CREATING AND RUNNING AN UNATTENDED BACKUP JOB

2. If you want hands-on experience with every aspect of the exam and you have the extra lab resources needed to do Practice 3, complete Practice 3 as well.

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Upgrading from a previous version of Windows to Windows XP Professional.

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Practice 1: Perform upgrades from Windows 2000 Professional and WindowsMe to Windows XP Professional. The simplest way to do this is to insert theWindows XP Professional installation CD-ROM into the target computer’s CD-ROM drive and follow the prompts to upgrade the operating system. You canalso run Winnt32.exe from the \I386 directory of the CD-ROM.Tip You probably do not have Windows NT 4.0 or Windows Me running on any computers that you can upgrade just for the sake of learning. (This is okay because most people do not have them.) I use Microsoft Virtual PC. I install earlier versions of Windows on a virtual PC, back up the virtual hard disk file, and then perform the Windows XP upgrade process. Later, I can return to my backup file if I want to try the upgrade by using a different technique. You can run multiple Virtual PCs simultaneously, and have the virtual computers communicate with each other over a network. Use this process to create a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory. Although this exam focuses on Windows XP, you absolutely must understand how changes to Group Policy set-tings affect what administrators and users can do on Windows XP computers.

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Practice 2: Use the Files And Settings Transfer Wizard to migrate the settingsfrom one computer to another. The originating computer can be runningWindows XP Professional, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT Worksta-tion 4.0, or Windows 2000 Professional; the destination computer must berunning Windows XP Professional.

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Practice 3: Use the User State Migration Tool (USMT) to implement an auto-mated migration of a user’s settings from one computer to another. Customizethe USMT process by making some changes to the .inf files used by the tool.Important For the following task, you should complete at least Practices 1 and 2. If you want a more well-rounded understanding of installation options, you should also complete Practice 3. If you want hands-on experience with every aspect of the exam and you have the extra lab resources needed to do Practices 4 and 5, complete those practices as well.

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Performing post-installation updates and product activation.

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Practice 1: Download and install the network package of the latest servicepack for Windows XP Professional. Extract the package and run Update.exewith the -? switch, and then review the available command-line switches. Usethe appropriate command-line switches to perform an unattended installa-tion. Then, uninstall the service pack by using Add Or Remove Programs.

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Practice 2: Using an unpatched Windows XP Professional installation, use Inter-net Explorer to visit the Microsoft Windows Update site at https://traloihay.net.microsoft.com/. Choose to perform a custom installation of the available patchesand explore each of the available updates to understand what changes theymake. Bring your Windows XP installation up-to-date by installing the latest ser-vice packs and all available critical updates.

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Practice 3: Use the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer, available from http://https://traloihay.net, to identify anycomputers on your network that are missing critical updates.

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Practice 4: Install Microsoft Software Update Services (SUS), available fromhttps://traloihay.net—on a Windows Server 2003 computer. Con-figure Automatic Updates on a Windows XP Professional computer to retrieveupdates directly from SUS. Be familiar with how to configure AutomaticUpdates for Windows XP Professional stand-alone computers and membersof an Active Directory domain.

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Practice 5: If you have time, install Windows XP Professional on a computer,but do not activate it. Wait until the 30-day grace period expires, and note thelimited functionality that Windows XP provides you until you have activated it.