Survey%20of%20Operating%20Systems

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(No Transcript)
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A Look under the Hood
Chapter
8

• Understanding the Registry
• Working with Device Drivers
• Managing Performance in Windows
• Windows File Systems
• The Windows Startup Process
• Troubleshooting Windows Problems

3
Learning Objectives

• Define the role of the registry in Windows and
  back up and modify the registry when needed
• Install, configure, and manage device drivers
• Monitor and optimize performance in Windows
• Compare the file systems supported by Windows
• Describe the Windows startup process
• Troubleshoot common Windows problems

4
Understanding the Registry

• The Registry Defined
• The registry is a database that includes
  settings for
• Device drivers
• Services
• Installed applications
• Operating system components
• User preferences

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Understanding the Registry

• Automatic registry changes occur when
• Windows starts up or shuts down
• Windows Setup is run
• Changes are made with a Control Panel applet
• A new device is installed
• Changes to Windows configuration
• Changes are made to user desktop preferences
• An application is installed or modified
• Changes are made to preferences in any application

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Understanding the Registry

• Registry Files
• SYSTEM
• SOFTWARE
• SECURITY
• SAM
• DEFAULT
• NTUSER.DAT

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Understanding the Registry

• Registry Files (continued)
• SYSTEM
• Information used at startup, including device
  drivers to be loaded, the order of their loading
  and configuration settings, the starting and
  configuring of services, and other settings
• SOFTWARE
• Configuration settings for software installed on
  the local computer
• SECURITY
• Local security policy settings for the computer

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Understanding the Registry

• Registry Files (continued)
• SAM
• Local security accounts database
• DEFAULT
• User desktop settings used when no user is logged
  on
• NTUSER.DAT
• User profile for a single user
• The first time a user logs on the NTUSER.DAT file
  from the DEFAULT USER folder is used
• File is saved in the top-level personal folder

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Understanding the Registry

• Viewing the Registry Structure
• View as a hierarchical structure
• Use REGEDIT.EXE or REGEDT32.EXE
• Navigation similar to disk folders
• root keys five folders at the top
• subtrees root keys and their contents
• subkey key that exists within another key
• value entries settings within a key

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Understanding the Registry

• Data Types in Value Entries
• Format of the data within a key
• The Short List
• REG_BINARY
• REG_DWORD
• REG_EXPAND_SZ
• REG_MULTI-SZ
• REG_SZ

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Understanding the Registry

• Permanent Portions of the Registry Registry
  Hives
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SECURITY
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM
• HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_USER

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Understanding the Registry

• Temporary Portion of the Registry
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Hardware
• Information from the hardware detection process
  during Windows startup
• It is not saved to a file

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Working with Device Drivers

• Finding Device Drivers
• Windows distribution CD
• On floppy disk or CD that came with the device
• Web site of the manufacturer

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Working with Device Drivers

• Permissions Required for Installing and
  Configuring Device Drivers
• Administrator or member of Administrators group
  to install any device driver in Windows
• Any member of Users group may disconnect and
  reconnect a device
• Driver is not uninstalled during disconnect, just
  given a status of not present

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Working with Device Drivers

• Working with Signed vs. Unsigned Device Drivers
• Code signing of device drivers (driver signing)
• Windows uses file signature verification
• Administrator can control how Windows reacts to
  unsigned drivers
• Driver Signing Options
• Ignore
• Warn
• Block

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Working with Device Drivers

• Disconnecting a Plug-and-Play Device
• Can disconnect USB and IEE 1394 external
  plug-and-play devices while powered up
• First warn Windows using the Safely Remove
  Hardware icon in the System Tray
• Safely Remove Hardware dialog box
• Stop a Hardware Device dialog box

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Working with Device Drivers

• Installing and Configuring a Non-PnP Device
• Follow instructions in documentation
• Manufacturers installation program preferred
• If no installation program for driver, use Add
  Hardware applet

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Working with Device Drivers

• Using Device Manager to Manage Device Drivers
• View and change device properties
• Update device drivers
• Configure device settings
• Uninstall devices
• Available since Windows 95 (except NT)
• Roll back a driver update in Windows XP
• System Hardware Device Manager button

