A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e Chapter 16 Supporting Windows 9x/Me

Objectives Learn about the Windows 9x/Me architecture Learn how to install Windows 9x/Me and how to install hardware and applications using Windows 9x/Me Learn about the Windows 9x/Me boot process Learn about tools to manage and troubleshoot Windows 9x/Me Learn how to troubleshoot Windows 9x/Me A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Introduction Microsoft considers Windows 9x/Me a legacy OS Microsoft no longer supports this series of systems Reasons for studying Windows 9x/Me It is a great learning tool It prepares you to understand more sophisticated OSs Systems still used by many individuals and corporations Topics to cover How Windows 9x/Me is structured How Windows 9x/Me interacts with software/hardware How to troubleshoot Windows 9x/Me A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Windows 9x/Me Architecture Encompasses a number of releases: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me Two components of the OS: shell and kernel Shell Relates to the user and applications User component: manages I/O Graphic Devices Interface (GDI): supports graphics Kernel Interacts with the hardware Fulfills requests for service passed from the shell A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

A Bridging of Two Worlds 16-bit processing on one side, 32-bit on the other Four core components VMM (Virtual Machine Manager) Manages memory, virtual machines, program resources IFS (Installable File System) manager Takes care of all disk access Configuration Manager Configures all legacy and Plug and Play devices The WDM (Win32 Driver Model) driver manager Responsible for managing device drivers A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-1 Windows 9x/Me is the bridge from DOS to Windows NT/2000/XP A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-2 The Windows 9x/Me architecture as it relates to the user, software, and hardware A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Virtual Machines Application programming interface (API) call Used by application to access hardware or software Virtual machine (VM) Set of resources made available through APIs Analogy: virtual machines are like logical drives Virtual machines allocated by OS based on need DOS program: provided with its own VM Windows 16-bit application: shares VM and addresses Windows 32-bit application: shares VM only General Protection Fault: caused by 16-bit programs A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-3 An application is not allowed direct access to hardware but is allowed access to a list of predefined APIs A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-4 Windows 9x/Me uses the virtual machine concept A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Virtual Memory Virtual memory: hard drive space acting like memory Functions of Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) Stores virtual memory in a file called a swap file Moves 4KB pages into and out of physical RAM Disk thrashing: caused by excess memory paging Settings you can change in Virtual Memory dialog box Minimum and maximum file size The location of the swap file (Win386.swp) Swap files can be placed on a compressed drive A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Installing Windows 9x/Me, Hardware, and Software Topics to cover Learn how to install Windows 9x/Me Learn how to install hardware and applications Reasons for learning how to install Windows 9x/Me Need to install OS on replacement drive of an old PC Reinstall an installation that has been corrupted A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Installing Windows 9x/Me System requirements to verify: Minimum/recommended hardware for Windows 9x/Me Whether legacy device is supported in Windows Me Whether software is compatible Two kinds of setup CDs Windows 9x/Me for a New PC (clean install) Windows 9x/Me Upgrade (previous version must exist) Clean install or upgrade Clean install gives fresh start, ignores current settings Upgrade carries settings forward, and is faster A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Table 16-2 Minimum and recommended hardware requirements for Windows 9x/Me A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Installing Windows 9x/Me (continued) Choosing a file system FAT16: 16-bit cluster entries allowing 65,535 clusters FAT32: 28-bit cluster entries allowing more clusters FAT32 drives are less likely to have slack Installing a Windows 9x/Me as a clean installation Prepare your system first; e.g., verify boot sequence Install Windows 98/Me from a bootable setup CD If PC does not boot from CD, boot from a floppy disk Then insert the CD and enter D:\Setup.exe When dialog box opens, follow onscreen instructions A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Installing Windows 9x/Me (continued) Installing Windows 9x/Me as an upgrade Prepare for installation; e.g., create a rescue disk Start the PC, loading the current operating system Close all open applications Insert CD in CD-ROM drive or floppy disk in floppy drive Enter the command D:\Setup.exe in Run Dialog box Follow the instructions on the setup screen Installation process from the setup screen forward Four options: Typical, Portable, Compact, Customer Installation logs: Setuplog.txt, Detlog.txt, Detcrash.log A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-8 The opening screen of the Windows 98 CD provides links you can use to navigate the CD A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Installing Windows 9x/Me (continued) Downloading/installing updates for Windows 9x/Me Updates include service packs or patches Microsoft is no longer updating Windows 9x/Me Find previous updates at windowsupdate.microsoft.com Use Windows Update on Start menu to access page Configuring Windows 9x/Me Startup with Msdos.sys Msdos.sys is a hidden, read-only system file Msdos.sys has parameters affecting how the OS boots You must change Msdos.sys file attributes before use Table 16-3 (partially reproduced): details file contents A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Table 16-3 Contents of the Msdos.sys file options section A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Installing and Managing Hardware with Windows 9x/Me Driver: interfaces application and OS with a device Ways to begin device driver installation process Install device, power on PC, launch install wizard Run installation program on setup disk or CD Download driver from Internet, run setup file Scenario: view and change current video driver Open the Control Panel and double-click Display Go to Settings tab to view the installed display driver To change driver, go to AvancedAdapterChange A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-15 The Windows 98 Update Device Driver Wizard enables you to install a new device driver for a previously installed device A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Installing and Managing Hardware with Windows 9x/Me (continued) Plug and Play (PnP) Specifications simplifying the installation of hardware Criteria for use of PnP The system BIOS must be PnP All devices and expansion cards must be PnP-compliant The OS must support PnP A 32-bit device driver must be available DriveSpace utility Used to compress FAT16 volumes in Windows 9x A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Installing and Managing Hardware with Windows 9x/Me (continued) Hard drive preventive maintenance Disk Cleanup: used to delete nonessential files Disk Defragmenter: used to defragment a drive ScanDisk: checks files and folders for errors A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-20 ScanDisk results A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Installing and Managing Software in Windows 9x/Me Preparing for the software installation Check available resources Protect the original software Back up the registry and system configuration files Installing software Open Control Panel Double-click Add/Remove Programs Insert software CD or disk in appropriate drive Alternatively, download software file from the Internet Follow directions on setup screen A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Installing and Managing Software in Windows 9x/Me (continued) Troubleshooting software installations Delete all files and folders under \Windows\Temp Look for guidance in Readme.htm hypertext file Supporting DOS applications under Windows 9x/Me Access the Properties feature of DOS program file Select Program tab and then click Advanced tab Example: select Specify a new MS-DOS configuration Changes are stored in program’s information file (PIF) A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-21 Properties sheets for a DOS application affect the way Windows 9x/Me provides an environment for the application A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Booting Windows 9x/Me Topics to cover: Files that Windows 9x/Me uses when booting Startup process in Windows 9x/Me How an application loads at startup Differences between Win 95 and Win 98/Me boot A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Files Used to Customize the Startup Process Autoexec.bat and Config.sys Contain settings for loading 16-bit drivers and TSRs Supported for backwards compatibility with DOS Initialization files (those with .ini extension) Custom settings used to load Windows 3.x programs Supported for backwards compatibility with Windows 3.x You can edit text files with various tools; e.g., Sysedit Comment line: information ignored by application A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-22 Sysedit can be used to edit Windows system files A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Table 16-4 Windows .ini files A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

