x is effectively gone, so to go back, you must uninstall.

In the GUI mode, the clean install is finished during GUI mode. At this point, Windows 98 or Millennium is effectively gone. The only way to return to that operating system is through the uninstall. The Win 9x - by the way, when I refer to Win 9x, I am actually referring to Windows 98 or to Millennium - if that system's settings that were saved are migrated to the Windows XP registry, you then execute the application migration using the migration DLLs, as provided in the Windows 9x phase of the process. Lastly in this phase, all user accounts are migrated from the Win 9x to the Windows XP operating system.

I also have on the slide OOBE, which stands for Out-of-Box Experience, where a user should be able to unpack the computer straight from the manufacturer and experience a very cool series of informational slides and basically have an impromptu tutorial of Windows XP. You'll also see this upon finalization of the upgrade process.

On the next slide (14), you see a nice graphic of the Dynamic Update. I'll discuss Dynamic Update at this point in the presentation for a few reasons. Firstly, Microsoft strongly recommends utilizing it. Its purpose is to overcome setup issues with your particular hardware and it can actually be utilized during the Upgrade Advisor process. Dynamic Update is a really nice new feature, which we strongly recommend. It allows setup to take changes to overcome post-release issues that may arise, such as updated drivers. This means that after Microsoft released the package on the Windows XP CD, there may be some issues that we've addressed regarding setup that can be downloaded on the fly, if you have Internet connectivity. Note that while there are a few Microsoft sources that provide these critical fixes, they are only setup and not all fixes found on the Windows Update site. The Dynamic Update process is used during the Winnt32.exe setup, whether the user has chosen to perform a new installation or perform an upgrade installation. The Dynamic Update process works with Windows Update to download necessary files, which come from several sources during setup, and then install those files.

You'll note in the slide that we have code updates coming from Windows Hardware Quality Lab, Application Compatibility Team, and the Windows Software Engineering Team. Dynamic Update requires at least Internet Explorer 4.0 level of Wininet and also Urlmon.dll files to run. Basically, you just need to remember that you have to have Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. If these minimum versions are not present, then setup does not show the Dynamic Update pages and skips the step completely. If these versions are present, then the user is given the option to start the Dynamic Update process. In short, if you want to take advantage of this feature, simply update your browser to at least Internet Explorer 4.0 and then run setup.

Once the files are downloaded, we do not download and reload them again; however, we only check to see if the files have been downloaded. If you were to choose Dynamic Update with either setup or Upgrade Advisor, such as the /checkupgradeonly switch that I mentioned before for Winnt32, you can restart setup and the updated files that were copied locally would be used. Incidentally, even if a customer was determined to wipe his computer, opting for a clean install instead of an upgrade, we recommend running the Upgrade Advisor prior to booting to the CD and performing a clean installation. This may alert them to possible hardware incompatibilities.

On the next two slides (15 and 16), I'm just going to give you a sketch of the setup process as an overview. As an overview of the entire setup process for a clean install, that's basically what I'm going to discuss. An upgrade will still need to accomplish many of the same tasks, but this will depend on what is being updated. Windows XP setup presents a graphical user interface (a GUI) that separates the process into five phases. After the final phase the system is rebooted. We have collecting information, Dynamic Update, preparing installation, installing Windows, finalizing the installation, and finally, the computer starts for the first time after setup and you should see the OOBE. Note that the initial setup of the system is not considered complete until the computer successfully starts and the user is able to log in.

In the first phase, collecting information, as setup collects information about your system you can do the following. Specify an upgrade or a clean installation. Read and accept the license agreements. Enter your product key. Select special setup options, for example, language or specify Windows installation folder.

In the second phase, Dynamic Update, this is a new feature to Windows XP, as I had mentioned before. This is where we connect to the Microsoft Windows Update Web site and download the latest setup files to the computer, enhancing the setup experience and Dynamic Update requires, as I mentioned before, a modem, an ISP connection, correct versions of Internet Explorer for the browser that you're using, at least 4.0 or later. If these files are not installed, the wizard is just skipped.

Then on to preparing installation and preparing for install setup does the following. It copies files to your hard disk. It provides you the option of repairing an existing installation, if one does exist. It provides you the option of specifying the partition on which to install Windows. Setup can also format the partition. Finally, you'll restart the computer and note, you cannot delete and reformat the primary partitions unless you run setup by using the CD-ROM start method first.

We'll continue the setup process on the next slide (16), where we'll discuss installing Windows, briefly. While installing Windows, setup does the following. It installs devices. It sets system locale. It customizes your keyboard. It prompts you to specify your name and organization. It prompts you to specify a computer name and administrator password. It installs network components; default components include client for Microsoft networks, file and print sharing for Microsoft networks, TCP/IP transport protocol, automatic addressing. You'll also be prompted to join either a workgroup or a domain. That's only for XP Professional. Perform the configuration, copy the files and install the Start menu items, registering the components. Finalizing the installation, we'll be saving settings, removing any temporary files used during setup. It then restarts the computer and then you should see the OOBE.

On the next slide (17), I mentioned briefly that you're not going to see the Out-of-Box Experience, if your display is less than 800x600, and you will not see it if you're joining a domain. Of course, you're only going to be able to join a domain if you're using Windows XP Professional, not Home Edition. Also note that original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, will create their own settings so the order and options may be slightly different from this slide. For instance, there may be Internet options and different splash pages that the manufacturer of the computer can implement.

