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

Darrell Gorter: We're going to talk today about Microsoft® Windows® XP Setup. The overview slide, number 2, we're going to do some talking about the new setup functionality that exists in Windows XP. We're going to go over some of the options that exist, that happened during the Microsoft Windows XP setup. We will discuss a few common issues that people are seeing with Windows XP setup and some questions that they're asking, and we're going to discuss dual-booting Windows XP setup. We always seem to get a lot of questions about how to set up multiple operating systems.

We'll go to the next slide, number 3, "Dynamic Update." Dynamic Update is a new functionality that's added to Microsoft Windows XP. Dynamic Update basically allows us to make changes to the setup process when we encounter problems that we find after the product has been released. When you run Winnt32 or Autorun from the CD, you will get an option to download updates from Microsoft.com. We'll go to the Windows Update site and we will download setup options. These will be downloaded to your local machine that was used during the setup process. If you boot from the CD, you don't get this option, since you don't have an Internet connection at that point, so you have to have an existing OS and you have to have Internet capability to get this.

It's only designed to do setup fixes, it's not going to download all the files that are available on Windows Update. This is only things that are going to affect setup. This allows us to patch setup, if we encounter any errors or problems that we find out later. It, hopefully, will help us reduce some of the issues that arise.

Moving on to slide number 4, "What to Do Before Running Setup." We will have a compatibility checker, the name has changed once again, it's now being called Upgrade Advisor, changed after the slides were submitted. {Editor's note: The slides were updated to reflect this change.} That might change again. The Upgrade Advisor will be available for download from Windows Update. It will be distributed at various stores and other locations and events that Microsoft sponsors. The download will probably be about 50 megabytes (MB) in size and CDs will be available at various locations.

If you have an existing CD, you can run a winnt32 /checkupgradeonly. This basically will examine your system, look at what software's installed, what device drivers are installed, and allow us to give a report back that tells you about potential issues or potential problems that we may find in your system, or tell you whether or not your system is applicable for running Windows XP. We highly recommend and advise that you actually try this out if you're going to be doing an upgrade of an existing OS.

We also recommend that you look at the HCL, or the Hardware Compatibility List. This should be available on Microsoft.com/hcl/. There'll be a list there that tells what devices are supported under Windows XP. You may need to download drivers for some of the devices, if the drivers are not included in the boxes. This means that the product, these devices have been tested and they're found to work in Windows XP.

We recommend that you check for any BIOS or system BIOS upgrades for your systems. Most systems probably have BIOS updates available, and we find that you get much better results when you run Setup if you have the most current BIOS. It gives us probably better functionality, we have a better chance of actually running in ACPI mode, which gives us better Plug and Play functionality, better power management functionality, and more control over the system. Check with your vendor, check with where you bought your machine to see if they have any BIOS updates before running Setup. It's better to do it before running Setup, because the status of the system is affected by what the BIOS actually is. Changing it after doesn't mean we may not necessarily catch all the updates and may not make necessary changes to the system.

We also recommend that you download any drivers that you may need, particularly net cards, modems, and hard drive controllers. We need to have net cards or modems to make sure that we have Internet capability or network capability before we do the upgrade. We need hard drive controllers drivers loaded also before the upgrade. If these aren't available, we won't be able to download them because we don't have Internet capability or modem capability. Hard drive controllers are necessary for setup. Drivers like video or sound we can probably download after the fact, if they find the ones that don't work. It's really important to check for net cards, modems, and hard drive controllers.

Let's move on to slide number 5, "Uninstall." Uninstall is a new addition for Windows XP. This was not available on Windows 2000 or any prior versions of Windows NT®. It has been available on previous versions of Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Millennium Edition (Me). Uninstall is limited to Windows Me and Windows 98 systems that were upgraded. It is not available for Windows 2000 upgrades and is not available for Windows NT 4.0 upgrades. You will only see this option if you're upgrading from Windows 98 or Windows Me.

If we do the uninstall, it is very fast, very reliable; it's a very short process to actually do the uninstall. The uninstall will take us back to our previous system. We're basically taking a snapshot of the system at the time of setup. This happens during the Winnt32 mode, or actually if I insert the CD and click Run Setup, I'm going in Autorun. I'll get an option to back up the system files, if I find enough disk space available. I should do this automatically. We save these files on your local drive and, after a period of time, we'll start prompting you whether or not we want to delete them. You get the best results if you make the decision fairly shortly after you do the upgrade. If you wait for an extended period of time, there's more potential for issues to arise. Of course you lose any changes that happen after you do the upgrade, if you install software into Windows XP and you do an uninstall, that software would not be installed on the prior operating system; but all files and data are still maintained. We don't move files and data back to the old location, so it may be at a newer location on your drive, but it still will remain on your drive. The data is still there in any case.

Go to slide number 6, "How to Start Setup." There are various ways to start setup. The most common are the first three on the list here. Winnt32 and Autorun. Autorun basically calls Winnt32, so it's very, very similar. You'll see slight differences when you run the two, but for the most part, they're close to being identical. If you're going to do an upgrade, you need to be running Winnt32 or Autorun. This presents us with a nice GUI interface. It does require an existing operating system to be installed on your system. If we boot from the CD, we can also start setup. This does require your CD to have boot capabilities, and it does require your system to have the CD boot prior to the hard drive boot. This may require a BIOS change. You may have to reconfigure your BIOS to boot from the CD. If you do this, if you want to boot from the CD, this is the best option for doing a clean install, is booting from a CD, and again, it runs very clean.

There will be an option to boot from floppy disks. Floppy disks will be available from download only. They'll probably be available right around the time we launch the product. It won't be available much earlier than that. This will require about six floppy disks, and after you insert the sixth floppy disk, you will be prompted for the CD. Then you'll run the rest of the setup from the CD. There are some limitations with doing the floppy disk, it will be much slower, naturally because we have to load the files off the floppy disk.

