     ---------------------------------------
       Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
           README for Installing Windows ME 
                Onto a New Hard Disk
                   March 2000           
     ---------------------------------------

    (c) Copyright Microsoft Corporation, 2000


If you have added a new hard disk to a personal computer, 
you will need to carry out the following six tasks to prepare 
it to run the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Millennium Edition 
(Windows ME) operating system:

- Getting Ready
- Creating the Boot Disk
- Partitioning the Hard Disk
- Using Fdisk to Partition the Hard Disk
- Formatting the Drives
- Installing Windows Millennium Edition

If you are installing Windows ME onto a formatted hard disk
just follow the last two steps.

IMPORTANT: All the steps you need for preparing a hard disk and 
installing Windows ME are included here. However, if you are an 
inexperienced user, it is not recommended that you install 
the hard disk and prepare it for use yourself. If you are not 
familiar with the related technical issues, it is recommended 
that you contact a computer hardware service organization to 
do this.


=============
GETTING READY
=============

The following hardware should already be set up and working:

- The hard disk drive is already physically installed in the 
  computer. That is, it is screwed into position, and the power 
  and data cables are connected.

- The computer recognizes the hard disk drive. The two common 
  types of hard disk drives are SCSI and IDE. 

  - If you have a SCSI drive, the SCSI adapter card will 
    identify the hard disk drive.

  - If you have an IDE drive, you must make sure the computer's 
    CMOS is set to recognize the drive. If you have the option 
    for "auto detect," you can initially try selecting that 
    option. However, check your hardware documentation, as 
    there are many differences among BIOS manufacturers and 
    revisions.

Before you start, make sure you have the following available:

- A floppy disk that can be used to start the computer and 
  provide the utilities you need to make the new hard disk 
  drive usable.

- A Windows Millennium Edition CD.

- An earlier Windows product disk, if you have the Windows 
  Millennium Edition upgrade product (rather than the "full" 
  version, such as the version that comes installed on a new 
  computer).

  When you are installing Windows ME, The Upgrade Compliance 
  Check asks you to show proof of possession of a qualifying 
  earlier version of Windows. You do not have to install the 
  older version first, but you must insert the disk to show 
  the Setup program that you have it. The Windows 95 or 
  Windows 98 CD product disk, or Windows 95 floppy disks 
  work for this purpose.

- Driver disks from manufacturers. If you have hardware that 
  requires drivers that are not part of Windows ME, you need 
  the disk or CD that the manufacturer provided with these 
  drivers.

- Documentation for your computer hardware, in case your need 
  to change CMOS settings or check other information.

Before you start, do the following:

- Make sure that the computer's built-in anti-virus protection 
  is disabled before you start. Your computer may not have 
  this feature, but if it does, you may need to check your 
  computer's documentation to learn how to turn it off. This 
  protection can be turned on again after Windows ME is 
  completely set up.

- Determine whether your computer requires "drive overlay 
  software" to allow it to see large hard drives. If it does, 
  you might need to use that software to prepare the drive. 
  However, even though this software comes with most hard 
  drives, you should not install it unless it's required to 
  properly access the drive. Most recently manufactured 
  computers do not require this software.

NOTE: You may encounter some differences in the following 
      procedures, depending on your system and your preferences. 
      For example, some steps differ if your computer has more 
      than one physical hard disk drive, such as when the 
      second drive has applications installed on it and you 
      want to install Windows ME on the D drive rather than 
      on the C drive.


======================
CREATING THE BOOT DISK
======================

If you do not have a boot disk, also called a Windows ME 
Emergency Startup (boot) Disk (EBD), follow these instructions 
to create one.


If you have access to a computer that is currently running Windows ME

1. In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs, and then 
   click the Startup Disk tab.

2. Click Create Disk, and then follow the instructions on the 
   screen.


- An EBD from Windows 98 will also work with this procedure. 
  The startup disk you created can find and allow access to 
  most, but not all, CD drives. If it can't find or access your 
  drive, follow the instructions that came with your hardware 
  to create a boot disk that will allow access to the CD-ROM 
  drive.

- If an error message appears, your computer may be set to boot 
  from the hard disk rather than from the floppy disk. To change 
  this option in the computer's CMOS setup, see your computer's 
  documentation.


==========================
PARTITIONING THE HARD DISK
==========================

Hard disk drives are divided into areas called partitions. 
There are two types: Primary and Extended. Drive letters are 
assigned automatically by the system, so you can't choose to 
assign a particular letter to a drive. Drive letters are 
assigned in order, as follows:

- The Primary partition gets the drive letter C. If the computer 
  has more than one physical hard disk and each has a primary 
  partition, the first drive's primary partition gets the 
  letter C, the second drive's primary partition gets D, the 
  third drive's primary partition gets E, and so on.

- An extended partition takes whatever space on the drive that  
  the primary partition isn't using. After you create extended  
  partitions, you can create logical drives in these partitions, 
  and those logical drives are assigned drive letters. (The 
  extended partition itself does not receive a drive letter.)

- After the system assigns letters to all primary partitions on 
  the physical hard disks, it gives the first logical drive in 
  the first extended partition the next letter, then the next 
  logical drive in that partition is assigned the next available 
  letter, and so on.

- When all logical drives in that partition have drive letters 
  assigned, the system finds the next physical drive that might 
  be available and looks for logical drives in any extended 
  partitions and continues this process.

A second, third, or fourth drive is not required to have a 
primary partition. Such a drive can have just an extended 
partition with logical drives in that partition.


