********************************************************************** "Read First" Release Notes Microsoft Whistler Beta 2 ********************************************************************** This document provides late-breaking or other information that supplements the Whistler documentation. These notes support a preliminary release of a software program that bears the project code name Whistler. Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without notice and is provided for informational purposes only. The entire risk of the use or results of the use of this document remains with the user, and Microsoft Corporation makes no warranties, either express or implied. Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products, people and events depicted herein are fictitious and no association with any real company, organization, product, person or event is intended or should be inferred. 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The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. ====================================================================== CONTENTS ====================================================================== 1.0 How to Use This Document 2.0 Read Me First 3.0 Providing Feedback on Upgrades to Whistler Beta 4.0 System Requirements for Installation 5.0 Preinstallation Notes ====================================================================== 1.0 How to Use This Document ====================================================================== To read Read1st.txt on the screen in Notepad, maximize the Notepad window. >>> To print Read1st.txt: 1. On the File menu, click Print. 2. In the Print dialog box, ensure that the settings are correct. 3. Click Print. ====================================================================== 2.0 Read Me First ====================================================================== Welcome to the Whistler Beta 2 Release. This release expires 180 days from the date of installation. Print and read this document for critical preinstallation information concerning this release. For the most up-to-date list of supported hardware, see the Hardware Compatibility List at the Microsoft Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/). In addition, print and read the following files located on your Beta 2 compact disc (CD): * Setup text files, located in the \Setuptxt folder on your Whistler Beta 2 CD. * Readme Notes, opened by double-clicking the shortcut located on the Whistler desktop, for compatibility and post-installation information. * Featguid.doc, located in the Whistler CD root directory, for information on new features in this release. New features are described in detail in Whistler Help and Support Services. To open Help and Support Services, after completing Setup, click Start, and then click Help and Support. For the latest release notes and updates, be sure to visit the Windows Beta Web site at: http://windowsbeta.microsoft.com/ ====================================================================== 3.0 Providing Feedback on Upgrades to Whistler Beta 2 ====================================================================== Thank you for participating in the beta test for Whistler. In order to make your testing as productive as possible, we have compiled a few guidelines on the scenarios Microsoft is most interested in receiving feedback on and some known issues with certain upgrade scenarios. The Whistler development team would like the most feedback on the upgrade path from Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition. Because Whistler is the first consumer version of Windows based on Windows NT Technology, improving the upgrade experience from those operating systems is crucial. In addition, you should test clean installations. Upgrades from Windows 2000 are also encouraged, but there are some scenarios that might have issues. ====================================================================== 4.0 System Requirements for Installation ====================================================================== For the full list of system requirements, see the Setup text file series for your operating system located in the \Setuptxt folder on your Whistler CD. ====================================================================== 5.0 Preinstallation Notes ====================================================================== Before you install Whistler Beta 2 on your computer, be sure to read this section. This section contains information about issues that affect the installation process. By using this information to perform your installation, you can ensure that the installation process proceeds smoothly and that Whistler functions correctly. 5.1 Preinstallation Notes for Both 32-Bit and 64-Bit Editions ====================================================================== 5.1.1 Whistler Product Keys: Important Instructions ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Product Keys Product keys are required in the Beta 2 releases of Whistler Personal, Whistler Professional, Whistler Server, and Whistler Advanced Server. You must enter the product key during Setup to complete the installation. This applies to all languages and versions available through pre-release distribution programs, including both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Product keys are 25-character alphanumeric strings that are formatted in groups of five characters, separated by dashes. It is very important that you manage your keys for Whistler Beta 2 carefully. Please read the details about this release later in this section. Obtaining Product Keys Product keys are distributed in various ways, depending on the specific program. Technical beta testers must obtain keys from the Windows Beta Web site by using their Beta ID and password. For more information, see the Windows Beta Web site at: http://windowsbeta.microsoft.com/ Other programs distribute keys directly with the installation