Winnt.exe still remains in the product. It will at some point probably no longer be available, but it will be available for Windows XP. You can do this if you boot from like a Windows 98 or Windows 95 boot disk, or a Microsoft MS-DOS® boot disk, and go to the I386 directory and run Winnt.exe. This will allow you to run setup in an MS-DOS-based environment. There are some limitations with doing this, it requires a little bit more disk space. We copy all of the files from the directories to the hard drive, then reboot and restart setup. There is a Setup.exe in the root of the CD. The Setup.exe is a Win32® function. If I boot from MS-DOS, I can't run Setup.exe because it's a Win32 application. I can only run Setup.exe, if I'm inside an existing operating system, like Windows 95, Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0.

Some of the options may be a little different depending on how I start setup. If I start setup from Winnt.exe, I get asked questions later in setup than when I start running Winnt32 from setup.

Move on to slide number 7, "Clean Install or Upgrade." We need to make a decision whether or not we want to do a clean install or an upgrade. If I want to do a clean install, it's like starting over with my system or starting over with my OS. I really don't keep my settings, I don't keep my installed applications, I'll have to reinstall all my applications. There is an option if I let the CD Autorun to run files and settings, and I can actually back up some of my files and settings to another location, and then we store those. This does not restore applications, I still would need to reinstall any installed applications.

You do need a separate volume or a separate drive to install to. If you want to do a clean install, you want to dual boot the system, you will need a separate volume. There are some directory conflicts if you try to install to the same volume, and you will have problems if you continue.

If I do a clean install just to test the system out, make some determinations, decide whether or not I want to test Windows XP, I can then later boot to my other operating system and upgrade it. That capability does exist.

There is no option to resize or rechange partitions. We would have to have the existing drives or partitions available inside the OS, prior to making the install.

Let's go to slide number 8, "Dual Booting." Dual booting seems to be a very popular request. We always seem to get a lot of questions about dual booting and various options. We're going to talk about just a few of them. We're only going to talk about Microsoft and how our operating systems work with dual booting. We're really not going to go into third-party boot managers and how setup affects those. That's probably better directed to the vendor.

If I want to setup, I need to make my decision first that I want to dual boot. This means that I can install more than one operating system on my computer. Each operating system needs to be in its own separate volume or separate drive, whichever the case may be. We do this to keep the files separate, to make sure there's no directory conflicts of any kind. We should always install the oldest operating system first and then move on to the newest operating system. This allows us to basically get the correct order in place and allows the right files to be left on the drives. The last operating system installed has a tendency to overwrite existing files, which may affect the ability of a newer operating system to work. The newer operating system should be aware of the older operating system, but of course older operating systems would not know how to handle a newer operating system that's installed.

It's very, very important to make sure that we have a separate volume or a separate drive. The file system also becomes important in this case, and we'll talk a little bit more about that later. The boot volume is probably going to have to be a FAT or Fat32 volume, just depending on some of our choices. If we want to run Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, we can use NTFS for the boot volume. If we want to run Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium, we would have to have a FAT or Fat32 boot volume. Windows 95 would require FAT; Windows 95 OSR2 and later versions allow us the capability of using Fat32. Windows 2000 also sees Fat32 volumes. Windows NT 4.0 however, does not see or utilize Fat32 volumes. It's one of the decisions that we have to make prior to starting setup.

Let us move to slide number 9, "Upgrade Options." These are some of the upgrade options that are available under Windows XP. Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional, will upgrade Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium. They do not upgrade Windows 95 or Windows 95 OSR versions. If you have a Windows 95 or Windows 95 OSR version and you wish to upgrade, you would first have to upgrade to Windows 98 or Windows Millennium, before you could upgrade to Windows XP Home Edition. Or you could upgrade to Windows 2000 and then upgrade to Windows XP Professional. Windows XP Professional will upgrade Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Home Edition, it will also upgrade itself. If I have Windows XP Professional, I can upgrade my existing Windows XP Professional. Of course it will upgrade Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium. Windows XP Home Edition does not allow us the capability of upgrading to Windows NT 4.0 Workstation or 2000 Professional, or Windows XP Professional. It will upgrade itself, the Windows XP Home Edition can upgrade Windows XP Home Edition. We also do not upgrade over Windows NT 3.51 or prior versions of Windows NT, either with the Home Edition or Windows XP Professional.

Moving on to slide 10, "Installing Another Operating System After Windows XP." If we install another operating system after we've installed Windows XP, we will probably have issues booting back into Windows XP. There will be changes that happen to the system and this will prevent XP from correctly booting or from booting at all. If I install Windows 98, 98 Second Edition, or Windows Millennium or even a later version of Windows 95, I will no longer be able to boot to Windows XP. Those operating systems will overwrite the boot sector so that they now boot. The 98 boot sector or the Millennium boot sector or the 95 boot sector, is not familiar with Windows XP operating system, so it will only allow you to boot to Windows 98, 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium.

In order to correctly address this problem, you would have to restart setup, make sure you have a 98 boot disk, then you have to go to the first reboot, Winnt32, it prompts you to reboot. Tell it you want to do a clean install. It goes to that reboot, then you boot to the floppy instead of booting back to the hard drive. You would then have to modify the Boot.ini, and since you're booting to the floppy, you can just use Edit on the floppy to edit the Boot.ini. You may have to move the attributes using the attrib command, remove the Setup option and then reboot the operating system. You now should have both options. This basically allows you to capture the boot sector and copy it over to a file called the Bootsect.dos on the root of the drive. It also should make the appropriate entries to the Boot.ini, and you then should be able to dual boot Windows 98 or Windows XP.

If I install Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0 after I install Windows XP, when I try to boot Windows XP, I will get an error message: "Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEMd startup options for Windows 2000, press F8."

I'm having a problem loading my registry with Windows XP. The boot files for Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0 are not familiar with the registry that's in Windows XP, so when those boot files attempt to load, attempt to mount that registry, they display error messages. We have to replace two files in the root of the drive, so we boot into Windows 2000 or we boot into Windows NT. We then have to copy over from the Windows XP CD, these two files, Ntldr and Ntdetect.com. I copy over those two files from the Windows XP CD, restart and I should be able to boot back into Windows XP, and I also should be able to boot back into Windows 2000 or Windows NT.

