Lesson 1: Installing Windows 7 CHAPTER 1 3 Lesson 1: Installing Windows 7 If you get the installation of an operating system right, it makes supporting that operating system throughout its lifetime a great deal simpler. If you make an incorrect configuration decision when installing an operating system, and you do not find out about it until you have deployed the operating system to more than 100 computers in your organization, it will take significantly more time to rectify the problem. In this lesson, you learn about the minimum hardware requirements for Windows 7, the different editions, how to perform a fresh installation, and how to configure Windows 7 to dual-boot with other operating systems. After this lesson, you will be able to: n Identify Windows 7 hardware requirements. n Configure Windows 7 as the sole operating system on a computer. n Configure Windows 7 to dual-boot. n Boot from installation media. n Prepare for installation from USB, CD, network share, or Windows Deployment Services. Estimated lesson time: 70 minutes Windows 7 Editions The Windows 7 operating system comes in multiple editions. You will sometimes see these editions referred to as Stock Keeping Units (SKUs). Microsoft targets specific editions at different usage scenarios, providing cheaper editions to customers who do not want all the features available in a more expensive edition. As an IT professional, your job may involve providing guidance to decision makers on which edition of Windows 7 should be purchased for the computers in your organization. You may also need to provide guidance to family and friends as to which edition of Windows 7 best meets their needs. There are six different Windows 7 editions: n Starter n Home Basic n Home Premium n Professional n Enterprise n Ultimate Over the next few pages, you learn the primary differences between these editions. 4 CHAPTER 1 Install, Migrate, or Upgrade to Windows 7 Windows 7 Starter Windows 7 Starter is available from retailers and on new computers installed by manufacturers. It does not support or include the Windows Aero user interface, DVD playback, Windows Media Center, IIS Web Server, or Internet connection sharing. You cannot join a computer with this edition of Windows to a domain. This edition does not support enterprise features such as Encrypting File System (EFS), AppLocker, DirectAccess, BitLocker, Remote Desktop Host, and BranchCache. This edition supports a maximum of one physical processor. Windows 7 Home Basic Windows 7 Home Basic is available only in emerging markets. It does not support or include the Windows Aero user interface, DVD playback, Windows Media Center, or IIS Web Server. You cannot join a computer with this edition of Windows 7 to a domain. This edition does not support enterprise features such as EFS, AppLocker, DirectAccess, BitLocker, Remote Desktop Host, and BranchCache. This edition supports a maximum of one physical processor. The x86 version supports a maximum of 4 GB of RAM, whereas the x64 version supports a maximum of 8 GB of RAM. note MULTIPROCESSOR AND MULTICORE Although some editions support only one physical processor, they do support an unlimited number of cores on that processor. For example, all editions of Windows 7 support quad-core CPUs. Windows 7 Home Premium Windows 7 Home Premium is available from retailers and on new computers installed by manufacturers. Unlike the Starter and Home Basic editions, the Home Premium edition supports the Windows Aero UI, DVD playback, Windows Media Center, Internet connection sharing, and the IIS Web Server. You cannot join this edition of Windows 7 to a domain, and it does not support enterprise features such as EFS, AppLocker, DirectAccess, BitLocker, Remote Desktop Host, and BranchCache. The x86 version of Windows 7 Home Premium supports a maximum of 4 GB of RAM, whereas the x64 version supports a maximum of 16 GB of RAM. Windows 7 Home Premium supports up to two physical processors. Windows 7 Professional Windows 7 Professional is available from retailers and on new computers installed by manufacturers. It supports all the features available in Windows Home Premium, but you can join computers with this operating system installed to a domain. It supports EFS and Remote Desktop Host but does not support enterprise features such as AppLocker, DirectAccess, BitLocker, and BranchCache. Windows 7 Professional supports up to two physical processors. Lesson 1: Installing Windows 7 CHAPTER 1 5 Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate Editions The Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate editions are identical except for the fact that Windows 7 Enterprise is available only to Microsoft’s volume licensing customers, and Windows 7 Ultimate is available from retailers and on new computers installed by manufacturers. The Enterprise and Ultimate editions support all the features available in other Windows 7 editions but also support all the enterprise features such as EFS, Remote Desktop Host, AppLocker, DirectAccess, BitLocker, BranchCache, and Boot from VHD. Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate editions support up to two physical processors. eXaM tIP Many of the Windows 7 features tested on the 70-680 exam are available only in the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows 7. Windows 7 Hardware Requirements Operating systems work properly only when you install them on computers that meet the minimum hardware requirements. You should remember that these requirements are just for the operating system itself, but most people want to do more than just run an operating system: they also want to run applications. Applications require memory and storage space beyond that of the operating system minimum requirements. As someone who may be responsible for making recommendations about the specifications of computer hardware that your organization will purchase, you need to take into account the hardware requirements of the operating system and the applications that will run on it, not just the operating system itself. Windows 7 Starter and Windows 7 Home Basic have the following minimum hardware requirements: n 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor n 512 MB of system memory n A 20-GB (x64) or 16-GB (x86) hard disk drive, traditional or Solid State Disk (SSD), with at least 15 GB of available space n A graphics adapter that supports DirectX 9 graphics and 32 MB of graphics memory Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions have the following minimum hardware requirements: n 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor n 1 GB of system memory n A 40-GB hard disk drive (traditional or SSD) with at least 15 GB of available space n A graphics adapter that supports DirectX 9 graphics, has a Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver, Pixel Shader 2.0 hardware, and 32 bits per pixel and a minimum of 128 MB graphics memory 6 CHAPTER 1 Install, Migrate, or Upgrade to Windows 7 Windows 7 supports two different processor architectures. The 32-bit version of Windows 7 is usually labeled as being x86. You should install the x86 version of Windows 7 on computers with older processors, such as the Pentium IV, as well as newer small form factor laptop computers, also known as netbooks. The main limitation of the x86 version of Windows 7 is that it does not support more than 4 GB of RAM. It is possible to install the x86 version of Windows 7 on computers that have x64 processors, but the operating system will be unable to utilize any RAM that the computer has beyond 4 GB. You can install the x64 version of Windows 7 only on computers that have x64-compatible processors. The x64 versions of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions support up to 128 GB of RAM. The x64 version of Windows 7 Home Basic edition supports 8 GB and the x64 edition of Home Premium supports a maximum of 16 GB. Quick Check n What is the difference between Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate editions? Quick Check Answer n The difference is in the licensing arrangements. Windows 7 Enterprise can be used only by organizations that have enterprise licensing agreements with Microsoft. Windows 7 Ultimate uses a retail license. Preparing the Windows 7 Installation Source You can use several methods to install Windows 7. The most appropriate method depends on your individual circumstances. Although installing using a DVD-ROM is fine when you have only a couple of computers, you might want to consider alternate methods when you have to deploy Windows 7 to 20 computers or more. When considering which installation source to use, consider the following factors: n Do you need to install Windows 7 on more than one computer? n Does the computer or computers have DVD-ROM drives? n Do you need to deploy a customized version of Windows 7? n Do you want to automate the installation process? Using a DVD as an Installation Source If you purchase a boxed version of Windows 7 at a retail outlet, it will come with a DVD-ROM. Some enterprise customers also have access to a special section of Microsoft’s Web site where they are able to download a DVD-ROM image of Windows 7 in International Organization for Standardization (ISO) format. You need to write this image to a DVD-ROM before it is possible to use it to install Windows 7. To install Windows 7 from a DVD-ROM, boot from the DVD-ROM drive and follow the prompts. You may need to configure the computer’s BIOS to support booting from Lesson 1: Installing Windows 7 CHAPTER 1 7 DVD-ROM. If a computer does not have a DVD-ROM drive attached, you can still install from DVD-ROM—you just need to acquire a USB DVD-ROM drive. In this case, it will be necessary to configure the computer’s BIOS to boot from the USB device. A DVD-ROM installation may suit your organization if you have a small number of computers to install Windows 7 on and you do not need to customize the operating system image. Using a USB Drive as an Installation Source Small form factor laptop computers, often called netbook computers or netbooks, are becoming increasingly popular. One drawback for the IT professional, however, is that these computers are so small that they often do not have an attached optical media drive. Although it is possible to purchase DVD