Datasheet

Chapter 1

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Getting Started with Windows Vista

significant disk space. The active partition is the system partition that is used to start your com-

puter. The C: drive is usually the active partition.

The boot partition contains the files that are the Windows Vista operating system files. By

default, the Windows operating system files are located in a folder named Windows.

Special Disk Configurations

Windows Vista supports several disk configurations. Options include simple, spanned, and striped

volumes. These configuration options are covered in detail in Chapter 7, “Configuring Disks.”

Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 also include options for

mirrored and RAID 5 volumes.

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 might want to create only the first partition where Windows Vista will be installed. You

can then use the Disk Management utility in Windows Vista to create any other partitions you

need. The Windows Vista Disk Management utility is covered in Chapter 7.

You can get more information about FDISK and other disk utilities from your

DOS or Windows documentation. Also, basic DOS functions are covered in

MCSA/MCSE 2003 JumpStart: Computer and Network Basics by Lisa Donald

(Sybex, 2003).

Language and Locale

Language and locale settings determine the language the computer will use. Windows Vista

supports many languages for the operating system interface and utilities.

Locale settings configure the locality for items such as numbers, currencies, times, and dates. An

example of a locality is that English for 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).

Installing Windows Vista

You can install Windows Vista either from the bootable DVD or through a network instal-

lation using files that have been copied to a network share point. You can also launch the

setup.exe file from within Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista to upgrade

your operating system.

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