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Working with Device Drivers

• Step-by-Step 8.01
• Getting to Know Device Manager
• Page 389

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Working with Device Drivers

• Hardware Profiles
• Include registry keys that contain
• Settings defining the devices that must be
  started during Windows startup
• The list of files associated with each device
• Configuration settings for each device
• Profile 1 is created during Windows installation
• Defines all the existing hardware at the time of
  installation
• Every device is enabled

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Working with Device Drivers

• Hardware Profiles (continued)
• On a desktop computer, you will probably always
  have a single hardware profile
• View, create, copy, rename, and modify hardware
  profiles by clicking the Hardware Profiles button
  on the Hardware page in System Properties
• If two or more hardware profiles, Windows
  startup pauses and displays the Hardware Profile
  /Configuration Recovery menu
• Useful on a laptop with a docking station

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Managing Performance in Windows

• Windows Performance Settings
• Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 Performance
  Settings
• Limited compared to Windows XP
• Windows XP Visual Effects
• Let Windows Choose What's Best for My Computer
• Adjust for Best Appearance
• Adjust for Best Performance
• Custom

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Managing Performance in Windows

• Step-by-Step 8.02
• Experiment with Visual Effects
• Page 395

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Managing Performance in Windows

• Windows Performance Settings (continued)
• Processor Scheduling
• Programs
• Background Services
• Memory Usage
• Programs
• System Cache
• Virtual Memory
• Custom size
• System managed size
• No paging file

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Managing Performance in Windows

• Performance Monitoring
• Frequently done on network servers
• Not usually done on Windows desktop computers
• Few performance monitoring tools in desktop OSs

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Managing Performance in Windows

• Performance Monitoring (continued)
• System Monitor
• Gathers and displays performance data
• Monitors counters belonging to objects
• Displays results in report, graph, or histogram
• Performance Logs and Alerts
• Create alerts
• Create counter logs
• Create trace logs

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Windows File Systems

• FAT File Systems in Windows
• Logical structure
• File allocation table (FAT)
• Directories
• FAT16 used by DOS and Windows
• FAT32 introduced in Windows 95 OEM Service
  Release 2
• Allows larger partitions
• Allocates disk space more efficiently
• FAT12 is used on floppy disks

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Windows File Systems

• Windows NTFS File System
• Available since Windows NT, excluding Windows 9x
• Logical structure Master File Table
• Includes a transaction processing system
• Allocates disk space more efficiently than FAT
• NTFS5 theoretically supports a volume size of
  256TB

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Windows File Systems

• Windows NTFS File System (continued)
• Actual hardware limit is 2TB
• Offers file and folder security through
  permissions
• Pre-Windows 2000 NTFS is now called NTFS4
• Since NTFS4 is supports file compressions
• NTFS5 supports file encryption and indexing

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Windows File Systems

• File Systems for CDs and DVDs
• CD-ROM File System (CDFS) for
• CD-ROMS
• Writeable CDs (CD-R)
• Rewriteable CDs (CD-RW)
• Universal disk format (UDF)
• DVD ROMs
• DVD-R
• DVD-RW
• DVD-RAM driver (new in Windows XP)
• Supports 4.7GB DVD-RAM disk standard

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The Windows Startup Process

• Windows Boot and System Files
• Boot files reside in the root of drive C
• System files reside in the folder in which
  Windows is installed (default location is
  C\Windows or C\WINNT)
• System partition contains the boot files
• Boot partition contains the system files
• In most cases they are both drive C
• Sometimes C is system and D or E is boot

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The Windows Startup Process

• Windows Boot Files
• Located in C\
• BOOT.INI
• BOOTSECT.DOS (not always present)
• NTBOOTDD.SYS (not always present)
• NTDETECT.COM
• NTLDR

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The Windows Startup Process

• Windows System Files
• CSRSS.EXE systemroot\SYSTEM32\
• Device drivers systemroot\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS
• HAL.DLL systemroot\SYSTEM32\

