Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Installation Guide

• Hardware requirements
• Software requirements
• Installation process

I consider that we have "modern" PC, i.e. with Pentium 4 x86 32-bit CPU or later. Other requirements below:

• (E)IDE/(S)ATA controller compatible with UniATA (but NOT RAID!), atapi.sys or with it's own NT-compatible driver (intelata, viaide, siside, ... etc).

• Windows 2000/XP/2003 Installation Media (CD, DVD, HDD)
• Virtual PC 2004 or 2007
• WinImage by Gilles Wollant
• Windows NT Installation Media (CD, DVD, HDD)
• Latest Windows NT service pack
• UniATA disk storage driver
• OPTIONAL: If we wish to use FAT32 partitions - Winternals FAT32 driver ( FAT32.EXE ) full version, NOT read-only!
• OPTIONAL: Digi/Ionetworks USB driver ( i4usb406.exe ).

• Install Windows 2000/XP/2003 on FAT16, FAT32, NTFS partition. If we are planning to overwrite Windows 2000/XP/2003 installation by Windows NT - if we asked for target directory select any of it but NOT \WINNT - \WINDOWS, \WINXP, \WIN2K, \WTSRV, \WIN2003 or any other.
• If we are planning NT installation on separate partition create additional FAT16, FAT32, NTFS partition at least 0.5 ... 1 GB.
• Install WinImage
• Install Virtual PC 2004 or 2007
• In Virtual PC:
  • Create fixed size hard drive VHD-image about 0.5 ... 1 GB.
  • Mount NT installation CD image or real CD in Virtual PC.
  • Install Windows NT. When asked for partition, create primary partition with FAT filesystem. When asked for network, skip it. We will install network support later.
  • Install latest Windows NT Service Pack:

    sp6i386.exe -z -n -q 
    

    or for Windows Terminal Server Edition

    wtsi386.exe -z -n -q 
    

    You can inject it using WinImage in VHD-image.
  • Install UniATA disk storage driver and remove default driver before reboot.
  • If you are planning to access FAT32 partitions, install Winternals FAT32 driver.
  • If you are planning to install NT on FAT32 partition set it to "boot" start in "Control Panel - Devices" or in registry:

    ---- start copying here ----
    REGEDIT4
    
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Fat32]
    "Type"=dword:00000002
    "Start"=dword:00000000
    "ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
    ---- end copying here ----
    

    And you must copy ntdlr, ntdetect.com from Windows 2000/XP/2003 root to the root directory (as usual it is C:\) of Windows NT installation. You can inject them using WinImage in VHD-image.
  • Now I consider that we exit Virtual PC and have done all VHD-image preparations.
• Extract \WINNT directory from VHD-image to the target root of our "real", physical hard drive.
• Extract \Program Files directory from VHD-image to the target root of our "real", physical hard drive or to the temporary directory if we plan to remove Windows 2000/XP/2003 installation later.
• Copy these line to the [operating systems] of our C:\BOOT.INI

  multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version 4.00"
  multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version 4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
  

• If we are planning to use Windows NT in Multi-Core, SMP or HyperThreading environment you could enable it by choosing another kernel/hal:
  • Extract halmps.dll, ntkrnlmp.exe from NT Service Pack: spi386.exe /x or wtsi386.exe /x
  • Modify C:\BOOT.INI

    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version 4.00" /hal=halmps.dll /kernel=ntkrnlmp.exe
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version 4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos /hal=halmps.dll /kernel=ntkrnlmp.exe
    

    If we need to use more than 2CPU - you can patch NTKRNLMP.EXE to fix it, address may vary:

    Comparing files ntkrnlmp.exe and NTKRNLMP.PTC
    000000D8: 1A 91
    000000D9: FA 72
    000000DA: 0E 0F
    000CA92F: 73 EB
    000CAA9A: 74 EB
    
    
    .801CA910: 8B35B0261580                   mov         esi,[-07FEAD950]
    .801CA916: C1EE05                         shr         esi,5
    .801CA919: F7D6                           not         esi
    .801CA91B: 83E61F                         and         esi,01F
    .801CA91E: 46                             inc         esi
    .801CA91F: F605B726158004                 test        b,[-07FEAD949],4
    .801CA926: 0F84B7000000                   jz         .0801CA9E3 --2
    .801CA92C: 83FE04                         cmp         esi,4
    .801CA92F: 730F                           jnc        .0801CA940 --3 // change 73 => EB
    
    .801CAA84: 50                             push        eax
    .801CAA85: FF75EC                         push        d,[ebp][-014]
    .801CAA88: 6A01                           push        1
    .801CAA8A: 689A000000                     push        00000009A ;'   š'
    .801CAA8F: E8CCCAF4FF                     call        KeBugCheckEx --2
    .801CAA94: 39352C3C1580                  1cmp         [-07FEAC3D4],esi
    .801CAA9A: 7419                           jz         .0801CAAB5 --3 // change 74 => EB
    .801CAA9C: 56                             push        esi
    .801CAA9D: A12C3C1580                     mov         eax,[080153C2C]
    .801CAAA2: 50                             push        eax
    .801CAAA3: FF35B0261580                   push        d,[-07FEAD950]
    .801CAAA9: 6A05                           push        5
    .801CAAAB: 689A000000                     push        00000009A ;'   š'
    .801CAAB0: E8ABCAF4FF                     call        KeBugCheckEx --2
    

