ITCNA1 Chapter 13.docx

CompTIA A+ Core 2 Exam 220-1102

Copyright © 2022 CompTIA, Inc. All Rights Reserved. | CompTIA.org

1

Lesson 13

Installing and Troubleshooting Operating Systems

Objectives

• Perform OS installations and upgrades

• Install and configure applications

• Troubleshoot Windows OS problems

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Copyright © 2022 CompTIA, Inc. All Rights Reserved. | CompTIA.org

3

Lesson 13

Topic 13A

Perform OS Installations and Upgrades

Installation and Upgrade Considerations

• Attended installations

• Clean install versus in-place upgrade

• Upgrade considerations

  • Hardware compatibility

  • Application and driver support/backward compatibility

  • Backup files and user preferences

  • Obtain third-party drivers

• Feature updates

• Answer file

Unattended Installations

• Image deployment

Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft

Boot Methods

• Boot device priority

  • Optical media

  • USB/external

    • Solid-state/flash drives

  • Network

    • Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE)

    • Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server

    • Remote installation server

  • Internet-based

  • Internal hard drive (partition)

Disk Configuration

• Partitioning style

  • Master boot record (MBR)

    • Primary versus extended partitions

    • Active partition

  • Globally unique identifier (GUID) partition table (GPT)

• Drive format

  • File system choices

Repair Installation

• Recovery partition

  • OEM factory reset

  • Boot from internal recovery partition

• Reset Windows

  • Refresh versus complete reset

Review Activity: OS Installations and Upgrades

• Installation and Upgrade Considerations

• Unattended Installations

• Boot Methods

• Disk Configuration

• Repair Installation

Lab Activity

• Assisted Lab: Perform Windows 10 Installation

  • Complete Windows setup and configure an account password

• Assisted Lab: Perform Ubuntu Linux Installation

  • Use a product disc to install Ubuntu Linux

Copyright © 2022 CompTIA, Inc. All Rights Reserved. | CompTIA.org

11

Lesson 13

Topic 13B

Install and Configure Applications

System Requirements for Applications

• Central Processing Unit, system memory, and storage requirements

  • 32-bit versus 64-bit dependent application requirements

  • Speed/cores

  • Features (hardware-assisted virtualization, Trusted Platform Module, …)

  • RAM requirements

  • Disk free space requirements

• Dedicated graphics card requirements

  • Integrated CPU or chipset adapter versus dedicated add-in card

  • Video RAM requirements

• External hardware token requirements

OS Requirements for Applications

• Application to OS compatibility

  • Windows/macOS version

  • Linux distribution

• 32-bit versus 64-bit OS

Distribution Methods

• Installers for desktop applications

  • Windows EXE and MSI installers

  • macOS DMG and PGK installers

  • Linux APT (DEB) and YUM (RPM) package managers and formats

• Physical media versus downloadable

  • Source/integrity validation

• ISO mountable

Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft

Other Considerations

• Shadow IT and impact to business

  • Licensing/compliance

  • User training and education

  • Increased support requirements

• Impact to operation

  • Deployment and support tools

• Impact to device and network

  • Resource consumption/use of background services

  • Risks from faulty applications

  • Bandwidth usage

Review Activity: Install and Configure Applications

• System Requirements for Applications

• OS Requirements for Applications

• Distribution Methods

• Other Considerations

Lab Activity

• Assisted Lab: Install and Configure an Application

  • Install an office productivity suite with custom options

Copyright © 2022 CompTIA, Inc. All Rights Reserved. | CompTIA.org

18

Lesson 13

Topic 13C

Troubleshoot Windows OS Problems

Boot Process

• Firmware-controlled

  • Power on self test (POST

  • Boot device priority

• Boot manager

  • Boot Configuration Database (BCD)

  • Legacy BIOS/MBR versus EFI/GPT

• Windows load

  • Kernel and drivers

  • Services and winlogon

Boot Recovery Tools (Slide 1 of 2)

Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft

• Advanced boot options

  • F8 from BIOS boot

  • SHIFT-click Restart from power icon with UEFI boot

• Safe Mode

  • Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)

Boot Recovery Tools (Slide 2 of 2)

• Creating recovery partition or startup disk

  • Startup repair

  • Options for reinstalling

  • WinRE command prompt

Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft

System Restore

Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft

• Configuring system protection

• Using System Restore

• Roll back Windows updates

Update and Driver Roll Back

• Roll back driver version

Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft

System Repair, Reinstall, and Reimage

Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft

• Recovery image

  • Creating a system image

  • System image recovery option

• Reinstalling Windows

  • Reset this PC

  • Keep my files versus Remove everything

Troubleshoot Boot Issues

• Failure to boot/invalid boot disk

  • Check physical connections and boot device priority

• No OS found

  • Use Startup repair or WinRE command prompt

• Graphical interface fails to load/black screen

  • Check boot options (msconfig)

  • Check for disk activity/completion of Windows updates

  • Run sfc to verify system files

Troubleshoot Profile Issues

• Slow profile load

  • Pre-/post login

  • Verbose status messaging

• Rebuild Windows profiles

Troubleshoot Performance Issues

• Sluggish performance diagnosis

  • Task Manager/Resource/Performance Monitor

  • Reboot

  • Low memory or disk space

• Common troubleshooting steps

  • Apply updates and defragment hard disk

  • Verify requirements and add resources

  • Disable startup items and unnecessary services

  • Check security issues and scanner performance

  • Test for power management issues

Troubleshoot System Fault Issues

Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft

• Common symptoms

  • Frequent shutdowns/system instability

  • Blue screen of death (BSOD)

• Troubleshooting steps

  • System restore or update/driver rollback

  • Hardware diagnostics, Windows memory diagnostics and sfc

  • Research error

• USB issues

  • Power and selective suspend faults

  • USB controller resource warnings

Troubleshoot Application and Service Fault Issues

• Applications crashing

  • Recover files and unsaved data

  • Research event logs

  • Uninstall/reinstall/update applications

• Services not starting

  • Restart services

  • Check dependencies and permissions

• Time drift

  • Failure of authentication, backup, and other date/time sensitive services

  • Synchronize to consistent time source

Review Activity: Windows OS Problems

• Boot Process

• Boot Recovery Tools and System Restore

• Update and Driver Roll Back

• System Repair, Reinstall, and Reimage

• Troubleshoot Boot and Profile Issues

• Troubleshoot System Fault Issues

• Troubleshoot Application and Service Fault Issues

Lab Activity

• Assisted Lab: Troubleshoot Systems and Services

  • Troubleshoot issues with a pair of Windows computers

• Assisted Lab: Troubleshoot a Windows OS Issue

  • Troubleshoot an issue with a Windows computer that will not boot

CompTIA A+ Core 2 Exam 220-1102

Copyright © 2022 CompTIA, Inc. All Rights Reserved. | CompTIA.org

32

Lesson 13

Summary