Compatibility report: Windows 2000

Product: Windows 2000 Professional and Server

Version: 2195 (the final release)

Summary: Plug and Play and capabilities come to Windows NT, but multimedia support is lacking.

Part 1: Hardware Issues

We installed Windows 2000 on several machines, including one with a minimal configuration -- a 150 MHz Pentium PC with 32MB of RAM and a 1.2GB drive -- to test Microsoft's claimed minimum hardware requirements. In this computer, we installed an ATI All in Wonder Pro graphics card, a SoundBlaster 32 and a 3Com network card. Not surprisingly, we found the company's claims that "hardware requirements have not changed since NT 4.0" to be unrealistic, and the machine was very sluggish when applications were loaded onto the bare OS. Expanding the RAM to double the recommended minimum -- to 64MB -- still yielded unacceptably poor performance. 128MB was noticeably better. Performance benefits beyond 192MB of memory were less obvious.

Interestingly, the Display Properties control panel said the machine had "multiple displays." Upon closer inspection, we found that Win2K had enabled "Generic television" output for this card's TV out jack. A browse through the drivers revealed that ATI cards are well supported -- the list even included drivers for the (then unreleased) Rage 128 Pro and other Rage 128 models.

Our second test machine was a Compaq Presario 1920 portable. Windows 2000 issued several warnings, citing incompatibilities with the IDE controller, APM battery manager -- even our FlashCard TrueFFS PCMCIA flash RAM card -- all of which worked fine under Windows 9x. We elected not to install Win2K on this unit, as a result. Our other test units didn't fare so well, either.

Third, we tried a 166 MHz Pentium PC based on an Asus P5A-B motherboard, which includes built-in CMI8330A sound hardware. Windows 2000 didn't support this, either, nor did it like the unit's Adaptec 1542CF SCSI interface (listed as supported in Microsoft's hardware compatibility list) -- not exactly an obscure model. However, we tested both Voodoo Banshee and Permedia 2 graphics cards on this machine with good success.

We then installed Windows 2000 on a dual-processor machine based on a Legend-QDI BrillianX IV motherboard. We tested this system both before and after a BIOS upgrade that brought the system ACPI (Advanced Configurable Power Interface) compatibility, with interesting results. Before the ACPI upgrade, Windows 2000 installed without incident, except for the behaviors listed in the paragraphs following the procedure outlined below. However, after a flash EEPROM update that refreshed the BIOS to a date newer than 01/01/99 (an arbitrary date that Microsoft uses to determine whether a machine is or isn't ACPI capable), the installer froze repeatedly moments after the Setup program started its process. We had to disable ACPI functions by modifying a text string in Windows 2000's setup information file to get the system to work. Here's how we did it.

To disable ACPI BIOS detection: (This is easiest if the required directories are first copied to your hard drive.)

• Modify the file txtsetup.sif in the Windows 2000 Setup folder:
• Change the line "ACPIEnable = 2" to "ACPIEnable = 0". Save.
• Install Windows 2000.

Both before and after the BIOS update, several components on this system had a few difficulties with Windows 2000. Using a serial mouse caused the installer to crash during plug-and-play device detection. Substituting a PS/2 mouse solved this problem. The system included an Adaptec AIC-7880 SCSI controller, connected to a Panasonic DVD-RAM drive and a SyQuest 270MB removable drive.  All was reported well, although the Windows 2000 DVD player cautioned us that it required a hardware or software decoder in order to play back DVD movies -- having the drive alone wasn't enough. A Matrox Marvel G200-TV graphics card worked as a graphics adapter only -- its TV out jack was not supported, and the video-capture software supplied by Matrox for use with NT 4.0 crashed the system hard when the capture program was quit. This configuration gave us no other compatibility warnings. (Of course, that doesn't mean it was telling the truth. When we inserted a 5.2GB data disc into the DVD-RAM drive, our attempts to read or write to it failed with an "incorrect function" error.

