This section describes Windows NT Setup, the program used to install Windows NT on your computer. Installing a new operating system can involve many choices, and Setup is designed to guide you through these choices as smoothly as possible.

Installing Windows NT consists of three main steps:

The following table describes the system requirements for Windows NT Workstation.

Windows NT Workstation supports computers with up to two microprocessors. Support for additional microprocessors is available from your computer manufacturer.

The procedure for starting Setup varies slightly according to:

The procedures described here pertain to both Intel x86-based and RISC-based computers. If your computer is RISC-based, notice the special instructions in some of the steps.

If you are installing Windows NT on a portable computer with a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) port and you want Setup to configure a device connected to that port, you must insert the device and start or restart your computer before running Setup. Make sure that any device you use is approved on the Windows NT Hardware Compatibility List. For ways of finding this list, see "What You Should Know Before Running Setup" earlier in this chapter.

The Setup disks included with your package (labeled "Setup Boot Disk," "Setup Disk 2," and "Setup Disk 3") are required if you are installing Windows NT for the first time on an Intel x86-based computer. If you are installing over a network and do not have your package at hand, the Setup disks are created during Setup when you use the winnt or winnt32 command. Also, the Setup disks let you start Windows NT at a later time when it might not be able to start on its own due to a system error. You can use the Setup disks together with the Emergency Repair Disk, as described in Help, to recover your system when it is unable to start.

If your computer’s BIOS supports the El Torito Bootable CD-ROM (no-emulation mode) format, you can skip over using the Setup disks during a new installation of Windows NT 4.0 and start Setup directly from the Windows NT Workstation compact disc.

If you are installing on a RISC-based computer, this is the appropriate method for starting Setup as well. Check the documentation for your computer to learn whether this option is available to you.

If you are installing on a RISC-based computer, follow these additional steps:

Once Setup is started, follow the instructions on the screen. Refer to the appropriate sections in this book when you need assistance.

Next, Setup scans your computer to detect the mass storage devices, such as CD-ROM drives and SCSI adapters. Hard disks are not included in this scan.

Setup automatically detects all integrated device electronics (IDE) and enhanced small device interface (ESDI) drives. These drives are not displayed on this screen.

Setup lists all the mass storage devices it finds. You can accept this list, or you can choose to add to it if you have a disk with device drivers from the manufacturer of your device. You can also wait and install additional mass storage devices after Setup is complete.

If any of your mass storage devices were not detected, press s to install them at this time.

To install additional mass storage devices after Setup is complete, click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel. Double-click the SCSI Adapters icon. For information, see Help.

Next, Setup displays the list of hardware and software components it finds on your computer.

Disk space on your hard drive(s) is divided into usable areas called partitions. Before it can install Windows NT, Setup must know the appropriate disk partition for installing the system files.

A disk partition can be any size from 1 MB to the entire hard disk. But the partition where you store Windows NT files must be on a permanent hard disk and must have enough unused disk space to hold all the files. Refer to the section "System Requirements" earlier in this chapter to double-check that your computer has adequate disk space for installing the Windows NT files.

The system partition is the partition that has the hardware-specific files needed to load Windows NT. On an x86-based computer, Windows NT looks for certain files in the root directory of drive C (Disk 0) when you start your computer. This partition must be formatted with either the NT File System (NTFS) or the File Allocation (FAT) file system in order for Windows NT to start. It must be formatted with the FAT file system if you want to run both Windows NT and MS-DOS or if you are dual-booting with Windows 95. For more information, see the next section, "Choosing a File System for the Windows NT Partition."

A RISC-based computer can have several system partitions that are configurable by the manufacturer’s configuration program, and each system partition must be formatted for the FAT file system. If you want to use NTFS, you need to create at least one FAT system partition of at least 2 MB plus a second partition large enough to contain all the files you want to protect with NTFS. For information about setting up more than one system partition on a RISC-based computer, see your hardware documentation.

If you are installing Windows NT on a mirrored partition, you must disable mirroring before running Setup and then reestablish mirroring after installation is complete.

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If your hard disk contains stripe sets, volume sets, or mirrors, these elements appear on the Setup screen as "Windows NT Fault Tolerance." Be careful not to delete any of these elements. Also, do not delete partitions that contain data you want to keep.

Use the following guidelines when making decisions about your hard disk partitions.

If you will use only the Windows NT Workstation operating system:

If you plan to use another operating system, such as MS-DOS or Windows 95, in addition to Windows NT:

If you are installing Windows NT on a computer currently configured to start either OS/2 or MS-DOS using the boot command, Windows NT Setup sets up your system so that you can run Windows NT or whichever of the two operating systems (MS-DOS or OS/2) you last started before running Windows NT Setup.

If you have OS/2 Boot Manager installed on your computer and want to continue to use it after Windows NT Workstation installation is complete, you need to re-enable it. After Setup is complete, click the Start button and point to Programs and then Administrative Tools. Click Disk Administrator. Select the OS/2 Boot Manager partition, and then select Mark Active from the Partition menu.

Once you have selected a partition for installing Windows NT, you must instruct Setup which file system, NTFS or FAT, to use with the partition. Make sure you know all the considerations when choosing one file system over another.

Use the following information when choosing to format or convert the partition where the Windows NT files will be installed:

You might choose to convert an existing partition to NTFS so as to make use of Windows NT security. This option preserves existing files, but only Windows NT has access to files on that partition.

Or, you might instead choose to reformat an existing partition to either the NTFS or FAT file system, which erases all existing files on that partition. If you choose to reformat the partition as NTFS, only Windows NT will have access to files created on that partition.

After running Setup, you can convert file systems from FAT to NTFS. If you want to convert an NTFS partition to FAT, you must first back up all the files, reformat the partition (which erases all files), and then restore the files from the backup version. You must also back up data before repartitioning a hard disk. For more information on this process, see the Microsoft Windows NT Workstation Resource Kit Version 4.0.

The following table summarizes the main criteria for choosing a file system for a Windows NT partition.

After Setup accepts your partition and file system choices, it displays the name of the directory where it will install the Windows NT files. You can accept the directory that Setup suggests or type the name of the directory you prefer. For most installations, the proposed directory is appropriate.

Setup displays a special screen if it detects one or more of the following operating systems on your computer:

In such a case, your decision to install in the directory Setup has chosen or to specify a new directory should be based on the following considerations:

If your computer is running Windows 95, it is not possible to install the Windows NT 4.0 files in the same directory. You must specify a new directory. Your Windows 95 settings will not be migrated, and you will need to reinstall your applications under Windows NT.

Use the following chart to decide which directory option is best for your installation.