Example: Creating Multiple Drives on a Single Disk

For this example, assume your computer has a single new empty 
6-GB hard disk and no CD-ROM drive. With no partition, the hard 
disk is unusable. You make a 2-GB primary partition. Because 
it's a primary partition and it's the first drive, it gets the 
letter C. You decide to make the remaining 4 GB, which has not 
been claimed, into an extended partition. You now have your 
C drive defined and an extended partition taking the rest of 
the drive.

You decide to make a 3-GB logical drive in the extended 
partition, which gets drive letter D. This computer now has 
a 2-GB C drive, a 3-GB D drive, and 1 GB of disk space left 
over that could be used to make a 1-GB drive (which would 
get the letter E) or two 500-MB drives (which would get 
letters E and F).


======================================
USING FDISK TO PARTITION THE HARD DISK
======================================

To partition the drive, you use a program called Fdisk that's 
on the Emergency Startup Disk (EBD) disk you made earlier.

NOTE: Always follow the Fdisk on-screen prompts carefully. The 
      program tells you how to maneuver through the menus, when 
      to press the ESC key to go back, when you need to restart 
      your computer, and so on.

To partition the hard disk:

1. At the A command prompt, type fdisk, and then press ENTER.
   If the hard disk is larger than 512 MB, Fdisk asks whether 
   to enable Large Disk Support:

   - If you want to install other operating systems on this  
     computer, you need to know whether they can read FAT32.   
     If they cannot, choose No. Operating systems such as  
     Windows NT(R) 4.0, for example, cannot read FAT32, but 
     Windows 2000 can.
     
   - If you don't plan to install operating systems other than 
     Windows ME or Windows 2000, you will probably want to use 
     Large Disk Support. It allows you to create partitions 
     larger than 2 GB (which is the limit for FAT16) and 
     provides greater file storage efficiency.

2. When you are prompted about enabling Large Disk Support, type 
   Y or N, and then press ENTER. The Fdisk main menu appears.

3. At the command prompt, type 1 to create a Primary partition. 
   You are then asked whether you want to use the maximum space 
   (the entire drive):
   
   - If you choose Yes, this uses up to 2 GB for a FAT16 
     partition or the entire drive for a FAT32 partition.
     
   - If you choose No, you can specify how large you want the 
     partition to be.
     
     If you want to use only part of the drive as the Primary 
     partition, you can return to this menu later to choose 
     Option 2 to create the Extended partition. When you choose 
     Option 2, you are prompted whether to use the remainder of 
     the drive; then follow the prompts through the process of 
     creating logical drives in that partition. Continue with
     this process until all the space is used up on the hard 
     disk.

4. Optionally, to make the Primary partition "Active," select 
   Option 2 from the Fdisk main menu. Follow the instructions.

   The Active partition is the partition that the computer boots 
   from. You need to set the Active partition if you created both 
   Primary and Extended partitions. If you created only a Primary 
   partition, it will automatically be set to Active.

5. When all this is finished, press the ESC key to exit Fdisk. 
   When you are prompted to start your computer, leave the EBD 
   disk in the A drive and restart your computer by using the  
   power switch or by pressing CRTL+ALT+DEL.


=====================
FORMATTING THE DRIVES
=====================

After the partitions and logical drives are created, you need 
to format them.

To enable CD-ROM support:

1. After you restart your computer, a menu appears prompting you  
   to choose whether you want CD-ROM support. 

   - Select Option 1 or 2 to boot with CD-ROM support if you are 
     using a Windows ME Startup Disk.

   - Select Option 1 if you are using a Windows 98 Startup Disk.

2. Watch for any error messages. There will be several 
   informational messages crossing the screen while the EBD 
   looks for your CD-ROM drive, but these are not necessarily 
   error messages.

When the display returns to the A prompt, you must format the 
Primary partition (the C drive) you just created with Fdisk, 
plus any logical drives created in any extended partitions.

IMPORTANT: If the computer has more than one hard disk drive, 
           make sure you are formatting the correct drive. 
           Otherwise, you can lose information that you cannot 
           recover. For example, before formatting drive D, at 
           the A prompt, type "dir d:" to make sure there is no 
           data on it. If the drive is empty, you should receive 
           an error message when you try to perform this command.

To format the hard drive:

1. To format drive C, at the A prompt type the following:

   format c:

   and then press ENTER. You will be warned that all data will be 
   lost. 

   Select Yes to continue with the format.

2. For each logical drive you created (such as D and E), at the 
   A prompt type the following:

   format d: (or the appropriate drive letter)

Make sure you are formatting only the new drives you created, 
not other drives on other hard disks in your computer.


=====================================
INSTALLING WINDOWS MILLENNIUM EDITION
=====================================

If you use a Windows ME Emergency Startup Disk (EBD), the CD-ROM 
drive is automatically assigned the drive letter two higher than 
the last hard-disk partition. If you have only a C drive, the 
CD-ROM drive will be E. If you have C and D hard drives, the 
CD-ROM will be drive F, and so on. The drive letter immediately 
after your last hard drive is assigned to the Ramdrive used by 
the EBD.

To install Windows ME on the new drive:

1. Insert the Windows Millennium Edition CD in the drive.

2. To change to the CD-ROM drive, at the A prompt type E: 
   (or the appropriate drive letter), and then press ENTER.

3. Type the following:

   setup

   and then press ENTER.

4. Follow the instructions on the screen. If you have the Windows
   ME Upgrade product, you must insert a CD or floppy disk from
   a previous version of Windows. The instructions will tell you 
   when to insert the Windows ME CD back into the drive.

5. You're on the way! Just continue to follow the instructions 
   on the screen.


