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All JLab Windows Systems are eligible to upgrade to the latest version of the Microsoft Windows Operating System under the terms of the Lab's recently negotiated Enterprise Agreement (EA) with Microsoft. The Enterprise Agreement allows us to upgrade the operating system at no cost to the department. While the EA is a JLab overhead cost, it does not trickle down to individual departments. The EA includes operating system and Microsoft Office 2003 Professional. Before you submit a request for upgrade, please follow each of the steps below to back up your data.


Exporting Your Address Book and Bookmarks

The following links have directions for exporting your address book and bookmarks using Mozilla's import-export utility.

Importing and Exporting an Address Book
Importing and Exporting Bookmarks

If you have local email folders, you will need to move them to the server before you rebuild. We suggest that you take a few minutes to clean up the local folders and delete unnecessary files. To move or copy the local folders, you can simply drag and drop them from Local Folders up to username@jlab.org.

You will need to save a copy of your locally stored data files (located on the C:\ or D:\ drive) to a network drive in order to transfer them back to your new computer. The Computer Center offers a centrally available scratch filesystem that is available to all Unix, Mac and Windows systems. This file system is not backed up, has no associated disk quotas, and is intended for temporary storage only. Files in a user's scratch directory that have not been accessed with 14 days are automatically deleted.

To use the scratch directory, click Start, Run, and then type "\\jlabscr\scratch". After the file explorer window opens, you can move your files for temporary storage. The following is a list of files you may want to include in your backup:

• Exported Address Books and Bookmarks
• My Documents Folder (i.e. C:\documents and settings\<username>\My Documents...)
• AutoCad Drawings (i.e. all .DWG files in C:\ACAD2000 )
• Files from Desktop (i.e. C:\documents and settings\<username>\Desktop...)
• Search for data files with the extensions of programs you use, e.g., *.doc, *.ppt, *.pdf and move those you need to keep.

Note:  You should not attempt to transfer program file directories as most programs will not work unless they are actually installed using their built-in setup utility.

If you use non-CUE software such as Autocad or purchased Adobe products, you will need to have the installation media to reinstall after your upgrade. If you have a scanner or other non-standard hardware, be sure to find either the original installation media or verify that you can download Windows XP drivers from the manufacturer's web site.

After the rebuild, if you encounter difficulty reinstalling software, you should submit a problem report to Computer Center Problem Reporting for assistance.

Be sure to write down your hostname and IP address and keep this information handy. Depending on the build method you use, you may be required to input this information at a later time. Below are directions on how to obtain your IP address for Windows 2000 or Windows NT:

Windows 2000:

Finding your IP address: From Control Panel select Network Connections, then right click on your local area connection and select Properties. Double click the TCP/IP protocol, and write down the information entered in the IP Address Field.




   





Windows NT:

Finding your IP address: From Control Panel, open the Network Properties window, select the Protocols tab, then click TCP/IP and the Properties button. From the TCP/IP Properties window, write down the information in the IP address field.




   

Please remember that this upgrade will format your entire hard drive; no locally stored data will survive unless you've already saved it to \\jlabscr\scratch or your home directory.

Click HERE to submit an upgrade request.

Once the reinstall process has completed you will need to copy your data files back to your local hard disk. To restore them from the scratch directory, click Start, Run, and then type "\\jlabscr\scratch". After Windows Explorer opens you can copy your files back to your local disk.

Note:   The Computer Center strongly recommends that you do not save important files locally, but save them instead to your home directory (the J:\ drive). Your home directory is backed up nightly.