At this point, depending on the monitor and the video card, you should be prompted to automatically reset the settings of the video, such as resolution. However, it does not affect refresh rate, so that must be changed manually if the video adapter driver allows it. It can then create user accounts followed by activating and registering, though these can be delayed for a period of time. Note that you're going to be reminded to activate since you must do so within 30 days.

On the next slide (18), we're going to talk about the steps that we need to do with the data before setup. Once we have determined that our hardware and software will "pass muster" (support the software) and we've seen the basic processes set up, let's discuss the best practices to bolster our chances of this upgrade process going smoothly. Even though we checked our documentation and vendors' Web sites, it is extremely important to run the Upgrade Advisor, ideally using the Winnt32 with the /checkupgradeonly switch. Before making any major change, we must really make a full backup of any pertinent data. That is definitely the advisable way to go at least. Then we flash the BIOS, if there is a more recent one, especially if it gave us ACPI functionality. Now we're ready to continue with some more steps.

Naturally, we'll want to read the documentation on Windows XP, specifically the Readme1st.txt and the Readme.doc and then download Windows XP drivers and save them off elsewhere so that we can use them later, after the installation. Installing them now will be of little use and will actually cause problems, so save them onto a separate hard drive partition or floppy disk. In other words, you can't take a Windows XP driver and install it on Windows 98 and expect it to maintain. In fact, it will definitely cause some erratic problems with Windows 98 and you may not be able to run an upgrade properly. The main ones you want to have handy are connectivity device drivers, such as modem and network cards. A video adapter driver would also be very useful. The rest can be downloaded after connectivity to the Internet is established. Also note that the Upgrade Advisor was previously named Compatibility Checker or Readiness Analyzer. So if you see some documentation referring to that, it's actually referring to the Upgrade Advisor.

On the next slide (19), we're going to talk about the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. This enables you to transfer the user's files, folders, and settings to a new computer or to a clean installation of Windows XP on an existing computer. The wizard method is most commonly used when end users are responsible for upgrading their own operating systems. Note that during the upgrade from a previous version of Windows, the user state is automatically transferred, so there is no need to complete this process. The transferred data may be saved to another computer over a direct cable connection, a server, or removable media, such as zip disk or compact disc. However, depending on the amount of data transferred, you may need a very large number of disks, if you're going to be using floppies. If possible, you should save the data to a server or large format removable media. You can transfer files and settings when you need the user's data to be moved from an existing source computer to a new destination computer running Windows XP, and also if you're transferred from an existing operating system to a new installation of Windows XP on the same computer. So that's necessary, if you're going to do a clean install.

Before beginning the transfer process to a new computer you will need a destination computer running Windows XP, space on the server to which both computers can gain access or removable media on which to store the user's system state, a blank disk for the wizard or the Windows XP CD containing the wizard, the account name and password of the user whose state you are transferring, also called a migrating user. This process transfers the state of only the users that have logged on. To transfer additional user states from the same computer you must repeat the process for each user.

The wizard has two paths, state collection and state application. The collection portion of the wizard should be run on the user's old computer, which is also known as the source. Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0, Millennium, Windows 2000, and Windows XP are all possible sources. The application portion of the wizard is run on the user's new computer, which is also called the destination. The only supported destinations are Windows 2000 and Windows XP. During the state collection process the wizard allows you to choose what you want to transfer. You can select one of these three: settings only, files only, and both files and settings. In addition there is a customized check box, which allows you to choose the settings and the file types to transfer. The table shows a listing of the files, folders, and settings that are transferred by default when you run the USMT, or User State Migration Tool. Note that, by default, the only application settings that are transferred are those for specific Microsoft applications. However, the USMT is fully customizable, and it is expected that most IT professionals will customize what is transferred.

Let's discuss the hardware steps that we're going to take before setup (slide 20). Disable Advanced Power Management and the antivirus in the BIOS, ensuring that ACPI is enabled. Flashing the BIOS to the most current firmware will prevent many setup issues and add functionality as well. Uncompress any drives because setup will discontinue with the error message explaining that you must uncompress the drive. This shouldn't affect the data. All you need to do is go back into the compression agent and uncompress, if you've done so already. You must remove the UPS, which is an external device that is an uninterruptible power supply. The UPS will almost certainly cause problems if it is left attached, so remember to do so. You may not have to detach USB devices, though it may be helpful. Keep in mind that if the devices are not present, we may not transfer settings for said devices, so it would be best to leave USB devices attached, removing them if problems arose and attempting the upgrade process again. Run ScanDisk and ScanReg to verify the integrity of the hard drive and the registry if you are attempting an upgrade. It may be helpful to have a generic, either serial or PS/2 mouse and keyboard handy before upgrade. If you don't have a generic keyboard, don't worry about it. USP, and especially PS/2, ought to work just fine.

