Sub-Objective 1.3

Sub-Objective 1.3 – Summarize general OS installation considerations and upgrade methods.

Welcome to ExamNotes by CertBlaster! We will continue to examine main domain 1 by reviewing Objective 1.3 “Summarize general OS installation considerations and upgrade methods.” This section will cover quite a bit of information. Remember that we will cover the objectives as stated and that we recommend you use self-tests (CertBlaster) and online labs (LabConnection) to expand your comprehension. Let’s get started!

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Boot Methods

USB – External/hot swappable drive

Most PC components have a fully functional USB adaptation. This allows for communication expansion, control flexibility, and storage addition. USB expansion devices using conventional hard disks or SSDs are available and are separated by capacity. Choose the right size for the desired result.

CD-ROM / DVD

Most desktops and laptops have internal Optical drives. The media in the drive can be bootable depending on what it is. This method requires checking the UEFI or BIOS firmware and setting the Optical drive as priority before any other bootable device, including USB as you’ll see.

PXE

Here is a great way to get your desired result onto hundreds of PCs. A high volume server is necessary if you’re working at high volumes. Set your BIOS or UEFI to access the PXE (Preboot eXecution Environment) which will enable the UEFI/BIOS to find the installation files over the network. When the files are located and installation begins, no more interaction is required, leaving the tech free to repeat the process again. When the systems are properly preconfigured, they only need be turned on in order to start the process.

Solid state/flash drives

SSD (solid-state drive) technology was first introduced with the USB flash drive. The SSD uses NAND memory and delivers dramatically faster performance. With all data stored in memory, access times are dramatically faster than the conventional hard disk. SSD’s are 2.5” wide, the same as laptop drives but slightly thinner. SSD drives can also be found in ultra-portable devices using the 1.8” form factor.

Netboot

Netboot is Apple’s version of PXE and as such uses most of the same startup initialization routines. Here’s an interesting point that you will not be tested on. When Protocols were initially recognized as necessary (yes decades ago), the BOOTP protocol was born from DHCP. Instead of referring to all of the protocols that make up DHCP individually, we just use that term. In 2015, BOOTP was an instrumental part of the UEFI.

Internal hard drive (partition)

One of the simplest boot methods is to allow the machine to boot normally from its internal storage, such as a partition on the hard disk or solid state drive (SSD). SSD drives and HDD drives are partitioned the same way.

Type of Installations

Regardless of its intended use, all Microsoft devices need some type of operating system installed on it. Because of the number of devices and deployments there are many choices.

Unattended installation

A Windows installation requires user input to complete. A way to avoid this is to perform an unattended installation. This method uses an answer file in order to supply the responses to the localization, password, and domain information questions that are prompted during the installation process.

In-Place Upgrade

During an In-Place upgrade, the same methods apply as with a clean install EXCEPT you cannot upgrade from a 32-bit Operating system to a 64-bit. Upgrading from 32-bit to 64-bit requires a clean install due to the massive number of basic architecture and core files changes that are needed. Fortunately, your 32-bit programs will still work in the 64-bit environment as provisions were made for that. An upgrade install is supported for the same bit depth (32-bit or 64-bit) for the OS versions currently supported. For example, remember that you can upgrade from OS 7 to 8/10. You will have to pay extra if you are going from a Starter or minimum version to a more fully featured version such as Professional or above.

Clean install

All current versions of Microsoft Windows, and its variants, are available as downloads and can be used to create physical copies of the installation media (DVD 4GB). Always download and run the Upgrade Assistant to insure compatibility. It is wise to make physical copies as well since you never know. Make sure you have the right version (32-bit or 64-bit). If you inadvertently install the 32-bit version on a 64-bit capable machine, you will suffer decreased memory availability, storage media limitations, and a generally less than perfect experience. You can also visit Microsoft’s Compatibility Center, however access to this site changes as features and programs are modified. In other words, it’s probably gone.

Repair installation – Recovery partition

It is suggested that within the first hour of ownership, you should create a backup/restore set. If you haven’t done it, please take the 20 minutes to do it next time.

If you don’t have a backup/restore set, it’s okay. If you have purchased your device from a major manufacturer, it is highly likely that you also have a hidden or hard-to-access recovery partition on your disk.  We can get the system back using the recovery installation. Unfortunately, none of your files will remain but on the bright side, the system will be restored back to its uncluttered out of the box configuration.

Depending on the manufacturer, you’ll need to hit a specific keystroke combination at boot in order to access your recovery tools. The key is most likely not F8 but is probably in the same neighborhood, such as F12. If you are really jammed and these options don’t work, please buy a set of the backup disks from the manufacturer as we discussed earlier.

