Invisible wrote:
> - Boot the CD. Windows XP gives you the little "press any key to boot 
> this CD or wait X seconds to boot normally", but NT just boots into the 
> installer, weather you meant to or not.

All the Windows installers will boot directly into the CD if there's no 
bootable OS installed already.

> - Multiple warnings tell you that no OS is detected and if there *is* in 
> fact an OS, the installer isn't seeing it and so will probably destroy 
> it.

As opposed to Solaris x86, where even after you spend half an hour clearing 
out enough room to make a partition for it, it blows away every other OS 
installed without asking. :-)

> - Accept the license agreement. (You must repeatedly press PGDW to get 
> to the bottom before you can press F8 to accept.)

I always liked that one.

> - The Windows NT boot screen appears. If you selected to format with 
> NTFS, then Windows will now convert the existing FAT partition with all 
> your files on it to NTFS like you actually asked for. (WTF?) Presumably 
> because the text-mode installer doesn't grok NTFS yet or something...

Yes. Plus, apparently many people were upgrading earlier versions of Windows 
anyway.

> - Now update Windows, preferably to the latest available version: 
> Service Pack 6a. This is avilable in both "export" and "high encryption" 
> versions, due to the old US export laws that forced Microsoft to export 
> various software with only 40-bit encryption.

Ah yes. Service pack 6a, which is service pack 6 with the patent license 
violating code removed. :-)

> Isn't all this fun? :-}

Is it more fun than trying to get MS products working where the only client 
you have is beta-5 (and beta-5.2 is known not to work with your hardware) 
and the only server you have is the one MS just came out with 2 months ago, 
but which only runs on Server2003 which they stopped selling several years ago?

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Yes, we're traveling together,
   but to different destinations.

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