| STEP 25 : Prepare the Hard Drive |
| In order to use your hard drive, it must
be partitioned and formatted. |
| There are some considerations here. If you
are using Windows 95 OSR2 or Win98, then you can partition using the FAT32 file system.
This will allow smaller clusters, saving disk space due to slack, and will allow massive
partition sizes. With any other version of Windows, you will have to use FAT16, which uses
32K clusters and limits partition sizes to 2G. |
| To find what version you are using, type
"ver" at the command prompt. It will return a version number. It it says
"4.00.1111", you are using OSR2. Any other, and you are not. |
| Take a little time to plan your
partitions. Do you want one large partition for the entire drive? Or do you want to
separate it into different drive volumes? If you have FAT32, it is very popular to create
one partition for the entire drive. Otherwise, if you are using a drive larger than 2G,
you will have to separate it into more than one partition. Also, keep in mind that smaller
partitions lean to smaller clusters, thus less slack or wasted disk space. |
| At this point, partition the drive. Type
"fdisk" at the command prompt. If it does not work, it is because your hard
drive is not attached properly. |
| The first partition is your primary DOS
partition. This is your C: drive and can't be divided. This is also called the active
partition. You can only have one active partition. The second partition is optional. It is
called an extended partition. This is the space left over after the primary partition.
Each extended partition must be labeled with a letter D: through Z:. |
| First you have to setup a primary DOS
partition. Choose Option 1 ( Create DOS partition or Logical DOS drive). Choose Option 1
in the next menu. Now you can make your entire C: drive the primary partition or only a
part of it. Many people just make the entire drive one partition just to stay simple. If
you want to break from this norm, specify the amount of drive you want to partition in
either megabytes or percentage of total drive. If you are using a percentage, be sure to
follow the number by a "%" or the computer will think you're talking MB's. |
| Next, you'll need to make this partition
active. Return to the main FDISK menu and choose Option 2 ( Set Active Partition). Follow
the prompts. |
| If you're going to create an extended
partition, choose Option 1 again, but this time choose Option 2 in the next menu ( Create
Extended DOS partition). Plug in the percentage of drive to partition for this one. Do not
make this partition active. Only one can be active. |
| After you create an extended partition,
you will be given the Create Logical Drives option in the extended partition menu. Follow
the on-screen instructions to assign drive letters to your partitions D: through Z:. Keep
in mind that D: is often used for the CD-ROM. |
| After all this is done, you can choose
Option 4 ( Display Partition Information) and check your work. |
| If you have FAT32 and wish to use it,
enter "Y" when asked if you want to use "Large Disk Support". |
| After the drive has been partitioned,
reboot the machine with the system disk in Drive A:. If you try to do anything on the C:
drive, you may get an error about Invalid Media Type. Don't worry about it. Its because
you haven't formatted it yet. |
| Now you must format the new C: drive. At
the A> prompt, type "format c: /s". The "/s" tells it to make the
disk bootable. You will get a warning saying that this action will erase all data on the
drive. This is normal, and since there is no data on the drive, just press "Y"
and move on. It will show the status as it happens. |
| If you created additional partitions on
this drive, format those volumes now. Type "format d:" or "format e:",
where the letter corresponds to the volume you wish to format. Do not type the
"/s" since you only want the C: drive bootable. |
| Now remove the system disk and reboot. It
is supposed to boot normally and up at the C: prompt. If you get an error like "No
boot device found" or "No ROM Basic", you probably forgot to make the
primary partition active. Run Fdisk again and fix that. If you get an error like "No
Operating System", you probably forgot to make the disk bootable. Make sure you typed
"/s" at the format command. |
| STEP 26 : Install The CD-ROM Driver |
| Most operating systems come on CD, which
requires you to have your CD-ROM working in order to install the operating system. This is
usually a pretty easy thing to do. Your CD-ROM comes with an install disk that, if
properly programmed, will install your CD-ROM drivers very quickly. Unfortunately, many
manufacturers make lame installation disks, requiring you do some of the work manually.