drives that use USB connections to attach to netbook computers and perform an installation, more administrators are turning to cheap multi-gigabyte USB storage devices, sometimes called flash drives, as their preferred installation media of choice. USB storage devices have several advantages over DVD-ROMs. With a USB storage device, you can modify the operating system image directly using tools such as Dism.exe. You can add extra drivers to the image stored on a USB storage device, something that is not possible to do to the installation image stored on a DVD-ROM. You will learn how to do this in Chapter 3, “Deploying System Images.” Another advantage of USB flash devices is that they have faster read speeds than DVD-ROM drives, meaning that the time to transfer the operating system files to the target computer’s hard disk is reduced. A USB storage device needs to be 4 GB or larger if you want to use it as a Windows 7 installation source. This is because the x64 installation files are approximately 3.2 GB in size and the x86 installation files are approximately 2.5 GB in size. You use one architecture’s installation files only when preparing a deployment from a USB storage device. The USB storage device should use the FAT32 file system. To prepare a USB storage device as an installation source for Windows 7, perform the following steps: 1. Connect the USB storage device to a computer running Windows 7 or Windows Vista. Ensure that the storage device has no data stored on it that you want to keep (or that you have moved such data to another storage device) because this procedure removes all existing data. 2. Open an elevated command prompt and type diskpart. 3. At the DISKPART> prompt, type list disk. Identify which disk connected to the computer represents the USB storage device. 4. At the DISKPART> prompt, type select disk X where X is the number of the disk that you have identified as the USB storage device. 5. At the DISKPART> prompt, type clean. When the disk is clean, type create partition primary. 8 CHAPTER 1 Install, Migrate, or Upgrade to Windows 7 6. At the DISKPART> prompt, type format fs=fat32 quick. When the format is completed type active and then exit. 7. After you have completed these steps, copy all the files located on the Windows 7 installation DVD to the USB storage device. 8. Configure the BIOS computer on which you want to install Windows 7 to boot from the USB storage device. Attach the USB storage device and then reboot the computer to start installation. There are several disadvantages to using USB storage devices as a Windows 7 installation source. Although they are reusable, USB storage devices are more expensive than DVD-ROMs. USB storage devices are also not suitable when you have to deploy Windows 7 to a large number of computers over a short amount of time because you need to attach a USB device to each computer to install Windows 7 on it. For example, if you wanted to deploy Windows 7 to 100 computers, you could configure 100 USB devices with the Windows 7 installation media and answer files for unattended installation, or you could configure one Windows Deployment Services (WDS) server and perform the installation over the network—a much more convenient option. Using a Network Share as an Installation Source As an alternative to DVD-ROMs or USB storage devices, you can host the Windows 7 installation files on a network share. To do this, you need to copy the contents of the Windows 7 installation media to a network share accessible to the clients on which you want to deploy Windows 7. To access a network share as an installation source from the client computer, you need to boot the client computer into the Windows Preintallation Environment (Windows PE) environment. The Windows PE environment is a minimally featured operating system that allows you to access diagnostic and maintenance tools as well as access network drives. Once you have successfully booted into the Windows PE environment, you can connect to the network share and begin the installation by running Setup.exe. You will learn about creating a bootable Windows PE DVD-ROM or USB device in Chapter 2, “Configuring System Images.” Because it is necessary to boot into Windows PE, using a network share as the installation source has several of the disadvantages of a DVD-ROM– and USB storage media–based installation. Even though you are using a network share to host the operating system installation files, you still need a DVD-ROM or USB storage device installed or attached to boot the computer. Network installations of this type are also slower than comparable installations from DVD-ROM or USB storage devices as the setup routine must transfer all operating system installation files across the network. An advantage of using a network share as an installation source is that if you want to make changes to it, you can do so centrally. If you want to make a change to a USB source, you need to update each USB source. If you want to make a change to a DVD-ROM source, you must burn each DVD again. It will not be necessary to change the Windows PE media that you use to boot client computers when you