Transcript Ch. 5 Windows 9x Operating Systems

IT Essentials I v. 3
Module 5
Windows 9x Operating Systems
© 2004, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Module 5
Windows 9x Operating Systems
5.1 – The Windows 9x File Structure and File
Management System
5.2 – Windows Management with
Control Panel
5.3 – System Tools
5.4 – Preparing a Hard Drive for OS
Installation
5.5 – Installing Windows 9x
5.6 – Troubleshooting the Installation
Process
The Windows 9x File Structure
and File Management System
Naming Files in Windows
• The terms directory and
folder are used
interchangeably to describe
a place to store information.
• Files are now referred to as
documents.
• A sub-folder is simply a
folder within a folder.
Naming Files in Windows
• The characters / \ ; : * ? " < > should not be used because
they are associated with special functions when executing
commands from a prompt.
• If used, a warning displays prompting the user to rename a
file.
• Allowable characters include all other characters and
numbers available on a standard keyboard.
• Uppercase characters are treated the same as lowercase in
Windows.
Naming Files in Windows
• Drive letters use the 26 letters of
the alphabet followed by a
colon.
• A: and B: are reserved for floppy
drives, C: for the hard drive, and
D: for the CD-ROM or DVDROM in most systems.
• The My Computer window, lists
all the hard disks, floppy disks,
CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, and
network drives that are part of
the computer or that can be
accessed over a network.
Directories and Folders
• To understand files, folders,
and sub-folders, imagine a
tree. The trunk is the starting
place or the main part of the
tree.
• The trunk is the root directory
or root folder. Branches of the
tree are folders. They connect
to the trunk.
• Windows Explorer displays the
hierarchical structure of files,
folders, and drives on a
computer.
Directories and Folders
• There are three main parts to
this window.
• The general area at the top is
known as the Title Bar, the
area on the left in a window
pane is labeled Folders, and
the right window pane contains
file names and possibly file
details such as size and type.
• These files can be viewed in
different modes by selecting
the View icon on the title bar.
Directories and Folders
• To make a folder, use the
scroll bar between the left
and right window panes and
in the left window pane,
locate and click on the
Desktop.
• With the Desktop
highlighted, move the
cursor over to the right
window pane and right-click
in a blank area.
• Choose New and then
Folder.
Directories and Folders
• The folder can be renamed
later by clicking once on the
folder to highlight it and
pressing the F2 key.
• The name highlights. Type
the new name.
• A folder name can have up
to 255 characters and must
only use valid characters.
Using a Text Editing Application
to Create a File (document)
• Files can be created in
Windows using WordPad or
Notepad.
• The document can be
saved in Rich Text Format
(RTF) to the Desktop or to
the Word for Windows
format.
Copy, Cut or Create Shortcuts
• Another folder can be
created inside the
previous folder and files
or documents can be
copied into this folder.
• By right-clicking on an
item, other options will
appear such as Copy,
Move, or Create
Shortcuts.
Viewing Document Details
• File or document details in
MS Windows mean the
same thing as file attributes
in MS DOS.
• The right pane in Windows
Explorer provides details for
directory, folders, and files.
• Details include the creation
or last modified date of a file
or folder, type of item.
Recognizing File Types in Windows
• These file extensions describe
the file format or type of
application used to create the file:
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–
–
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–
–
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*.doc
*.xls
*.dbf or *.dat
*.txt
*.exe and *.com
*.sys
*.dll
*.htm or *.html
*.ini
*.rtf
*.wks, *.wk1
Selecting, Copying, & Moving Files
• To select a file, right-click on
it, and then select copy from
the popup menu.
• Go to the location where it is
to be pasted.
• Right-click on a blank area
of the Explorer right window
pane, and then choose
Paste.
• A duplicate copy of that file
is now available.
• To select several files hold
down the Ctrl key.
Searching for a File, Folder, or Directory
• To find a file or folder, click
on the Start button and
choose Find.
• Next choose Files or
Folders and type in the
name or part of the name of
the file. Searching
efficiently means looking for
a file or folder using a part
of the name that is unique.
Make Backup Copies
of Files onto a Diskette
• To copy a file or folder onto
a floppy disk, right-click on
the file and choose Send
To, 3 ½ Floppy.
