Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Study Outline

 Content created and copyright Ó 1998-1999, by David L. Woodall, all Rights Reserved

 

Unattended Installation

1. Unattend.txt

in conjunction with Uniqueness Database File (UDF)

Usage : winnt /U: unattend filename / UDF: ID#,UDFfilename /S sourcepath /B

2. Setup Manager

Automated creation of unattened.txt. Found on NT CD-ROM. Consists of three tabs:

  1. General : User Info, Hardware Settings, Computer Role, Install Path, Display Settings, Time Zone, License Mode
  2. Networking : General (when to install networking), Adapters, Protocols, Services, Internet, Modem
  3. Advanced : File system is the only important one here
  1. Sysdiff

Switches include /Snap, /Diff, /Apply, /Dump, and /Inf (creates an inf file and installation data from the difference file, which can be placed in a server share to automatically apply the differences captured in the /diff file)

Shares

BY DEFAULT - ONLY ADMINISTRATORS AND POWER USERS CAN SHARE FOLDERS/RESOURCES - Can this be changed?

Share names can be up to 255 characters

Administrators can ALWAYS take ownership

To create from Command Prompt, syntax is:

NET USE sharename=path

NT creates 2 Default HIDDEN Shares:

1.C$

2. ADMIN$

File Systems

NTFS

A log-based file system which tracks changes made and how to undo those changes

Supports files and partitions up to 16E

EASIEST WAY TO DELETE:

  1. Boot from 3 floppies
  2. Choose NTFS Partition
  3. Press D (Delete) and exit setup

FAT

Supports files and partitions up to 4G

LOWEST OVERHEAD OF ANY FILE SYSTEM

 

VFAT

Supported by MS-DOS 7, Win95, Win NT 3.51 and 4.0

Main difference is naming convention (VFAT supports long filenames)

IS NOT FAT32

 

Installation Functions

During Install, WINNT performs:

  1. Creates the 3 setup boot diskettes (/o for creation without a CD, /ox WITH a CD)
  2. Creates Temp Folder $win_nt$.~ls and copies WS files to this folder
  3. Prompts for reboot

WINNT Switches

  1. /b - skips creation of boot floppies
  2. /c - skips free space check
  3. /f - copies files from boot floppies WITHOUT verification
  4. /II - specifies filename (but not path) of setup information file (INF FILE). Default is DOSNET.INF
  5. /t - specifies drive to contain temp setup files ($win_nt$.~ls)

System and Boot Partitions

System partition contains:

Boot Files including

  1. NTLODR
  2. BOOT.INI
  3. BOOTSECT.DOS
  4. NTDETECT.COM
  5. NTBOOTDD.SYS (for SCSI-based systems)

Boot Partition contains:

System Files including:

  1. NTOSKRNL.EXE
  2. HAL.DLL

Removing NT from a FAT Partition

  1. Boot from Win95 or DOS
  2. Sys c: to reset the MBR and bypass NTLDR
  3. Restart and Delete the following;
  4. PAGEFILE.SYS
  5. BOOT.INI
  6. NT*.*
  7. BOOTSECT.DOS
  8. %systemroot% directory (C:\WINNT)
  9. C:\PROGRAM FILES\WINDOWS NT

Server-Based Installations:

  1. SMS
  2. Login Scripts that call Unattended Setup
  3. .BAT files, usually sent as an embedded email link
  4. Administrator initiates from the workstation

 

SERVER BASED INSTALLATIONS COMBINE NETWORK INSTALL WITH AN AUTOMATED INSTALL

Network Installation Disk is a bootable DOS disk used to start (even with NO OS) and connect to the network

User Account Properties

User Name - 20 characters, not case sensitive

Password - 14 characters, case sensitive

ONLY USERNAME IS REQUIRED TO CREATE AN ACCOUNT

Account Templates

FOR SECURITY, BE SURE TEMPLATE ACCOUNTS ARE DISABLED

When applied, only copies the following:

  1. Description
  2. Group Memberships
  3. Profile Settings
  4. User Cannot Change Password
  5. Password Never Expires

User Profiles

Stored in %systemroot%\profiles and composed of:

  1. NTUSER.DAT - contains registry info
  2. NTUSER.DAT.LOG - a fault tolerant, log-based file for NTUSER.DAT
  3. Miscellaneous files - a series of folders containing other items such as shortcuts and app specific profile data

Roaming Profiles

STORED ON SERVER

Created by specifying path (to server stored profile) in User Manager for Domains

MANDATORY Profiles are created by creating a roaming profile stored on the server and specified in the path of User Manager for Domains, then renaming NTUSER.DAT to NTUSER.MAN. IF Domain Controller is unavailable, User CANNOT LOGON TO DOMAIN

NTFS Permissions - R, X, W, D, P, O

For Directories:

  1. No Access
  2. List (RX, but cannot access contents)
  3. Read (RX, cannot save changes)
  4. Add (WX, cannot read existing files)
  5. Add & Read (RXW, cannot modify existing files)
  6. Change (RXWD, can modify, change attributes, and delete)
  7. Full Control