Moving on to slide number 11, "File System Choices." There are three file systems, NTFS, which in most cases is preferred. This is the most stable, most secure, probably the most reliable file system that we have. It allows us to set permissions, it allows us to track and make changes to the system, and has some redundancy built into it. However, NTFS does not work on versions of Windows 95, versions of Windows 98, or versions of Windows Millennium. There have been some changes with NTFS so that Windows NT 4.0 may have some limitations when we're using NTFS and dual booting with Windows XP.

Fat32 was added to Windows 95 OSR2, so it's available for versions of Windows 95 OSR2, Windows 98, and Windows Millennium. It also works with Windows 2000 and Windows XP. It does not work with Windows NT 4.0, there is no driver to load Fat32 volumes. It does not work with Windows 95. Fat16 is usable by all operating systems. There are some limits, it's normally limited to about 2 gigabytes (GB) in size, so we have disk space limitations there. If you want to dual boot with NT 4.0 or Windows 95, your first volume may need to be Fat16, probably be recommended in that case. It was probably the only case we want to recommend it. If you have volumes larger than 2 GB in size, we recommend you use Fat32, and if you're dual booting with 98 or Windows Millennium. If you're just using Windows 2000 and Windows XP, we would highly recommend you use NTFS as your file systems choice.

Move to slide number 12. We're going to talk a little bit about the setup phases. There are various phases in setup where things take place. There's the Winnt32 phase. This is basically the phase if I'm inside an existing operating system, or if I let Autorun, run from the CD, I insert a CD and it automatically starts up. What we do is we ask some questions and we collect existing information about the existing operating system that we have. We then save that information, and then we reboot the system. We make some changes to basically load the Windows XP boot sector, copy over some boot files, and we copy over some data files that contain this information about the information that we've collected.

Then we move into what used to be called a text-mode phase. The system now basically displays a nice GUI-like interface, but in the background, we're still running in this text-mode phase. Pretty much what we do in this phase is allow you the ability to create or modify partitions, we build our directory structures, we copy over files and replace existing files. If we have an existing OS and we're upgrading it, we delete the existing files. After we get into this phase and we start copying files, we are basically past the point of no return, we can't go back to the existing OS if we're doing an upgrade.

If we boot from the CD, we are pretty much going straight into this phase. We do a little bit of information collecting up front. Then we start prompting for the rest of the information, like partitioning and we start copying the files. We then do another reboot, which if we're running Winnt32 or Autorun, it would be the second reboot. If we booted from the CD, it would be the first reboot. We then go into what used to be called a GUI-mode phase. This is where we do the majority of our detection, we build our registry, we finish copying the rest of the files, we set up the existing applications that get installed with the OS, and we clean up a bunch of the remaining files that existed on the system, and delete any of the temporary setup files that we need. Then we reboot a third time, or a second time if we booted from the CD, it just depends on how setup was started. Then we'd come up to what's the final phase, we're coming up the first log on. We still do a little bit of configuration, we do some policy type things, we do some profile creation and we create user accounts, and then we present you with a log on screen, at which point we are completed.

Let's move on now to slide number 13, the Windows Welcome, which is also known as the Out of Box Experience, or OOBE. This is the first screen we see. It'll basically be a welcome, it'll run us through a little wizard-based screen. If our video card or our monitor is not capable of doing at least a resolution of 800´ 600 with 256 colors, we do not get this option. If I'm a member of a domain, I'm logging into a domain, I would do this if I'm doing an upgrade. Or, if I'm doing a clean install, running Winnt32 and I've chosen to join a domain during setup, we would not get this option.

This runs us through a little training session or a GUI interface. It gives us some wizards so we can run through it to get some instructions on a few things. It allows us to create user accounts, it gives us the ability to activate the product, and it gives us the ability to register our product with Microsoft. After this completes, we are then presented with the log on screen and we can start using our operating system.

Moving to slide number 14. Let's talk a little bit about some of the issues we see during setup now and we'll talk a little bit about some of the hangs during setup. We see these on some systems, usually not on systems that are on the Hardware Compatibility List.

One of the most important things, if we're getting to hang during setup, is to update the BIOS, make sure that we have the latest BIOS and it is very important to have this downloaded prior to starting the setup or the upgrade. Because if we're in the middle of setup, we can't go out and download the BIOS unless we have a second system available to us. We have found that it helps, in some cases, to remove any external devices. This includes things like printers, USB devices, 1390 power devices, pretty much anything we plug into the system, except the monitor, the keyboard, and the mouse. The mouse helps, but the mouse is not essential to run setup, so if we need to remove the mouse, that is an option, but we prefer not to. Remove anything like printers, USB devices, if I've got external SCSI devices that I don't need during setup and I want to remove those. If I'm upgrading a laptop, I may want to remove the PCMCIA cards that are in the system. If I'm at a docking station, I probably want to remove the laptop from the docking station, reboot the system, and then restart setup.

If I'm still having problems hanging during setup, I may need to start removing some of the devices that are actually in the machine, some of the device adapters, and this includes removing things like the sound card, the modem, the net card. These are entries that are not essential for setup to complete, and they can be added back to the system after setup completes. We need to get through setup, so it may be advisable that some of these devices and adapters be removed. Hopefully, we won't have this and people won't run into this, but it's always a possibility. For more information, I'm listing a Knowledge Base article on the slide that talks in a little bit more detail about some of the processes for removing, and getting more suggestions about, items to remove.

Slide number 15, "STOP 7B." If I'm in setup and I get a "STOP 7B," this is another error that may occur. You will get a blue screen, it will be a STOP message, it will be 0x0000007B and then another four sets of numbers. The four sets of numbers can vary, depending on the error message that's happening. Most commonly this is an issue with a hard drive controller and, in most cases, it means that we do not recognize the hard drive controller that you have in your system or recognize the hard drive that's on that hard drive controller.