• Users can also drag and
drop selected files to the
drive A icon.
Using the Recycle Bin
• The Recycle Bin can be used to temporarily delete or
permanently delete files from the computer.
• Until the recycle bin is emptied, the files remain on
the hard drive.
• Files can be restored or "undeleted" from the Recycle
Bin to the original folder.
Windows Management
with Control Panel
System Applet
• This tool can be accessed
from within the control panel
by double clicking the
system icon.
• The system properties
window includes a series of
tabs across the top.
• The default tab is the
General tab which lists
information relating to the
system.
System Applet
• Device Manager provides
the user a list of all the
hardware within the system
and allows the user to view
which system resources are
being used.
• It can also be used to
update device drivers,
disable or enable devices,
and change resource
settings.
System Applet
• Hardware profiles allow the user to have different
hardware configurations for the same operating
system.
• The Performance tab displays information about
the performance statistics of the current system
and allows access to the virtual memory and file
system settings.
Printer
• To print a document to an
installed printer, click on the
File menu and select Print.
• The printer window opens
which allows users to select
options to print the entire
document, the current page or
a range of pages, the number
of copies, modify the layout,
and alter the characteristics of
the printer output.
Printer
• The Add Print Wizard is used
when a new printer is
purchased or an additional
network printer needs to be
added. In Windows, go to
Start > Settings > Printers.
• The desktop print manager
displays the print job as it
starts, is in progress, and
finishes. Double click on the
printer icon on the taskbar of
the desktop.
• It can also be accessed by
going to Start > Settings >
Printers.
Printer
• The desktop print manager
displays the print job as it
starts and finishes.
• The options available in the
Printer menu including
Pause printing, Purge Print
Documents, and the
Properties of the printer.
Printer
• This shows this
document is
experiencing an error
in printing.
• If the wrong
document was being
printed, it can be
deleted from the print
queue by selecting
Document and then
Cancel.
Add/Remove Programs
• When uninstalling an
application, go into the
Add/Remove Programs
utility and click the
"Uninstall…" button to
uninstall the software.
• This will assure that the
uninstalled application is
removed from the system
together with all of its
associated pieces.
Add/Remove Hardware
• The Add/Remove Hardware
utility automates the addition
of a new piece of hardware to
the system.
• The wizard searches the
computer for new hardware
and installs the appropriate
drivers.
• If the appropriate driver is not
found automatically, it
provides the ability to
manually select the type of
device from a list and installs
drivers from a specific
location.
Display and Sounds
• Two tools useful when changing
the looks and sounds of Windows
are the Display utility and Sounds
utility.
• The Display utility can be
accessed either by selecting it in
the control panel or by rightclicking the desktop and select
properties.
• This allows the user to set a
screensaver, change the
background color, change the
look and feel of windows, as well
as change display resolution
settings.
Display and Sounds
• The Sounds utility allows
the user to choose which
sounds are played for
different system events.
• Themes may also be used
to coordinate the
background, the look and
feel of windows, and the
sounds.
System Tools
The Registry
• The Registry is a hierarchical
database that is an efficient
management system for all of
the information needed by the
Windows operating system.
• It contains System.dat and
User.dat files.
• The system.dat file contains
information about the
hardware in the system.
• The user.dat file contains user
specific information.
REGEDIT and SCANREG
• The registry is a hierarchical
database that can be
viewed by using the
regedit.exe utility.
• It displays the registry in a
format that is similar to
Windows Explorer.
• Scanreg.exe can be used
with any Windows 9x
operating system to backup
or repair the system
registry.
MSCONFIG, Startup menu,
Safe Mode
• MSConfig.exe allows the user
to control how the system is
started by giving quick access
to Windows
configuration/initialization files,
including Config.sys,
Autoexec.bat, System.ini, and
Win.ini files.
• It allows the user to select what
programs are loaded
automatically when the
computer is booted.
• It helps troubleshoot problems
during the boot-up process.
WSCRIPT.EXE, HWINFO.EXE, ASD.EXE
• The wscript.exe command
allows the configuration of
the properties related to the
Windows scripting host.
WSCRIPT.EXE, HWINFO.EXE, ASD.EXE
• Hwinfo.exe is a utility that
gives a detailed collection of
information about the
computer.