This unit was also configured with a Sound Blaster Live!, a parallel-port Travan tape backup and a parallel-connected HP 7110e CD Writer. None of these units were supported and, in fact, the NT4 drivers for the 7110e also caused a nasty "blue screen of death" crash. (A BetaNews.com article details possible workarounds for the SB Live and the MX300, although the article cautions that such fixes shouldn't be tried on multiprocessor PCs and, in fact, didn't work for us.) This desktop system also included a PCMCIA adapter with a Future Domain SCSI2Go PCMCIA card, which apparently would have worked, but Windows 2000 complained that it was out of interrupts. A look at the Device Manager in Windows 2000 revealed another problem: both serial ports were listed as having a conflict. (The system -- identically configured -- worked fine under Windows 98.) IDE hard drives and CD-ROMs on all systems, however, were identified correctly. We later managed to get the PCMCIA adapter working by disabling one of our serial ports, freeing up an interrupt. It's worth mentioning that these tests by no means guarantee that you won't have success attempting to use a serial mouse or two serial ports (etc.); they merely reflect our test results on this particular machine.

With a growing sense of unease, we moved on to a PII/450 based on an Abit BH6 motherboard, with an AMD PCNet Ethernet adapter, Adaptec 1505 SCSI card, Canopus Spectra 2500 graphics card (using the nVidia TNT chip), a Voodoo2 game card (with NT4 drivers from Creative Labs' website) and a Terratec EWS64 XL sound card. Windows 2000 reported compatibility problems with the Terratec product, but seemed to like the other components.

Lastly, we tested a mainstream machine based on an AOpen AX59Pro motherboard (with USB and ACPI support) configured with a Pentium 266, 64 MB of RAM, an Adaptec 1510A SCSI controller, Plextor SCSI CD-ROM, ATI Rage Pro graphics card, 3Com 10/100baseT network card, and a Creative Labs AWE64 sound card. Windows 2000 reported no problems, but after restarting, complained it couldn't find a CD-ROM drive and could not continue. Replacing the CD-ROM drive with an IDE model was necessary to complete the installation. On this machine, too, Windows 2000 complained that the COM 1 and COM 2 ports were having trouble finding needed resources. Again, we had shared an IRQ between them without difficulties under Win98. Apparently, Win2000 doesn't like this. Setting their IRQ allocations to "Auto" in the CMOS setup solved the problem.

Here is a typical Installation Report, from yet another hardware configuration, generated by Windows 2000:

Upgrade Report

This report describes known problems you might encounter after you upgrade to Windows 2000. Read this report to determine the hardware files and upgrade packs you need, then visit Microsoft on the Internet, or contact your hardware or software manufacturer.

Contents:

• General Information
• Hardware
• Software Incompatible with Windows 2000
• Software to Reinstall

General Information

• Dial-Up Connections That Will Be Moved
• The following connections will be moved into your Network and Dial-Up
• Connections Folder after migration.

Microsoft

Backup Files Found

Setup found files on your computer that appear to be a backup of part of Windows 98. During the upgrade to Windows 2000, Setup removes Windows 98 from your computer, including any backups you may have on your hard disk. Protect your backup files by copying them to floppy disks, a network server, a compressed archive file, or other backup mechanism.

Disk Space

Your computer does not have enough free disk space to install Windows 2000. You need at least 319 MB free on drive C:\.

DOS Configuration

One or more entries in your MS-DOS configuration files (Autoexec.bat and Config.sys) are incompatible with Windows 2000. These entries may be associated with older hardware or software that is incompatible with Windows 2000. More technical information is provided in the Setupact.log file, located in your Windows folder.

General Information

Dial-Up Server

After Setup is complete, your computer will no longer accept calls from other computers. You will need to reconfigure your dial-up server in order to re-enable this feature.

DESKTOP

Shared DESKTOP requires a password. Windows 2000 uses user-level access rights instead of passwords.

Setup will create the DESKTOP share and set the permissions to deny all user access. After Setup completes, you can modify the permissions by right-clicking the folder and then clicking Properties.

Windows Messaging Services

Setup has detected a version of messaging (MAPI) that does not function on Windows 2000. Obtain an upgrade pack for your e-mail program, or reinstall it after upgrading to Windows 2000.

