Microsoft Windows 2000 Information

*For the sake of availability Windows XP PROFESSIONAL Screenshots are shown for most screenshots, however the differances are nominal unless stated otherwise.

What's the difference between Windows 2000 Professional, Server, Advanced Server and Data Center?

Windows 2000 is virtually an improved version of NT, building off it's strengths and improving it's weaknesses.

Professional Edition was designed for to replace Windows NT and Windows 95/96 for use on Workstations in corporate environments. It has hundreds of improvements over NT and supports up to two processors at one time.

Server Edition includes all the features of Professional edition but also includes support for up to 4 processors, Active Directory Support, Internet Authentication services, File, Print and Applications server capabilities.

Advance Server addition includes all the features Server Edition but it supports up to 8 processors, two-way clustering and load balancing, and up to 32 gigabytes of physical memory.

Data Center Limited Edition again includes all the services and features as the Advance Server Edition and more such as; 32-Way Symmetric Multiprocessor Support, Online Transaction Processing, 4-node Failover Clustering and Integrated Hardware and Software Support using the Joint Support Queue.

Windows 2000 professional lacks what main features compared other versions?

While Professional Edition has many of the same features as the higher versions, it lacks an Active Directory, the ability to Cluster and Load Balance. However, it still does have the ability to support multiple processors (2).

Is USB, Plug and Play supported?

One big improvement is the addition of USB & Plug and Play support. Windows 2000 uses the Windows Installer Service to install peripherals without the need to shut down the computer and restart.

Are maintenance utilities included with Windows 2000?

Several maintenance utilities are included with Windows 2000, one you might be familiar with is an Updated Version of Defrag, to improve disk performance.

How many Dial-Up connections can Professional Edition support?

Professional Edition supports only one, however, Server Edition and higher can handle up to 256.

Should a hard drive be partitioned using Windows 2000?

Partitioning is up to the user and depends on several factors. If more then one operating system is installed on one system, for example, Linux, on the same computer, a partition is needed for exclusive use by Windows 2000's file system. If a large hard disk is being used, then a small section can be partitioned for use by Windows 2000's system files for optimum speed. A smaller area to search for files leads to faster search times.

What file system does Windows 2000 use, is it compatible with Windows 9x?

Windows 2000 uses the same native file system as NT, NTFS, but it can still use the FAT32 file system introduced by the 9x series. Windows 9x however can only use FAT 32 and FAT 16 from the older versions of Windows 3.x.

Do I have to be at the designated workstation to install Windows 2000 Professional?

While most home users install Windows 2000 Professional at the computer, Professional allows an administrator to remotely install the operating system, security patches and applications over the network.

What methods can I use to install?

Of course you can use the CD and insert it into the computer you want to install the OS on, however when you dealing with 500, 10 or even 5 computers, the task becomes time consuming. An alternative would be to create an image of a computer that has the OS on it, and deploy it to each computer, while this is faster then installing the OS from scratch on each system, it requires that every computer Professional is installed on be identical You would install, with the CD, Windows 2000 Professional onto one computer from which you will make a Master Disk Image from. After installing to OS, you use a program such as Norton Ghost to produce an image of the clean install. Depending on the software you use, you normally just insert the Master Disk Image into each computer you want to install on and follow a few prompts.

The fastest way would be to install over the network. Using Setup Manager, you can create a batch file so that the OS can be installed unattended, an example batch file created by Setup Manager is below;

# @rem SetupMgrTag
# @echo off
#
#
# rem
# rem This is a SAMPLE batch script generated by the Setup Manager Wizard.
# rem If this script is moved from the location where it was generated, it may have to be modified.
# rem
#
# set AnswerFile=.\unattend.txt
# set SetupFiles=D:\i386s
#
# D:\i386s\winnt /s:%SetupFiles% /u:%AnswerFile%

If there are several logical partitions, what are they considered?

They're all considered part of the Extended Partition.

If I have a hard disk formatted in FAT, can Windows 2000 access it?

No, only FAT 32 and NTFS.

When installing, what part of the installation allows me to cusomize my localized settings?

The Regional Settings Screen.

Can a system with 32 megabytes of physical memory run Windows 2000?

No, the minimum system requirements states 64 as a minimum.

What does a "Driver mismatch" indicate?

It means the driver is not compatible with the hard ware it's assigned to.

Will a system with a Pentium 66Mhz processor run Windows 2000 with minimal settings?

No, the lowest you can use is a 133Mhz Processor.

Whats a low end computer capable of running Windows 2000?

A computer with a 1.36 Mhz Processor, 64 Megabytes of Physical memory and a 4 GB hard drive would run Windows 2000 fairly well. The more processor power and memory available to the operating system the better it will run.

I need to ensure my files are protected, whats the best File Storage System for this?

NTFS has better security features, including encryption.

ACPI, whats that?

Advanced Configuration and Power Interface is a standard developed by Intel to conserve power consumption, primarily in Laptops.

How do I know if a system is fully compatible with Windows 2000?

Use the Hardware Compatability list, it lets you know if anything will cease functioning under Windows 2000.

I get an error when installing Windows 200 from the CD, what can be the cause?

There can be several causes, the CD is dirty or damaged, the CD drive is faulting or you might not have enough free space.

How much space do I need?

A 2 Gigabyte hard disk with atleast 650 Megabytes free. However, more space is generally required by companies, and may use RAID configurations.

Raid array?

The basics of a raid array the use of a controller card to combine multiple drives to increase speed, increase file integrity or both. In a basic raid array, two like drives could be "Striped" [ RAID(0) ] where data is divided by the number of drives on the array and portions are saved on each drive equally, therefore combining the speed of all the drives since smaller files take less time to write and read. For example two 7200 RPM drives on a Striping configuration would be roughly 14400 RPM, comparable to a high-end SCSI drive. The drawback would be the fact that with each drive added to the array, the file integrity lowers, if anyone drive would fail all data would be lost on all drives due to the fact that the every file spans all drives. The other basic option would be to "Mirrior" [ RAID(1) ]. In this mode, two or more drives are set to incease integrity, every drive strengthens the integrety. When a file is written to any drive, it is also saved on every other drive on the array, so that if one drive fails, there is one or more back ups of all data on the damaged file. The only draw back of this mode is there is no increase in performance, it's like having a single drive thats always backed up. A more complex array would be [ RAID(0+1) ] which is a combination of Striping and Mirrioring. This array requires atleast 4 drives minimum. The setup would basicly be two drives Striping, and two mirroring the striped drives. With a set up like this, if a drive fails, there is a backup drive ready with the same information on, and the performance speed is still increased. The main flaw would be price, the more complex and large arrays are, the more drives are required and even controllers with more memory to handle the amount of information being written and saved. the picture below shows two 120GB Drives in a Striping [ RAID(0) ] Array.

If I'd like to create a Domain or a Workgroup, when would I decide that?

During the installation process, when it prompts you for network settings.

How are user accounts added?

You can use the Computer Management Console located in the Administrative tools folder. Go to "local users and groups" tree and select the "Users" folder. Right click in a blank area and select "New User". Here you can set the desired user name, password if any, and other information.

What are user rights on folders and files?

User rights add or remove permissions for accessing folders and files. This is when you want only a certain groups or users to have a designated amount of access to information. If assigning access permissions to many people, it's suggested you use group permissions and add users to the group instead.

What good is encryption? How do I use it?

Encryption makes the file or folder readable only to the user who set the encryption, while other users can still see the file, they can not view the contents. This is good for sensitive information that only one person should have access to. In order to use this feature, the NTFS file system has to be in use. Go to the file or folder properties, select the advanced button then "Enable encryption to secure data"