You need to make sure that we know what kind of hard drive controller you have in the system, and you should be able to find that in device manager on your existing OS, if you have an existing OS, or consult your product documentation for your system. Then, you may want to check the Hardware Compatibility List to make sure that controller is on the Hardware Compatibility List. You want to check whether there are any available device drivers that you can download from the Web, probably from the vendor site or from wherever you purchased the system or from the hard drive controller manufacturer, and make those available on a floppy disk. There will be an option during setup that you can add in hard drive controller options. We'll mention that a little bit later in the presentation.

We also found that the STOP 7B error message can be a result of a virus. If you've got a system that's infected with a virus, you can get this error message. Make sure that you've checked your system for a virus, any viruses before starting the upgrade, so that you know the system is clean and you don't have that type of issue. For more information, I am listing a Knowledge Base article again that contains a little bit more detail about the STOP 7B, what it means, and it gives a few more different possibilities for solutions for the product, and possible causes of the issue.

Moving on to slide number 16, "Setup Hotkeys." Basically these are keys that are available during setup. These allow us to make a few changes or present a few options that may take place. The F2, for Advanced System Recovery, this hotkey is available only on XP Professional Edition, it is not available in XP Home Edition. This is only available if I've used Ntbackup and I've told it to do an Advanced System Recovery and I've backed up my data. I can then boot to the CD, press the F2 option when I see that displayed on my screen, that will happen very, very early in setup. It'll give me the ability to restore my system to its previous state. I do this during setup, so it copies back all of the files and installed applications that are on the system.

There's an option F7, this allows us to disable the ACPI option that happens during setup. When we boot setup, we try to determine our capabilities of the system. We need to try to make a decision whether or not we can use ACPI for the system. Windows XP implements a great deal of ACPI functionality and requires a fairly close adherence to the ACPI specifications. So, an ACPI system that existed during Windows 98 or Windows Millennium will be retested. We will check to see whether or not that system is capable of running in ACPI mode in Windows XP. It may or not be. Sometimes, we may think a system is capable of doing this and we still have issues with it. When I see an option at the bottom of the screen in setup, which will be very early in Text-mode setup, that says press F6, if I press the F7 key, I can tell the system not to load ACPI functionality. This basically means we'll just load a standard type of functionality. Standard hal or standard machine type gives us power management, and we do not use quite as much communication with the BIOS of the system for configuration We do prevent some hangs by doing this. After you press the F7, there is no more interface, the setup just continues. When setup completes, we are now in the operating system running in basically what's a standard system.

You can also press the F5 key at the same time you see the F6 option. F5 gives us a little bit more choice. It allows us to basically select the machine type that we have. There are various machine types, including multi-processor machine types, both for ACPI and for standard machines. We're in a Text-mode screen, it doesn't happen immediately, it happens a minute or two after we press the F5, I get this little option here. The display only shows one or two options, but if I use the UP and DOWN ARROW keys, I can actually scroll through the entire list. The list is there and also it gives me the ability to add a specific or unique computer type, if I've got a system that requires that or has that capability provided by the manufacturer. I could then get a disk that has additional system types on it and I could choose an option (there are others that are provided on a floppy disk) and use that system type. Probably only do this for advanced users.

Then there's the option to use the F6. This is the screen that is actually presented during setup; there'll be a line at the bottom of your screen, again very early in setup. This is the same screen where you would actually get the F7 or the F5. This allows us to install a storage driver. If I'm getting the F7 error message and I have my driver, this is the time I would have to press the F6 key. I press the F6 function key and this will then prompt me, at a little later point in the setup, probably like a minute or two later, to provide a floppy disk that contains a mass storage device or a hard drive controller driver. The driver has to be on the floppy disk, it can't be stored at a location on the hard drive. Because we're trying to actually communicate with the hard drive, we haven't loaded any of the drivers to talk to the hard drive yet, so that's why it has to be on the floppy disk.

Let's go to slide 17. I've listed a couple of links here, which have more information about Windows XP. They're both available and they'll be updated as we progress. We'll add more information as we get closer to launch. After we launch, we get more issues that we locate and we'll actually add more data and more links up here. We also should be able to search the Knowledge Base for any additional articles if we're having problems.

We are now going to open it up for questioning.

Jason Bennett: Thanks for that presentation, Darrell. Just a couple of quick notes before we move on to the Q&A portion of the Support WebCast. If you'd like to have a copy of the PowerPoint® slides, be sure you download the file from the Web site. Also, if you'd like to review the content again, we have the on-demand streaming media available from the past Support WebCast page.

To access information on all upcoming Support WebCasts and the archived content from all past WebCasts, an easy to remember URL is http://support.microsoft.com/webcasts/. The Q&A portion of this Support WebCast is intended to encourage further discussion of the Support WebCast topic. However, one-on-one product support issues are outside the scope of the Support WebCast. If you need technical assistance, please submit an incident on the Web, or call Microsoft Product Support Services and speak to a support professional.

We do have a few questions coming up in the queue already, several were in there before Darrell finished his presentation. I'm going to apologize in advance if Darrell went ahead and answered {during the presentation} anything that was asked in there, I tried to follow the presentation, but I don't know this information as well as Darrell does. So we'll just go ahead and get started.

First question, When will the OEM Preinstall Kit be available for Windows XP?

Darrell: I'm not really sure of the dates and exactly when the OEM Preinstall Kit would be available. I don't have any dates or timelines for that type of information.

Jason: Are there any special considerations for DSL Internet connections using USB? I know you mentioned some stuff about USB during the presentation, about disabling it. Is there anything special for DSL?

Darrell: DSL, or DSL via USB should work. It is not really needed during setup and configuration. It would be a post setup thing. I may need a little bit more specific information about what the question is. DSL does work in Windows XP and USB DSL also works, but it's not a requirement, there's nothing that we require DSL or USB to be available during setup. It should work during the Winnt32 portion, since we're still relying on the old operating system to supply that functionality at that point in setup.