The Windows 9x/Me Startup Process OS loads in real mode, switches to protected mode Initial real-mode files used: Io.sys and Msdos.sys After initial steps, control passes to Vmm32.vxd Five phases of the boot process Phase 1: Startup bios bootstrap and post Phase 2: DOS drivers and TSRS are loaded Phase 3: real-mode VxDs are loaded Phase 4: protected-mode switchover, PnP configuration Phase 5: loading the remaining components Some differences from Windows 95; e.g., faster boot A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-24 Windows 9x/Me core components and the loading process A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Troubleshooting Tools for Windows 9x/Me Items listed in Table 16-6 (partially reproduced) Tools that monitor and improve system performance Tools used to control the OS Tools for troubleshooting A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Table 16-6 Windows 9x/Me system performance and troubleshooting tools A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

System Monitor Monitors how system resources are being used Items monitored The file system Memory The kernel Printer sharing services Network performance data A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

System Configuration Utility (Msconfig) Used to reduce startup to core components Similar to Safe Mode How to access the System Configuration Utility Enter Msconfig in the Run Dialog Box How to isolate a problem using Msconfig Select Diagnostic startup, click OK and restart PC Next, select Selective startup from the dialog box Methodically add items until the problem reappears Source of problem is related to the last added item A few alternatives: Registry Checker, CMOS setup A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-27 The Windows 98 System Configuration Utility helps troubleshoot Windows configuration problems A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Dr. Watson Used to troubleshoot problems running a program Information logged by Dr. Watson Detailed system information Errors Programs that caused errors Using Dr. Watson Start the utility Reproduce the application error Go to Diagnosis tab to view events Cross-check information to support.microsoft.com A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-28 The Dr. Watson opening window A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