Plug-and-Play Hardware

The following hardware may not support Windows 2000 without additional files. Please see the Microsoft Windows 2000 Hardware Compatibility List at http://www.microsoft.com/hwtest/hcl/ for a list of compatible hardware.

• 3D Blaster Voodoo2
• EPSON Stylus COLOR 740
• Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 660C (not currently present)
• Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 720 Series (not currently present)
• HP DeskJet 720C Series v10.3 (not currently present)
• HP LaserJet 4
• LavaPort PCI (not currently present)
• Monster Sound II Gameport
• Monster Sound II MPU-401
• Monster Sound II Multifunction Parent
• Monster Sound II PCI Audio
• Monster Sound II Sound Blaster Pro Emulation
• QMS ColorScript 1000 Level 2
• Shuttle EPAT External ATAPI Adapter.

You can continue with the upgrade, but the hardware may not work until you supply the additional files.

Software Incompatible with Windows 2000

An upgrade pack is required for each of the following programs, because they do not support Windows 2000, or because they may introduce problems with the Windows 2000 Control Panel.

• 3D Stereo Image Factory (tm) (in the Start Menu)
• Adaptec DirectCD (a startup program)
• AudioHQ (in the Control Panel)
• AWE Control (in the Start Menu)
• Connect or Disconnect external drive (on the Desktop)
• Control Panel (in the Start Menu)
• Creative MIDI Instrument Mapper (in the Start Menu)
• Creative Mixer (in the Start Menu)
• Creative WaveSynth-WG (in the Start Menu)
• Cubase Score VST (on the Desktop)
• Disc Detector (in the Control Panel)
• IntelliPoint (in the Start Menu)
• LiveUpdate (in the Control Panel)
• NaturallySpeaking Professional Edition (in the Start Menu)
• QuickTime (in the Control Panel)
• RealPlayer G2 (in the Control Panel)
• Singing Text (in the Start Menu)
• TA Control Panel (in the Start Menu)
• TextAssist Dictionary (in the Start Menu)
• TEXTO'LE (in the Start Menu)
• TextReader (in the Start Menu)
• ThrustMaster ProPanel (in the Control Panel)
• Vienna 2.3 (in the Start Menu)
• Vienna (in Program Files)
• VoiceAssist (in the Start Menu)

Before you upgrade to Windows 2000, you might want to remove the programs you don't use to make more disk space available. You can remove many programs using Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel.

Software to Reinstall

An upgrade pack is recommended for each of the following programs, because they use different files and settings in Windows 2000.

VirusScan (in the Start Menu)

If you cannot obtain an upgrade pack, you should remove the program before upgrading. (Many programs can be removed using Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel). After upgrading to Windows 2000, you can then reinstall the program.

The lesson here is that Windows 2000 -- even with its large library of supported devices -- can be trickier than Windows 98 or 95 to configure. You will have the best luck on mainstream hardware and standard configurations.

Installation

The most convenient way to install Windows 2000 is to simply boot from the CD. This requires a computer with a BIOS that supports this feature, but it makes the installation much more convenient than the "three-floppy" boot process required by previous versions of NT (and OS/2). Microsoft says it is also possible to install the system over a network using a single boot floppy.

We entered our PC's CMOS setup screen (typically, you can do this by pressing DEL at startup time) and, from the Boot Order section, selected CD-ROM as the boot device. After saving these settings and restarting with the Win2K disc in the drive, it booted directly into the Setup program. From there, we were prompted to choose whether to reformat or convert our system's blank FAT-formatted hard drive as NTFS or leave it as is. We elected to leave it as FAT, to maximize our options, although Microsoft maintains that new features in Windows 2000, including new partitioning tools and defrag functions, minimize the need to keep a FAT partition. Although Win2K supports NTFS, FAT32 and FAT16, several other PC operating systems, including DOS and the original release of Windows 95, support only FAT16.