On the next slide (21), we have the upgrade checklist, which is a good summary or a cheat sheet, if you will, of what you ought to do prior to performing the upgrade. Some of the things that I've gone over, and to keep in mind, are to check system requirements. Read the documentation, especially with the hardware compatibility information. Decide whether to upgrade or to use a clean install. Decide whether you want to be able to choose between different operating systems each time you start the computer, so if you're going to multi-boot, that's a consideration. Decide which file systems to use, NTFS, FAT, or FAT32. Decide which partition you will install on or whether you need to have a new partition for your installation. Decide what components to install. If you're going to be networking, decide how you're going to use IP addresses and TCP/IP name resolution. If the computer already has a working operating system on it, back up the files and check the system log for errors. Of course, we need to uncompress any drive space or double-spaced volumes. Disconnect UPS devices and start setup, following the instructions provided. Remember that Dynamic Update can overcome a myriad of driver problems that you may face during setup without using Dynamic Update. The moral of the story is if you have Internet connectivity, use Dynamic Update.

That basically is the "nuts and bolts" (basic information) of the upgrade process and the setup overview. The next few slides will discuss, briefly, some troubleshooting steps. Some of this may be outside of the scope of the talk, but it can be very beneficial to overcoming some setup issues.

If for some reason there is a hang during the upgrade process, you may be able to press SHIFT and F10 simultaneously to open a command shell. At this point, you can open various log files that are found in the Windows directory by using the Edit command. Also, if you were to type dir setup*.*, you will see the logs that I will touch on in the next slide.

These log files (slide 23) are created during the Winnt32 and GUI mode phases of the setup. There is no logging during Text mode. Briefly, the Setupact.log contains upgrade information. The Setuperr.log contains a list of errors encountered during setup, which is most useful for troubleshooting error messages. Setupapi.log handles the Plug and Play detection, service pack, hotfix, third-party driver install, and end of GUI mode setup; driver rollback information, which is most useful for troubleshooting device installation problems. The Setuplog.txt collects data concerning registry and activation, OOBE, file, copy, saving setting screens at the end of the GUI mode is collected. One file that I did not mention on the slide is Pnplog.txt, which is created during GUI mode if a problem exists, to bypass that class driver on the next reboot of the setup to continue. Use this log file to identify problems with hardware if setup is hanging during GUI mode. Look at this log file at a device driver, if it does not work after uninstall. Any time setup is run any existing Plug and Play log file is deleted during Text mode. They do not bypass the detection of the list of devices in the GUI mode. Remember, press SHIFT+F10 together to allow you access to these log files if you're hung up in the setup process.

Here are some common issues on the next few slides that we may be able to overcome and what causes them. For instance (slide 24), some general symptoms you may encounter are the system has stopped responding, the keyboard indicator light for the NUM LOCK and the CAPS LOCK will not function. Basically, the system must be powered off to reset it. The common cause is most likely a hardware incompatibility. The solutions are to ensure that the system BIOS is the latest version, press F7 during the phase of setup that displays the message to press F6 for added SCSI drivers. That's during the setup process. Basically, you would have to go through the setup process again and on one of the earliest screens that you will see, you will be prompted to press F6 to add SCSI drivers. At that point you can press F7, to basically suspend ACPI checking and force a standard HAL or hardware abstraction layer. Also, you can remove unnecessary hardware from the system.

Some other issues you may find are a Stop 7B (slide 25). This is basically where you will see a blue screen, if you will, and it will most likely occur during the Text mode phase of setup. The common causes for this? There are two major ones. First is an incompatible driver for the mass storage controller, which is basically your hard disk controller. The second one is that you may have a boot sector virus. The solution is to scan the hard drive for virus or download an updated driver for the mass storage or the hard drive controller from the manufacturer's Web site.

Some more symptoms that you may see are you may receive an error message that a file could not be copied (slide 26); however, the file name is usually listed in the error message, so you're going to know which file it's talking about. It's quite likely that the problem for this is bad RAM. You may also have a bad CD-ROM or possibly a bad CD-ROM drive. The solutions for this are to boot the system with a Windows 98 or a Windows Millennium boot disk with CD-ROM support enabled, and then copy the I386 directory to the hard drive and then run Winnt.exe. If it still fails, try a different CD-ROM. I would also point out that before you run the Winnt or before you're even running Xcopy to copy the I386 flat to the hard drive, you really should load Smart Drive because it will hasten the process considerably. Actually one of the first things that you should probably do is also remove dissimilar RAM, in other words, a lot of times people will upgrade RAM and if you have different sticks of memory, they may not work well together, so remove all of the dissimilar ones and use only the original memory that you used prior to the upgrade of memory.

The last problem that I note is a hang or lock during the GUI mode (slide 27). Actually I addressed this a bit before, but basically what we want to do is to flash the BIOS, use the SHIFT+F10 to view the logs, as I had mentioned before. You can remove any peripheral devices from the system leaving just the mouse and the keyboard attached. Finally, we can attempt to run the setup again. It's also important to note that you should not have to start setup from the very beginning. In fact, we've designed it so that it will resume from where it left off in case of power failure or issues such as the ones noted above.

Last, I will touch on uninstall (slide 28). This is new to Windows XP and works quite well, but know that the uninstall of the operating system of Windows XP is not available if upgraded from Windows NT or 2000. Nor is it available if the file system was converted to NTFS or if the Boot.cab has been deleted from the directory, the Undo directory, I should say.

