2,001 Tips
Windows NT 4.0
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most powerful operating system, unleash its power!

Setup

Space on Reserve

Upgrading from Windows NT 3.51 to version 4.0 is very straightforward-provided enough disk space is available. To be safe, free up 150MB and make a backup in case setup fails. NT 4.0 Setup preserves user accounts and settings, and will automatically migrate your existing Program Manager groups to Start menu folders. One major snag to watch out for is incompatible third-party device drivers.

Running on Empty

If you run out of disk space during an NT 4.0 upgrade, you'll be given the option to either reboot and free some space, or delete any existing Windows NT directory tree(s), or-finally-reformat your hard disk. The first option is useful if your system is configured for dual-boot to DOS or Windows 95. In that case, delete Windows NT's virtual memory paging file (PAGEFILE.SYS) which is typically 43MB or larger. If you don't have a dual-boot configuration, try the second option, which will save you about 80 MB. Note that when you delete the NT tree, all settings are lost-as is the NT Registry. You will be forced to recreate any user accounts, re-do all settings, and reinstall all applications.

Assistant Manager

Setup Manager, from the NT 4.0 Deployment Tools (in the SUPPORT\DEPTOOLS directory of the NT 4.0 distribution CD) helps you customize NT Setup for your organization. It's documented in Microsoft's NT 4.0 Deployment Guide.

Perfect Partners

You can't upgrade directly from Windows 95 to Windows NT 4.0. But you can set up a dual-boot environment. If Win95 is already installed, make sure your hard disk has an uncompressed partition with at least 150MB free, and install NT in a separate directory. (Installing NT in the same directory as Windows 95 will corrupt the Win95 configuration Registry.) You'll have to use the Windows 95 FAT file system without compression.

Enterprise Windows

If you need to install NT 4.0 on a large number of identical systems, create a custom setup. Tools to do that are included on the NT 4.0 distribution CD's SUPPORT\DEPTOOLS directory; but you'll have to get the documentation from the Web. Look for the Planning, Migration & Deployment links on Microsoft's NT Workstation (http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation) and NT Server (http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver) pages. Read the documentation carefully before attempting to use the tools. If used incorrectly, they can render an NT system unbootable.

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