From there, Windows 2000 booted quickly into a graphical mode, where it installed Windows security features, device drivers and the various components needed for Workstation-mode operation. After about a half hour and three restarts, the setup program was done and the system was usable.

Beta 3 of Windows 2000 Server requires a bare minimum of 708MB of free disk space; the workstation version ("Windows 2000 Professional") about 100 MB less, with a standard installation occupying 535 MB on a freshly formatted hard drive.

Dual Boot

We also tested an installation on a machine that had Windows 95 preinstalled. Booting from the CD automatically installed Windows 2000 as a dual-boot configuration. In a separate test, we found that inserting the Windows 2000 CD in the Windows 95 environment and choosing the "install" option produced the same result. Alternately, Windows 9x users are offered the option to "upgrade" their existing operating system, replacing it with Windows 2000, while retaining their existing application installation settings. In the event of a clean installation of Windows 2000, all applications must be reinstalled (theoretically, at least -- we found a number of apps don't need re-installation) and user settings re-entered.

In the case of an upgrade, the Windows 2000 setup program will prompt you to provide software and hardware upgrade files, if any. It will also search for incompatible hardware, software and settings, and create an upgrade report that you can print or save. Net-connected users can also connect to an upgrade support page at www.microsoft.com during this process.

In general, we recommend configuring Windows 2000 (or NT, for that matter) to dual-boot on your system to minimize compatibility headaches. As noted above, a significant number of device drivers and software applications are currently incompatible. Until you determine if any such issues exist, retaining the option to select your previous operating system at startup time with this option is the safest course of action.

It is also possible to install Windows 98 after Windows 2000 is installed, with no apparent problems. We installed Windows 98 to a different directory and, when we were done, either operating system could be selected from a dual-boot screen at startup time. Both worked fine. Note that this will not be possible if you converted your hard drive to NTFS during the Windows 2000 installation.

One test that was spectacularly unsuccessful was our attempt to install Windows 2000 on one machine and then move the hard drive over to another PC -- a fairly common event here at the TCP test labs. We pulled the hard drive from the P166 system described above and moved it to a machine configured with the same graphics card, same keyboard, same mouse, 40 MB RAM, a Sound Blaster 32, a different IDE CD-ROM drive, an Asus 440FX motherboard and a 200 MHz Pentium Pro processor -- in other words, a fairly similar machine. We were surprised when Windows 2000 crashed hard with a blue screen of death and refused to boot, citing a "boot configuration has changed" error. Those familiar with Windows 95 or 98 will now that these operating systems generally handle this sort of change with aplomb. Unfortunately, Microsoft apparently has no intention of supplying this functionality in the final release, which is now expected in Oct. 1999.

Better DLL Control

Software compatibility, in our tests, was not as much of a problem. We performed in-depth tests of several programs known to "mess with the system," including Internet Explorer (including versions 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0x), Microsoft Office 2000, QuickTime 4, 5 and 6, and 3D Studio MAX -- Windows 2000 handled them all without incident, although the OS warned that QuickTime 4 "may introduce problems with the Windows 2000 control panel."

Windows 2000, Microsoft says, prevents applications from replacing core system DLL files. This should make the OS more robust, although it is expected that compatibility with some apps (e.g., Novell Directory Services for NT) will be affected. See wugnet.com for more details.

Availability

There are several ways to obtain Windows 2000 Professional. You may get it pre-installed on a PC (look for a license sticker on the unit's case to verify authenticity); as an OEM CD (about C$250), or as a retail boxed version in either Upgrade or "full install" editions. Contact Microsoft for details regarding corporate licenses or server pricing.

Next: Part 2 - Software compatibility issues.

For Further Reading:

betanews.com has a number of tips on how to get sound cards running under Windows 2000, in its Win2000 section.

ZD Net:

• Win 2000 Beta 3 running late
• Microsoft partners to charge for Windows 2000 Beta 3
• Pushing Win 2000 deployment - more info on Beta 3
• The Windows 2000 conundrum

Infoworld:

• beta testing Windows 2000

Other sources:

• Paul Thurrott's WinInfo Windows news and information (an excellent site)