media by using stickers affixed to the media sleeve. Key and Media Types There is one single type of Product Key for Whistler Beta 2. At the final release, Whistler will employ three primary key types: standard keys, volume license keys, and OEM keys. There will be three corresponding media types. Keys might also differ by platform type (For example, Professional, Server, and so on). Importance of Careful Key Management You must take great care of your Product Keys for Whistler Beta 2. In particular, you must use only the assigned keys for your media. If you attempt to use keys from other products, beta programs, or the wrong media type, your installation will fail. If you attempt to use an incorrect product key, you might not be aware that installation failed until after Setup is complete and you attempt to start your computer. (This issue will be addressed when the final released versions of keys are implemented.) What is Windows Product Activation? Windows Product Activation (WPA) is new for Whistler Beta 2 and is described later in this section. It imposes additional constraints on the use of Product Keys. In particular, each Product Key can only be used to install a certain number of unique computers (the actual number depends on the pre-release distribution program with which you are participating). If you have received more than one Product Key through your program, it is essential that you keep track of which Product Key you use to install each Whistler operating system. Automating Product Key Entry You can automate the installation of Product Keys through the use of the ProductKey parameter in your unattend files. ProductKey is a new name for the ProductID parameter that was supported in Windows 2000. ProductKey functions identically to ProductID parameter. Please refer to the unattend documentation for further information. When upgrading Whistler using winnt32 /unattend, Whistler beta versions attempt to use a previous Product Key if the computer you are upgrading from had one installed already. This speeds up upgrades from older interim versions (starting with Build 2428) to Beta 2 and subsequently to later interim versions (or even re-installing the same version). However, if you are upgrading from Build 2428 or earlier of the operating system, you should take care to not install using winnt32 /unattend in order to prevent possible key conflicts. Scripting Product Key Changes It is not possible to script re-entry of Product Keys in Whistler Beta 2. A new Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) provider will be implemented in a later release. This provider will permit changing a computer's Product Key through scripting interfaces. Windows Product Activation Whistler Beta 2 includes a new feature called Windows Product Activation (WPA). WPA requires that you activate your product with Microsoft within 14 days of initial installation. This activation grace period, which will change to 30 days for the released product, was chosen to enable us to thoroughly test the WPA feature during the pre-release or Beta program. Activation, which is mandatory, is anonymous. It couples the owner's Product Key with a computer hardware ID that is non-unique and cannot be traced back to a given computer. Activation is not the same as registration, nor does it require registration. Registration refers to the voluntary provision of customer information to Microsoft. Activation is implemented on all 32-bit platforms for standard media. It is required for all language versions of Whistler. This excludes Volume and OEM media types. Activating a Computer Activation is required for each individual computer on which Whistler Beta 2 is installed. Computers can be activated either online by using an Internet connection, or manually, by telephoning a Microsoft product activation call center. Call centers will be available internationally for Whistler Beta 2, but they will only be available during regional business hours until final product release The final list of phone numbers, countries with toll free phone numbers, and operating hours is still being completed. Call center availability will be expanded significantly for the final product release. For most installations, you will be asked to activate (and optionally register) your system through the Setup program (full screen out-o f-box experience (OOBE)). You can choose to defer activation until a later time. In some cases, for example, if your video does not support at least 800x600 modes, you will not see the initial activation screens and deferral will be automatic. Server installations will also automatically defer activation, since they do not utilize full screen OOBE. If activation is deferred for any reason, you can activate at any time. You must have local administrator privileges to activate. To activate, click Start, and then click Activate Windows. Or, if you can't find it there for any reason, click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Activate Windows. You can also start activation while logging on to your computer or through the notification (balloon) reminders, which become more frequent the closer you get to expiration date. Online activation (and registration, if selected) uses standard HTTPS to gain access to the Internet. As long as the user account is able to browse to secure Web sites (For example, home banking Web sites), then you can activate the computer. >>> To complete activation, you must do one of the following: * Use your Internet connection such as a LAN network connection or an Internet connection through an Internet Service Provider, or * Use a modem that can connect to the Internet, or * Call a Microsoft product activation call center. Activating Through a Proxy If the computer you are trying to activate is on a network that uses a proxy server to get to the Internet, and if your network implements the Web Proxy Auto-Discovery (WPAD) protocols (used to detect proxy settings automatically), you should be able to activate without additional configuration. Otherwise, activation during the initial Setup OOBE is deferred and you must configure the proxy settings in Internet Explorer or through Control Panel. Since proxy settings are set per user, be sure to do this using the same logged-on account (with administrative privileges) that you will use to activate. If your activation grace period expires before you set the proxy on a local administrator account, you will need to start your computer in non-networked safe mode in order to set up the proxy. You will not be able to activate until you restart your system. You must then log on as an administrator in order to activate. Automating Activation You can automate activation by using the AutoActivate parameter in your unattend files. You can also set proxy settings for activation by using the ActivateProxy parameter. Please refer to the unattend documentation for further information. Image Deployment The Sysprep tool has been enhanced to support activation rollback up to three times. This is designed to deploy imaged systems using standard media. You must still enter a unique Product Key for each cloned image. You should create your master image as usual. Do not activate this master system. After you have run Sysprep.exe and the system shuts down, you can image the hard drive as needed at any future time. This process can be repeated on multiple times, as long as cumulative rollbacks do not exceed the limit listed earlier. Scripting Activation Activation scripting is not available in Whistler Beta 2. It will be provided through WMI provider methods in a later release. By using WMI, you can query various activation-related properties and then activate by using both online and offline methods. 5.1.2 Windows Management Instrumentation Command Line Tool ---------------------------------------------------------------------- On computers running Whistler Professional, Whistler Server, Whistler Advanced Server, or Whistler Datacenter Server, the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) command line tool installs when you initially start WMI command line tool by compiling the Managed Object Format (MOF) alias files. The installation might take approximately one minute. Approximately 10 MB of free hard disk memory is required for the installation. Your computer should function correctly with the WMI command line tool installed. This issue will be addressed in a future release. 5.1.3 Text-Mode Setup ---------------------------------------------------------------------- On all versions of Whistler, if you choose to repair an existing Whistler installation when running Setup from the Whistler CD, you will be prompted for the normal Setup questions instead of going through the process unattended. This issue will be addressed in a future release. 5.1.4 Text-Mode Setup - Dynamic Disk Information ---------------------------------------------------------------------- When you have a mix of basic and dynamic disks on a computer where you are installing Whistler, the text-mode partitioning options screen can misrepresent free space and type of partition. In particular, areas of free space on the drive might be shown as partitioned dynamic disks and dynamic disks might not show accurate amounts of available free space. This issue will be addressed in a future release. 5.1.5 Setup - Installing Multiple Identical Disks ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If you attempt to install any version of Whistler on a computer with multiple identical hard drives, Setup might not differentiate between them and Setup fails. The message displayed is: "Setup either detected multiple disks in your machine that are indistinguishable or detected raw disk(s)." To work around this issue, remove one of the drives using the BIOS or physically remove the disk from the system to allow setup to continue. This issue will be addressed in a future release. 5.1.6 Setup/Upgrade: NetWare Client ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Setupdll.dll code was removed from Whistler Professional, Whistler Server, Whistler Advanced Server, and Whistler Datacenter Server. As a result, the NetWare client no longer runs. There is no workaround for this issue at this time. 5.1.7 Dynamic Update ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For Whistler Personal, Whistler Professional, Whistler Server, and Whistler Advanced Server, Setup contains a new feature known as Dynamic Update, which can be used to download updated drivers and files needed for Setup. In order to determine the appropriate files needed for your computer, Dynamic Update collects anonymous information about your computer's current hardware devices. The information collected does not include any personally identifiable information and will not be used for any purpose other than to request that update files are sent to your computer. This information will not be permanently stored. As part of an ongoing effort to improve the Dynamic Update process, the aggregate information about the success and failures of Dynamic Update installations is stored by Microsoft and used to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of our Dynamic Update services. As part of Microsoft's ongoing commitment to privacy and confidentiality policies, none of this logged statistical data will contain any information that can identify you or is in any way traceable to you or your computer. 5.2 Preinstallation Notes for 32-Bit Editions of Whistler Only ====================================================================== 5.2.1 Windows Millennium Edition Upgrade ---------------------------------------------------------------------- After you upgrade from Windows Millennium Edition to Whistler Personal or Whistler Professional, any files originally stored in the My Pictures folder are moved to the folder C:\My Documents\My Pictures. As a result, the My Pictures link in the Start menu might not function correctly. No data loss occurs. You can gain access to your folders by navigating to C:\My Documents\My Pictures. This issue will be addressed in a future release. 5.2.2 Product Activation ---------------------------------------------------------------------- On all versions of Whistler, if the registry does not contain a ProductID key in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion then Windows Product Activation does not successfully activate the product. This issue will be addressed in a future release. Caution: Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on the computer. 5.2.3 Dynamic Update - Drivers in Subdirectories ---------------------------------------------------------------------- On all versions of Whistler, if drivers are posted on a corporate Windows Update site in subdirectories, Dynamic Update does not enumerate these drivers and does not install them on the client system. To work around this issue, place all of the drivers in the root directory. 5.2.4 Upgrading to Whistler with DirectX 8.0 or 8.0a Installed ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following warning message appears during Setup when upgrading to any version of Whistler with DirectX 8.0 or DirectX 8.0a previously installed: "To Maintain compatibility with your DirectX 8.0 application, you will need to download the DirectX 8.0 updated for Windows 2000." To work around this issue, ignore the message and click OK. Setup will continue normally. This issue will be addressed in a future release. 5.2.5 Hardware Drive Letter Mappings ---------------------------------------------------------------------- On computers running Whistler Personal, Whistler Professional, or Whistler Server, user-defined drive letter mappings for removable media devices such as CD-ROM, CD-RW, Zip, Jazz, and so on, might be changed back to their original drive letters when upgrading from Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 Special Edition, or Windows Millennium Edition. Applications which look for the previously defined drive letter assignments can encounter difficulties in locating the removable media. To work around this issue, the drive letter mapping can be changed by using the Disk Management snap-in. This issue will be addressed in a future release. >>> To work around this issue: 1. In Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools. 2. Double-click Computer Management. 3. In the details pane, double-click Storage. 4. Double-click Disk Management. 5. To change the drive letter, right-click the drive needing to be changed, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths. Click the new drive letter, then click OK. 5.2.6 Upgrading from Japanese Versions of Windows ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Before upgrading from versions of Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Millennium Edition localized for Japan that have Office XP installed to any version of Whistler, first uninstall the Office Japanese IME. Do this by using Add/Remove Application in Office XP. Failure to do this will prevent Whistler from starting after Setup. This issue will be addressed in a future release. 5.2.7 Volume Management ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Whistler does not support Windows NT 4.0 Ftdisk volume sets. If you are running Windows 2000, you must convert all Ftdisk volume sets to dynamic volumes before upgrading. If you are running Windows NT 4.0, you should break any mirrors and back up all data on stripe, RAID5, or extended volume sets before upgrading. Ftdisk sets might not be accessible after the upgrade. 5.2.8 Upgrading from Windows NT 4.0 to Whistler ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If you upgrade a computer with a Diamond Monster Sound MX400 card and ESS Technology Canyon3D chip set from Windows NT 4.0 to Whistler Personal or Whistler Professional, the audio does not function correctly after the upgrade. 5.2.9 Host Integration Server 2000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If you upgrade a computer running Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6 or earlier to Whistler Server or Whistler Advanced Server with Host Integration Server (HIS) 2000 installed, the computer might stop responding. To work around this issue, change the SNAbase service to manual before you perform the upgrade. >>> To change the SNAbase service and then perform the upgrade: 1. Change the SNAbase service to manual. 2. Stop the service. 3. Upgrade to Whistler, and then manually restart the SNAbase service. If you are in the process of upgrading to Whistler and HIS 2000 is installed, the computer might stop responding on the final restart. To work around this issue, start in Safe Mode with Networking and change the SNAbase service to manual. >>> To start in Safe Mode with Networking and change the SNAbase service: 1. After the computer stops responding on the final restart, restart the computer in Safe Mode with Networking. 2. Change the SNAbase service to manual, stop the service, and then restart the computer. The computer starts up normally with SNAbase stopped. 3. SNAbase can then be restarted in Services.msc. 5.2.10 Acer TravelMate 350 Computers ---------------------------------------------------------------------- On Acer TravelMate 350 computers running Whistler Personal or Whistler Professional, Setup stops responding after the first restart in tex t-mode Setup. There are no workarounds. This issue will be addressed in a future release. 5.2.11 Toshiba Portege 34xx-series Laptops ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Whistler Personal and Whistler Professional do not successfully complete clean installations on Toshiba Portege 34xx-series laptops due to a second integrated drive electronics (IDE) controller issue. To work around this issue, migrate from the original equipment manufacturer preloaded factory recovery image. 5.3 Preinstallation Notes for 64-Bit Editions of Whistler Only ====================================================================== 5.3.1 Converting Master Boot Record Disks to GUID Partition Table Disks ---------------------------------------------------------------------- On computers running Whistler Professional, Whistler Advanced Server, or Whistler Datacenter Server, the master boot record (MBR) Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) System Partition and operating system installation partition are not supported. Whistler Itanium-based operating systems require globally unique identifier (GUID) partition table (GPT) disks and cannot install on or start from MBR disks. Computers must have GPT partitions in order to support the version of Boot Manager that is included in the Whistler Beta 2 release. If your system disk is not a GPT disk, it must be converted to a GPT disk before installing Whistler Itanium-based operating systems. Although earlier beta versions of Whistler Itanium-based operating systems included workarounds while the hardware, firmware, and operating systems were being designed, MBR disks must now be converted to GPT disks for Whistler Beta 2. This issue will not be addressed in a future release. GPT disks have many advantages compared to MBR disks such as: * Redundant partition tables * Ability to creating partitions up to 18 exabytes in size * Defined partition scheme for storing specific data For additional information about GPT disks, see the Microsoft Windows "Whistler" and GPT: Frequently Asked Questions Web site at: http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/storage/Whistler-GPT_FAQ.htm To add GPT partitions, a clean installation must be made by installing from the Whistler Beta 2 CD. First, however, you need to determine whether the system has already been upgraded to GPT disks. >>> To determine if your system has been upgraded to GPT disks: 1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Manage (Click 64-bit snap-ins if you are given the option). 2. Click Disk Management. 3. Right-click Disk 0, and then click Properties. 4. On the Volumes tab, if the Partition style entry lists a GPT disk, the system has been upgraded. If it lists an MBR disk, the disk must be completely repartitioned and the operating system must be set up again. If you need to repartition the disk, before you start, complete the following procedure. >>> To prepare to repartition your disk: 1. Move all data to another system or storage device. 2. Obtain a copy of the Whistler Beta 2 CD. To repartition the disk, you must perform a clean installation by using the Whistler Beta 2 CD. Important: The following steps are a sample procedure for repartitioning the disk and installing the operating system. The actual procedure might differ depending on the type of computer. >>> To repartition your disk: 1. Restart the computer and stop the startup process at the EFI shell. To stop the system at the EFI shell, press any key while the following message is displayed on the screen: "Will launch... \os\winnt50\ia64ldr.efi. Press any key to abort autoload." This causes the system to stop at the prompt Shell>. 2. At the prompt, type: MAP This locates the CD-ROM file system designator, fsx, where 'x' is a number associated with a hard drive on your system. 3. The device descriptions for the disk devices in your system appear. The fsx entry looks like the following example: fs1: VenHw(Unknown Device:FF)/CDROM(Entry 1) The CD-ROM drive is normally fs1. However, the number can vary if other drives exist on the system with EFI mountable partitions such as another EFI System Partition (ESP). 4. In the CD-ROM box, type: FSX where 'X' is replaced with the number as noted in the Step 3. The prompt changes to reflect the new selection. In the previous example, the prompt changes to: fs1:\> 5. Start the text setup mode and delete any partitions on Disk 0. At the fs1:\> prompt, type: SETUPLDR 6. Follow the instructions that appear. At the partition selection prompt, delete all of the partitions on Disk 0. 7. Change the disk style. After the partitions have been deleted, an additional choice is offered for how to prepare a disk for Whistler installation. To change the disk style, type: S 8. When Setup indicates that an EFI System Partition is needed, you can choose to create one. To create the EFI System Partition, at the prompt, type: Y 9. Create any additional partitions. After a short delay (approximately 30 seconds), the system creates both the EFI System Partition, which is approximately 100 MB, and the Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR), which is approximately 31 MB. After these partitions are created, you can set up any additional partitions, including multiple partitions to support multiple operating system installations. Important: Do not delete the 100-MB EFI System Partition and the 31-MB MSR partitions that text-mode Setup automatically creates. The EFI System Partition is displayed as "Partition1 [FAT] 102 MB (101 MB free)." The MSR partition is displayed as "Partition2 [Unknown] 31 MB (0 MB free)." Note: To support multiple installations, create multiple data partitions in text-mode Setup. When these steps are completed, continue through the normal setup procedures. 5.3.2 EFI Boot Manager Support ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EFI Boot Manager supports upgrades (as long as you are running with GPT disks and do not revert to non-Boot Manager startup) or clean installations to Whistler Professional, Whistler Advanced Server, or Whistler Datacenter Server. You can use your existing installation as a safe version and can gain access to it by using the previously established start (boot) method if you choose. In order to do this, you MUST make a backup of your current Boot.nvr. To do this, before performing an installation of Whistler Professional, Whistler Advanced Server, or Whistler Datacenter Server, stop at the EFI shell and copy the file to a backup. Once you have your Boot.nvr file backed up, you can perform a clean installation by using Setup. If you do not make a backup of Boot.nvr, perform an upgrade when prompted by Setup and when Boot Manager support is provided. Important: You MUST be running GPT EFI system and operating system disk partitions in order to install Whistler Beta 2. For information about converting your system to GPT disks, see "Converting Master Boot Record Disks to GUID Partition Table Disks" earlier in this document. When your computer restarts after completing Setup, a new Boot menu item appears in the displayed list. Previously, the computer would have switched to the EFI shell. Because this is a new installation, it appears first in the list of options for restarting. Enter the default instance of the operating system. Since you can no longer manipulate the debugger options and other Boot.nvr variables, a tool is included that helps you modify the non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) entries. The EFI utility tool, Nvrboot.efi, is located in the EFI System Partition in the MSutils subdirectory. In addition to manipulating the start order and the items that appear in the Boot Manager menu, you can use this tool to import and export the entire NVRAM. If NVRAM becomes damaged, this EFI utility tool is very useful. We strongly recommend running this tool before making significant changes to your NVRAM variables. Important: Once all of your start options are stored in NVRAM, you cannot program the start options back into NVRAM without an existing backup of the NVRAM. The operating system makes a backup of each instance of the operating system that is installed. You will not be able to restore other entries that are damaged unless you have made a backup of the NVRAM. Important: Do not perform any firmware updates on Intel Itanium Workstation SDVs running current versions of the firmware (89b) unless you have made a backup of the NVRAM data. There is currently a bug in the flash routines that deletes all of the NVRAM entries. This issue will be addressed in a future release of the firmware. If you made a backup of your Boot.nvr file prior to installing Whistler Beta 2, you can gain access to it by using the following procedure. >>> To access Boot.nvr: 1. You must copy the backup you made, Boot.xxx, to Boot.nvr, where 'xxx' is the extension the user defined when making the backup. (During the installation of the version that includes NVRAM, changes were made that need to be undone.) 2. Once you have copied Boot.xxx back to Boot.nvr, you can start your existing installation by choosing the EFI shell at the Boot Manager prompt while the computer is starting. If you performed an upgrade, your computer accesses all of its operating system start options through the Boot Manager. Additional clean installations appear in the Boot Manager. You no longer can gain access to the EFI shell to start an operating system. You also no longer need to manipulate Boot.nvr to support multi-boot scenarios. These issues will not be addressed in a future release. 5.3.3 Firmware Versions Used in Testing ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If you experience difficulties installing Whistler Professional, Whistler Advanced Server, or Whistler Datacenter Server, revert to the following firmware versions to determine whether the newer version of the firmware is the source of the difficulty: * For Whistler Professional, Whistler Advanced Server, and Whistler Datacenter Server, testing was done on the Intel Software Development Vehicle (SDV) 1p workstation, 2p workstation, and 4p server systems running Intel firmware Build 89b. * Testing was done on the SDV 4p server alpha/beta systems running Intel firmware Build 71. During the testing of these firmware versions, the following issues were discovered: * The computer might stop responding if you perform a full format. To work around this issue, use Quick Format to format the GUID partition table (GPT) disks. * After making changes to Boot Manager entries by using Nvrboot.efi while in the EFI shell, the changes are not displayed on the EFI Boot Manager screen if you exit the EFI shell. To work around this issue, once you manipulate Boot Manager entries, you must restart your system. * After upgrading the flash memory (also known as "flashing" the firmware) for this version of firmware to the Workstation SDV, the non-volatile random access memory entries are cleared. This includes entries for the EFI Boot Manager. You must back up your Boot Manager entries before upgrading the flash memory for the firmware. Note: This is a partial list of potential firmware issues you might encounter while installing Whistler Itanium-based operating systems. You might encounter other issues. These issues will be addressed in a future release. 5.3.4 GUID Partition Table Disks ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Whistler Professional, Whistler Advanced Server, and Whistler Datacenter Server support the use of globally unique identifier (GUID) partition table (GPT) disks. The Whistler Setup Wizard, during a clean installation, automatically creates all the required partitions (EFI System Partition), Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition, and basic data partition) using a GPT scheme. This issue will not be addressed in a future release. >>> To use GPT disks with the partitioning scheme created automatically during the setup process: 1. Make sure the disks in your computer do not have any partitions. 2. Insert the Whistler Setup CD in the CD-ROM drive. 3. The installation program proceeds to the Setup Welcome page and displays the message, "Press any key to boot from CD." 4. Press any key, and the Setup Wizard starts. 5. Follow the instructions that appear. Important: To fully implement GPT support, you must be running the versions of the firmware listed in "Firmware Versions Used in Testing" earlier in this document.