• ASD.exe skips a driver
when the operating system
fails during boot-up.
• Use whenever there is a
problem with a driver that
cannot be solved by booting
into safe mode.
Preparing a Hard Drive
for OS Installation
Partitioning a Hard Drive
• When a new hard drive is
installed it is completely blank.
• There are no spaces where
files and folders can be stored.
• To create those spaces, a
hard drive must first be divided
into logical sections called
partitions.
• The partitioning process
creates spaces of contiguous
sectors on the hard drive.
Partitioning a Hard Drive
• Typically with DOS, when the hard drive is divided into
more than one partition, the first partition is referred to
as the primary partition, while the second is called the
extended partition.
• DOS can have up to four separate primary partitions, or
three primary and one extended, two primary and one
extended, or just one primary and one extended
partition on one hard drive, depending on the user’s
needs.
• DOS can have up to four separate partitions on any one
hard disk.
• The extended partition uses the free hard disk space,
and is normally assigned all the available space outside
the primary partition(s).
Partitioning a Hard Drive
• When a hard drive is partitioned, the extended
partition uses up all free hard disk space not included
in the primary partition(s).
• There can be only one extended partition per disk, it
can be subdivided into multiple (up to 23) sections
called logical drives.
• Having multiple logical drives inside the extended
partition provides some advantages:
– Rapid retrieval of information
– Multiple operating systems
– Logical drives physically separate information for
organizational and security reasons
Partitioning a Hard Drive
• FDISK is the partitioning program for MS-DOS,
Windows 9x (95, 98, and Millennium Edition [ME]),
UNIX, and Linux.
• When partitioning a hard drive, the FDISK program
creates the disk boot sector.
Formatting a Hard Drive
• Formatting a hard drive
creates magnetic tracks in
concentric circles on the disk
surface.
• These tracks are then broken
up into chunks of 512 bytes
called sectors.
• A cluster (the minimum unit
DOS will use to store a file) is
sometimes called a block.
• The size of each cluster
depends on the size of the
hard disk and the version of
DOS in use.
Formatting a Hard Drive
• During formatting, a special file, called the File
Allocation Table (FAT) is created and located in the disk
sector 0.
• FAT is a reference table that the operating system uses
to locate files on the disk.
• There are two important concepts about formatting a
hard drive that need to be understood:
– Low-level formatting routine marks off the disk into sectors and
cylinders, and defines their placement on the disk
– High-level format routine is performed by the format command
in MS-DOS. This procedure creates logical structures on the
disk that tells the system what files are on the disk and where
they can be found
Installing Windows 9x
Windows 9x Versions Overview
• Windows has been
through many different
revisions.
• Windows 9x refers to all
the releases of the
Microsoft Windows
operating systems from
Windows 95 to
Windows Millennium
Edition.
Requirements for Installing Windows 98
• To install Windows 98, the following minimum
hardware platform is required:
• An 486DX66Mhz or faster processor, operating with
at least 16 MB of RAM.
• The system must possess a keyboard, a mouse, and
a 16-color VGA monitor or better (SVGA
recommended).
Requirements for Installing Windows 98
• The system hard drive needs to have between 255 and
355 MB of free space available to successfully install
Windows 98 full version on a FAT16 drive, or between 175
and 255 MB drive space on a FAT32 drive.
• To upgrade from Windows 95 requires about 195 MB of
free hard disk space, but may range from between 120
MB and 255 MB.
• Sometimes a modem is required to download device
drivers upgrades from sources on the Internet. The
minimum required is a 14.4kbps (28.8kbps or faster is
recommended).
• 3.5-inch high-density floppy disk drive and CD-ROM drive
(32 speed is recommended).
Understanding the
Windows 98 Installation Steps
•
The steps of the installation procedure are divided
into four phases:
1. Preparing to run Windows 98 Setup
2. Collecting information about the computer
3. Copying Windows 98 Files and restarting the
computer
4. Setting Up Hardware and Finalizing Settings
Windows 98 Setup Options
• Windows 98 can be installed from the CD-ROM after
the system is booted from a floppy disk, or the
system may be booted from the installation CD itself.
• Another option is to copy all the files to the hard drive
and perform an internal installation from the hard
drive.
