Quick Tips for Windows NT (October 1999)

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Published: October 15, 1999

Archived content - No warranty is made as to technical accuracy. Content may contain URLs that were valid when originally published, but now link to sites or pages that no longer exist.

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These time-saving tips on a variety of topics are contributed by experienced IT Pros, and take just a few minutes to learn and implement.

Advantages of SMARTDRV

By Troy Thompson, MCSE+Internet

If you are using the WinNT.exe method of installing Windows NT and want to speed up the installation process, use the MS-DOS SMARTDRV utility. Create an MS-DOS bootable disk (at an MS-DOS prompt, type format a: /s) that only maps to a network drive and starts the installation. To take advantage of the SMARTDRV utility, copy Smartdrive.exe and Himem.sys onto the floppy disk. Then create an Autoexec.bat file on the floppy disk and add this line: <path>smartdrv.exe /q (e.g., a:smartdrv.exe /q) You will also need to create a Config.sys file on the floppy disk and add the line device=himem.sys. Adding the line BUFFERS=99 to the Config.sys file on the bootable disk will speed up operations.

Installing a Disk Larger than 8 GB

By Troy Thompson, MCSE+Internet

The Microsoft-supplied generic IDE driver (Atapi.sys) may not be fully compatible with disks larger than 8 GB. This issue only affects IDE-based disks 8 GB and larger; however, Service Pack 4 includes an updated Atapi.sys which allows access to disks larger than 8 GB. Windows 2000 will support (bootable) partitions larger than 8 GB, providing the booting controller's BIOS supports EXT INT-13 BIOS calls.

SCSI Installation before Autodetect

By Troy Thompson, MCSE+Internet

You can manually install SCSI drivers before the autodetect of installation. After you insert the first boot disk to install Windows NT, there is a brief moment when the screen displays the message, "Setup is inspecting your Hardware..." When you see this message, press [F6]. Once the NT kernel is loaded, you will be prompted to select the drivers to be installed after reading disk two but before selecting the installation type.

FAT and FAT32

By Troy Thompson, MCSE+Internet

Windows 98 supports the FAT and FAT32 file systems. Windows NT 4.0 supports the FAT and NTFS file systems. The only common file system is FAT. This means the active partition, C:, must be FAT. If you partition the hard disk into three partitions, one for the active partition, one for Windows 98 (D:), and one for Windows NT (E:), you could have FAT32 on drive D: and NTFS on drive E:. In the future, if you choose to convert the Windows NT partition to NTFS or the Windows 98 partition to FAT32, the two operating systems won't be able to see the partition of the other.

Creating NTFS Partitions Larger than 4 GB During Installation

By Troy Thompson, MCSE+Internet

It's possible to create and format partitions during the text-based portion of the Windows NT installation. The maximum size for an NTFS partition is very large (16 exabytes); however, the maximum size for a FAT partition under Windows NT is 4 GB (2 GB under MS-DOS). If you format a partition as NTFS during the Windows NT installation, it's originally formatted as FAT, then converted in the final stages of the NT installation. You're limited to a maximum partition size of 4 GB during the Windows NT installation. You have a couple of options to solve this problem.

Before you start the installation process, place the hard disk into an existing Windows NT computer and partition/format the disk using Disk Administrator. Once you're finished, place the hard disk back in the machine to be installed.

Partition the disk into smaller partitions. For instance, if you had a 4-GB disk, you could have a 1-GB system partition, and a 3-GB boot partition. The system partition is the partition where Windows NT's core startup files are located—Boot.ini, Ntldr, and Ntdetect.com (Ntbootdd.sys if SCSI)—and will normally be the active partition. The boot partition is the partition where Windows NT stores the rest of its files; for example, the %systemroot% directory.

Create a 4-GB partition at installation and extend the NTFS partition after the installation is complete by doing the following:

  1. Start Disk Administrator (Start | Programs | Administrative Tools | Disk Administrator).

  2. Select the NTFS partition. While holding down [Ctrl], select the unpartitioned space of the rest of the disk.

  3. From the Partition menu, select Extend Volume Set.

Remember that you can't extend an NTFS partition if it's the boot or system partition because the boot/system partition cannot be part of a volume set.

Installing a Tape Drive on an NT Server

By Troy Thompson, MCSE+Internet

To install a tape drive on an NT Server, do the following:

  1. Go to Start | Settings | Control Panel and double-click Tape Devices.

  2. Select the Drivers tab and click Add.

  3. Select your tape drive and click OK, or click Have Disk if you have the manufacturer's driver on floppy disk or CD.

  4. Windows NT will install the drivers.

  5. Reboot your machine and you will be able to use NTBACKUP.

Moving Windows NT to a New Disk Drive

By Troy Thompson, MCSE+Internet

If you want to replace your existing Windows NT hard disk (that includes the boot partition) with another hard disk, follow these instructions:

  1. Backup your Windows NT disk to a tape.

  2. Create a new, up-to-date emergency repair disk (ERD) using the RDISK utility.

  3. Shut down Windows NT and install the new hard disk.

  4. Install a basic installation of Windows NT to a directory with a name that's different than your final Windows NT installation directory.

  5. After the installation is complete, restore your backup tape to the new hard disk.

  6. Occasionally problems arise with registry entries, so reboot the computer and boot from the Windows NT installation floppy disks.

  7. After inserting floppy disk 2, choose Repair and select all options except "Check System Files." You will need to insert floppy disk 3 and then the ERD.

  8. Reboot and Windows NT should work properly.

  9. If you don't have a tape drive, you can set up the new disk as a mirror of your existing disk, then break the mirror and remove the old disk. This will set the new disk as the boot disk.

Rollback.exe

By Troy Thompson, MCSE+Internet

Do NOT experiment with the Rollback.exe utility. The Windows NT 4.0 Server and Workstation CDs include a utility called Rollback.exe. Rollback.exe was designed to help computer manufacturers pre-install Windows NT 4.0 and enable end-users to complete the final configuration according to the desired role of the computer. If you run this utility, it will remove all registry settings on your system and undo everything configured by the GUI portion of Windows NT Setup. This includes user account information, protocol bindings, application settings, user preferences, and so forth.

The above article is courtesy of TechRepublic<https://www.techrepublic.com>.

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