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The Windows Startup Process

• Windows registry files loaded during system
  startup
• DEFAULT The default user profile until user
  logon
• SAM The security accounts data base
• SECURITY The security hive of the registry
• SOFTWARE The software hive of the registry
• SYSTEM The system hive of the registry

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The Windows Startup Process

• Phases of the Startup Process
• Phase I Power-on Self-Test
• CPU loads BIOS programs beginning with POST
• POST
• Tests system hardware
• Determines the amount of memory present
• Verifies devices required for OS startup are
  working
• Loads configuration settings from CMOS memory
• Briefly displays information on the screen

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The Windows Startup Process

• Phases of the Startup Process (continued)
• Phase II Initial Startup
• CMOS settings used to locate drive with boot
  files
• Loads MBR from first physical sector of the hard
  disk
• MBR code loads the boot sector from the primary
  active partition of the first hard disk
• Boot code from the boot sector loads NTLDR

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The Windows Startup Process

• Phases of the Startup Process (continued)
• Phase III Boot Loader Phase
• NTLDR (the boot loader) takes control
• Switches the processor to protected mode
• Starts the files system code
• Reads the BOOT.INI file
• In some cases, displays the OS Selection menu
• If a Windows NT family OS is selected, NTLDR
  remains in control and moves to the next phase

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The Windows Startup Process

• Phases of the Startup Process (continued)
• Phase IV Detect and Configure Hardware
• NTLDR starts NTDETECT.COM
• NTDETECT.COM scans the hardware and gives the
  list to NTLDR for later inclusion in the registry

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The Windows Startup Process

• Phases of the Startup Process (continued)
• Phase V Kernel Loading
• NTLDR looks in BOOT.INI for location of NTOSKRNL
• NTLDR starts NTOSKRNL.EXE (the kernel)
• NTLDR passes on the hardware information
• NTLDR loads HAL.DLL
• NTLDR loads SYSTEM
• NTLDR loads drivers required at startup
• Kernel scans the registry for other components

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The Windows Startup Process

• Phases of the Startup Process (continued)
• Phase V Kernel Loading (continued)
• Kernel loads and initializes the components
• Kernel starts SMSS.EXE
• SMSS.EXE loads the kernel-mode Windows subsystem
• Windows switches from text mode to graphics mode
• Session manager starts user-mode Windows
  subsystem
• Session manager creates pagefile.sys
• Session manager starts the Windows logon service

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The Windows Startup Process

• Phases of the Startup Process (continued)
• Phase VI Logon
• WINLOGON supports logging on and logging off
• WINLOGON starts SERVICES.EXE
• WINLOGON starts LSASS.EXE
• The Begin Logon prompt appears
• WINLOGON responds to Ctrl-Alt-Delete by
  displaying the Logon to Windows dialog box

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The Windows Startup Process

• Phases of the Startup Process (continued)
• Phase VI Logon (continued)
• User enters a user name and password
• Logon scripts are run
• Startup programs for various applications are run
  
• Non-critical services are started
• Programs and services are started from several
  locations
• Various registry settings
• Startup folders created in the profiles for All
  Users and for currently logged on user

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The Windows Startup Process

• Modifying System Startup with the BOOT.INI File
• Contains the locations of systemroot
• Contains location for system files of an
  alternate OS
• Text file that can be edited directly or
  indirectly

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The Windows Startup Process

• Modifying System Startup with the BOOT.INI File
  (continued)
• Lines beginning with "Multi" provide location of
  systemroot.
• boot loader
• timeout30
• defaultmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW
  S
• operating systems
• multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS"Micr
  osoft XP" /fastdetect

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Cooperative Troubleshooting
• Elicit problem symptoms from customers
• Have customers reproduce errors as part of the
  diagnostics process
• Identify recent changes to the computer by the
  user

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Proactive Tasks
• Keeping Windows Updated
• Windows XP Service Pack 2
• Configuring Automatic Update
• Working with Windows Update
• Using Runas
• Command-line program for running a single
  command using a user account other than the one
  currently logged on.
• Use when logged on as an ordinary user, and
  needing to run a single command requiring
  administrative rights

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Step-by-Step 8.03
• Create and Test a Runas Shortcut
• Page 409