For this reason, I recommend you have a copy of EDIT.COM on your hard drive or system disk
in case you have to manually edit the CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT. |
| Some installation programs are very
particular as to what they expect. Some will stop unless MSCDEX.EXE is not already
installed on the drive C: Some go so far as to expect this file in C:\DOS, and it might
not tell you this. You can just put the file in a directory called C:\DOS and try again.
Other installations cannot properly configure CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT. Some will halt
if these files aren't already present on the hard drive. If you run into problem, keep
this in mind. |
| NOTE: If you are installing Windows 98 and
have a Win98 system disk, then booting with this system disk should give you a menu. This
menu allows you to boot the system with CD-ROM support automatically, without having to go
through any of the following trouble. In this case, feel honored, and skip this step. |
| 1) Make sure EDIT.COM is on your hard
drive. It may be found on your system disk, your installation disk, or you may need to get
it from another system. Copy this file to the new computer's C: drive. |
| 2) Install the CD-ROM Installation disk in
Drive A:. |
| 3) To be safe, you might want to create an
AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS if they are not already there. You can do this by typing
"EDIT CONFIG.SYS" then saving it empty. This will create the file, although it
will be empty. Do the same for AUTOEXEC.BAT. |
| 4) Run the Install program. Usually you
type either "a:install" or "a:setup". It will copy necessary files,
and modify your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. Just follow the prompts. All install programs
are different. When this is done, reboot. |
| 5) Check the system files. You can EDIT
them or type "type config.sys". The line will look something like
"DEVICE=C:\CDPRO\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:MSCD001". In the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, it may look
like "C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX /D:MSCD001 /V". The parameter after
"/D" should be the same in both files. These lines will vary depending on your
CD-ROM and files locations. |
| 6) If you want to change the drive letter
of the CD drive, add "/L:F" at the end of the line referencing the CD-ROM in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Change "F" to the drive letter you wish the CD-ROM to be. |
| 7) Test your work. Reboot. The CD-ROM
should activate. Then stick a CD in the drive and try to read it by switching to the
appropriate drive just as you would to read a floppy diskette. If it didn't work, then
first check your AUTOEXEC.BAT and make sure it is leading to the correct location for the
file MSCDEX.EXE. This file is necessary on all systems to make a CD-ROM operate in DOS. |
|
| STEP 27 : Install The Operating System (Windows 95) |
| At this point, the CD-ROM drivers are
installed. So, you are ready to install the operating system. There are some things I
should make note of before outlining this procedure. First, I am assuming that you will be
installing Windows 95 on this machine. The following procedure walks you through the
installation of Windows 95. |
| Also, this procedure should only serve as
a general outline. The ease of installing an operating system is fully dependent on your
system. Many times, it goes smoothly, but, with others, it can be more difficult to iron
out all the conflicts that arise. If your hard drive is not blank, I recommend
reformatting it before installing Windows 95. Although it is possible to install over a
copy of Windows 3.x, you are asking for trouble, in my humble opinion. |
| 1) Begin Setup. At the DOS prompt, type "D:setup". If
your CD-ROM is a letter other than D:, type in that drive letter instead. |
| 2) SCANDISK. Once begun, the setup program will begin to run a
SCANDISK on your hard drive. This will proceed automatically and, hopefully, without
error. If you get an immediate error stating that you have no extended memory manager,
don't fret. This is probably because this drive is brand new and you don't have DOS
installed on it. Simply hit ESC and move on. |
| 3) Welcome Screen. At this point, you will see the graphical interface
of Windows 95 and a Welcome screen. You should see a mouse cursor. Makes sure your mouse
works. If not, double-check its connections. You can setup Win95 without a mouse, but I
wouldn't recommend it. Now, hit "Continue". |
| 4) License Agreement. You should see the Setup Wizard load, then a
license agreement. Read it, if you want, then click Yes. |
| 5) Setup Start. Setup will tell you all about the three phases of
this install process. How nice of Microsoft to warn us.=) Click Next. |
| 6) Choose Install Directory. You will be prompted to tell the computer what
directory to install Windows to. The default is C:\WINDOWS, and I strongly recommend
leaving this value at default. |
| 7) Options. Upon continuation, setup will run some routine
tests on your system. After this, you will be offered four options for a setup routine,
"Typical", "Portable", "Compact", and "Custom".