For Files:

  1. No Access
  2. Read (RX)
  3. Change (RXWD)
  4. Full Control

NTFS File Permissions Transfer

When Copying, File ALWAYS receives permissions of target folder

When Moving, file maintains permissions unless BETWEEN PARTITIONS

NT Print Process

  1. User sends print job, if necessary, new driver is downloaded
  2. Driver sends the data to the CLIENT spooler, which spools the data to a file, then makes an RPC to the SERVER spooler
  3. Server spooler sends the data to the local print provider
  4. Local Print Provider passes the data to a print processor for rendering into a format that matches the printer device, adds separator page if requested, then passes the data to the Print Monitor.
  5. Print Monitor points the rendered data to the printer port, which points to the print device

Print Driver

Composed of:

  1. Print Graphics Driver DDL
  2. Print Interface Driver DDL
  3. Characterization Data File (Minidriver)

PRIORITIES ARE ASSIGNED ON THE SCHEDULING TAB OF PRINT MOITOR

APIs (Application Programming Interface)

Communicate between the file system and the network drivers

  1. NetBIOS - the DEFAULT OS INTERFACE in NT
  2. Windows Sockets - A standard for application communication with transport protocols such as TCP or SPX
  3. RPCs - Remote Procedure Calls - Handle any IPCs (InterProcess Communication)
  4. NetDDE - Network Dynamic Data Exchange

Default Components in NT

  1. NetBIOS
  2. TCP/IP and NetBEUI
  3. Workstation Service
  4. Server Service
  5. Computer Browser
  6. RPC Service
  7. NIC Driver

Redirectors

Intercept requests for resources and direct those requests to a server or share on the network. Four exist on NT:

  1. Server Service
  2. Workstation Service
  3. UNC
  4. MPR (MultiProtocol Router)

Novell Issues

  1. 802.3 Frame Type in 3.11 and lower
  2. 802.2 Frame Type in 3.12 and higher
  3. YOU DO NOT NEED CSNW FOR CLIENT/SERVER APPS ON A NW SERVER. ONLY NWLINK
  4. GSNW - allows users to connect to the NT Server, the server then makes the connection to the NW server
  5. CSNW - allows NT computers (Server or Workstation) to connect to NW servers as an ordinary Novell client. To connect to 3.x NW Servers, enter PREFERRED SERVER. To connect to 4.x NW Servers, enter DEFAULT TREE AND CONTEXT

RAS

Server supports up to 256 simultaneous connections. Can communicate between Server and Client with:

  1. PSTN
  2. ISDN
  3. X.25

Protocols

SLIP

  1. Only supports TCP/IP
  2. Static
  3. No Password Encryption
  4. Uses Scripts

PPP

  1. Supports TCP/IP, IPX, and NetBEUI
  2. Dynamic
  3. Supports Encryption
  4. No Scripts Needed
  5. Header Compression

Troubleshooting RAS

RAS: Dial-Up Networking Monitor

  1. Information on Connection Speed
  2. Connection Duration
  3. Names of RAS Connected Users
  4. Connection Protocols
  5. Connection Devices

DEVICE.LOG (Enabled through Registry, stored in %systemroot%\system 32\RAS

Performance Monitor

To see Network Interface Objects, SNMP Service must be installed

Processor

  1. %PROCESSOR TIME - BELOW 80%
  2. INTERRUPTS PER SECOND - BELOW 3500, Ideally 200-2000
  3. SYSTEM OBJECT, PROCESSOR QUEUE LENGTH - UNDER 2

Memory

  1. AVAILABLE BYTES - 10% of physical RAM, or 4M, whichever is higher
  2. PAGES/SEC - 20 or LOWER

Disk Access

  1. LOGICAL DISK OBJECT, AVERAGE DISK QUEUE LENGTH - 0-2
  2. LOGICAL DISK OBJECT, %DISK TIME - UNDER 50%

 

 

 

 

NT Boot Process

  1. POST
  2. MBR located and LOADED
  3. NTLDR Loaded and Initialized, designates 32-bit memory model
  4. NTLDR starts the mini file system (either FAT or NTFS)
  5. BOOT.INI Loaded
  6. When booting to NT - NTLDR calls NTDETECT.COM which passes HW info to Registry
  7. NTOSKRNL.EXE Loaded by NTLDR (HAL is Loaded here) (Blue "Dot" Screen)
  8. Kernel and Drivers Initialized
  9. Services Load and Session Manager, AUTOCHK.EXE Checks each partition, Pagefile set up and subsystems are loaded
  10. WINLOGON Starts (Ctrl+Alt+Del displayed)
  11. Ant remaining Services are started

ERD

Contains:

  1. An information file used to verify and re-create the NT boot files
  2. The SAM
  3. Portions of The Registry that relate to configuration
  4. CONFIG.NT and AUTOEXEC.NT

Content created and copyright Ó 1998-1999, by David L. Woodall, all Rights Reserved