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Create Startup Disks
• Windows NT/2000/XP startup disks
• Only contain the boot files
• Cannot start up Windows completely unless the
  system files are located on the hard disk
• Use when boot files are damaged on the hard drive
• Start with this disk to bypass the hard disk boot
  files
• Format floppy disk in Windows
• Copy to the floppy NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM,
  BOOT.INI, and NTBOOTDD.SYS (if present)

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Step-by-Step 8.04
• Creating and Testing a Windows Startup Disk
• Page 411

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Create Startup Disks (continued)
• MS-DOS and Windows 98 Startup Disks
• Both run MS-DOS
• Cannot start up Windows completely unless the
  system files are located on the hard disk
• Use when boot files are damaged on the hard drive
• Start with this disk to by-pass the hard disk
  boot files
• Format floppy disk in Windows
• Copy to the floppy NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM,
  BOOT.INI, and NTBOOTDD.SYS (if present)

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Back up Data Files and the Registry
• Before making changes, back up data files and
  registry
• Back up a portion of the registry using Regedit
• Back up entire registry using a backup program
• Third-party backup programs
• More options and a greater variety of media
• Windows Backup (NTBACKUP)
• NT version only backs up to tape
• Windows 2000/XP versions back up to any hard
  disk or network location (providing permissions
  allows)

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Alerts
• Notification triggered by defined system event
• Windows NT 4.0 Control Panel Server applet
• Predefined events only cannot specify events
• Can only define who receives alerts
• Windows 2000/XP Performance Logs and Alerts node
  of Computer Management
• Selectable triggering events
• Example when disk space reaches 80 capacity
• Action can be more than an alert

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Step-by-Step 8.05
• Configuring an Alert
• Page 414

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Troubleshooting with Event Viewer
• Event Logs
• System Events
• OS Components
• Drivers, services, etc.
• Application events
• Office suites, etc.
• Windows components that run in the GUI
• Events recorded by Dr. Watson applet
• Security events
• Only logged if auditing turned on and events
  selected

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Troubleshooting with Event Viewer (continued)
• Configuring and Saving Event Logs
• Properties for each log file allow setting of
  maximum size and action to take when the log
  file is full
• Actions clear each log file, save log file to
  view later, open a previously saved log file,
  and create multiple views
• Use context menu of log file to access actions

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Solving Problems by Modifying the Registry
• Modified automatically when
• Windows Setup is run
• A new device is installed
• A device is configured
• Changes are made though Control Panel applets
• A change is made in the OS or an application
• Direct Registry modification is part of some
  problem solutions
• Only do this when there is no other choice

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Step-by-Step 8.06
• Modifying the Registry
• Page 420

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Last Known Good Configuration Recovery
• Startup option in Windows NT family of OSs
• Selects the last configuration changes set before
  the last successful user logon
• How to
• Windows NT 4.0
• Select OS from OS selection menu
• Press space bar to bring up Last Known Good Menu
• Press L to switch to the last known good
  configuration
• Windows 2000 and Windows XP
• Press F8 after the POST and before Windows
  splash screen appears
• Select Last Known Good Configuration

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Troubleshooting Startup Problems with the
  Windows Startup Disk
• NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM is missing
• Boot with Windows startup disk, and copy the
  missing file from A\ to C\
• NTOSKRNL is invalid or missing
• Usually indicates that BOOT.INI is missing,
  damaged, or contains incorrect path
• Boot with Windows startup disk, and copy
  BOOT.INI file from A\ to C\

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Troubleshooting Startup Problems with Startup
  Modes
• Windows NT 4.0 Startup Options are limited
• Normal Windows startup
• Windows startup with standard VGA driver
• Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional
• Safe Mode minus several drivers and components
• Safe Mode with Networking like above, with
  networking enabled
• Safe Mode with command prompt a command prompt
  as a user interface (EXPLORER not started)

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Step-by-Step 8.07
• Using Safe Mode
• Page 424

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Troubleshooting Startup Problems with Startup
  Modes (continued)
• Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional
  (continued)
• Enable Boot Logging
• Enable VGA Mode
• Directory Services Restore Mode (domain
  controllers)
• Debugging Mode
• Start Windows Normally
• Reboot
• Return to OS Choices Menu