Jason: If that user wants to follow up with more clarifying information, if there's something else in specific about it you need to know, go ahead and type it in and I'll pass it on to Darrell. If you can, just go ahead and put "follow up" at the beginning of your message so that I know you are following up on an earlier comment.

I'm not certain I'm reading this correctly, so I'm going to read it the way I think it's supposed to read. Why doesn't XP include the "make setup disk" options?

Darrell: The setup boot disks will be available for download. We would like to try moving away from the setup boot disks. Every release, more and more disks are being required. There are some limitations that have to take place with these boot disks, and we have to make frequent changes. By moving them outside of the product, it makes it a little bit easier to control the boot disks. We want to move people away from the boot disks; there are some limitations. It's more advantageous to keep them separate. In this case we're making them available for download, so they will still be available.

Jason: Does XP have the ability to delete partitions when booting and running setup from a CD? Under NT 4.0 and 2000 you must run setup from the floppies in order to delete partitions.

Darrell: Yes, if I boot from the CD, I can delete existing partitions or I can create new partitions or I can do both. I can also boot from the CD and go into Recovery Console and I can delete or format or create new partitions while I'm in Recovery Console. That will be an option when I'm booting from the CD. If you are using Winnt32, some of the formatting and deleting partitions options are limited. Because you have to use temp folders when using Winnt32.exe, those volumes are not available to be formatted or deleted.

Jason: What is the best way to resolve an unmountable boot volume after a clean install?

Darrell: The best way to do that would be to boot to Recovery Console and run CHKDSK on the volume. It sounds like the volume may have some corruption type problems. To get to Recovery Console, you would boot to the CD, you would get to the screen that says "Welcome to Setup. Press Enter." On the next screen there will be an option "R" for repair. Press the "R" key (for repair) and this will allow you to boot into Recovery Console. After you are in Recovery Console, you can run utilities like CHKDSK to fix this type of problem.

Jason: How much drive space is used by a fresh install of Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional?

Darrell: We recommend for both XP Home and XP Professional that you have 2 GB of free space available. We don't necessarily need all the space, yet it will take about 600 MB total, after we install it, however, we do need some space for temporary files. If we're doing an upgrade, we do need more space because we could be saving the uninstall files. We have to maintain some of the existing OS for a period of time while we do the install. So the recommendation is to have 2 GB free. You could probably get by with a little less than that, but that's just the recommendation. It probably will take about 600 MB. The total space that it actually takes up will be dependent on the amount of RAM in your system. We create the page file based on the amount of RAM in your system, so, the more RAM, the more disk space that we need. If your system supports hibernation, we also create a hibernation file, which is based on the RAM, so that will again increase the amount of disk space that's needed.

Jason: Great. Can Windows XP Professional upgrade the Windows XP Professional Release Candidate 1 (RC1)?

Darrell: Yes, Windows XP Professional will be able to upgrade RC1 in the beta version of Windows XP. It will require the retail copy or the RTM copy to do the upgrade. The "eval" {evaluation} copy that is available to beta users right now does not actually upgrade RC1 or RC2 of the beta. However, the full product, after we launch it, will upgrade both RC1 and RC2 of the beta.

Jason: I'd like to know if you're recommending, in general, a clean install, a dual boot, or a simple upgrade?

Darrell: This is really a decision that's probably best made by the individual. There are advantages and disadvantages to each one. In most cases, if I do an upgrade, I keep all of my settings, all of my installed applications. If I've had any problems with the system, there was always the potential that I'll be carrying forward some of these issues. A clean install basically allows me to start over, start fresh, and this basically means my system has a smaller chance of having any upgrade issues or any possible carry over problems that may have existed inside the other OS. Dual booting just allows me to maintain multiple installs of various operating systems. There is no real difference whether I want to do an upgrade, a dual boot, or a clean {install}. It's really up to the user and what best suits their needs. Clean always seems to work just a little bit better when I'm actually doing a clean install, I probably have a little bit better chance for success because there's less chance of a problem. But the upgrades should work just fine in the majority of cases, by far the majority of cases. We've seen a lot of really good success with upgrades with Windows XP.

Jason: Where can I find the Unattend.txt reference for Windows XP?

Darrell: After the CD releases, there will be a Support directory on the CD. Under that Support directory, there will be a Tools folder and in that Tools folder, there will be a Deploy.cab file. You can open the Deploy.cab file just by clicking on it; Windows Explorer actually recognizes the .cab file, opens it, and allows you to extract files from it. The Deploy.cab file contains a file, I can't think of the name of the file right now, but it's a help file that contains all the unattended options that are available for Windows XP. That help file will give you the options, explain the capabilities of each one, and list the parameters that can be entered on those. There'll also be tools in there like Setup Manager that assist you with creating the unattended files (or to give you a good start on creating them) and then allow you to add additional options, after the fact, manually.

Jason: When will the Windows XP Resource Kit become available?

Darrell: The last I heard, and you probably don't want to hold me to this, but it should be right about the time of launch. It should be tied almost directly to the same timelines as Windows XP. That's the closest I can say. I don't have an exact day on that; that's what I've heard.

Jason: When loading the automatic Windows updates from the Web, PC will only boot in Safe mode, machine would hang on the XP screen, and System Restore was the only way to recover. Has this been reported or addressed? Are you aware of this issue?

Darrell: We see this just very, very randomly. The majority of the people who download things from Windows Updates don't run across this problem. This is probably more of a support-type question, something specific to the system that's running into the issue. Yes, you're probably better off contacting product support to get this addressed.

Jason: You can do that of course by calling into Microsoft Product Support Services or you can go right on the Web, you can go to http://support.microsoft.com/. There should be something right on the front page to submit an incident right there.

Darrell: Yes, that's a little bit outside of the areas of my expertise. I can talk briefly about it. There are some options available in help support that basically allow you to access a remote machine similar to like a Terminal Services session, so that you can modify a friend's or a colleague's machine to make setting changes on their system, if they're having problems. It's a little bit outside of the scope of what I've worked on, so I don't have a whole lot of detail on that.

Jason: Is there a list of XP-compatible or certified software on the Web somewhere?