Multiboot

Today’s systems have a lot of power, memory, and storage capacity. They are easily capable of supporting multiple operating systems. Since we are not talking about virtualization here, these systems won’t be running simultaneously. We’ll discuss that later. Let’s consider setting up a machine to run two different operating systems. Each operating system needs its own partition. This could be a large drive portioned into at least two dedicated logical drives or for ultimate segregation, two separate hard drives. There are a lot of good reasons to do this. Regardless, the end result is two identical hardware platforms behaving identically. Reasons for implementing Multiboot are as simple as having the day shift worker separated from the night shift in a tamperproof environment or for beta testing virtually any hardware or software and accurately predicting the impact on related systems.

Remote network installation

One item remains when taking human involvement completely out of the picture: how do we propose to move data? Data can move through the network in one of two ways: by pulling the data into a machine (e.g. typing a web address) or by pushing data into a machine (e.g. having stock, weather, or news information automatically delivered to the desktop). This last method is referred to as Push technology.

Image deployment

The use of drive imaging greatly reduces the chance for anomalies between installations. A single image from a tested, benchmarked, and validated system can serve as the foundation for hundreds of clean installs using Windows AIK or ADK, depending on version.

Unintended Installation

We talked about the PXE earlier and the image is the source for those installations. An unattended install can be completed using an image and an answer file.

Refresh/restore

Another way to regain control over a system that’s run amok is through System Restore. This method requires that clean restore points be created before there is a problem, ideally when the PC is running great. A restore point is usually created automatically before any major system changes, software installs, or updates. If you have problems, roll back to a restore point that was created mere seconds before the problem started to occur. The system will take advantage of periods of inactivity in order to create random restore points. This works more often than not.

System Refresh is essentially the same operation as System Restore, however the refresh also restores Metro UI and related data. Metro related data is referred to as “Modern” and if you are a longtime computer user, a lot of your installed programs and “Go To” apps are not modern and therefore will need to be reinstalled. It is in your best interest to get the best backup you can.

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Partitioning

After gaining an understanding of Operating System installations, we’ll take a closer look at the partitions Operating Systems are installed on. A good grasp of the devices and the way data is stored on them is essential to your ultimate understanding of the operational capabilities and the way to effectively maximize performance. You can double the production time of a program if you understand the storage device speeds, how to store often used portions of a program on fast devices, and how to store the lesser/seldom used portions on your standard or slow drives.

We will use a standard magnetic hard drive to demonstrate the principles of digital storage. The drive consists of several magnetic platters that are readable and writable on both sides. During the manufacturing process, the platters are low level formatted into tracks and sectors. This is referred to as low level because there is a higher level format that is used by the operating system. The drive leaves the factory formatted into platters with concentric rings divided into 512 byte sectors. For the operating system, the size of each sector is fixed but the sectors are grouped into Clusters. Remember the difference between sectors, tracks, and clusters from this section.

Drive Allocation

Basic

When a new hard drive is installed on a Windows system, it is configured as a basic disk. A basic disk is independent of other disks and can be formatted to any compatible portioning system including MBR or GPT.

Primary

When a new drive is installed, it will need to be initialized and formatted. If there are no other options selected, one primary partition will be created. Next, format the partition to the desired filesystem. This formatted partition is referred to as a volume.

Extended

A Disk can only contain one Extended partition. The disk’s contents can be resized to a smaller primary partition, freeing up unallocated space that can be dedicated to each partition. The Extended partition can be further divided.

Logical

The Extended partition can be divided into many logical partitions. The dimensions of the logical partitions are found at the beginning of the extended partition, not in the MBR. Logical partitions do not have to fill the entire extended partition. Empty space can be retained in the extended partition which can then be split up into additional logical partitions if needed.

Dynamic

In Windows, everything we’ve covered to this point was discussed in relation to Basic disks (one disk with one partition structure). It’s now time to have some fun or become irrevocably convoluted. Dynamic disks can be but are not limited to a single disk or volume. All volumes on dynamic disks are called dynamic volumes. A dynamic volume has considerable advantages over basic volumes. Dynamic volumes can be spanned over multiple drives and it’s possible to create up to 2,000 volumes. 32 volumes is a reasonable recommendation. Another advantage of dynamic disk spanning is that they can assume the redundancy aspects of RAID 0 and RAID 5, so if any portion of the span goes down it can automatically rebuild the lost data.

GPT

The GUID partition table (GPT) is the replacement partition method for the time tested MBR. This is special because along with other important advancements, GPT can support large hard disks to the tune of 18 Exabytes. For comparison, the MBR limit is 2.2TB.

Swap partition

System performance is increased with the use of swap space. Swap space is dedicated to storing and swapping data to and from the RAM. Linux creates one or more partitions for this purpose alone. However, Windows uses a swap file as opposed to a partition. The process is referred to as Virtual Memory.

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Filesystem types / formatting

Here, we’ll take a deeper look at the filesystems available and their uses.

