The System and Boot Partitions When you install Windows 10, files will be stored in two locations: the system partition and the boot partition. The system partition and the boot partition can be the same partition.
The system partition contains the files needed to boot the Windows 10 operating system. The system partition contains the Master Boot Record (MBR) and boot sector of the active drive partition. It is often the first physical hard drive in the computer and normally contains the necessary files to boot the computer. The files stored on the system partition do not take any significant disk space. The active partition is the system partition that is used to start your computer. The C: drive is usually the active partition.
The boot partition contains the Windows 10 operating system files. By default, the Windows operating system files are located in a folder named Windows.
Disk Partition Configuration Utilities If you are partitioning your disk prior to installation, you can use several utilities, such as the DOS or Windows FDISK program, or a third-party utility, such as Norton’s Partition Magic. You can also configure the disks during the installation of the Windows 10 operating system.
You might want to create only the first partition where Windows 10 will be installed. You can then use the Disk Management utility in Windows 10 to create any other partitions you need. The Windows 10 Disk Management utility is covered in Chapter 3, “Configuring Devices and Drivers.”
Language and Locale
Language and locale settings determine the language the computer will use. Windows 10 supports many languages for the operating system interface and utilities.
Locale settings are for configuring the format for items such as numbers, currencies, times, and dates. For example, English for the United States specifies a short date as mm/dd/yyyy (month/day/year), while English for South Africa specifies a short date as yyyy/mm/dd (year/month/day).
It is very important to only choose the locales that this machine will need to use. The reason for this is that for every locale you choose, your system will get updates for all chosen locales that you set up.
Installing Windows 10
The first step to installing Windows 10 is to know what type of media you need to install the Windows 10 operating system. Windows 10 gives you multiple ways to do an install.
You can install Windows 10 either from the bootable DVD or through a network installation using files that have been copied to a network share point or USB device. You can also install Windows 10 by using a virtual hard drive (vhd). This option will be discussed in Chapter 2, “Installing in an Enterprise Environment.” You can also launch the setup.exe file from within the Windows 10 operating system to upgrade your operating system.
To start the installation, you simply restart your computer and boot to the DVD. The installation process will begin automatically. You will walk through the steps of performing a clean install of Windows 10 from the DVD in Exercise 1.1.
If you are installing Windows 10 from the network, you need a distribution server and a computer with a network connection. A distribution server is a server that has the Windows 10 distribution files copied to a shared folder. The following steps are used to install Windows 10 over the network:
1. Boot the target computer.
2. Attach to the distribution server and access the share that has the files copied to it.
3. Launch setup.exe.
4. Complete the Windows 10 installation using either the clean install method or the upgrade method. These methods are discussed in detail in the following sections.
Performing a Clean Install of Windows 10
On any installation of Windows 10, there are three stages.
Collecting Information During the collection phase of the installation, Windows 10 gathers the information necessary to complete the installation. This is where Windows 10 gathers your local time, location, keyboard, license agreement, installation type, and installation disk partition information.
Installing Windows This section of the installation is where your Windows 10 files are copied to the hard disk and the installation is completed. This phase takes the longest because the files are installed.
Setting Up Windows In this phase, you set up a username, computer name, and password; enter the product key; configure the security settings; and review the date and time. Once this is finished, your installation will be complete.
As explained earlier, you can run the installation from the optical media, from a USB, or over a network. The only difference in the installation procedure is your starting point: from your optical drive or USB or a network share. The steps in Exercise 1.1 and Exercise 1.2 assume you are using the Windows 10 DVD to install Windows 10.
Setting Up Your Computer for Hands-On Exercises
Before beginning Exercise 1.1, verify that your computer meets the requirements for installing Windows 10, as listed earlier in Table 1.3. For Exercise 1.1, it is assumed you are not currently running a previous version of Windows that will be upgraded.
The exercises in this book are based on your computer being configured in a specific manner. Your computer should have at least a 50 GB hard drive (this exceeds the basic minimums) that is configured with the minimum space requirements and partitions.
When you boot to the Windows 10 installation media, the Setup program will automatically start the Windows 10 installation. In Exercise 1.1, you will perform a clean install of Windows 10. This exercise assumes that you have access to Windows 10 Enterprise; other editions may vary slightly. You can also download an evaluation version of Windows 10 from the Microsoft website.
Also, I may list steps that you may not see or I may not list steps that you see – this is because my version of Windows may be different. For example, I am installing an MSDN Windows 10 Enterprise edition. At this time, I am not required to enter a license number during install. A normal version bought from a vendor may ask for the license during the actual install.
EXERCISE 1.1
Performing a Clean Install of Windows 10
1. Insert the Windows 10 DVD into a machine or virtual machine with no operating system and start the computer.
2. If you are directed to “Hit any key” to start the DVD, press Enter.
3. The first screen will ask you to enter your language, time and currency format, and keyboard or input method (see Figure 1.1). After filling in these fields, click Next.
4. On the next screen, click the Install Now button (see Figure 1.2).
5. A message appears to tell you that the setup is starting. The licensing screen will be first. Read the license agreement and then check the I Accept The License Terms check box (see Figure 1.3). Click Next.
6. When asked which type of installation you want, click Custom (Advanced) as shown in Figure 1.4.
7. The next screen asks you to identify the disk to which you would like to install Windows 10. Choose an unformatted free space or a partition (partition will be erased) with at least 50 GB available. You can also click the Drive Options (Advanced) link to create and format your own partition as shown in Figure 1.5. After you choose your partition, click Next.
8. When your partition is set, the installation will start (as shown in Figure