Configuring Windows 7 (Training Kit) - Part 23 ppt

Take a Practice Test CHAPTER 3 193 Take a Practice Test The practice tests on this book’s companion DVD offer many options. For example, you can test yourself on just one exam objective, or you can test yourself on all the 70-680 certification exam content. You can set up the test so that it closely simulates the experience of taking a certification exam, or you can set it up in study mode so that you can look at the correct answers and explanations after you answer each question. More Info PRACTICE TESTS For details about all the practice test options available, see the section entitled “How to Use the Practice Tests,” in the Introduction to this book. CHAPTER 4 195 CHAPTER 4 Managing Devices and Disks T his chapter discusses two topics that are close to the heart of the typical user. User experience depends heavily on how well peripherals and devices work. It is your job to ensure that the best device drivers available are installed on your organization’s client computers. The best drivers are not always the most recent, and you need to ensure that the latest device drivers downloaded from an update site (typically Windows Update) are compatible with your hardware before you deploy them to your network clients. If the hard disk on a client machine is badly fragmented, has faults, or has too little free space, or if you have not configured your disk systems for optimal performance or fault tolerance, the quality of the user experience deteriorates rapidly. You can manage disks using both graphical user interface (GUI) and command-line tools to ensure optimal disk performance. If your client computers have more than one hard disk, you need to ensure that their disk arrays are correctly configured. This chapter looks at tools and techniques for managing devices and device drivers, and for managing disks. Exam objectives in this chapter: n Configure devices. n Manage disks. Lessons in this chapter: n Lesson 1: Managing Devices and Drivers 197 n Lesson 2: Managing Disks 228 1 9 6 CHAPTER 4 Managing Devices and Disks Before You Begin To complete the exercises in the practices in this chapter, you need to have done the following: n Installed Windows 7 on a stand-alone client PC as described in Chapter 1, “Install, Migrate, or Upgrade to Windows 7.” You need Internet access to complete the exercises. You also need a universal serial bus (USB) flash memory device to complete the practice exercises in Lesson 2. real World Ian McLean U sers do not typically concern themselves with the internal workings of their computers. Even the small percentage of users who know what a motherboard is seldom think about what it does. Your users are much more concerned about devices. Does the keyboard work correctly, or do they get a quotation mark when they press the @ key? Is the screen sharp, clear, and easy to read, and is the screen resolution what they want it to be? Do pointing devices work? Is disk access slow? Did the USB flash memory lose an important file, and can anyone else read the data on the flash memory device that the CEO left on an airplane? The list is endless. Both administrators and help-desk staff spend a lot of time dealing with peripherals. If a motherboard goes down, you replace it, but you can spend hours messing around with devices that users want to plug into their computers or with configuring printers that work, but not quite in the way a user expects them to. A high percentage of the updates that you apply will be updated drivers, and sometimes a new driver will not work as well as the old one did, or will clash with other drivers on a computer. How often have you heard, “My computer plug-in thingy’s stopped working—it’s not been right since you messed around with it”? Part of your job is dealing with high-level technical problems on serious equipment such as domain controllers and servers running Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange Server, but you also need to spend time on devices, device drivers, printers, and these “pesky” peripherals. The whole of your job, after all, is keeping your users contented. Lesson 1: Managing Device Drivers and Devices CHAPTER 4 197 Lesson 1: Managing Device Drivers and Devices In this lesson, you learn how to identify the driver that controls a peripheral device and check that it is working properly. You discover how to update, disable, and uninstall a device driver; and how to roll back to the previously installed driver if a recently installed driver does not work (for example, if it causes STOP errors). You learn about signed drivers, conflicts between drivers, configuring driver settings, and resolving device driver problems. In particular, you use the Device Manager console, which is the tool that Windows 7 provides to manage devices and device drivers. After this lesson, you will be able to: n Install Plug and Play (PnP) and non-PnP hardware n Update, disable, uninstall, and roll back a device driver n Prestage a device driver and permit standard users to install devices in a device install type n Configure driver updates from the Windows Update Web site n Troubleshoot device driver problems Estimated lesson time: 50 minutes Using Device Manager to View Device Information A device driver is a software package (typically an .exe file installed by an .inf file) that enables Windows 7 to communicate with a specific hardware device. Before Windows 7 can use new hardware, a device driver for that hardware must be installed. If the device is Plug and Play (PnP), the driver should install automatically, but you might need to install updated drivers subsequently as these are released and downloaded. If the driver does not install automatically, you need to install it. You can use Device Manager to install and update drivers for hardware devices, change the hardware settings for those devices, and troubleshoot problems. You can use Device Manager to perform the following tasks: n Identify the device drivers that are loaded for each device and obtain information about each device driver. n Determine whether the hardware on your computer and its associated device driver are working properly. n View devices based on their type, by their connection to the computer, or by the re- sources they use. n Enable, disable, and uninstall devices. n Change hardware configuration settings. n Install updated device drivers. 