Upgrade Installation
• Windows 95 users can upgrade to Windows 98 for
added features and usability
• The upgrade from Windows 98 to Windows ME is
simple and very straightforward
• A Windows ME upgrade can be uninstalled only once
on the same system.
Troubleshooting the Installation Process
Systematic Troubleshooting
Techniques and Finding Help
•
When troubleshooting the PC, it is good practice to
begin from the outside of the system and move
inwards. Proceed in a systematic way as follows:
1. Start the system in a logical order to see what
symptoms are produced.
2. Isolate the problem as either software-related or
hardware-related.
3. After determining the nature of the problem, isolate it
to a particular section of the hardware or software.
4. Determine the appropriate solution, implement it, and
verify that the problem is solved.
Systematic Troubleshooting
Techniques and Finding Help
• If Windows 98 becomes
unavailable, shut off the
computer, and turn it back on.
• During this process, listen for
a beep or wait for a few
seconds and press and hold
the left Ctrl key on the
keyboard.
• This will open a Windows 98
Startup menu. From the list of
options, choose Safe Mode,
to boot Windows in a Safe
Mode.
Systematic Troubleshooting
Techniques and Finding Help
• In Safe mode, Windows loads only the basic devices
it needs to run.
• In Windows Safe Mode, check the device manager to
ensure that there are no conflicts with any devices
causing the system to not operate properly.
Systematic Troubleshooting
Techniques and Finding Help
• Scandisk searches the disk
drive for disconnected file
clusters and converts them
into a form that can be
checked and manipulated.
• It detects and delete crosslinked files from the disk
drive.
Systematic Troubleshooting
Techniques and Finding Help
• The Defrag program
realigns the positioning of
the related file clusters to
speed up the disk drive
operation.
• It does this by making the
files more easily read by the
system.
• As a rule, always run
Scandisk prior to Defrag.
Windows 98 Setup Errors
• Setup errors are probably
the most important set of
problems to deal with.
• Understanding the error
codes generated by the
operating system can save
a lot of time when
troubleshooting Windows
installation problems.
System Properties and
Identifying Icon Symbols
•
System Properties has four categories of
information that can be accessed by clicking on the
tabs:
1. General
2. Device Manager
3. Hardware Profiles
4. Performance
System Properties and
Identifying Icon Symbols
• The General Tab has
information about the
system such as version of
Windows 98 installed, total
RAM, type of CPU, and
percentage of used system
resources.
System Properties and
Identifying Icon Symbols
• Device Manager shows hardware devices installed
and their status.
• The Hardware Profiles option allows for the creation
of various profiles to select different hardware
configurations when the system boots up.
System Properties and
Identifying Icon Symbols
• The Performance tab
shows the detailed
performance status that
indicates if the system is
configured for optimal
performance.
Adding Software Drivers
• A device driver is software specially designed
to enable the computer to "see" the hardware
or devices installed within the system.
• Such devices include CD-ROM drives, hard
drives, and expansion cards.
• They can also include an external device
such as a mouse or keyboard.
• The device driver not only allows the basic
system to recognize the presence of a device,
but actually enables it to work with the device.
Making a Backup Windows
Startup Disk
•
•
A Windows 98 startup disk is
essential if the system
crashes, hangs upon startup,
or when Windows 98 setup
fails before completion.
A Windows 98 startup disk can
be created in two ways.
1. First insert the floppy disk in
the computer when prompted
2. Second create the startup disk
after the Windows OS is
already installed and running
Uninstalling Windows 98
• The uninstall procedure will
allow the system to return to
a previous version of the
Windows operating system.
• In some instances,
uninstalling Windows 98 is
the only solution left when
an attempted upgrade fails,
especially if no system
backup was done before
trying to upgrade.
Uninstalling Windows 98
• Windows 98 can be uninstalled when:
– You upgraded from a previous version of Windows
– The "Save uninstall information" option was
selected during Windows 98 setup
• Windows 98 cannot be uninstalled when:
– The conditions mentioned above are not met
– The two files Winundo.dat and Winundo.ini
become corrupted or deleted
– The hard disk was compressed prior to the
Windows 98 OS installation
– The hard disk was compressed, or converted to
FAT32 AFTER installing Windows 98