Upgrading to Windows 2000

[Ant]

I'm planning to install an old computer with Windows 2000.
It currently has a blank unpartitioned hard disk of 2Gb
capacity, 40Mb RAM, SVGA display adapter, network card,
24x CD-ROM, floppy drive, keyboard and mouse and a Pentium
processor.

This machine is to serve as a minor file server for a
small department. It will, therefore, require file
security. Also, as the disk is not very large, file
compression would also be useful.

I have several questions:

1. Is this machine capable of running Windows 2000? If I
were to upgrade any parts of this PC, what would they be?

2. What file system would I use and why?

3. What are the various ways in which you could install
Windows 2000 on this machine? As this is a one off
installation and the machine is quiteold, what is the best
way to install Windows 2000 in this case?

4. What would I need to do to prepare for the installation.
and how would I start it?

 

[Danny Sanders]

The "minimum" requirements to run Win 2k is:
P 133 CPU
64 megs RAM
2 gig HD with 650 MB free space


After installing Win 2k you would need to install the service packs and hot
fixes. 2 gig will not be enough space.
40 MB Ram will not cut it.

1. Is this machine capable of running Windows 2000? If I
were to upgrade any parts of this PC, what would they be?

The hard drive, Memory, and processor.

2. What file system would I use and why?

NTFS provides much better file security than passwords.

3. What are the various ways in which you could install
Windows 2000 on this machine? As this is a one off
installation and the machine is quiteold, what is the best
way to install Windows 2000 in this case?

4. What would I need to do to prepare for the installation.
and how would I start it?

Boot from the Win 2k CD.

hth
DDS W 2k MVP MCSE

 

[Guillermo]

which kind of pentium processor and clock speed? How much memory?
A pentium II 300 Mhz or so should be able to handle w2k ok
I wouldn't put it in a pentium 1 100Mhz.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I'm planning to install an old computer with Windows 2000.
It currently has a blank unpartitioned hard disk of 2Gb
capacity, 40Mb RAM, SVGA display adapter, network card,
24x CD-ROM, floppy drive, keyboard and mouse and a Pentium
processor.

This machine is to serve as a minor file server for a
small department. It will, therefore, require file
security. Also, as the disk is not very large, file
compression would also be useful.

I have several questions:

1. Is this machine capable of running Windows 2000? If I
were to upgrade any parts of this PC, what would they be?

Just barely. You badly need to replace the hard drive, CPU, and
increase the RAM to 128 to 256 Mb. The absolute minimum requirements
are:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/server/evaluation/sysreqs/default.asp

2. What file system would I use and why?

If you want file security, the _only_ option is NTFS. Neither FAT
nor FAT32 have any security capabilities.

3. What are the various ways in which you could install
Windows 2000 on this machine? As this is a one off
installation and the machine is quiteold, what is the best
way to install Windows 2000 in this case?

Simply boot from the Win2K installation CD.

4. What would I need to do to prepare for the installation.
and how would I start it?

Before proceeding, though, you'd better take a few minutes to
ensure that there are Win2K device drivers available for your PC's
specific components. There may not be, if the PC was specifically
designed for Win98. Have you made sure the PC is capable of
supporting Win2K? This information will be found at the PC's
manufacturer's web site, and on Microsoft's Hardware Compatibility
List (http://www.microsoft.com/hcl/default.asp). Also bear in mind
that computers designed for, and sold with, Win98 very often fail to
meet Win2K's much more stringent hardware quality requirements.


--

Bruce Chambers

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both at once. - RAH

 

[Madhur Ahuja]

I'm planning to install an old computer with Windows 2000.
It currently has a blank unpartitioned hard disk of 2Gb
capacity, 40Mb RAM, SVGA display adapter, network card,
24x CD-ROM, floppy drive, keyboard and mouse and a Pentium
processor.

I think Windows 2000 with 40MB is too much expectation. The machine
might be able to run but you will not able to get any performance
for multiple applications.

This machine is to serve as a minor file server for a
small department. It will, therefore, require file
security. Also, as the disk is not very large, file
compression would also be useful.

A file server with 2 GB? I dont think you will be able to serve
more than 1 GB of data.

1. Is this machine capable of running Windows 2000? If I
were to upgrade any parts of this PC, what would they be?

You should get atleast 128 MB of RAM and try to upgrade the
processor. Video, keyboard , mouse are irrevelant since its a
server.

2. What file system would I use and why?

NTFS is highly recommended. It has extra security features regarding
to users compared to FAT32. Also it is a native file system of
Windows 2000.

3. What are the various ways in which you could install
Windows 2000 on this machine? As this is a one off
installation and the machine is quiteold, what is the best
way to install Windows 2000 in this case?

Nothing special. Just the normal way.

4. What would I need to do to prepare for the installation.
and how would I start it?

You can boot from the Windows 2000 installation CD and start installation
from there. In between the setup, it will ask you to format the partition
as NTFS.

 

[Ken B]

Just to follow up to Danny, I'd suggest that instead of replacing parts
peacemeal on this machine (which won't cut it as a server) just purchase a
new machine.... you can get something from Dell for like $400-500... not a
server-class machine, but something with more than 256mb of ram.... and a
2gb harddrive.

It'll be cheaper in the long run to just replace the machine and forget
about the 40mb ram 'machine' (if it can be called that).

HTH

Ken