Pick the options that best suits you. For most people, I recommend choosing
"Typical". If you wish to have more control over what Microsoft would like to
install on your machine, choose "Custom". |
| 8) Authentication Code. Setup will prompt you for a long string of numbers
and letters that proves you indeed bought this software. This code should be available
with a Certificate of Authenticity. |
| 9) Hardware Search. At this point, setup will analyze your computer to
see what components are installed. When asked if it has a MIDI or sound card, or video
capture card, check the appropriate boxes. This search may take several minutes, and
expect your hard drive to be very loud and active. |
| 10) Select Components. Windows will ask you which components you would
like to install. Simply click on those you want. I recommend choosing at least
Accessories, Communications, Multimedia, and Disk Tools. |
| 11) Network Configuration. Even if you don't have a network, Windows will want
to add a network card. Just accept the defaults and move on. This can be fixed later. |
| 12) ID. You will be asked for your network identification.
Just type something in for each line just to make Windows happy. You can always change
these names later. |
| 13) Double-Check Settings. Change any settings that aren't right. Some drivers
will have to be installed later. |
| 14) StartUp Disk. Windows will ask you if you want to make a startup
disk. Make one if you would like. You can always make one later as well. |
| 15) Copy Files. Setup will now copy all of the files to your
computer's hard drive. This may take awhile depending on the speed of your system. When it
is finished, click "Finished". |
| 16) First Boot. Well, first Windows 95 boot. You will see a nice
blue screen. At the bottom, it will say "Getting Ready To Run Windows 95 For The
First Time". It will do some thinking, and it might take a while. Just let it go. |
| 17) Password. You might be prompted for a password. Just hit
"Cancel". |
| 18) Hardware Setup. Windows will now detect all plug-and-play devices
and configure them automatically. |
| 19) Time Zone. You will see a lovely world map. If you are
installing OSR1, you can click on the map on your location and set the time zone. In OSR2,
Microsoft made the map unclickable (to be politically correct with regards to border
disputes) so you will have to chose it manually below. |
| 20) Add Printer. The Add Printer Wizard will appear. You can install
your printer now, if you like, or later if you want. If you'd like to wait, just hit
"Cancel". |
| 21) SetUp Finished. You will see a dialog saying setup is done. Click OK
and the system will reboot. |
| 22) Check Settings. Upon reboot, you should see basic Widows 95. At
this point, you can check a few things to just to make sure setup did its job and that
there are no problems. Right-click on "My Computer" and choose
"Properties". Then, just double-check everything. Is the correct CPU detected?
Right amount of memory? All of your hardware listed? |
| 23) Optimize the OS. At this point, you might as well optimize the
system a tad from the start. |
| 24) Install Additional Drivers. If you're like most, you have additional hardware
that is not yet set up. This probably includes your video card, sound card, modem, etc.
Install these drivers now. Follow the procedures outlined in their documentation. You may
have to reboot a few times. |
| 25) Last minute changes. At this point, reboot your machine and make sure all
parts work. Then, change your wallpaper, screensaver, etc to match your innermost desires.
Then, YOU’RE DONE! |
FINISH. |
|
Now the picture, I said I would
tell how to do it. This is done with a give-a-way |
program called
"Kai' Power Goo SE" . It is on a CD given away with April 1999 |
edition of a magazine called PC
User. |
