CREATING A PASSWORD RESET DISK ON A COMPUTER THAT IS A MEMBER OF A WOR...

2-8 Chapter 2 Installing Windows XP Professional

account before installation or, if you have been assigned the Add Workstations To

Domain right, you can create the computer account during installation. If you create

the computer account during installation, Setup prompts you for the name and pass-

word of a user account with authority to add domain computer accounts.

Available domain controller and a server running the DNS service (called the

DNS server) At least one domain controller in the domain that you are joining and

one DNS server must be online when you install a computer in the domain.

Joining a Workgroup

When you install Windows XP Professional on a computer, you can add that computer

to an existing workgroup. This process is referred to as joining a workgroup.

You can join a computer to a workgroup during installation simply by assigning a

workgroup name to the computer. The workgroup name you assign can be the name

of an existing workgroup or the name of a new workgroup that you create during

installation.

How to Ensure You Have the Necessary Information Before Installing

Windows XP Professional

Complete the following preinstallation checklist to ensure that you have all the neces-

sary information available before you begin installing Windows XP Professional.

Task Done

Verify that your components meet the minimum hardware requirements.

❑

Verify that all your hardware is listed in the Windows Catalog.

❑❑

Verify that the hard disk on which you will install Windows XP Professional has a

minimum of 1.5 GB of free disk space.

Select the file system for the Windows XP Professional partition. Format this partition

with NTFS unless you need to dual boot operating systems with an operating system

that requires a FAT partition.

Determine the name of the domain or workgroup that each computer will join. If the

computer joins a domain, write down the domain name in the DNS format:

server.subdomain.domain. If the computer joins a workgroup, use the