I mention uninstall not as a troubleshooting method, but rather as a feature that is available and a stable method to revert to the old operating system, either Windows 98 or Windows Millennium. As always, when making major system changes data ought to be backed up prior to making the changes. The most likely use for an uninstall is if the user finds that there are some hardware components that are not supported in Windows XP that were supported in Win9x or if a user must use an application where application compatibility will not work and maybe for time issues, they just don't have the hardware or are unfamiliar with setting up a dual boot.

The uninstall is fast and reliable and should be accessible from Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel. Additionally, there is a command-line executable called Osuninst.exe. This will manually launch the uninstallation process. I meant to include a Knowledge Base in this slide that covers this, but it should be listed in the additional reading. The name of the Knowledge Base article is Q308233, "How to Start the Windows XP Uninstallation Process from a Command Prompt." You'll note that it's a very simple process. When you are at the command prompt, change to the Windows\System32 directory by typing cd\windows\system32 and then typing osuninst; you should be off and running for the uninstall.

This concludes the presentation; however, I'll be happy to address some questions regarding the material we've covered. Also note that at the end of the slide deck I have a great deal of additional reading and resources that you may want to look at.

Otto Cate: Great. Thanks a lot for the presentation there. I definitely appreciate it. Before we move on to the Q&A portion of the Support WebCast, I have a couple of program notes to share with you. If you'd like to have a copy of the PowerPoint® slides, be sure that you download the file from the Web site. This content will be made available from the Past Support WebCast page there. To access this information, including some details on all upcoming Support WebCasts, an easy-to-remember URL is http://support.microsoft.com/webcasts/.

The Q&A portion of the Support WebCast is really intended to encourage further discussion of today's Support WebCast topic. One-on-one product support issues are outside the scope of the Support WebCast. If you need some technical assistance, please feel free to submit an incident on the Web or contact Microsoft Product Support Services and speak to a Support Professional.

The first question is: I'm currently installing an additional new hard drive. The current drive has Windows 98 Second Edition. I wish to install an update, basically a Windows XP update on the new hard drive. Will XP recognize that I have Windows 98 on that original drive? Will XP work as a clean install on the new drive or will I have the option of basically dual booting from Windows 98 and XP?

Kevin: That's a great question. Actually, the simple answer to that is, yes to all of the above. Windows 98 will be recognized and there will be an opportunity to upgrade Windows 98, if you wanted to do so, or if you just wanted to multi-boot with Windows XP on the second drive you can do that if you don't have any unpartitioned space on the first drive.

What I would do with that is actually boot to the CD and assuming that the hard drive is actually recognized in the BIOS, after the setup process begins and that it actually shuts down the computer, have the Windows XP CD in the CD-ROM drive, start up the computer, and you should see a black screen that says, "Press any key to boot from CD." At that point you just press any key and you will automatically launch the setup process of Windows XP. One of the earlier slides that you will see in the setup process is the partitioning option. That's where you will see that there is a second hard drive that was recognized by the BIOS and you can partition and format there.

Otto: Great. Thank you. This next question is pretty similar in nature. It looks like it's another dual-boot scenario, really: If you have multiple OSs in a single partition, specifically MS-DOS and NT 4.0, is that an issue or is that a scenario in which you'd have to do a clean install? What kind of dual-booting options would we have there?

Kevin: That's a good question. If you were going to dual boot, and note that dual boot and multi-boot are basically synonymous, with NT and XP you definitely want to have that in another partition. Note that you cannot partition what is already partitioned. In other words, if you don't have any unpartitioned space, let's say the present hard drive is all one partition and you already have data and the operating system that you are concerned with maintaining, the only way that you can multi-boot is either to save that data off, repartition that particular hard drive, and then reinstall the operating system. Then you restore the data, or the easier way, as the first question pointed out, you could actually just add a hard drive.

As far as MS-DOS and NT in the same partition, that's fine, but you definitely do not want to install Windows XP in that partition. That would definitely be unsupported.

Otto: Okay. The next question is: Is there a list of options and switches documented somewhere? Perhaps there may be a URL or a KB article that we can point them to? I'm not sure if it was covered in the slides or not.

Kevin: Absolutely. I don't know if I included it, but there certainly is. The main switches that they would want to know are for Winnt32. I don't know if I have that in the additional reading.

Yes. I know that it's certainly documented. I did point out most of the switches for Winnt32 and also, if I'm not mistaken, there will be a written section of my transcript added later on and that goes over it. I'm not coming up with the article right off the top of my head, though I do know that one does exist.

Otto: The next question is as follows: What is the command line for copying the CD to the hard drive and installing XP from the hard drive, essentially doing a flat install?

Kevin: The actual command line, I guess it depends on if you want to have this automated, but basically, if I understand correctly and you want to launch the setup process from a flat, in other words, if you want to copy a directory to the hard drive, the best thing to do is to boot with a Win9x boot floppy, use CD-ROM support, because you're going to get one or two options there. Choose the CD-ROM support so that you can actually load the drivers for the CD-ROM drive, I should say.

The first thing you would want to do is run Smartdrv.exe and that will quicken the copying process considerably. At that point you would use the following command:

That statement that I just gave you, that command, the x refers to the letter of the CD-ROM drive and basically, I said C:, because that's if you want to put it in the root of drive C. Basically, all you're doing there is copying the I386 directory over onto the hard drive. Then you can launch setup with either Winnt or Winnt32 right from the hard drive. That takes the CD-ROM out of the picture.

