Internet Business - Installing Windows

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Installing Windows

Windows is the most common operating system (short for "OS") software on the planet. Being an IT person you have to know how to install various Windows OS from the ground up.

Common Windows OS

Windows 3.1 (This is stone age stuff...)
Windows 95 (Outdated)
Windows 98 (Outdated)
Windows 98SE (Outdated)
Windows NT (Outdated)
Windows NT Server (Outdated)
Windows 2000 (Some businesses still use this)
Windows XP
Windows 2003 Server (Very common Microsoft server OS)
Windows Vista
Windows 7

When do you need to install Windows?

When you get a new computer.
When you need to upgrade your Hard Drive.
When you need to upgrade your existing OS. (say, Windows XP to Vista)
When you need to change your existing OS. (say, Linux to Windows)
When you need to reinstall Windows due to corruptions, viruses and exploits.

What do you need to install any Windows OS?

A working computer (duh) with CD or DVD drive
Hardware drivers for the computer that you plan to work on
Windows OS Installation CD or DVD

Before you install...

Make sure that you properly backup all the existing files on the current hard drive. If the current hard drive is inaccessible via the computer (e.g. if the current OS is corrupted), try to physically take out the current hard drive and put it in an external hard drive enclosure. Then backup the files from another computer.

Hard Drive Partitions

It is a very good practice to separate the Windows OS and application files apart from independent data files. (documents, music, movies...etc.) I also find it useful to keep a separate area for recovery files.

Examples:

For a computer with a single 250 GB hard drive, I would split the hard drive into 3 partitions:

C: [SYSTEM] - 100GB
D: [DATA] - 120GB
E: [RECOVERY] - 30GB

Then when I install Windows, I would install it to the C: [SYSTEM] partition.

The partition letters - "C", "D", "E"...etc, can vary. However, "C" is often used as the Windows OS partition.

For a computer with two hard drives (120GB and 250GB), I would:

Install Windows on the 120GB (C: [SYSTEM]) hard drive
Split the 250GB hard drive into 2 partitions: D: [DATA] - 200GB and E: [RECOVERY] - 50GB

The screenshot above is where you can setup your hard drive partitions during Windows XP installation. It is sometimes easier to delete all the partitions (assuming no data is needed to keep on the existing partitions) and recreate them with what you want afterwards.

Here's a screenshot for where you can setup hard drive partitions during Vista installation:

Benefits of keeping systems files, independent data files, and recovery files apart

Files are more organized this way - Software(s) get installed in the SYSTEM hard drive/partition and data (documents, music, videos) is stored in the DATA hard drive/partition
Ghost, a very useful recovery utility, needs this type of configuration. This configuration makes recovery easy.
Viruses and exploits usually target system files.
When you need to reinstall Windows at a later time, you don't have to worry about backing up your files since you will only be overwriting the SYSTEM hard drive/partition.

10 Steps to Install Windows, any Windows OS

Step 1: Backup files if necessary.
Step 2: Make sure that you have all the necessary hardware drivers (audio, graphic, network...etc.) for the computer.
Step 3: Make the system to boot from CD or DVD (can be achieved in BIOS)
Step 4: Put the Windows OS Installation CD or DVD in the CD/DVD drive.
Step 5: Follow the instructions on screen to install Windows. Set the partitions properly.
Step 6: After Windows is installed, install all the hardware drivers. (If driver files are lost, try to look for them on the Internet).
Step 7: After all the hardware drivers are installed (no question marks in the Device Manager), go ahead and install the applications that you need.
Step 8: Perform Windows Update until there are no more important updates available.
Step 9: Now that the Windows is installed, with all the drivers, software(s), and updates installed, perform hard drive defragmentation.
Step 10: Create recovery image on the SYSTEM hard drive/partition.

Tips

Make sure that all files are backed up. If you are working on someone's computer, make sure that you ask the person "what needs to be backed up". You may need to do some research on how to backup certain software(s). For example, if the person uses Outlook and he needs his emails and contacts, make sure that you backup his Outlook email and contact databases by exporting them.

If the person needs certain software(s) to be installed, make sure you know where to get the installation files and how to install them.

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