Starting the Setup:



LAB MANUAL 2(a)

Windows XP as an Operating System

(Installation Steps)

What is an Operating System?

An operating system links you to your programs (also called applications or software) and then links your programs to the computer's hardware. It controls how the computer does its most basic tasks, like storing files or talking to printers.

Microsoft Windows XP is an example of an operating system. It uses graphics (pictures) to connect you to the computer's hardware and software in an easy-to-understand (hopefully!) way. Microsoft Windows XP also comes with many free, built-in programs that can help you create documents, movies and images, calculate figures, enjoy some music, browse the Internet, or play a few games.

Other examples of operating systems:

1. Windows 2000/NT: these recent versions of Windows are commonly used for computers that are networked together

2. DOS, Windows 3.0, Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows ME: older Mac OS: operating system used by Apple Macintosh computers

Starting the Setup:

Installing Windows XP is really simple. Setting up Windows XP is made faster than any other previous version. To begin the installation, you must first put the Windows XP CD ROM in your CD Drive.

[pic]

After you change the settings in the BIOS Setup, and reboot your system, Windows XP Setup will automatically start, and check if your computer meets the minimum system requirements. After this some files needed for starting Windows Setup will be copied. After all of this, you will see a screen like the one represented in Figure 1. Here you can chose between installing Windows XP, and repairing Windows XP, using the installation recovery console. From the screen like the one represented in Figure 1, press Enter, to continue with the Windows XP installation. Then, the USER LICENSE AGREEMENT will appear. It is like a contract between you and Microsoft Corporation. All software products have this kind of license.

[pic]

If you agree with all the terms and conditions, you must than press the F8 key, so you can continue. If you do not agree with the terms and conditions in the agreement, you must press the Escape key. If you do not agree, you can not continue with setup. After you press the Escape key, setup will automatically close, removing all information that has been added during installation.

Partitions:

A partition or a drive is an amount of space on your hard drive that you want to use for something. For instance you can make one partition for music, or another partition for documents, and so on. It’s best for most users if C:\ has a minimum of 10 Mb. If your hard disk is bigger, you can assign more space for C:\. If you know you use more programs, or you use programs that demand more resources, make a bigger partition. Also note that the drive should be at least 10-15% free all the time.

A fuller drive will slow down your system’s performance.

Setup will display a screen like in Figure 3 that enables you to select or manage partitions on your hard drive. The steps are really simple, and setup provides detailed information about each step. If you do not have any partitions on your drive, you will see an “Unpartitioned”. Space

To create a partition press C and then a screen will appear asking you if you want to use all the space available on the disk drive for the partition. If you select no, you will be asked for the amount of space in bytes for the partition. To create a second, or third, partition, repeat the procedure. After setting the partition’s size, you will be back to the screen represented in Fig. 3. From here you can repeat the procedure again, selecting the “Unpartitioned Space” label, using the arrow keys.

[pic]

After creating the partitions, you will have to format them. Formatting a partition means assigning it a certain a file system. This process will erase all data on the drive. Windows 2000 and XP came with the new NTFS file system. It manages and stores files easier and better, plus it supports a lot of new features.

[pic]

Be sure that before you decide to format, you created all your partitions with the correct sizes you want. You will not be able to make changes, only if you lose all the information available on the drives (deleting the partitions and creating new ones).

|[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |

| | | |

The second part of Setup:

After you will reboot, setup will automatically start. You will see a screen that looks like the one in Fig. 8: After completing all the operations, your computer will reboot.

[pic]

Other settings:

After your screen has blinked several times, you will have to give setup some information in order to set up Windows the way you want it. First you must provide setup with Regional and Language options. These determine your location, and the language in which most Non Unicode programs should run. Your location is important for internet settings and providing you with news, weather, and other information on the internet.

[pic]

After configuring the Regional and Language options, you will have to provide setup with your personal information (Fig. 10), in order to personalize your copy of Windows XP.

After providing your personal information, you will have to enter your Windows XP Product Key (Fig. 11). It is printed on the back of the case of your Windows XP CD. This 25 character long code is important for identifying your unique copy of Windows XP. Do not use this code, as it is very important. Entering an invalid code will unable you to continue with setup. Be very careful when entering the product key.

[pic]

[pic]

Now you must provide setup with a name for your computer and an administrator password.

|[pic] |

| |

If you are on a network, the other users will see you computer named the way you enter it here. Setup creates a default account called ADMINISTRATOR. This account can change important settings, on your computer. So entering a password here would be a very good idea. This will prevent unauthorized users on the network access your computer and modify settings or manage files on your computer.

Next you will have to provide the system with the correct date and time (Fig. 13). You also have to select your time zone so that Windows can know how to configure time on your system.

[pic]

After completing all these steps, you will have to wait again for setup to detect the network connections or internet connections on your computer.

When setup has finished detecting your network connections, you will see a screen like the one in Fig. 14 (if you have any network adapters on installed on your system).

[pic]

but if you are on a network put the name your network administrator has assigned you with.

[pic]

A domain name is for larger networks. Usually you would use a workgroup on your network. You are almost done! After completing the network settings, Windows will copy other files and configure your system. You only have to wait. Then, setup will restart your computer (Fig. 16).

[pic]

After your system will restart, you will just have o enter some information about who will use the computer, internet settings, and you will be asked if you want to register Windows XP. Then you will be able to see your Windows Desktop (Fig 17).

[pic]

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download