Otto: Great. This looks like it's a clarification question concerning the upgrade version and the use of the upgrade version: Can you do a clean install if you purchase the upgrade version of XP? We'd be upgrading from Windows Millennium.

Kevin: Yes, you can. That's a good question. What you would want to do in order to do so is basically, the best way if you're going to do a clean install is to just boot the CD. You may have to change the boot sequence in the BIOS, but boot the actual computer with the Windows XP CD in the CD-ROM drive and then you will get the screen that says, "Press any key to boot from CD." During the setup process you will be asked for media as a compliance check. If the drive is formatted we will prompt for the Windows 98 or Millennium CD, and if you boot from the CD first we will perform the Upgrade Compliance Check before that format occurs.

Otto: Great. The next question, this may be a bit outside the scope, but I want to address it just in case: Can you use SMS to do an upgrade in a managed environment?

Kevin: That's a great question. I would have to agree with you, Otto, that is a bit outside of the scope of this discussion. I included some tricks and tips for corporate rollouts, but as far as SMS goes and that, I'm really not certain and I don't want to address it improperly.

Otto: Thank you. Would you possibly be able to explain the difference between Winnt and Winnt32 during an upgrade?

Kevin: Basically, Winnt is not used during an upgrade. In fact, you can use it from an MS-DOS 16-bit environment or from Winnt 3.x, but basically, it's the Winnt32 that is the upgrade engine. In other words, if you are already in Windows 98 or Windows Millennium, you're not going to be able to go to the command prompt and type winnt. The only thing you can do to actually manually launch the upgrade process is to use Winnt32.

When running Winnt, it's solely responsible for performing the copy of the install files. When rebooting after the file copy, Winnt32 is actually the engine that will take it from there. Did that make sense?

Otto: Great. We've got a user here that's asking: How different, if at all, is upgrading a laptop to XP from Windows 98, versus a normal desktop machine?

Kevin: There really shouldn't be any differences. Basically, you would follow the same rules of thumb. What you're going to want to do is to make sure that that particular system is on the Hardware Compatibility List on the Microsoft site and a very good tactic would be also to go to that manufacturer's Web site to see if, in fact, they suggest upgrading or not. If they support XP being on that particular laptop, then they will also have Windows XP drivers written for them as well. Keep in mind that a lot of people think that Microsoft if responsible for drivers, but it's actually the manufacturer of the devices who is responsible for writing those device drivers to operate properly in the operating system.

I would say, again, use the Dynamic Upgrade Report, the winnt32 /checkupgradeonly switch and make sure that your laptop is on the Hardware Compatibility List. I think one of the main problems that we run into is that when we have clone boxes or "Frankenstein" boxes, that is where there is a whole mishmash (mixture) of different hardware, a lot of times you may not have manuals or what not and it may be a little unclear as to whether those particular components are on the Hardware Compatibility List and that each of those major components needs to be checked. In summation, a laptop really shouldn't be a problem if the hardware supports it.

Otto: Great. Thank you. The next question is: Can you explain the difference between USMT and FAST? Does that make sense?

Kevin: Well, I'm not all together sure what they're referring to as FAST. The USMT is the User State Migration Tool where, if you have your system set up on mostly older operating systems, such as Windows 98, Millennium, NT, 2000, or even XP, let's say you have your Favorites and you have a certain background and what have you, you can actually save those settings on a floppy, removable media, or to a hard drive space. That's from the source computer that had those particular settings and configurations that you took time to set up. After you set up Windows XP you can actually use those same settings and configurations and it will do it for you in a jiffy.

As far as the FAST goes, I'm not really sure what the question is referring to there.

Otto: The next question, moving on here: What is the largest system partition into which I can install Windows XP and what happens to be the largest non-system partition in which I can install XP?

Kevin: Whether it's a boot or a system partition doesn't really matter. What does matter are the limitations of the file system itself. For instance, I believe FAT16 has a limitation of 7.8 GB, FAT32 you can make a partition up to 32 GB, and NTFS is somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 terabytes, which is a tremendous size.

What I would strongly recommend to everyone though is to not partition their hard drive into one giant partition, which is often the case. What I prefer to do is to have at least, if you have the space, maybe 4 or 5 GB for the operating system and the applications. That will give you plenty of room for growth. Then when you have that up and running, go into the Disk Management snap-in and when you have Windows XP, you can type diskmgmt.msc at the Start/Run command (on the Start menu, click Run). You can also get there from the Administrator programs or from right-clicking My Computer and clicking Manage. At that point you can create more partitions. Basically, the limitation is that from the Text mode setup process or even using Fdisk, the first partition that is created is always going to be primary, where the second one is always going to be extended. You have a little bit more control in the Disk Management snap-in, in that you can create all primary partitions.

In fact, I didn't really get into it, but basically, a single hard drive can be chopped up into four primary partitions or three primary partitions with one extended. And in the extended partition, you can create logical drives.

Otto: Great. It looks like we do have a follow up on the previous question concerning USMT and FAST. They're actually talking about the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard tool there.

Kevin: Those are basically synonymous then.

Otto: Great. Thanks for the clarification there.