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Troubleshooting Device Problems
• Device manager shows a yellow exclamation mark
  next to a device with a problem
• Problem may be hardware, driver, or the ability
  of the OS to automatically configure it
• Double-click device icon to open Properties
• Use Troubleshoot button to find problem
  resolution

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Step-by-Step 8.08
• Working with Device Manager
• Page 427

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Troubleshooting Windows Problems

• Recovery Options
• Advanced options beyond Safe Mode
• Emergency Repair Process
• Recovery Console
• System Restore
• Automated System Recovery (ASR)

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Chapter Summary

• Understanding the Registry
• The registry is a database of all configuration
  settings in Windows. Avoid directly editing the
  registry, because you can cause severe damage.
  The Control Panel applets provide a safe way to
  edit the registry.

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Chapter Summary

• Understanding the Registry
• The registry is created during Windows setup,
  (and modified) anytime a setup or installation
  program is run after that, and during startup and
  shutdown. It is also modified anytime a device
  driver is installed, and whenever any
  application, Windows component, or device is
  configured.

68
Chapter Summary

• Understanding the Registry
• Most of the registry is saved in several files,
  called hives. They include SYSTEM, SOFTWARE,
  SECURITY, SAM, DEFAULT, and NTUSER.DAT.
• Two registry editors are found in
  WindowsRegedit.exe and Regedt32.exe. Until
  Windows XP, these were two separate editors with
  different features. Beginning with Windows XP,
  either command name brings up the same new and
  improved version of the registry editor.

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Chapter Summary

• Understanding the Registry
• The registry is viewed in a hierarchical folder
  structure in Registry Editor.
• A key is a folder object that can contain one or
  more sets of settings as well as other keys.
• The five top-level keys, or root keys, in the
  registry are called subtrees.
• A key that exists within another key is called a
  subkey.

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Chapter Summary

• Understanding the Registry
• Settings within a key are called value entries.
  Each value entry has a name, type, and data.
• The permanent portions of the registry are
  contained in the registry hives, saved in the
  files.
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Hardware contains the
  temporary portion of the registry, the
  information gathered during hardware detection
  during each Windows startup.

71
Chapter Summary

• Working with Device Drivers
• A device driver is program code created by the
  device manufacturer that allows an OS to control
  a physical device.
• Look for device drivers on the floppy disk or CD
  that comes with a device, or at the web site of
  the manufacturer.
• You must be logged on as Administrator or a
  member of the Administrators group to install
  any device driver in Windows.

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Chapter Summary

• Working with Device Drivers
• Once a device has been installed, a user may
  disconnect and reconnect the device without
  restrictionthe driver will not be uninstalled.
• Code signing is designed to avoid problems
  caused by badly written code. It involves a
  digital signature, provided by Microsoft as a
  seal of approval of program code.

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Chapter Summary

• Working with Device Drivers
• Windows uses a process called file signature
  verification to check for code signing, and an
  administrator can configure what action Windows
  takes when it detects code that does not contain
  a digital signature. Con-figure with the Driver
  Signing button located on the Hardware page of
  the System applet.

74
Chapter Summary

• Working with Device Drivers
• Always read the manufacturers docu-mentation,
  and follow the instructions before attempting to
  install a device driver, whether it is
  plug-and-play or not.

75
Chapter Summary

• Working with Device Drivers
• When an administrator installs or connects a
  plug-and-play device to a Windows computer, the
  device will be automatically detected, and the
  driver will be installed and configured with
  little or no interaction from the user, except
  to provide the device driver disk if requested.

76
Chapter Summary

• Working with Device Drivers
• Plug-and-play devices connected to USB or IEEE
  1394 (FireWire) can be disconnected without
  restarting Windows.
• Install non-plug-and-play devices by using the
  manufacturer's instructions and installa-tion
  program, if available. If the device does not
  come with an installation program, and you have
  the correct device drivers, use the Add New
  Hardware applet in Control Panel.

