Words of warning from an early explorer
Last August, Microsoft summoned geek journalists from around the world to Seattle, Washington, for a briefing about Windows NT 5.0. The presentation spanned two days, and Microsoft jam-packed it with information. I had already heard some of the information the briefing covered, but a little review never hurts. (For more information about the briefing, see "NT 5.0 Update," page 151.) The best part of the trip was the participants' going-away present: a copy of the then-brand-new NT 5.0 beta 2.
Saying I was excited about the new release understates my enthusiasm. Later that evening when I had to choose between going to a nice restaurant with colleagues and holing up in my hotel room to install beta 2 on my laptop, the dinner was no contest for the software.
In general, beta 2 is pretty neat. If you can get your hands on a copy, try it out. But please don't email me asking how to get a copy; I can't help you. The folks at Microsoft told me that the only people who received beta 2 were attendees of the mid-October Professional Developers Conference, which will have already happened by the time you read this article; members of the Rapid Deployment Program, a group of customers that Microsoft is using to wring out NT 5.0 rollout problems; and people with Universal subscriptions to the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN), which includes all Microsoft Certified Solution Providers (MCSPs).
If you really want a copy of beta 2, your firm could become an MCSP. The suggestion isn't as goofy as it sounds. All your company needs are two Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPspeople who have passed one Microsoft test) and $1400 per year. In return, you get all of Microsoft's current Office, BackOffice, and developer tools; a network version of TechNet; and a bunch of other software.
Before You Install Beta 2
Despite my enthusiasm about the latest NT 5.0 beta, I wasted hours trying to get the software to work with all my hardware. I hope this report from an early user will save the rest of you time on beta 2 installations.
First, don't worry about establishing your NT 5.0 domain until you finish your beta 2 installation. I wanted to set aside a test machine as a beta 2 domain, but I couldn't figure out how to do that. I was used to previous versions of NT, which ask you during Setup whether you want to create a new domain. NT 5.0 doesn't create domains during Setup. (This feature is an improvement over previous versions of NT. If you've ever searched Microsoft's Knowledge Base trying to figure out how to convert an NT 4.0 member server to a backup domain controllerBDCyou know that you can't change NT 4.0 machines' domain functions without completely reinstalling the operating systemOS.) NT 5.0 installs without requiring domain information. To enter domain information, you click Start, Run after you have the OS up and running and type
DCPROMO
These instructions are in the documents that come with beta 2, but they're not easy to find. If you want to make the machine a domain controller, make sure you have at least one NTFS drive on the system.
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