    Recalclute PE-header checksum after doing that!
• If we are planning NT installation on separate partition, in C:\BOOT.INI change partition(x) to partition(2), partition(3), partition(4) ... according to your target partition.
• If we plan to remove Windows 2000/XP/2003 installation:
  • Reboot our computer and select Windows NT Workstation Version 4.00 from list and press Enter.
  • Make sure that all HDD, CD/DVD drives are accessible.
  • Remove Windows 2000/XP/2003 directories: \WINDOWS (or \WINXP, \WIN2K, \WTSRV), \Program Files, \Documents and settings.
  • Remove Windows 2000/XP/2003 entry from C:\BOOT.INI.
  • Copy \Program Files directory from temporary directory to the target root of our "real", physical hard drive.
• Install Windows NT network support from Control Panel -> Network.
• Install latest Windows NT Service Pack again:

  sp6i386.exe -z -n -q 
  

  or for Windows Terminal Server Edition

  wtsi386.exe -z -n -q 
  

• Install Windows NT SRP (Security Rollup Package) Update and any Post-Serice Pack Updates.
• Install TWEAKUI 1.33 CPL Applet.
• Install ConfigNT CPL Applet.
• Install comctl32.dll update ( 50COMUPD.EXE ) if you don't want to install IE6 SP1 for it.
• If you are planning to use USB peripherials (keyboard, mouse, printer, flash, storage), install Digi/Ionetworks USB driver. If you are plan to use USB keyboard this driver is required!
• If your system has ISA bus, install Windows NT PNPISA driver.
• If your system has SSE-capable CPU, install Windows NT Intel SSE (intlfxsr) driver, it also included in SP5 and later.
• If you wish to use software poweroff and APM - install Windows NT Dell APM driver ( R44506.EXE ). Or you can use hal.dll.softex (1 CPU) of halmps.dll.softex (MULTICPU) from ServicePack6a and replace hal.dll by one of these to use software poweroff, set in registry

  [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
  "PowerdownAfterShutdown"="1"
  

• OPTIONAL: Install scsiport.sys fix described * HERE * and download * HERE *.
• OPTIONAL: Install i8042prt.sys fix from A4Tech Mouse driver if we wish to use mouse with scroll - * HERE *.
• Install Windows NT third-party drivers f.e. for storage, network, modem, sound and video (you could use Scitech SNAP drivers for "modern" 2000-era sound and video).
• Install Visual C++ (6.0, 7.0 or 8.0) Redistributable ( vcredist.exe ).
• Install Windows Installer 2.0 Redistributable ( InstMsiW.exe ).
• OPTIONAL: Install Internel Explorer 6 SP1 and its Updates (up to 2010 year).
• OPTIONAL: Install Windows Media Player 6.4 ( WMP64.EXE ).
• OPTIONAL: Install Directx Media 6 ( dxminst.EXE + dxmedia6.exe + DXM6PTCH.EXE ).
• OPTIONAL: Install Remote Desktop 5.x Connection Software Client ( MSRDPCLI.EXE )
• OPTIONAL: Install MDAC 2.x ( latest is MDAC 2.81 - mdac28e1.EXE ), MSXML.
• OPTIONAL: Install CAPICOM update ( cc2rinst.exe ).
• OPTIONAL: Install GDI+ update ( gdiplus_dnld.exe ).
• OPTIONAL: Install Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Core 1.5 for WinNT4 ( wmint4.exe ).
• OPTIONAL: Install User Profile Cleanup Utility 1.5.
• OPTIONAL: Install Alternative Mouse Pointers ( altpnt.exe )
• OPTIONAL: Install Microsoft Active Acessibility 2.0 RDK for Windows NT4 SP6 ( MSAA20_RDK.exe ).
• OPTIONAL: Install Microsoft Distributive File System (DFS) 4.1 for Windows NT 4.0 SP3-SP6a ( dfs_v41_i386.exe ).
• OPTIONAL: Install Microsoft Internet Print Services addon for Windows NT4 SP6 ( WPNPINS.EXE ).
• OPTIONAL: For Active Directory support - install Windows Directory Services Client ( dsclient_en.exe )
• OPTIONAL: For VPN - Install Microsoft L2TP/IPSec VPN Client for Windows NT4 SP6 ( msl2tp.exe ).
• OPTIONAL: For PPPoE - Install RASPPPoE driver ( www.raspppoe.com ).
• OPTIONAL: Install Microsoft Management Console 1.2 for Windows NT4 SP6 ( IMMC.EXE ).
• OPTIONAL: Install Zero Administration Kit 1.0 update ( zak.exe ).
• OPTIONAL: Install Microsoft(R) Windows NT(R) Services for UNIX update ( wsfux86_1.exe ).
• OPTIONAL: Install Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) update ( mpri386.exe ).
• OPTIONAL: Install ASP update ( asp.exe ).
• OPTIONAL: Install RADGameTools PIXOMATIC Driver to use limited sofrware support for DirectX8/9 acceleration.
• Install any third-party software - MS Office (up to MS Office 2002/XP), browsers (up to Opera 10, Firefox 2.0.0.x, Seamonkey 1.1.x).