1) OS & Application Installation Flashcards
Vendor-Specific Limitations: End-of-Life
When the manufacturer no longer supports the hardware
Windows 7 Main Takeaways
Home Premium: No domain/no BitLocker/no EFS
Up to 16GB RAM & 2 Physical Processors
Ultimate: Domain support, EFS, Bitlocker
Up to 192GB RAM x64
Basically Enterprise for Home user
Professional: Domain, Remote Desktop, EFS, NO BitLocker
Up to 192GB RAM x64
Enterprise has everything.
x86 = 1GB RAM | 16GB free disk space x64 = 2GB RAM | 20GB free disk space
Windows 8/8.1 Main Takeaways
Windows 8/8.1 Core: Home Edition
Microsoft account integration & Windows Defender
x86 & x64 | Windows Media Player
Max RAM 128GB
Windows 8/8.1 Pro
Similar to Windows 7 Professional/Ultimate
Full disk/file-level encryption (BitLocker & EFS)
Ability to join Domain (Group Policy support)
Max RAM 512GB
Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise
AppLocker, Windows To Go, DirectAccess, BranchCache
Max RAM 512GB
Requirements:
PAE (Physical Address Extension)
32-bit CPUs can use more than 4GB of physical RAM
NX Bit (Protects against malicious software)
SSE2 (Streaming SIMD Extensions 2)
1Ghz CPU (must support the above)
x86 = 1GB RAM & 16GB disk| x64 = 2GB RAM & 20GB disk)
Windows 10 Main Takeaways
Windows 10 Home
Home user | Integrates with Microsoft account
OneDrive | Windows Defender | Cortana
Max RAM 128GB
Windows 10 Pro
Business version of Windows (additional management features)
Remote Desktop host (remote control each computer)
BitLocker (FDE) | Domain support
Max RAM 2048GB
Windows 10 Education/Enterprise
Very similar features in both
AppLocker (admin can determine application whitelist)
BranchCache (remote site file caching)
UX (Granular User Experience) Control
^ Define user environment (great for kiosks)
Max RAM 2048GB
Requirements: Hardware requirements are exactly the same as 8/8.1 PAE (Physical Address Extension) NX-Bit SSE2
Unattended Installation
An installation in which the user does not have to be near the computer.
Utilizes an “answer file”, which answers installation questions automatically.
In-Place Upgrade
The new OS installs into the same folders as the old OS (new installs on top of the old).
New OS replaces the old OS, but:
Retains data & applications
Inherits all of the personal settings (font styles, desktop themes, etc)
Clean Install
An installation of an OS in which the entire drive is wiped clean and no files/settings are kept.
Repair Installation
An installation that can repair broken operating system/boot files while preserving personal files, settings, & applications.
Remote Network Installation
OS source files are placed in a shared directory on a network server.
Whenever tech needs to install an OS, he/she can boot up the computer, connect to the source location, on the network, and start the installation from there.
Has many variations:
Can be automated with special scripts that automatically select the options/components needed.
Image Deployment
Image: A complete copy of a hard drive volume on which an operating system & any desired application software programs have been preinstalled.
Images can be stored on special network servers in which case the tech connects to the image server by using special software that copies the image from the server to the local HDD/SSD (Ex: Norton Ghost)
Recovery Partition
A hidden partition that contains a restorable copy of an installed OS.
Swap Partition
A partition on a drive used for virtual memory (Linux/UNIX)
Windows: Page File
Refresh/Restore
Refresh: In Windows 8/8.1, reinstalls OS but keeps files
Windows 10: Reset & Keep my files
Restore: Reverts back to a saved restore point.
Partitioning: Dynamic
Technically partitions, but can do things a regular partition can’t.
Can implement RAID, span volumes over multiple drives, extend volumes on 1+ drives
Partitioning: Primary
Partition where OS is stored.
The only “active partition” (system uses to determine where to boot to)
BranchCache
A technology used to cache central data to remote or branch offices in order to reduce network traffic & optimize WAN utilization.
Partitioning: Logical
A drive can be split into multiple drive letters, turning one drive into multiple “logical drives/partitions”.
Partitioning: GPT
GUID Partition Table
GUID = Globally Unique Identifier
Up to 128 partitions on a single drive
No size limitations (1 Billion Terabytes)
LBA (Logical Block Addressing)
LBA0 = Protective MBR GPT starts at LBA1
LBA1 = Primary GPT Header
Stores necessary info for partitions
LBA2 = Secondary GPT Header
Copy of Primary, used as backup
Can rebuild all partitions
You can convert an MBR drive to GPT
Partitioning: MBR
Master Boot Record Partitioning
The oldest type of partitioning
LBA0 Sector = Computer automatically reads Broken into 5 Sections: Boot Loader (Points to the beginning of one of the partitions on the partition table. Up to 4 Partition tables
If you need more than 4 partitions on a single drive, you create an extended partition & add logical drives
File Systems: ExFAT
exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table) Newer file system used for flash drives Works on most operating systems Breaks FAT32's limitation of 4GB size Theoretical partition limit of 64ZB Partition sizes up to 512TB Extends to 64-bit cluster entries
File Systems: FAT32
FAT32 (File Allocation Table 32-bit)
Each block stores up to 4096 bytes of data
Up to 2GB partition size
Basically a two-column spreadsheet that keeps track of which clusters store the various parts of a file. Hexadecimal system (4 bits each)
Bad block = 0000FFF7
Good block = 00000000
End of file = 0000FFFF
If file is larger than 1 cluster, Windows places next cluster location in the status area.
File Systems: NTFS
NTFS (New Technology File System)
6 Improvements:
Redundancy, security, compression, encryption, disk quotas, cluster sizing
Uses MFT (master file table) Partitions keep a backup copy of most critical parts Reduces chance that a serious drive error can wipe out both the MFT & the copy
ACL (Access Control List)
Views files/folders as objects and provides security for them.
Encryption = EFS
Disk quotas allow admins to set space usage limits
File Systems: CDFS
CDFS (Compact Disc File System)
Works on Blu-Ray & DVD as well
File system for optical discs
Up to 4GiB files
File Systems: NFS
NFS (Network File System: Linux/UNIX)
Similar file system to SMB, but older & for Linux
File Systems: ext3 & ext4
Third/Fourth Extended File System (Linux)
ext4: Volumes up to 1EB
File sizes up to 16TB
Backwards compatible with ext2 & ext3
ext3: Volumes up to 32TiB
File sizes up to 2GiB
File Systems: HFS+
Hierarchical File System Plus (macOS)
Volumes up to 8EiB
Files sizes up to 8EiB
Quick Format vs. Full Format
Quick Format: Takes a few seconds
Removes files from the partition, but does not scan the disk for bad sectors.
Full Format: Can take up to several hours
Hard disk is scanned for bad sectors & files are removed.
Workgroup vs. Domain
Workgroup: The default Windows network infrastructure.
No computers in the workgroup have control over others.
Home/small business/LAN
Domain: Centralized network infrastructure.
Best for larger organizations
All accounts can be managed by a network admin
Most tightly controlled
Factory Recovery Partition
A partition containing a copy of the OS & boot files
Usually built in to OEM machines