Darrell: I am not aware of a list of software or something similar to the HCL. I don't know that we are presenting any lists. That's a little bit out of my area again. I don't do a whole lot with applications, compatibility type things.

Jason: On the Network Setup screen, if you choose No, part of a workgroup, can you change to the more secure system, CTRL+ALT+DELETE log on, at a later time?

Darrell: Yes, after you complete the install, you can make an option to change to the CTRL+ALT+DELETE screen within Control Panel. I am not familiar with exactly which screen, or which applet in Control Panel actually gives you that option. It's actually the User Accounts in Control Panel, use the Advanced tab, and there will be an option there to check if you want to use the CTRL+ALT+DELETE logon screen as opposed to the more friendly screen.

Jason: Next question, Will there be an option on XP Professional upgrade when doing a clean install, with boot from CD to format the hard drive as there was in Windows 2000?

Darrell: Could you repeat the question for me?

Jason: Yes. Will there be an option on Windows XP Professional upgrade when doing a clean install, with boot from CD, to format the hard drive as there was in Windows 2000? Is there an option to format the hard drive?

Darrell: Yes. If I'm booting from the CD, I guess we're talking about the upgrade CD, which yes, as long as we have an existing OS, either on the system or we can provide it via CD. We have the option to basically delete or format partitions that exist on the OS. So yes, that capability will be in Windows XP. It should be identical to what was in Windows 2000.

Jason: Can new third-party mass storage drivers be slipstreamed into a custom install so that no floppy is required?

Darrell: Yes, you would have to set up some unattended options and create some files and folders, but you should be able to do that. Yes, you have to look at the tools and the references in the Deploy.cab to get more information on how to do that.

Jason: When will the Windows XP Professional Gold Copy be available on the MSDN site? Any information about that?

Darrell: Sorry, I don't have dates or times or specifically when it will be available on MSDN site or another site.

Jason: Right. Installation of build 2600 reset my system clock and I made the mistake of resetting the date and this caused a trial period expiration notice. Is there a fix for this?

Darrell: You have to reinstall. After the product expires its evaluation period, the only resolution is to reinstall. If you have the RTM bits, you could boot to Safe mode and do an upgrade, and that should reset the period so that it's no longer an evaluation media, but the "eval" cannot upgrade and reset the "eval." You'll have to do a clean install. This is more or less by design, because we've expired the product at this point. Yes, you would have to reinstall.

Jason: Will there be a group policy update for Windows 2000 Servers and Active Directory™ to support some of the new Windows XP features?

Darrell: This is outside the boundaries of my expertise.

Jason: Right. Next question, How can I start over and remove XP? It will not let me start over, it stopped running and loading after about two weeks. I'm not certain, but it almost sounds like a product support question to me.

Darrell: There are a couple options they can do if they boot from the CD, I can go over this briefly and then they still may need to call product support. I'll give them one or two options, okay?

Jason: Okay.

Darrell: You can either reformat your drives and repartition them and reinstall. Make sure you back up any data or have any data backed up before you do this or you will lose data. Or you can let setup continue and it should prompt you that it located an existing installation. And if it locates this existing installation, it'll give you an option to try and repair it. Attempt to run that repair; let it try and fix that existing OS, and that may allow it to address the issue.

Jason: Can Windows XP Home Edition join a domain?

Darrell: No, Windows XP Home Edition cannot join a domain. It's only for workgroup. To join a domain you have to use Windows XP Professional.

Jason: Is there a PXE-based deployment method for XP in the enterprise?

Darrell: Windows 2000 RIS servers can deploy Windows XP clients. Yes, the PXE boot would work for Windows XP if your system supports PXE boot. You can use Windows 2000 RIS servers to deploy.

Jason: Will there be a new version of Adminpak.msi that will allow installation onto a Windows XP machine so that we may administer Windows 2000 servers and Active Directory? The current version included with Windows 2000 Server cannot be installed onto Windows XP.

Darrell: Again, this is outside of my area of expertise right now.

Jason: Will mass rollout installs be available through Sysprep or some other utility?

Darrell: Sysprep, of course, is an option for doing Windows XP mass rollouts. RIS, you can deploy Windows 2000 RIS servers (Remote Installation Services). There are unattended files available. Yes, all these options will be available with Windows XP. These are very similar to the Windows 2000. A lot of the tools will be in the Deploy.cab file that will be located on the CD. You will have to use the updated Sysprep that's in the new Deploy.cab that ships with the product. Yes, these should all be available.

Jason: Let me take just a moment, if I can, and solicit some feedback. Whether you've been to a WebCast before or you're coming in for the first time, we are really interested in what you have to say about the program. If you've got comments on the topics, the presenters, the interface we're using, topics you'd like to see in the future, you can put that into a mail message that gets routed to our managers. A lot of consideration is taken from the audience feedback. You can send it to the feedback@microsoft.com alias. What you'll want to do is put "Support WebCasts" in the subject line and it'll get routed to us directly.

Darrell: Okay. It has to be Winnt32, which is located in the I386 directory, and then it's /check upgrade only. If I just insert the CD into an existing OS and let it Autorun, I will get an option on the very first screen that says Check System Compatibility. I can also hit that link and when I do that, it should also allow me to check my existing system. Either way, it should give you the exact same results, but it's Winnt32 that needs to be run.

Jason: Does XP use NTFS 5 or a newer version? Will NT 4.0, with Service Pack 6a work with XP NTFS partitions?

Darrell: Versions of NTFS are a little bit different than the versions of the product. It's really not NTFS 5, it's different versions like NTFS 3.1. Yes, NT 4.0 Service Pack 6 would work with the Windows XP version of NTFS.

Jason: We are getting a couple of product support questions. Some of these are kind of borderline, but if you've got something that's going wrong on your system, some really odd behavior, unless we've talked about it during the presentation, it's probably specific to your system. If that's the case, remember that we've got a lot of people in the audience, and we're not going to have time to get through everybody's particular configuration. If you've got a product support question or if you have something that needs serious help on your system, if you're getting "blue screens" or whatever, you'll need to contact Product Support Services. They'll be able to help you out. They'll put you in touch with a support professional and be able to take care of your questions. You can go to http://support.microsoft.com/ and submit an incident on the Web. You can also try the Microsoft newsgroups and look for some help there.