The next question is as follows: Please confirm whether or not disabling all power management in the BIOS is recommended before upgrading. I seem to recall doing this before installing and upgrading Windows 98, and it resulted in a lack of power management functionality within the operating system.

Kevin: That's a pretty good question. Ideally we want to have ACPI, which stands for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface compliance. That, on the root level, is going to be based on the BIOS. If at all possible, and I'm not sure that I pointed it out before, but if you are going to flash your BIOS, first of all, that's going to be basically between you and your hardware manufacturer. If it's an OEM box, in other words, if it came right out of a box from one of the giant vendors, you can go right to their Web site. Otherwise you can go to the Web site of the motherboard. Make sure you have that specific model, and they will tell you right there whether or not you have ACPI compliancy. It will say it. There will be settings right in the BIOS. You're going to want to flash the BIOS before, not after, doing the upgrade or the setup.

If you do happen to do it afterwards, I would strongly suggest you do an in-place upgrade. That might be a little bit outside of the scope of this session, but I know that there are some Knowledge Base articles on that. If you were to query on "in-place upgrade" and how to do it, that will show you. You want to do that. You may have erratic results if you do not do the in-place upgrade afterwards.

If you were to flash the BIOS and it says right in the BIOS that you have ACPI compatibility, then I would strongly suggest that you leave ACPI enabled. At that point, you can probably disable the APM, the Advanced Power Management. By default, after you flash those BIOS settings you're probably going to want to leave them alone because when they upgrade the code the idea is so that you do have ACPI compliance and that you can take advantage of not only the power management, but basically allows the operating system to take care of the power management and also the resource settings. For instance, in NT you had to go in and set up your own resources, the ports, and the IRQs, and whatnot. With ACPI, if it is an ACPI-compliant device, it will do it on the fly for you, which is great because it's dynamic.

Also keep in mind that ACPI will quite likely give you added functionality such as hibernation and perhaps even standby that you may not have had before. At the root level it starts with the BIOS, but then there are also some legacy devices that may prevent you from actually utilizing the ACPI. In fact, if you have old devices installed and then you do an upgrade or a clean install, you may not get an ACPI hardware abstraction layer. The way to go and check whether or not you have that hardware abstraction layer or HAL, is to go to the properties of the system. You can go through Control Panel or you can right-click My Computer, go to Properties, and then go to Device Manager (on the Hardware tab) or you can actually type devmgmt.msc on the Start/Run line to load the Device Manager, and then all you need to do is double-click on Computer and it will say, most likely, either standard PC or ACPI. If it's ACPI, then you know that you have Advanced Configuration Power Interface.

A lot of users wonder why, if I either upgrade or install and I have an ACPI-compliant system, why is it then that after I add certain devices I am no longer able to hibernate. The main reason for that is because that particular device is unable to communicate properly to the operating system about some of the functionalities. In order to have a system that is ACPI-compliant, all of the components on there, it's basically a lowest common denominator scenario where all of the components must have a driver that is written properly for it, and the driver must communicate with the operating system in the following. It will say this is what kind of device I am. This is what class I am. This is where I reside, in other words, what bus I'm on. Where I am in the bus, so that it's enumerated properly. What functionality I can provide, if it's a scanner or whatnot. Also, what sleep states am I capable of? Can I allow the system to go into hibernation? Can I wake upon LAN? Finally, what sleep state I am in presently.

If you don't have any of those, that may disable ACPI. That's kind of a long, drawn-out answer to the question, but it's a little bit outside of the scope of this. I hope that addresses the question adequately. In summation, I would definitely leave the ACPI settings alone and enabled in the BIOS.

Also, it's important to note that in previous upgrades, the new hardware abstraction layer, the HAL, was detected. With Windows XP, it is not detected; it is maintained. If you're upgrading from a Windows 9x environment to Windows XP, it will be detected right off the bat, depending on the environment and depending on the BIOS and the BIOS version, of course, and the devices that you have installed. It will give you ACPI, HAL, or standard HAL. Whereas if you are upgrading from NT 4.0 Workstation or Windows 2000 Professional to XP Professional, it will maintain that particular HAL. Also, if you're doing an in-place upgrade and you thought that you upgraded, for instance, the BIOS or the devices so that it would become ACPI-compliant, and you didn't understand why it still maintained the standard HAL, it's because we maintain it. What you need to do for that to actually force the hardware abstraction layer so that you do have ACPI functionality, is during the actual in-place upgrade, when you are prompted to press F6 to load the SCSI and mass storage devices, that's when you would press F7 and then you could scroll through the hardware abstraction layer choices. That's when you can pick ACPI. But again, if you're upgrading from Windows 98 or Windows Millennium, you shouldn't need to bother with that as long as you've already updated the BIOS and you don't have any legacy serial devices attached.

Otto: Great. Thank you very much. Good details. The next question: I have about five systems running Windows XP. These were all clean installs. On each of those, the Windows directory had grown to over 2 GB in size from its original 500 MB to 800 MB range. I've run the clean up utility frequently and the size seems to continue to grow, mostly after a patch is installed. Is this normal behavior? How much free space is required to run for approximately a year, 12 months or so? It also appears that these are stating that they've been the only ones running those systems for a few months. Is that normal behavior? Is that something you've seen before?