update the central source. You can also use a network Lesson 1: Installing Windows 7 CHAPTER 1 9 share as an installation source when your organization does not have an Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) infrastructure or does not have servers running the Windows Server 2008 operating system. Using Windows Deployment Services as an Installation Source If you are going to perform more than a couple of operating system installations over the network, and you are using an AD DS network and Windows Server 2008, you should consider using Windows Deployment Services (WDS). WDS, a role that is available to a computer running Windows Server 2008, allows for the automatic deployment of operating system images. WDS uses multicast technology, which means that rather than transmitting a separate copy of the full operating system image across the network to each computer that you want to install Windows 7 on, WDS transmits the operating system once to all computers configured to receive it. To access a WDS server, a computer must have a PXE-compliant network card or boot from a WDS discover image. When the computer boots from a PXE-compliant network card or discover image, the computer contacts the WDS server and can start the operating system installation process. Preparing the WDS server involves importing the installation image, Install.wim, from the Windows 7 installation media to the server. You do not copy the installation files across the network, as you do when you are preparing a network share or USB storage device. You can also configure unattended installation files on the WDS server and modify the operating system images on the WDS server. You will learn more about the options for deploying customized Windows 7 images in Lesson 2 of Chapter 3. More Info WINDOWS DEPLOYMENT SERVICES To learn more about WDS, consult the following Web page on Microsoft TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc265612.aspx. eXaM tIP Know which type of installation source you should use under specific circumstances. Installing Windows 7 Installing Windows 7 is a relatively simple process. You start the setup process, either by booting from a DVD-ROM or USB storage device, connecting to a WDS server, or by booting into Windows PE, connecting to a network share, and running Setup.exe. The setup proceeds from there. You can perform a standard or an unattended installation. The differences between these are as follows: n Standard installation During a standard installation, an administrator answers a series of questions that assist in configuring the Windows 7 deployment to the new 10 CHAPTER 1 Install, Migrate, or Upgrade to Windows 7 computer. This type of installation is suitable when you are deploying Windows 7 to a small number of computers. n Unattended installation You can perform an unattended installation of Windows 7 by using an installation file called Unattend.xml. These installation files store answers to the questions asked by the Setup Wizard. When the Windows 7 installation process starts, Windows checks for attached USB storage devices that have this file in their root directory. Unattended installations are suitable when you need to deploy Windows 7 to a large number of computers because you do not have to interact with them manually, responding to prompts, as the installation progresses. Clean Installations A clean installation is one performed on a computer that does not currently have an operating system installed. This might be a brand-new computer arriving straight from the factory, or it might be an older computer with a brand-new hard disk drive on which you wish to install Windows 7. You can use any installation media to perform a clean installation. Although you perform a clean installation in the practice exercise at the end of this chapter, the next few pages will describe in detail some of the options and concepts that you encounter during the installation process. The first page that you encounter when performing an installation asks you which language you wish to install, the time and currency format, and what keyboard or input method you are using for the installation. This selection is important, not only because installing Microsoft Windows in a foreign language can be a challenge if you do not understand that language, but because even keyboards from other English-speaking countries have layouts that differ from the standard layout of a U.S. keyboard. If you are installing Windows 7 for users that need access to multiple keyboard layouts, you can add these alternate layouts once the installation process has completed. Then the user can switch between them as necessary. The next page, shown in Figure 1-1, is the Install Windows 7 page. From here, you can start the installation by clicking Install Now. You can also access some of the Windows 7 repair tools by clicking Repair Your Computer. You will learn more about the repair options in Chapter 14, “Recovery and Backup.” Clicking the What To Know Before Installing Windows option provides you with general installation advice, such as ensuring that your computer needs to meet the minimum hardware