Darrell: The minimum is 64 MB and the recommended minimum is 128 MB, and more would probably be beneficial. I run 256 on most of my systems.

Jason: With product activation, if I install Windows XP Professional on my system now and then buy a new system later down the road, can I install the same Windows XP Professional CD on that system? Will Microsoft allow me to activate it on the new system?

Darrell: Yes, you would be able to activate it on the new system. It would probably require a phone call, this means that you would basically have to remove it from the old system before you would be allowed to install it on the new system, or allowed to activate it on the new system. You would have to make a phone call and tell them that you have sold the old system and removed the operating system and then you should be allowed to activate on the new system.

Jason: This one's a follow up to the second question we took regarding DSL via USB. The out-of-the-box experience during the final phase before first log on, you said includes activate and register. You need the DSL Internet connection for this, but you also mentioned that external devices, e.g. USB devices such as the DSL modem, should be removed during setup. Can you clarify this and what should the process be?

Darrell: The recommendation for removing the external devices was if we were experiencing system hangs. If I'm experiencing a system hang and I need to continue setup, that would be the time to remove the external devices. If I'm not experiencing system hang during setup, then I shouldn't need to remove the external devices. In most cases, I shouldn't experience a system hang, so I shouldn't have to worry about removing anything. If I do, then when I've completed setup, I could then add the USB DSL line back on the system, and there would still be an option to activate later. There would be an activation wizard that's available on the menus.

Jason: To use repair, it asks for me to load a floppy rescue disk. How can I get one of those?

Darrell: There should be no option for a floppy rescue disk for running repair. I may need a little bit more information about what we're actually seeing on this screen. The actual repair process doesn't utilize floppies any longer.

Jason: I read somewhere that after activating Windows XP, if you upgrade hardware, you'll have trouble with the OS. Is this the case?

Darrell: You are allowed to make some changes to the hardware. You cannot make significant changes by changing a large number of items in your system like changing out a very large number of items. In that case, you would have to reactivate again. The system is still available and the system is still present, you would just have to activate again. It would probably require a phone call to do activation at this point. The system is still there, and there's nothing actually physically changed on the system.

Jason: Are automated installs possible for XP Home? Many users work from home and will be connecting to our network.

Darrell: Unattended files are available for Home. Sysprep should work just fine for Home. So, yes, both of those options should be available. Yes, documentation should be in the Deploy.cab file on the CD.

Jason: Will the migration tool be supported?

Darrell: I think that's a little bit outside of my area of expertise. I'm not sure what migration tool they're talking about.

Jason: I have a feeling they're referring to Active Directory, but if you want to give us more information, I have a feeling it might be outside the scope of just Windows XP Setup.

Darrell: I'm thinking it's the Active Directory Migration tool, but I haven't really worked with that.

Jason: What is the right command for creating boot floppies?

Darrell: Boot floppies are only available to download from the Web, so there is no command within the OS to create them. At some point they will be available to download and probably from Windows Update or from one of the Web links that is in my presentation. And then you will be able to basically create the floppy images. Yes, there is no switch like there was in Windows NT 4.0 or Windows NT 3.51 that allows you to create them from with inside the OS.

Jason: Can I customize automatic updates to point to an internal central server for my clients to update from once per week or per month?

Darrell: It's more of a Windows Update type question and it's not as much of a Windows XP question. I don't really have a whole lot of information on that.

Jason: Do you know if there are any extra features in XP to interact with SMS 2.0?

Darrell: It's a little bit outside of my boundaries again, I don't really work with SMS.

Jason: I'm going to pose these and we'll just see where the boundaries are, because I know everybody needs the information, but the scope of this is, of course, Windows XP setup. For a lot of the other products, we're not going to know about today.

Can I schedule System Restore points, for instance once per week instead of each time the configuration changes? Is this another update question?

Darrell: No, it's System Restore and it's not something I'm really familiar with. I would think that the functionality is there, but I haven't worked with it, so I can't say. I think you can do it.

Jason: Why don't we follow up with that user afterwards and see if we can give them a little bit more information? If you logged in with your e-mail address, to that user, we'll send you an e-mail, we'll probably follow up within the next two weeks after the WebCast. I'll send the question to the presenter today and he'll try to get back to you in the next week or so. If you are also listening in and want the answer to that question, it will be appended to the transcript. That's probably the best place to look for it if you want the answer to it later. That transcript will be available for today's WebCast.

If you go to the http://support.microsoft.com/webcasts/, scroll down to the bottom, and there's a link at the bottom to Past WebCasts. In there, it's divided up by products, so you've got operating systems, you've got different apps, you'll just basically open up the tree, you'll click the little plus sign, and select the September 14 session for Windows XP. Basically click on that, it should be right at the top. We haven't done a lot of XP WebCasts yet, and the transcript should be under September 14. What I'll try to do before we're done with the WebCast, is give you a URL to go to this specific WebCast to hear the streaming media, to check out the transcript, and to download the PowerPoint file. It's on the Support WebCast page right now, but as of 5:00 P.M. this afternoon, it will move over to the Past WebCast page.

Again, this person has followed up but I'm not getting enough information. When I try to repair, it asks for a disk which I do not have. You're going to have to give us a little bit more information on the operating system, and give us a little bit more information on your configuration. I'm imagining, it sounds to me like you've got a product support issue or you're not running Windows XP.

For the next question, Will a Windows 2000 RIS server be able to deploy Windows XP?

Darrell: The answer to that is yes. I think there is a patch. There's a Knowledge Base article that contains information about that and what's needed. I don't remember exactly which Knowledge Base article that is, but yes you can, Windows 2000 servers will be able to deploy Windows XP clients.

