I’m reformatting my HD and starting anew.
I already know how to physically load Win2000 Pro and all my software and drivers.
Basically, I’m just looking for an imbecil-friendly book/website that will show me how to get my OP up and running. Stuff like:
- partition a hard drive for both Win2000/XP
- set up the passwords for the administrator (and explain what the difference between an adm. and a user/guest really is)
- tell me whether I want NTIS or FAT 32 (I type these words not having a clue what they mean)
- other key stuff that I need to know when setting up Win2000
I want to avoid getting bogged down in theory and esoterica. Just the basics, please!
Whoops, make that NTSF.
Also, I currently have Win98 and Win2000 on my hard drive. I want to eliminate 98 when I reformat. How? I couldn’t figure it out the last time I reformatted.
I also have no clue about “printer ports.”
Thank you.
you should have two partitions if you’re dual booting, most likely seen as c: and d:. it sounds like you have win98 on one of those and win2k on the other. the simplest way to format is going to be from the setup menu. you just need to make sure which one is the one you want to wipe out for XP.
you will come to a page in the setup(just like in win2k setup) that shows you your partitions and asks what you want to do with them.just choose to install to the partition you want to overwrite(I’m presuming the win98 one) and one of the next pages will ask if you want to convert to NTFS.
NTFS and FAT32 are file system types, the way the OS addresses the physical layout of the hard drive.
While FAT32 file system would allow you to still boot to a floppy and look at your files in case of a system crash, NTFS is incredibly more secure and from what I"ve seen win2k and XP both prefer the NTFS. for home use I don’t see it making a huge difference though.
the admin password you set during setup is for the main administrative account for making users, sharing files , installing programs etc… any other account you make will only have the permissions that you specify when creating it. the administrator accoutn can be crippled by removing permissions , but I’d make sure you have at least one account with complete permissions before you do something like that.
XP shows it a little different, but its the same thing.
I dont have all my links where I am now, but when I get where they are later tonight, I’ll see what I can dig up for you.
First off, it’s NTFS (NT File System) NTFS and FAT32 are different ways of storing files on your hard drive. Generally, NTFS is more efficient in terms of disk space and more secure, but FAT32 is faster. I generally make a small boot parition (3-5gb) and make it FAT32, then format the rest as NTFS. It’s important to note that FAT and FAT32 can be read via DOS, whereas NTFS cannot.
As for everything else, the Windows 2k / Windows XP setup routine will allow you to do all of those things fairly painlessly.
When going through the setup, when it gets to the portion about your HD (at the beginning) first remove all of your partitions. Then you can partition it the way you want it. The windows setup will ask you if you want to format those partitions and what file system you want to use.
Likewise, when the setup gets to the networking segment of the install, it will ask you to provide an administrator password. The administrator is the user that has full access to the system. They can install any software and define the permissions for all of the other users. Generally a Guest is a user that can log on the computer but has very limited access priviliges and no ability to change system settings or install software. The other users lie somewhere in the middle.
Windows used to be a pain to install with pitfalls that inexperienced users could easily fall into, but the latest releases are very user friendly for new users to install and configure.