1 9 8 CHAPTER 4 Managing Devices and Disks n Roll back to the previous version of a driver. n Change advanced settings and properties for devices. n Show hidden devices. Typically, you use Device Manager to check the status of your hardware and to update device drivers on a client computer. You can also use the diagnostic features in Device Manager to resolve device conflicts and change resource settings, although resources are allocated automatically by the system during hardware setup and you seldom need to (or are able to) change resource settings. note DEVICE MANAGER WORKS IN READ-ONLY MODE ON A REMOTE COMPUTER You can use Device Manager to manage devices and drivers only on a local computer. On a remote computer, Device Manager works in read-only mode, enabling you to view but not to change that computer’s hardware configuration. Opening Device Manager You can open Device Manager on a computer running Windows 7 while logged on with any account. However, by default, only administrators can make changes to devices and install, uninstall, and roll back drivers. You can open Device Manager in the following ways: n In Control Panel, click Hardware And Sound. Click Device Manager under Devices And Printers. n Click Start, right-click Computer, and choose Manage. Click Device Manager in the Computer Management tree pane. n Open an elevated command prompt and enter mmc devmgmt.msc. Note that if you do not run the command prompt as administrator, Device Manager opens as read-only. You can open Device Manager on a remote computer. Open Computer Management and choose Connect To Another Computer on the Action menu. Either type in the name of the remote computer or click Browse and select it. Click OK. You can now use Device Manager to view devices and device settings on the remote computer. You cannot, however, change any settings or install, uninstall, or roll back drivers. Whatever method you use, Device Manager opens as shown in Figure 4-1. If you use Computer Management, you will also see the Computer Management tree pane on the left side. note OPENING DEVICE MANAGER The practice exercises later in this lesson ask you to open Device Manager. It makes no difference which method you use. You will not be required to open Device Manager on a remote computer. Lesson 1: Managing Device Drivers and Devices CHAPTER 4 199 FIGURE 4-1 Device Manager Viewing Device Information You can use Device Manager to view device status and details (including hidden devices), to view USB power and bandwidth allocations for a device, and to view device driver information. To view the status of a device, double-click the type of device you want to view (keyboards, monitors, network devices, and so on), and then right-click the appropriate device and choose Properties. On the General tab of the Properties dialog box, the Device Status area displays whether the device is working properly. If the device is working, a driver is installed and Windows 7 is able to communicate with it. Figure 4-2 shows the status of a network adapter. If the device is experiencing a problem, the type of problem is displayed. You might also see a problem code and number and a suggested solution. If the Check For Solutions button is available, you can submit a Windows Error Report to Microsoft. On the Power Management tab, you can configure settings such as whether the device can be disabled to save power and, depending on the type of device, whether the device is permitted to wake the computer (optionally in network adapters by using a magic packet). A magic packet is a standard Wake-Up on LAN frame that targets a specific network interface and enables remote access to a computer that is in a power-saving state. 2 0 0 CHAPTER 4 Managing Devices and Disks FIGURE 4-2 Displaying device status note DIFFERENT DEVICES HAVE DIFFERENT TABS Not all devices have the Advanced and Power tabs. In general, network devices such as bus host controllers and network adapters have Power tabs, although only network adapters have the magic packet option. Disk controllers have Policies and Volumes tabs. All devices have General, Driver, and Details tabs. If a device is allocated resources, it will have a Resources tab. Also, devices that do not have the Power tab do not have a Power Management tab. The Resources tab gives details of memory range, interrupt request (IRQ), and input/output range resources that the device requires. The Advanced tab, shown in Figure 4-3, gives you access to a number of configurable settings that vary depending on the device for which you are viewing the Properties dialog box. The Details tab, shown in Figure 4-4, accesses an even larger number of properties. You can click any property and observe its value. The Drivers tab is discussed later in this lesson. Lesson 1: Managing Device Drivers and Devices CHAPTER 4 201 FIGURE 4-3 Advanced settings FIGURE 4-4 Property details By default, devices are displayed in groups by their device type. Alternatively, you can view them based on how they are connected to the computer, such as the bus they are plugged into. You can also view resources by the type of device that uses the resource or by allocated connection type. Access the Device Manager View menu to specify one of these views. 2 0 2 CHAPTER 4 Managing Devices and Disks You can also use the View menu to view hidden devices. Typically, a hidden device is one that is not currently attached but whose driver is installed, such as older devices and devices that are no longer installed. Figure 4-5 shows this View setting. FIGURE 4-5 Viewing hidden devices Viewing Power Allocation for a USB Hub USB hubs can be self-powered or bus-powered. A self-powered hub has its own power supply, whereas a bus-powered hub draws its power from the USB to which it is connected. Devices requiring a lot of power, such as cameras, should be plugged into self-powered hubs. You can check the power allocations for a USB hub to detect situations in which too many devices are using the hub. In Device Manager double-click Universal Serial Bus Controllers, right-click the USB Root Hub, and choose Properties. On the Power tab, you can view the power required by each device in the Attached Devices list. Note that USB Root Hub appears in Universal Serial Bus Controllers only if you have one or more USB hubs attached to your computer. Some USB devices (for example, modems) might not appear because they do not report bandwidth requirements to the operating system. . need to have done the following: n Installed Windows 7 on a stand-alone client PC as described in Chapter 1, “Install, Migrate, or Upgrade to Windows 7. ” You need Internet access to complete the. installed. Figure 4-5 shows this View setting. FIGURE 4-5 Viewing hidden devices Viewing Power Allocation for a USB Hub USB hubs can be self-powered or bus-powered. A self-powered hub has its. (typically an .exe file installed by an .inf file) that enables Windows 7 to communicate with a specific hardware device. Before Windows 7 can use new hardware, a device driver for that hardware must