Franske ITC-2000 Windows 7 Installation Lab

In this lab you and your partner will install Windows 7. In order to give you each a chance to install the OS and experience Virtual Machines which we will use in the future you will need to complete a total of three separate installations. One in a VirtualBox VM on each of your systems and one on physical lab hardware. Directions for these two types of installation are separated below but they can be completed simultaneously.

Installing Windows 7 in VirtualBox

1. Before beginning your VirtualBox installation of Windows 7 it is critical that you have correctly setup your VirtualBox environment. Specifically you need to have created a folder for yourself which includes your name and the current semester on the D drive of the computer (and NOT in the CNT Files folder on the D drive). You must also have changed the default storage location for your VirtualBox VMs to point to that folder on the D drive. If you are unsure how to do these things or want to double check you have done so correctly please ask another group or the instructor for help.
2. Create a new VM in VirtualBox
   1. Name the VM appropriately so you will be able to identify it again in the future and set the OS to Windows 7
   2. Increase the VM memory size to 1024 MB (1GB)
   3. Create a new 50GB dynamically allocated VDI hard drive file (note the increase in size from the default 25GB to 50GB)
   4. Switch the network adapter from NAT to Bridged mode, being sure to bridge to the correct NIC on your physical system (one with Internet access)
3. In the VM storage settings connect the virtual CD/DVD drive to the Windows 7 installation ISO file in D:\CNT Files
4. Power on your VM and boot into the Windows 7 installer
5. Begin a Custom (advanced) installation
6. When asked where you want to install Windows open the advanced drive options and remove any existing partitions you see and try to partition the drive roughly in half. You will want to install into the first of these two partitions.
7. Allow the installer to copy files to the hard drive and reboot to begin the Windows 7 setup wizard.
8. Create a user named "ITC Student" and select a unique computer name (each of your installs needs a unique computer name)
9. Set the password for the ITC Student account to be "class" and the password hint to be "class" as well.
10. Do not enter a product key, this will setup a limited time trial version of Windows which will work for our classroom purposes without wasting a license. You will need to confirm that you do not want to enter a product key at this time.
11. Use the recommended settings for automatic updates
12. Set the correct date, time, and timezone
13. If the network card was automatically detected you will need to select a location for the computer, if so select "Work network".
14. Verify that you are able to reboot and log on to the system.
15. Open the Device Manager and take note of the hardware which was detected and drivers installed automatically as part of the installation process and which devices still have errors.
16. Install the VM hardware drivers for VirtualBox (called the Guest Additions) and reboot as needed.
17. Verify that the VM hardware has been correctly identified and working by looking again at the device manager for any differences or indications of incorrectly functioning hardware.
18. Open a web browser and make sure you have working Internet access. You may need to log in to SafeConnect with your StarID and/or download and install the SafeConnect Policy Client before your Internet access will work.
19. Open the Windows Update control panel and install all available updates.
20. Reboot the system, log back in and verify there are no additional Windows Updates available, repeat until all updates have been applied.

Installing Windows 7 on Physical Hardware

1. Obtain your bootable USB flash drive and attach it to your ITC lab PC and boot from the USB drive (changing BIOS settings to boot from USB if needed)
2. Begin a Custom (advanced) installation
3. When asked where you want to install Windows open the advanced drive options and remove any existing partitions you see and try to partition the drive roughly in half. You will want to install into the first of these two partitions. If you receive an error that "Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition" please see the troubleshooting section below.
4. Allow the installer to copy files to the hard drive and reboot to begin the Windows 7 setup wizard.
5. Create a user named "ITC Student" and select a unique computer name (each of your installs needs a unique computer name)
6. Set the password for the ITC Student account to be "class" and the password hint to be "class" as well.
7. Do not enter a product key, this will setup a limited time trial version of Windows which will work for our classroom purposes without wasting a license. You will need to confirm that you do not want to enter a product key at this time.
8. Use the recommended settings for automatic updates
9. Set the correct date, time, and timezone
10. If the network card was automatically detected you will need to select a location for the computer, if so select "Work network".
11. Verify that you are able to reboot and log on to the system.
12. At this point you may re-format your USB drive and copy your original files back onto the USB drive if you wish.
13. Open the Device Manager and take note of the hardware which was detected and drivers installed automatically as part of the installation process and which devices still have errors.
14. Identify the system hardware which drivers need to be installed for. Locate drivers online using your campus system and copy them to a USB drive for transfer to your lab PC (some large driver download files may also be located in the D:\CNT Files folder on your campus system to save time and can be copied from there).
15. Install the driver files on your lab PC, rebooting as needed. Continue to download and install needed drivers until all hardware is working properly and shows as such in the device manager.
16. Connect your lab PC to the ITC network if you have not done so already.
17. Open the Windows Update control panel and install all available updates.
18. Reboot the system, log back in and verify there are no additional Windows Updates available, repeat until all updates have been applied.

Troubleshooting

Unable to create or find system partition

This error is usually related to specific USB drives which are connected to the computer during the drive partitioning process. Please try following the steps below to resolve this issue.

1. While on the partitioning screen showing the error remove the USB drive from your system
2. Refresh your drive list and try to remove existing partitions and re-partition your drive and continue again, you should receive another error
3. Plug your USB drive back in to the same port it was plugged into before
4. Refresh your drive list again
5. Complete your partitioning as you originally wanted to and you should now be able to continue on with the installation.