After a recent class in college, I figured i'd share some of the knowledge acquired there with the rest of you . ALL of this information comes from notes taken in class.


---------------------------HOW TO INSTALL WINDOWS 2000 SERVER------------------------------------


To start off, make sure you back up all sensitive data that you do not want to lose.



1. Create Boot Disks


Windows 2000 Server will require 4 blank floppy disk to create the boot disks. To create a set of Setup disks for Windows 2000, run the Makeboot.exe tool from the bootdisk folder in the windows 2000 CD-ROM.
1. Insert the Windows 2000 CD-ROM in the CD-Rom Drive
2. Click Start, and then click RUN
3. In the Open box, type drive\bootdisk\makeboot a:, where drive is the letter
of your CD-ROM drive, and then press enter.

NOTES:

You do not have to be running Windows 2000 to create the Setup Boot Disks. A directory called \Bootdisk resides in the root of the Windows 2000 Setup CD. This directory contains two utilities capable of generating the 4 Setup Boot Floppies. If you are booted into Windows 9x yhou will need to run the 32-bit version of this utility called makebt32.exe. If you are in dos, or booted with a Windows 98 Startup Floppy that has access to the CDROM, you can use the 16-bit version called makeboot.exe.
Disks created from the Windows 2000 Professional CD cannot be used with Windows 2000 Server; it will not work vice versa (i.e. Win2k server wont work for win2k professional)
Before deciding that, a computer must be started from a CD or floppy disks, and you should first try starting in safe mode on tha tcomputer.
After starting a disable computer from floppy disks, you can then use the Recovery Console or the Emergency Repair Disk (if you have prepared one).




2. INSTALLING THE WINDOWS 2000 SERVER


Insert the Windows 2000 Server CDROM in the CDROM or DVDROM drive.
Boot the Computer by using the Windows 2000 CDROm or by using the Windows 2000 Boot Disks. If you ar ebooting from the CDROM, then press any key on the keyboard when you see the "Press any key to boot from CD" message. This starts windows 2000 server setup.

NOTE: If you need to install drivers for additional mass-storage devices when the setup starts, press the F6 key. Follow the prompts to speficy the location of the drivers that you want to install

On the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press ENTER
On the "Windows 2000 Licensing Agreement " page, press the F8 key if you accept the license agreement.

NOTE: If you do not agree with the Windows 2000 license agreement, press ESC. Setup will quit.

In the list of existing partitions and unpartitioned spaec, use the arrow keys to select the unpartitioned space selecteion that you want , and press C to continue.
In the "Create partition of size (in MB)" box, type the size othat you want, and then press ENTER.
Press Enter to set up Windows 2000 on the selected partition.
Use the arrow keys to select the file system that you want, and then press ENTER. The partition will be formated.

NOTE: You can convert a partition that uses FAT32 file system to the NTFS file system later.
Setup copies the files that are needed for Windows 2000 Sever setup, and then restarts teh computer. Windows 2000 Server Setup resumes in Graphical User Interface (GUI) mode.

On the "Regional Settings" page, click NEXT.
In the "Name" box, typer your name. In the "Organization" box, type your organization and then click NEXT.
In the Product Key boxeds, the the product key, and then click Next. (You will need to purchase more than 1 key to install the CD in more than 1 machine. That would be the legal way of doing it . Also, try your hardest not to lose this key. It will save you time, money and agravation later on when you need to reinstall Win2k. )
On the "Licensing mode" page, click the licensing mode that you want, and then click NEXT.
In the "Computer Name" box, type the computer name that you want

NOTE: The computer name MUST be unique on the network. It is helpful to use a computer name that is descripotive as well as unique (i.e. Mail Room, Manager, Supervisor, CSR, Front Desk, etc.)
In the "Administrator password box, type an administrator password. Type the same password in the Conifrm Password box, and then Click Next

NOTE: Use a STRONG password for the Administrator Password. Using both Letters and Numbers, preferably mixed together would significantly decrease the
possibility of someone guessing the password. With that said, NO adding a 1 right behind your typical password does not make it a strong password.

WARNING: Windows 2000 is an NT based OS. @stake's L0phtcrack will be able to retreive the hashed admin password. Not allowing users to install programs on the computer would help. I'm not sure but I believe that you can setup the "Guest" accounts to limit them from installing such software. My professor was mesmerized when I showed him how easily my LC4 pulled up his password ( LOL he had never heard of it )
In the Windows 2000 Components list, select the check boxes for the components that you want, and then Click NEXT.
On the "Date and Time Settings" page, set the correct date, time, and time zone and then click NEXT.
On the "Networking Settings" page, click the Typical Settings (if it is not already selected), and then click NEXT
Click "No, this computer is not on a network, or is on a network without a domain" (if thats the case) and then click NEXT.

NOTE: You can add the computer to a domain later by usin gthe Network Identification Wizard from the System Properties dialog box in Windows.
Click Finish when Setup is complete. Windows will restart.
Log on to the Windows as Administrator.
Use the Windows 2000 Configure Your Server Wizard to configure the server.


I'm running out of time right now but later one I'll discuss a couple more tutorials (Installing IIS on Win2k Pro. and Installing win2k Pro.). Depending on the progress that we will make in class, i'll see if I can get any other tutorials out. You would probably be able to find a tutorial similiar to this one on the web, as i'm sure my professor didnt pull the notes out of his head. If you guys have any other OS installations in mind, please send me a PM, and i'll see if I'll be able to put a tutorial together. I dont have much background on UNIX and LINUX based OSes, so please dont ask me for those.


[edit]
(CRAP! I wrote the tut in a Wordpad, but the bullets were not transfered over. Sorry for the mess)[/edit]