The Windows 9x/Me Registry and Registry Checker Database of configuration information and settings Takes over the essential functions of .ini files 16-bit applications cannot access the Registry Organization of the Registry Hierarchical database appearing as an inverted tree Six major keys appearing in the left pane Values and value data appear in the right pane System.dat and User.dat Files used to store the Windows 95/98 registry A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-29 Structure of the Windows 9x/Me registry A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Table 16-7 Six major branches, or keys, of the Windows 9x/Me registry A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

The Windows 9x/Me Registry and Registry Checker (continued) Ways to recover registry data in Windows 95 OS replaces System.dat with backup System.da0 OS enters Safe Mode and prompts recovery process If backups are missing, restore registry from setup disk Ways to recover registry data in Windows 9x/Me Recover using backups made by Registry Checker Registry Checker types: Scanreg.exe, Scanregw.exe Modifying the registry Automatically performed in most cases Manually edit the registry using Regedit.exe A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Troubleshooting Windows 9x/Me Problems are categorized by phase of OS operation Windows installation Startup process Normal Windows operations Troubleshooting techniques are tailored to problem A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Troubleshooting Windows 9x/Me Installations Table 16-9 lists problems and possible solutions A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Table 16-9 Some problems and solutions when installing Windows 9x/Me A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Table 16-9 Some problems and solutions when installing Windows 9x/Me (continued) A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Troubleshooting Windows 9x/Me Startup Deciphering error messages occurring during boot Refer to Table 16-10 in text Search support.microsoft.com Tools used to troubleshoot boot problems Msconfig: used to attain cleanest possible boot Device Manager: disables problem device Automatic Skip Driver Agent (ASDA): skip driver install Try troubleshooting options in Safe Mode Troubleshoot from command prompt A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Troubleshooting Windows 9x/Me Startup (continued) Press F8 during startup to open startup menu Windows 9x/Me startup menu options 1. Normal 2. Logged (\BOOTLOG.TXT) 3. Safe Mode 4. Safe Mode with network support 5. Step-by-step confirmation 6. Command prompt only (not in Windows Me) 7. Safe Mode command prompt only (not in Win Me) 8. Previous version of MS-DOS A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-33 Windows 98 Safe Mode desktop A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Troubleshooting Windows 9x/Me Startup (continued) A few tips for troubleshooting with the startup menu Try a hard boot If you have not already done so, try Safe Mode next Look for errors using Step-by-Step confirmation Use Logged option and examine Bootlog.txt Using the startup disk for troubleshooting If the emergency disk is not available, make one Check disk for viruses before inserting it into PC Disk should have drivers needed to access CD drive A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Troubleshooting Problems After Windows 9x/Me Startup A few questions to ask the user When did the problem start? Did you move your computer system recently? Has someone else been using your computer recently? Some general tips for troubleshooting hardware Try rebooting the computer Test the device with another application Check Device Manager for errors reported on device The driver might be corrupted or need updating Try reseating an expansion card A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Troubleshooting Problems After Windows 9x/Me Startup (continued) Some tips for troubleshooting application problems Address error messages appearing during program use Try uninstalling and reinstalling the software Some tips for troubleshooting a shortcut icon Decide if the icon on the desktop is actually a shortcut Check name and location of target file for the shortcut Some tips for troubleshooting a slow system Check for applications unnecessarily loaded at startup Verify Windows is using optimum caching on hard drive A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-36 Verify that the hard drive is set for optimal caching A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Troubleshooting Problems After Windows 9x/Me Startup (continued) Table 16-12 lists some error messages and tips Accessing Windows Help Click Start and click Help Click Troubleshooting Resources at support.microsoft.com Device information Error message Windows utilities Application information A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Table 16-12 Error messages when using Windows 9x/Me A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Figure 16-37 Troubleshooter making a suggestion to resolve a hardware conflict A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Summary Windows 9x/Me bridges worlds of 16-bit processing and 32-bit processing Two main OS components: kernel and shell API: specifies how application interacts with hardware Virtual machine: set of resources provided to program Virtual memory: hard drive space acting like memory A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e

Summary (continued) Types of installation: clean installation, upgrade install Msdos.sys: file containing parameters for OS boot Hard drive utilities: Disk Cleanup, Disk Defragmenter, and ScanDisk Registry: database containing configuration and settings for all system components Troubleshooting tools: System Monitor, Msconfig, Dr. Watson, Registry Checker A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining your PC, 6e