Kevin: It is. Basically, in the slide that I had mentioned the hardware requirements, those really should be pointed out to be minimum requirements.

Otto: That was slide 4, right?

Kevin: Somewhere around there, yes. I guess the point is that it will continue to grow. That's just to get it on there. You're correct; it was slide 4. Those are minimums and it's not at all uncommon, especially if you're continually loading applications on there because the applications, by default, are loaded into the first partition. That's why I strongly recommend, when I set up boxes that are going to be running Windows XP, I try to have at least 5 GB for the first partition. That way I can house the operating system and can load all kinds of applications in there with plenty of room for growth. That way I can just store my data in subsequent partitions.

It's important to note and the reason that I strongly recommend doing this is because if you keep your data in subsequent partitions, let's say for instance, you chop it up into C: drive, D: drive and E: drive, maybe I had a 15 GB hard drive and I made the first partition 5 GB and loaded XP into that and then once I'm up and running, I just type diskmgmt.msc and load the disk manager, and then I create two more partitions, both of 5 GB. I can store all kinds of data into the last two partitions, D: and E:.

By the way, there is something that I didn't go into because it's outside of the scope of this discussion, but there is something that Windows XP offers, which works beautifully, and it's called System Restore. If your system ever get into really bad shape, you can quite often do a System Restore back to where the entire system state was before, when it functioned properly. Along those lines there's also something that's new with this operating system called Driver Rollback. If you mistakenly load a driver that's incompatible and maybe it "blue screens" (stops responding and you see a blue screen) or it hangs the operating system, you can just go back into the Device Manager in Safe mode and press Driver Rollback and you should go back to the last driver that you had before.

Let's say those two troubleshooting steps did not work and you find that you're in a position or maybe you've got a virus and you just can't get rid of it; if you wanted to, you don't necessarily have to, but it's probably a good idea to save the data off, but you may not even be able to access it. My point is if you have the operating system and the applications in the first partition and you keep them separate from the data, all you need to do is not repartition, but just format that first partition. Do a clean installation of Windows XP and then load your applications again. In the subsequent partitions, you will still have that data less the same hierarchical structure that you had it before.

I hope that addresses his question. The 2 GB is, for my money, too small.

Otto: Great. Thanks for the clarification there. We still do have a few in the queue here.

I wanted to take some time real quickly to solicit some feedback from our audience. If you have any suggestions for future Support WebCast topics or general comments about today's session or possibly even the WebCast program as a whole, we'd definitely love to hear your feedback and suggestions. You can send feedback through e-mail and we will send those on to the appropriate managers. The e-mail address is supweb@microsoft.com. We definitely appreciate it.

The next question: Can you possibly point us to some documentation for creating an answer file?

Kevin: I don't have that off the top of my head and I'm not sure that I have that in the additional reading. I know that there certainly are some Knowledge Base articles on that. I think that's something that would be better left to get back with that particular user. Maybe we can post that later.

Otto: Can you address requirements for dual processors? I have a motherboard that supports dual processors and occasionally I get some blue screens and such in mid-operation. I did have the same problem with Windows 2K Pro. I'm currently running XP Pro. This almost sounds like it's not necessarily a common problem, but is it something that you've seen before or should we point this user to possibly contact Product Support on this issue?

Kevin: I will say only this, that even on slide 4, we mention that Home Edition only supports one processor whereas Professional supports dual processors. As far as specific support for this, this could be a real "can of worms" (difficult problem). That is actually something that would probably be better addressed by opening a case with Product Support.

Otto: Great. Thank you. The next question: Did I understand correctly that the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard is only usable if you're going from an old machine to a new one and not necessarily usable for a simple upgrade on a single machine?

Kevin: I'm not sure that I follow the question. It can be used from an older operating system as well as from a Windows XP operating system. It can certainly be used on the same machine. Basically, you want to copy the backup file from the upgrade machine, in case of a failure or if you ever need it. I guess that's actually a pretty good disaster recovery technique, if you set up your computer with Windows XP and you like your configurations and settings and whatnot. It's not at all a bad idea to save those files and settings off so that if you ever did have to rebuild that particular machine or on a different machine and wanted those files and settings. I am not sure I addressed his question completely, but if not, maybe he can give us some follow up.

Otto: Great. Thank you. Our next question here is: Do you recommend using Sysprep during an installation?

Kevin: I think that, again, is for the most part outside of the scope of this discussion. I believe it is supported. This, again, is not something that a home user would use. System Preparation really deals more with a corporate rollout. Does it work? Yes. It should work just fine. I'm sure there are some articles on that and I believe we can use Sysprep on a 2000 RISC server and certainly on .NET, but I don't have the documentation right off the top of my head, although actually, here is a perfect article that I found that addresses this specifically. It's called "HOW TO: Use Sysprep.exe Tool to Automate Successful Deployment of Windows XP." That is Knowledge Base article Q302577.

Otto: That's great. That's definitely going to be very helpful. We appreciate it. This is a follow up to one of the earlier questions concerning partitions and partition space and such. I'm not sure, but this almost appears to be more of a clarification: On some of the setup commands, for instance, you install Windows 2000 using the setup command, either Winnt or Winnt32. There seems to be an appendix on TechNet that provides information about the command syntax and parameters for those program files.

