TechNet Top Questions - September 27, 1999

Greetings! Here we provide detailed answers to popular questions submitted to TechNet via the answer forums and feedback alias. TechNet's Lon Collins, Microsoft Support Professional, provides you with answers and tips that can help many of you working in the trenches to deploy, maintain and support Microsoft products.

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Windows 2000 Upgrade Difficulties

Windows 2000 Version Information

Suspected Memory Leaks

Big Problems after Applying a Service Pack to a Compaq

More Information:

Windows 2000 Upgrade Difficulties

Some of you have tried to upgrade your Windows 9x machine to Windows 2000 and ran into a problem.

Specifically, when you run Winnt32.exe to upgrade a Microsoft Windows 95-based or Microsoft Windows 98-based computer to Windows 2000, you may receive the following message:

Windows 2000 Setup does not support upgrading form Windows 98 (or Windows 95) to Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

This is because there are specific upgrade paths that are supported, and sometimes you can't get there from here. It depends on what operating system you are upgrading from and what Windows 2000 version you are upgrading to.

You receive this message if you are trying to upgrade Windows 95 or Windows 98 to Windows 2000 Server, Advanced Server or Datacenter server. Only Windows 2000 Professional supports upgrading from Windows 95 or Windows 98.

If you click OK when you receive the message listed above, Windows 2000 Setup begins. However, the option to upgrade to Windows 2000 is unavailable. Instead, Setup will install a "clean" copy of Windows 2000. A "clean" installation of Windows 2000 means either installing Windows 2000 on a blank hard disk, or installing Windows 2000 in a folder other than the folder in which an existing version of Windows is installed.

If you want to upgrade Windows 95 or Windows 98 to Windows 2000, you must upgrade to Windows 2000 Professional.

The following upgrade paths for Windows 2000 are supported:

Here is some more setup information:

When you boot your computer from the Windows 2000 floppy disks or CD-ROM to start the Windows 2000 Setup program, you are not given an option to upgrade your operating system. When you start the Setup program in this manner, you can perform only a new installation of Windows 2000.

This behavior is by design and occurs because the Windows 2000 Setup program does not support upgrading when you boot your computer from the Windows 2000 floppy disks or CD-ROM.

To work around this behavior, start the Windows 2000 Setup program from within the operating system you want to upgrade. To do so, run the Winnt32.exe program from the Windows 2000 CD-ROM.

Windows 2000 Version Information

There are two "types" of Windows 2000: Professional and Server. Windows 2000 Professional is the non-Server version of Windows 2000 and is targeted for the client desktop. The Windows 2000 Server family consists of three Editions: Standard, Advanced, and Datacenter.

Here are some details on the different Server Editions:

Windows 2000 Server Standard Edition

Windows 2000 Server also supports uniprocessor systems and 4-way symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) systems with up to 4 gigabytes (GB) of physical memory. Windows 2000 Server is ideal for small to medium-sized enterprise application deployments, Web servers, and organizations with numerous workgroups and branch offices

Windows 2000 Advanced Server

Windows 2000 Advanced Server is a more powerful server operating system, providing a comprehensive clustering infrastructure for high availability and scalability, supporting memory up to 8 GB. Designed for demanding enterprise applications, Advanced Server supports new systems with up to 8-way SMP. This server is ideal for database-intensive work, and integrates high availability clustering, network, and component load balancing to provide excellent system and application availability.

Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

Windows 2000 Datacenter Server is a specialized high-end version of Windows 2000 Server, supporting up to 32-way SMP and up to 64 GB of physical memory. Like Windows 2000 Advanced Server, it provides both clustering and load balancing services as standard features. In addition, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server is optimal for large data warehouses, econometric analysis, large-scale simulations in science and engineering, online transaction processing, server consolidation projects, and for large-scale ISPs and Web site hosting.

More Information:

One good place to start for Windows 2000 information is the TechNet CD Online Web page. To get to the section on Windows 2000 Professional, start from the TechNet CD Online page and drill down to the "MS Windows 2000 Professional" section by starting at MS BackOffice and Enterprise System > MS Windows 2000 Professional > Product Facts / Technical Notes.

To get to the Windows 2000 Server information, drill down from MS BackOffice and Enterprise System > MS BackOffice > MS Windows 2000 Server. From there, you will find categories such as Product Facts, Technical Notes, Tools and Utilities.

Suspected Memory Leaks

Determine what (if any) other services are running on the machine. First it's a good idea to monitor the machine using Performance Monitor. To get you started, take a look at the following Knowledge Base article:

"How to Create a Performance Monitor Log for NT Troubleshooting"

Here's a snippet from the article:

If you are troubleshooting a performance issue or an issue that looks like a memory leak, the objects that Performance Monitor should log include but are not limited to:

Memory

Paging File
Process
Processor
Server
System
Object
Threads

While monitoring memory over a period of time, look for a steady increase in memory Private Bytes for the services that are running. Investigate the services that show a steady increase in memory usage. If you are able to determine one particular service that may be consuming memory without giving it back, then try querying the Knowledge Base using the service name and "memory leak" as your query.

Regarding SNMP memory leaks: Memory leaks in the SNMP Service may be observed on Compaq computers that have Compaq Insight Manager installed, running, and generating traps. Side effects of these memory leaks may include "Out of Virtual Memory" messages or complete system hangs when memory is totally exhausted.

Performance monitor logs indicate that Private Bytes and Virtual Bytes for SNMP are increasing linearly with time. The resolution for this is to upgrade to the latest version of Compaq Insight Manager, which is available from Compaq Technical Support.

Another good Knowledge Base article to read is "SNMP Agent Leaks Memory When Queried." This article is especially pertinent if you've been monitoring the SNMP process. This article addresses a "regression" (a problem or bug that was fixed in a prior version but has resurfaced) in Service Pack 4 that is caused by the SNMP agent being under stress. Monitoring the SNMP agent is one way to stress it out. It's one of those things that by measuring or observing something changes it – like running Performance Monitor on Windows NT impacts the performance of the machine.

In summary, try monitoring memory usage and query the Knowledge Base using the information gathered from the monitoring. Also, check out to see if monitoring SNMP is causing the memory leak. One last thing – query the Knowledge Base using "100% processor" (in quotes) and review articles returned in the results to see if anything may apply to your situation.

Big Problems after Applying a Service Pack to a Compaq

There can be several manifestations of "problems", but the one that hits you between the eyes is the Blue Screen.

After you install Windows NT Service Packs (SP), you may need to re-install customized Windows NT components or drivers provided by original equipment manufacturer (OEM).

Some OEM-provided drivers and components can be required to ensure proper operation of some Windows NT installations. An example of OEM software is the Compaq Support Software Diskette (SSD). Installed Compaq SSD components can require reinstallation or updates after installing a Windows NT Service Pack. While Service Packs can update some OEM related components, Microsoft recommends reinstalling the OEM provided software after installing a Microsoft Windows NT Service Pack.

More Information:

"Windows NT Service Packs and OEM drivers"

That is it for now. Happy reading and check out the new TechNet Top Questions on October 11, 1999.

Illustration by Elizabeth Anderson, MSN Staff