Jason: My question is how to detect a STOP error and what is causing it in XP. My XP system crashes on exit every time with no detectable IRQ or hardware issues.

Darrell: This is probably a little bit more of a product support question.

Jason: This is actually a follow up. I cautioned the user before.

Darrell: I can give you a little bit about STOP errors. STOP errors can be caused by a variety of issues. They can be services that are installed, they can be device drivers, they don't necessarily have to be like an IRQ conflict or a memory conflict. It could also be corrupted files on your system. So you may want to boot to a CD and let it do a repair process. Did the system ever work fine? Has the system changed since that point, have you added any software, have you removed or modified anything? We may have to go back in time. Yes, in most cases, these are just some generic things to look at. Yes, if you're still having problems, you'll probably have to call product support.

Jason: Are there any known issues with upgrading to the final version of XP from the Preview Program Release Candidate 1?

Darrell: It should work fine. It does have to be RTM media; it can't be the eval (evaluation) media. Eval media will not upgrade the RC1 or RC2 from the Preview Program. Yes, after the product is available for purchase in retail stores, the retail version is available. The retail version should upgrade those beta versions just fine.

Jason: Can I configure my deployed systems to display the classic interface by default, for instance with an unattended setup switch?

Darrell: Yes, there is an option on the unattended files to display the classic desktop functionality. I don't know what it is on the top of my head, but it is in the Help file in the Deploy.cab file on your CD.

Jason: Can XP be installed on a machine without an Internet connection?

Darrell: Yes it can. It does not require Internet connectivity or Internet capability to install Windows XP. We don't even require a net card or a modem to be in this machine.

Jason: This is a follow up to the net setup question, I'm not sure how far back that is. If you choose "not part of a domain", XP doesn't show the Security tab under folder or file properties. How can you get XP to show this tab? Does the question make sense?

Darrell: Yes, the question makes sense. I think you have to turn off simple file sharing. There may be more to that, I may need to follow up with that later.

Jason: We can again follow up with that user.

Darrell: I don't remember the exact way to get that tab back.

Jason: Does XP integrate the system state backup somewhat like scanreg /w did in Windows 98 for recovery purposes?

Darrell: I'm not familiar with the Scanreg functionality in the system state type backup that was in Windows Millennium or Windows 98. ASR is part of Ntbackup, so to do an ASR backup you have to start Ntbackup. That functionality exists; it sounds like it could be fairly familiar. Also System Restore is in the product, which allows you to set restore points at various times. If you're having problems, you can go back to an existing restore point. Basically, you can put your registry back to that status and make some changes to your system like that.

Jason: This is a follow up to the earlier question about the migration tool. Actually they weren't talking about Active Directory, they were asking about XP support for the User State Migration tool. Do you know anything about that?

Darrell: No, I'm sorry, it's out of my expertise again. I still think that comes from the Active Directory group. Yes, that's not out of the setup or functionality.

Jason: Have you worked with the writers on the certification exams at all? I don't know what they're asking for here. Do you know anything about the certification exams, when they're coming, anything like that? Can you comment on that?

Darrell: Yes, but I really don't have a whole lot of information with them. I had some contact with them very early on, but nothing lately. They have not given me any dates or any potential time for any releases or when they may become available. Just one of these things that I don't have that type of information about. I don't even know if that information is available publicly at this point.

Jason: Are there any tools or documents provided to deployment of Windows XP using SMS? I know we had a question earlier about SMS, do you know anything about that?

Darrell: Again, sorry, I have not seen anything and I don't know that anything's available, but then I don't work with SMS either.

Jason: I can tell you, the Support WebCast program does do quite a few WebCasts a month on SMS, as well as some of the other products that have been mentioned. I would check back and you might look on the Support WebCast page. I don't know off the top of my head, but we basically schedule out for a month in advance. You can take a look there and see if there's anything coming. I'm assuming they're going to be talking a lot about SMS with Windows XP. We've had quite a few good SMS WebCasts in the last month or so. Definitely check back on the Support WebCast page and you can get a little bit more info down the road.

Darrell: That is more of an Outlook® Express or Hotmail type question. So again, it's out of my expertise line.

Jason: We are coming down to the last few minutes of the broadcast. I do appreciate all the feedback. I actually pull that every afternoon right after the WebCast. That gets routed to the proper managers. Otherwise, again you can submit feedback on any of the Support WebCasts to feedback@microsoft.com. Just make sure you put "Support WebCasts" in the subject line and that'll get routed to us.

Darrell: You can't join a domain, but you can still log on to a domain. You can supply credentials to access network resources. The ability to communicate with servers on the domain is still available. You just don't log on to a domain, so you don't get domain policy or domain logon type screens. You can still communicate with various machines that are on the domain. If you have that need to communicate with the domain, then Windows XP Professional may be a better choice for you.

Jason: Can I remove the users ability to set the computer description field in the Network Connection properties?

Darrell: That's a little bit out of my area of expertise again. Sorry, I just don't have an answer to that one.

Jason: I am currently at the last couple of questions and will be wrapping up the broadcast. Can I lock down remote assistance to an internal network or a set group of target machines, rather than giving the user the ability to request assistance from anyone in the world? Again, I think these are outside the area of pure setup and just installing the operating system.

Darrell: I don't have a whole lot of information available on remote assistance. Sorry, I don't know the answer to that one.

Jason: Regarding the registry push back, you mentioned ASR. Where is that located and can it be automated?

Darrell: It's not really registry push back, it's system state. You would do this via Ntbackup. I could basically create backups of the system, and it's not just your standard registry files. It is a backup file. You have to schedule your backups to back up your system state at periodic times. It's not just backing up the registry files themselves.

Jason: That does seem to finish off all of the questions we had in the queue. That's going to wrap up our session for today. I want to thank everyone for joining us. I hope the information was useful. We're very interested in your feedback regarding the WebCast program. As I said, you can send us your feedback using that e-mail alias feedback@microsoft.com/ and make sure and put "Support WebCasts" in the subject line.

We hope to see you again in the near future. Thanks and good-bye.