77
Chapter Summary

• Working with Device Drivers
• Device Manager is the tool in Windows 2000 and
  Windows XP for managing and troubleshooting
  device problems.
• A hardware profile includes the registry keys
  that contain the settings defining the devices
  that must be started during Windows startup, the
  files associated with each device, and
  configuration settings for each device.

78
Chapter Summary

• Working with Device Drivers
• Most Windows computers, especially desktops,
  only have a single hardware profile.
• Hardware profiles are very handy for a laptop
  computer that has two or more configurations,
  usually including one when it is connected to a
  docking station and another when it is undocked.
  

79
Chapter Summary

• Managing Performance in Windows
• Windows performance settings are available on
  the Advanced tab of the System Properties dialog
  box, but you should not have to make any changes
  to these settings, because Windows automatically
  adjusts to system changes to provide good
  performance.

80
Chapter Summary

• Managing Performance in Windows
• Visual effects include treatments of the GUI
  that make Windows more visually interesting and
  even fun to use, but which may come at a
  pricethe use of processor and memory.
• The Advanced page of Performance Options has even
  more settings, including Processor Scheduling,
  Memory Usage, and Virtual Memory.

81
Chapter Summary

• Managing Performance in Windows
• When a Windows computer is running low on memory
  for the operating system and any loaded
  application programs, it will use and manage a
  portion of disk space as RAM. This is called
  virtual memory.
• Windows virtual memory uses a paging file called
  PAGEFILE.SYS, which is usually located on the
  root of C.

82
Chapter Summary

• Managing Performance in Windows
• Normally, Windows manages virtual memory,
  adjusting for changing memory needs, but an
  administrator can control the size, location,
  and even the number of paging files.

83
Chapter Summary

• Managing Performance in Windows
• Performance monitoring is something that is
  usually done on network servers, not on Windows
  desktop computers. Server administrators use
  performance monitoring to ensure that the
  quality of service is maintained, and as an early
  warning of potential problems that can show up
  first as performance problems.

84
Chapter Summary

• Managing Performance in Windows
• Beginning with Windows 2000, Performance Monitor
  is replaced by a console called Performance
  containing two nodes System Monitor and
  Performance Logs and Alerts.
• System Monitor, available in both Windows 2000
  and Windows XP Professional, allows an
  administrator to gather and view perform-ance
  data involving memory, disk, processor, network,
  and other objects.

85
Chapter Summary

• Managing Performance in Windows
• The Performance Logs and Alert node in the
  Performance console actually allows three types
  of activitiescreating alerts and creating two
  types of log files counter and trace.
• The FAT file system supported in Windows 2000 and
  Windows XP includes FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32.

86
Chapter Summary

• Windows File Systems
• Windows NT 4.0 supports FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, and
  NTFS4.
• The NTFS5 file system is supported in both
  Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

87
Chapter Summary

• Windows File Systems
• The CD-ROM File System (CDFS) allows Windows OSs
  to read CD-ROMs and to read and write to
  writeable CDs (CD-R) and rewriteable CDs
  (CD-RW). Windows NT 4.0 does not natively
  support any writeable or rewriteable CDs.

88
Chapter Summary

• Windows File Systems
• The universal disk format (UDF) is a file system
  driver required for Windows to read DVD ROMs and
  to read and write DVD-R and DVD-RW. Windows XP
  has a DVD-RAM driver that supports the 4.7GB
  DVD-RAM disk standards.

89
Chapter Summary

• Windows Startup Process
• The Windows boot files, used during the boot
  sequence of startup, are NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM,
  BOOT.INI, and NTBOOTDD.SYS.
• The Windows system files, used during the load
  sequence of Windows startup, are NTOSKRNL.EXE,
  SYSTEM, and many components and driver files.

90
Chapter Summary

• Windows Startup Process
• A Windows startup disk is created by formatting a
  diskette and copying the boot files from the
  root of C to the root of A.
• A Windows startup disk can be used in case of
  damage to the boot files on an NT computer.

91
Chapter Summary

• Windows Startup Process
• There are several phases to the Windows startup
  process Power-On Self-Test (POST), initial
  startup, boot loader, detect and con-figure
  hardware, logon, and plug-and-play device
  detection.
• You can view System, Application, and Security
  logs in Event Viewer.