Kevin: As far as switches for the Winnt32?

Otto: Right.

Kevin: I'm sure it is documented in TechNet. I know for certain that there is a Knowledge Base article. I can probably come up with that before long.

Otto: I'm noticing some users are pretty quick on the investigation here. We definitely appreciate it. There are a couple of users that have been successful in finding the command-line switches by simply typing in unattend there in the TechNet search on the TechNet Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/.

Moving on here, the next question is also concerning hibernation: How does Windows XP handle hibernation and Sleep mode on laptops differently than it did in Windows 98? Can you possibly give us some information on that?

Kevin: I would preface this statement by saying that my specialty is much more in XP and not in 98, so I'm not sure that I could really address the differences adequately. I do know that there have been numerous specification improvements to the ACPI spec since its inception. I'm not certain that 98 actually is capable of hibernation, though I may be wrong. I can address it in XP, but I'm not sure that I would be able to give a really exhaustive, comprehensive differentiating answer from 98.

Otto: Fair enough. Next question here: What is the best defrag utility software for XP? Do you recommend using the internal one there? I know that it has been upgraded since 98 significantly.

Kevin: Yes, I would recommend it. In fact, there are quite a few system tools that come bundled with Windows XP. I would strongly recommend using those before attempting to use third-party applications. We're not entirely sure what those third-party applications may do to the code, specifically, to our partition tables.

Otto: Great. We've got a couple of more questions here concerning some of the command-line switches. Would there be a chance that you might be able to quickly repeat some of the command-line switches that are commonly used? There are a couple of users that want to go ahead and copy them down and utilize them now. We could also actually append these to the transcript as well for everybody. Generally we provide the transcript about three weeks after the live session here.

Kevin: Okay. I think that there is a Knowledge Base article that really addresses that.

Follow-up answer: For a list of the switches, use one of the commands at the bottom of slide 30 (winnt /? or winnt3  /?).

Otto: Let's go ahead and move on to the next question while you're researching there. Can you possibly explain Smart Drive and the reasons behind utilizing it? I know that that's something that you evangelize pretty heavily.

Kevin: Basically, it allows the file transfer process to be a great deal faster. Smart Drive is a disk caching utility that utilizes the memory instead of making direct writes to the hard drive. That's going to be significantly improving the writing speed.

Otto: Great. The next question here, this might be also a little bit outside of the scope. It's concerning Sysprep. The user is wondering if we could provide a practical use or application of the -nosidgen switch with Sysprep. Is that something that you're familiar with or is that a little outside the scope on this?

Kevin: It's definitely outside of the scope of this.

So why would you want to use the -nosidgen switch? You would use it because it runs Sysprep without generating a security identifier (SID). This is useful for the administrator who doesn't intend to clone the computer on which Sysprep is running or who wishes to preinstall domain controllers. This information is taken from the TechNet article found on the TechNet Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/TechNet/prodtechnol/windows2000pro/deploy/depopt/deployop.asp.

The following Knowledge Base articles will help address that question and others:

Q302577, " HOW TO: Use Sysprep.exe Tool to Automate Successful Deployment of Windows XP"

Q314460, "System Preparation Tool and Answer File Usage" (Windows XP)

Q216937, "System Preparation Tool and Answer File Usage" (Windows 2000)

Otto: Great. It looks like that was the last question. We're going to go ahead and give Kevin a few minutes here to go ahead and see if we can track down some of those unattended command-line parameters for you out there.

In the meantime, again, if you have any kind of feedback for us concerning upcoming Support WebCasts that you'd like to see or the content and the quality of this and any other sessions, we'd love to hear from you. You can send us e-mail at supweb@microsoft.com.

We're also interested in expanding some of our timing on our WebCasts here. We normally do our WebCasts at the 10:00 A.M. Pacific time slot here. We're also investigating doing some at 8:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. as well. Those are, of course, Pacific time. We'd definitely like to get some feedback about that as well. If you'd like to provide some information about what type of timing would be best for you, that would be really beneficial to us as we continue to grow the program to fit your need.

How are we doing on that search, Kevin? Is this something that we should just go ahead and follow up with offline?

Kevin: I think probably it would be a good thing to follow up with offline, but I would tell the users who are really interested now, and there certainly are a lot of great switches that will be, as I mentioned before, in the transcript, but if you were to go to the command prompt and in the I386 directory. If you typed winnt32 /? that should give you all of the documented switches, as well as some descriptions. Again, some of the switches were checkupgradeonly; cmdcons, that's command console to add the recovery console; m:folder_name; makelocalsource; noreboot; and tempdrive.

I think I mentioned, and one of the very last things that I added in the resources slide for switches was on slide 30. You can get more information about setup switches by going to the command prompt and typing winnt /? or winnt32 /?.

Otto: Great. That looks like it might actually provide the information that users are after on that. We definitely appreciate that.

Kevin: Sure.

Otto: It looks like we've answered all of the questions that were submitted today. That's going to wrap up our session. We definitely appreciate all of the feedback that we've been getting. We definitely take it into account as we continue to grow the program for you.

I want to thank you all for joining us. I really hope that this information was useful to you. I want to thank Kevin for coming out today and giving us a great presentation. We hope that you have the opportunity to tune in again in the near future. Thanks and have a great day.