FAT32

FAT32 was designed to address the new complexities in Windows95 such as long filenames. The old limit for filenames was 8 characters with a three characters extension. Imagine an 8 character URL! FAT32 was the filesystem that supported the most significant advancement in computing of the 20th century.

ExFAT

This filesystem is optimized specifically for flash and USB drives. ExFAT provides large file support and some other meaningful enhancements. For removable media of this type, a fast filesystem makes a big difference. Security is at the forefront when it comes to high-capacity high-portability media. Consider the speed of the most compatible FAT32 without restrictions coupled with the security of NTFS without the bulky overhead and there you have it. You can format Flash media using FAT32, NTFS, and exFAT. When formatting the flash device, capabilities of the device should be considered. Lastly, fall back to FAT32 if there is a question about compatibility.

NTFS

The New Technology Filesystem (Know this one for the test) is the advancement that provided servers and systems the headroom necessary to evolve at the accelerated pace necessary to support the new technologies. The #1 benefit (IMHO) of NTFS is the Access Control List (ACL) which is a crucial security enhancement that supports file level access control with administrative control. NTFS also had large file support of 16 billion bytes! We also received file compression integrated into the operating system for fixed and removable disks.

CDFS

The CD Filesystem (CSDFS), initially released in Linux, allows for the export of boot images on a CD. In Microsoft implementations, CDFS replaced MSCDEX. This filesystem allows data stored on a CD to be treated as an ordinary filesystem at the command line.

NFS

The Network Filesystem (NFS) is the oldest filesystem on our list and is still in use after revisions over the years (since 1984). Originally a Sun Microsystems product, Version 2 was the first official release. The new century saw NFS deploy stronger security, larger file sizes, and stateful protocols making it comparable to SMB (Server Message Block) revisions. The current version is NFSv4.

ext3, ext4

ext3 and ext4 are both Linux filesystems. ext3 was a system staple between 2000 through 2008 when it was a replaced by ext4. ext4 offers huge file and system sizes of 16GB for files and one Exabyte for the filesystem, plus other features which improve performance and reliability.

HFS

The Hierarchical Filesystem (HFS) is a proprietary file structure developed by Apple to support the Mac OS. HFS was replaced by HFS Plus which supported larger file sizes and address space. HFS Plus was replaced by the current Mac file structure, Apple Filesystem (APFS), in 2017. Since the objectives only refer to the deprecated (1998) HFS, it would be wise to be familiar with the whole version history.

Quick format vs. full format

A quick format removes all files on the volume without scanning the drive for problems. A full format removes all files and also scans the disk for bad sectors. The full format option is preferred for system installs in order to ensure your disk is in good condition.

Load alternate third party drivers when necessary

When installing hardware, sometimes Windows’ built-in drivers may only partially activate the device. This is particularly prevalent with multifunction printers/scanners/faxes and duplexers. When you encounter this situation, go to the manufacturer’s website for the device drivers, as opposed to a page with drivers for many devices and manufacturers.

Workgroup vs. Domain setup

The main decision you will need to make regarding Workgroups and Domains is the following, will this be a home network or business? Next, determine the size, scale, and if you will have the skills or personnel to handle administrative tasks.

Time/date/region/language settings

This is always one of the first setup questions to answer in order to localize the machine.

Driver installation, software and windows updates

Immediately after an installation, check the device manager for any issues. Install any Windows updates that are available. Depending on the age of your installation software, there may be 40 or so to deal with. Lastly, check the operation of your software, especially if you performed an in-place upgrade.

Factory recovery partition

If you are using a new machine for the first time, make sure your recovery partition is present and accessible. Get the media ready and create your recovery disks.

Properly formatted boot drive with the correct partitions/format

Access the Disk management console and review the installed drive(s). Validate the partition data against your expectations. Also, review any unallocated space and determine if you need to use it.

Prerequisites/hardware compatibility

All current Windows versions are covered in your objectives. The minimum hardware requirements are shown below:

Hardware 32-Bit Windows 64-Bit Windows Other Support
Processor   1 GHz or
faster
1 GHz or
faster
Windows 8/10 requires support for NX, PAE , and SSE2
Memory (RAM) 1 GB 2 GB  
Free hard drive
space
16 GB 20 GB  
Video device and driver DirectX 9 device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver DirectX 9 device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver DirectX 9 device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver      

Application compatibility

During an upgrade situation, you may need to update programs. Use Windows Compatibility Mode to run programs that only operate in earlier Windows versions or use the Compatibility Mode Troubleshooter. Access the Properties of the program you are trying to run and you will see a Compatibility tab. The Troubleshooter is contained in there along with the ability to manually select the compatibility mode to a specific OS version, such as Windows 95.  

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OS compatibility/upgrade path

Provided they are all the same bit version, you can generally upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 8 through 10 on compliant systems without any issues. That’s all for now. Nice work. Make the best of it and Good Luck on the Exam!

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