92
Chapter Summary

• Troubleshooting Windows Problems
• Cooperative troubleshooting is a method to use
  when troubleshooting problems on another person's
  computer. It involves
• Eliciting problem symptoms from customers
• Having customers reproduce errors as part of the
  diagnostics process
• Identifying recent changes to the computer by the
  user

93
Chapter Summary

• Troubleshooting Windows Problems
• Several proactive tasks make trouble-shooting
  easier, or even preventable. These include
  keeping Windows updated, knowing how to use
  administrative tools like the Runas command,
  preparing startup disks for each computer,
  maintaining backups, backing up the registry,
  and configuring alerts.

94
Chapter Summary

• Troubleshooting Windows Problems
• Automatic Update is provided with Windows XP,
  Windows 2000 (SP3 or later), and Windows Server
  2003. It can be configured to automatically
  download critical updates and, optionally, to
  automatically install them.

95
Chapter Summary

• Troubleshooting Windows Problems
• Windows Update is an application that connects to
  Microsoft's Windows Update web site, checks the
  status of your computer, and then provides a list
  of critical and recommended updates that you may
  choose to download and install.
• Runas is a command-line command that allows you
  to run a single command using a user account
  other than the one with which you logged on.

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Chapter Summary

• Troubleshooting Windows Problems
• A startup disk allows you to start up a computer
  from the floppy disk drive, a handy thing to do
  when you troubleshoot startup problems.
• The Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows XP
  startup disks are similar and can only be used
  through the detect and configure hardware
  phases after that, there must be Windows system
  files on the hard disk to complete the Windows
  startup.

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Chapter Summary

• Troubleshooting Windows Problems
• A Windows 98 or MS-DOS startup disk will boot up
  a computer to the command prompt from which you
  can run a variety of MS-DOS programs, including
  FDISK to partition a hard disk or FORMAT to
  format a hard drive.
• Maintain current backups of the entire system
  and the registry so that you can restore a
  system to its previous state after
  troubleshooting.

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Chapter Summary

• Troubleshooting Windows Problems
• The Windows Backup program in Windows NT 4.0
  will back up the registry when the system
  partition is selected for backup. In Windows 2000
  and Windows XP Professional, the Windows Backup
  program will back up the registry when System
  State is selected.

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Chapter Summary

• Troubleshooting Windows Problems
• An administrator can configure alerts to warn of
  events that could lead to problems if not dealt
  with.
• Use Event Viewer to view logs of system,
  security, and application events, paying
  attention to the warning and error logs for
  messages that can be used to solve problems.
• While directly editing the registry should be
  avoided, learn how to edit it in case a registry
  edit is the only way to solve a problem.

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Chapter Summary

• Troubleshooting Windows Problems
• Last Known Good Configuration is a startup
  option that will select the last set of
  configuration changes since the last successful
  user logon.
• Use a Windows startup disk to troubleshoot and
  solve problems with startup that involve damaged
  or missing boot files.

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Chapter Summary

• Troubleshooting Windows Problems
• Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Win-dows XP
  all have a startup option called VGA mode that
  can be used successfully when there is a problem
  with a manufactur-er's video driver.
• Windows 2000 and Windows XP have Safe Mode
  startup options, inherited from Windows 98. They
  include Safe Mode, Safe Mode With Networking, and
  Safe Mode With Command Prompt.

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Chapter Summary

• Troubleshooting Windows Problems
• Device Manager is the primary tool for
  trouble-shooting device problems. A yellow
  exclama-tion mark on a device in Device Manager
  indicates a problem. Open the properties dialog
  box to see an explanation.
• Use Device Manager to uninstall, update, and
  remove device drivers. You can also use it to
  disable a device without removing the driver.

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Chapter Summary

• Troubleshooting Windows Problems
• Windows Recovery options include the Emergency
  Repair Process (Windows NT 4.0 and Windows
  2000), the Recovery Console (beginning with
  Windows 2000), System Restore (beginning with
  Windows Me), and Automated System Recovery
  (beginning with Windows XP Professional).