requirements and that you should have your product key ready. The next step is to review and accept the Windows 7 license terms. This is followed by choosing what type of installation you want to perform: Upgrade or Custom (Advanced). When you are performing a clean installation, you should select Custom (Advanced). Almost all installations of Windows 7 that you will perform will be of the Custom (Advanced) type rather than upgrades. You can initiate upgrade installations only from within Windows Vista or Windows 7. You learn more about upgrading to Windows 7 in Lesson 2. Lesson 1: Installing Windows 7 CHAPTER 1 11 FIGURE 1-1 The Install Windows 7 page The next step in the installation process is determining where the Windows 7 files will be stored. Windows 7 needs a minimum of 15 GB of free space, though you should generally allocate more than this amount. From this page, it is possible to partition an existing disk into smaller volumes. You can do this by clicking Drive Options (Advanced). The installation routine recognizes most Integrated Development Environment (IDE), Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA), and Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) disk drives automatically. If your computer has special disk drive hardware, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) array, it may be necessary to use the Load Driver option. It is necessary to use this option only if the disk that you want to install Windows on is not shown as a possible install location. If your disk is shown as an available option, Windows 7 has already loaded the appropriate drivers. Once you select the location where you want to install Windows 7, the Windows 7 installation process begins. note INSTALLING TO VHD When performing a clean install of Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate editions, you have the additional option of installing to a virtual hard disk (VHD) file rather than directly to the volume. You will learn more about the steps required to do this in Chapter 2. After the computer reboots, you need to specify a user name and a computer name. The user name you specify is the default administrator account for that computer. The account named Administrator, used in previous versions as the default administrative account, is disabled by default. It is possible to enable this account only by modifying Group Policy. Because the user name that you specify during setup is the default administrator account for that computer, organizations that are performing Windows 7 deployment need to come 12 CHAPTER 1 Install, Migrate, or Upgrade to Windows 7 up with an account naming policy. Most organizations do not let the person that uses a computer run with full administrator privileges for security reasons. Having a consistent naming policy for the default administrator account also ensures that IT professionals do not have to guess what the name of the local administrator account is when they need to perform a local administrator logon. In organizational deployments, it is also necessary to have a consistent computer naming policy. Computer and user names cannot contain special characters, as shown in Figure 1-2. FIGURE 1-2 Local administrator and computer names After you specify a user name and a computer name, it is necessary to enter a password and a password hint. Because this user account is the default administrative account for the computer running Windows 7, the password hint should not allow a reasonable person to guess the password. Password hints configured for local user accounts can be viewed by all users at the logon window, which can present a security risk. The next step gives the option of entering your product key and configuring Windows to activate automatically after installation completes and you connect to the Internet. You should remember that you have 30 days in which to perform product activation and that you do not have to do it immediately after the installation process completes. Instead, you should use these 30 days to ensure that you are happy with the software and hardware configuration of the computer. You should not initiate product activation until you are happy with the software and hardware configuration. If you enter a product key at this time, Windows 7 automatically selects the edition that corresponds to that key. If you do not enter a product key, you must select which edition of Windows 7 you are going to install on the computer. You should be careful here because . itself. Windows 7 Starter and Windows 7 Home Basic have the following minimum hardware requirements: n 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 6 4- bit (x 64) processor n 512 MB of system memory n A 20-GB (x 64) or. Upgrade to Windows 7 Windows 7 supports two different processor architectures. The 32-bit version of Windows 7 is usually labeled as being x86. You should install the x86 version of Windows 7 on computers. that the computer has beyond 4 GB. You can install the x 64 version of Windows 7 only on computers that have x 6 4- compatible processors. The x 64 versions of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise,