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Windows 98 Professional Reference

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Understanding Windows 98 Configuration


If you've been working with computers for a while, you'll no doubt remember the difficulties involved in supporting DOS and Windows 3.x on a network. Although you could configure the systems to operate reasonably well, it was essentially an unmanaged (and unmanageable) system in a networked environment.

Initially, with the advent of Windows NT 3.1, followed by Windows 95, Microsoft brought a powerful system configuration design to bear on the problem of configuring and managing computers on a network. The requirements were incredibly broad:

When you consider that all of these requirements were met with Windows 95--and, in extension Windows 98--you'll realize that it's really quite commendable what was accomplished. Most importantly, all of these capabilities exist, and are both powerful and relatively easy to manage and use. Best of all, the features that you don't need don't get in your way and make you deal with them; they remain available should you want to use them, but otherwise are transparent to systems that don't need or use them.

In this chapter, you learn about the overall concepts involved in Windows 98 configuration and how the different parts of the whole work together to provide a manageable desktop environment. In succeeding chapters in this section, you learn about the details involved in managing and troubleshooting the different configuration aspects of Windows 98.

Understanding the Registry

Understanding Windows 98 configuration really begins with understanding the Registry. If you recall the "bad old days" of DOS and Windows 3.x, you'll remember the miasma of configuration .INI files, object registration databases, CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, and so forth. Trying to manage all of these repositories of system management information was often like trying to keep a hundred plates spinning in the air--no mean feat.

NOTE: This section introduces the Registry and discusses how it fits into Windows 98 systems management. Detailed Registry information is discussed in Chapter 10, "Mastering the Windows 98 Registry."

Starting in Windows NT 3.1 and then in Windows 95, Microsoft introduced the concept of a system "registry" in which all configuration information about a system and about user preferences was kept. Known more informally simply as the Registry, in it you find all of the configuration information that used to be spread out among many different files. In the Windows 95 and 98 architecture, the operating system--as well as all applications and support software--are supposed to store their configuration information in the Registry. However, the old methods are still supported in Windows 98; an application can still use .INI files, the CONFIG.SYS file, or the AUTOEXEC.BAT file if required (usually just when an application hasn't yet been updated for Windows 95 or 98).

The Registry is a database used by the system to store all of the system configuration information. It is made up of two files: USER.DAT contains user-specific configuration data (such as desktop preferences) and SYSTEM.DAT contains computer-specific information (such as hardware configurations). Collectively, these two files make up the Registry. In fact, the Registry Editor tool in Windows 98 (REGEDIT.EXE) transparently loads from both files and presents a unified set of Registry folders in which you can make changes.

Within the Registry exist various other configuration tools: Hardware Profiles and User Profiles are stored and activated through the Registry, while System Policies are Registry settings that are forced onto the system when it logs on to a network on which System Policies are implemented.

NOTE: Not a mandatory part of Windows 98 installations, the file that contains System Policies (POLICY.POL) is also considered a Registry file.

Registry Structure

When you access the Registry in Windows 98, you won't see any real changes from Windows 95; it operates in the same fashion and uses the same categories of settings. However, Microsoft has optimized the Registry handling code significantly in Windows 98 so that the Registry operates much more quickly on the system. In fact, this is one of the things that gives Windows 98 a performance edge over Windows 95.

The Registry is organized into two main branches of Registry settings, as follows:

In addition to the two main branches, there are four alias branches that appear as main branches, but are really reflections of lower-level settings in one of the main branches. One of these alias branches consists entirely of dynamic data stored in RAM. These four alias branches are as follows:

So, when you view the complete Registry with Registry Editor, you see six branches, even though only two of them hold "real" data. Figure 5.1 shows Registry Editor open with these six branches visible.

Figure 5.1

The two main branches and the four alias branches in Registry Editor.

NOTE: You can make changes in either the alias branches or the "real" branches; the data is stored properly regardless.

Within each branch is a number of keys. A key is simply a Registry folder that contains settings, also called values. For example, look at Figure 5.2. Each folder within a branch, no matter its level, is a key. Sometimes, lower-level keys are referred to as subkeys, although really they're all keys. When you select a key, the right pane of Registry Editor shows the values.

Figure 5.2

Keys and values within the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE branch.

within the key. In Figure 5.2, Config, 0001, Display, and Settings are all keys.

AttachToDesktop, BitsPerPixel, and DesktopPos are all values within the Settings key.

When a key is specified, it always uses its complete path, so the Settings key highlighted in Figure 5.2 is actually known as HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Config\0001\Display\Settings. (You can see the full key in the status line at the bottom of Registry Editor's window.)

Values can contain different types of data. Some values, such as fixedfon.fon in Figure 5.2, contain string, or text, data. Other keys might contain numeric values. Under Windows 98, keys can contain three different value types: String, Binary, and DWORD (a double word, or a 32-bit numeric value).

Registry Management Features

Depending on your system management needs, you can locate a computer's Registry files (USER.DAT and SYSTEM.DAT) in different locations. For example, you can store a computer's USER.DAT on a network share so that it's available for a user no matter where she logs on to the network. SYSTEM.DAT can also be located on a network, which can be useful for diskless workstations (also known as Remote Initial Program Load--RIPL--workstations).

The Registry supports Remote Procedure Calls, such that you can connect to another computer's Registry and make changes over the network.

NOTE: Installing and using the Remote Registry Service are covered in Chapter 10.

By using System Policies, you can apply forced Registry changes to a system every time it boots up. As an example, if your company has a policy of only displaying an approved company logo on its computer desktops as wallpaper, you can force the Registry setting that uses that wallpaper each time a user logs on to the computer. Combined with System Policies, you can also configure the system so that a user can't change certain settings on the system. (While this may sound trivial, it can be important in certain customer-service applications.)

Understanding User Profiles

A User Profile is a collection of Registry settings and user-specific configuration files that pertains to an individual user. User Profiles define the look and feel of the user interface for a given user, specifying settings such as desktop preferences, font choices, display resolution and color depth, shortcuts, network settings (workgroup, existing network connections, preferred servers, and so on), and personal application settings.

You can turn User Profiles on and off through the User Profiles tab of the Passwords Control Panel, as shown in Figure 5.3. The Passwords Control Panel lets you choose whether you want Windows 98 to maintain separate User Profiles for each user, or whether you want all users to use the same preferences and desktop settings Actually, what happens "behind the scenes" when you enable User Profiles in the Passwords Control Panel is the following:

The example shown in Figure 5.3 shows User Profiles enabled.

Figure 5.3

Enable User Profiles using the Passwords Control Panel.

Learn about User Profiles in depth, including using them with networks and managing them in detail, in Chapter 8, "User Profiles."

Understanding System Policies

At times you may need to impose certain configuration choices on users. For example, perhaps you need to deny your users the ability to change certain configuration settings within Windows 98, either to prevent problems if they do so, or to maintain a coherent, consistent user environment at all times to reduce support costs. This is where System Policies come into play. System Policies can be thought of as imposed, or forced, Registry settings. A System Policy is a Registry setting that overrides any default or user-selected configuration changes. Some System Policies, for example, also deny access to configuration areas within Windows 98, such as access to the Run command on the Start menu, to prevent people from making changes that will cause eventual problems.

System Policies are kept in a file called CONFIG.POL, and are usually stored on a network server; all users process the file automatically when they log on to the network. You edit this file with a tool called the Policy Editor (POLEDIT.EXE). Within the Policy Editor, you can establish policies for the computer, for users, and for groups. Figure 5.4 shows the Policy Editor open with some examples of a computer, users, and groups.

Figure 5.4

Policy Editor.

When you open a computer, user, or group, you are shown a hierarchical list of policies that you can set through the Policy Editor, somewhat similar to Registry Editor's arrangement of keys. Figure 5.5 shows a sample User Policy. When the user with the specified logon name logs on to the computer, the policy settings shown are imposed onto his Registry automatically.

Figure 5.5

Sample User Policy.

You can find more detailed information about System Policies, how they work, and how you can implement and manage them in Chapter 7, "System Policies."

Understanding Hardware Profiles

As you already know, the Registry stores configuration information for the computer, such as what devices are installed, how they are configured, and so forth. However, there are times when computers go through regular and radical changes to their configurations, exactly as would happen with a notebook computer when it is used with and then without a docking station. A typical docking station will allow the notebook computer to access many resources not available to it when it is not docked, such as an Ethernet card, a more powerful video display adapter, SCSI devices such as CD-ROMs, different keyboards and mice, and so forth. Certainly, every time you dock or undock such a system, you wouldn't want to have to reconfigure all of those choices (Plug and Play or no Plug and Play!). Hardware Profiles come to the rescue by letting you define different configurations for a computer. When you boot a system on which Hardware Profiles have been enabled, you see a menu that lets you choose which Hardware Profile should be used for that session.

The configuration information for different Hardware Profiles is stored in the Registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. When you choose a particular Hardware Profile during system boot, the selected settings are copied from within HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE into HKEY_ CURRENT_CONFIG (more accurately, a pointer is created in HKEY_CURRENT_ CONFIG that points to the correct hardware configuration in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE).

Therefore, through the magic of Hardware Profiles, you can have multiple, regularly used hardware configurations for a particular machine that are easy to select and switch between without repeatedly having to reconfigure the computer's hardware.

You should understand that Hardware Profiles don't relate to User Profiles in any way, or to System Policies. Rather, Hardware Profiles are separate and perform only the function discussed here. The only real similarity that Hardware Profiles have to the other configuration components that you've learned about is that they, too, are stored in and make use of the Registry.

You can learn much more about Hardware Profiles in Chapter 9, "Hardware Profiles."

Conclusion

In this chapter, you learned first about the Windows 98 Registry, the central repository of configuration information for Windows 98, and the foundation on which the other system management features operate. You then learned about User Profiles, which allow multiple users to maintain their personal settings on a single computer, or even across a network when they log on to another computer elsewhere on the same network. The third item discussed was System Policies, which allow you to force certain settings onto the Windows 98 Registry, overriding any user settings that conflict with your systems management agenda. Finally, you learned about Hardware Profiles, which let you manage changing hardware in an elegant fashion.

In the remaining chapters of this section, you learn the details behind all of this technical wizardry, and you learn how to implement these features, how to maintain and manage them, and how to use them to make system management of Windows 98 desktops as easy as possible.

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