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Upgrade Guide

Move up to Windows NT 4.0, step by step.

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1. Be Prepared

Installing NT requires a few more initial steps than when installing 9x. Most peripherals that require drivers include versions for NT 4.0, but chances are the ones you have are old. Your best bet is to download the latest drivers from the manufacturers' Web sites. Make sure you get all the drivers downloaded and copied to floppy disks before you start the upgrade. If any of your peripherals lack NT driver support, you'll have to consider a hardware upgrade (see step 5).

You can find out if your hardware is supported under NT by perusing the interactive Hardware Compatibility List on Microsoft's Web site, as shown below. This list will let you know if your hardware will work under NT and will even point you to the latest Microsoft-certified drivers. If you don't have Internet access, the NT 4.0 installation CD-ROM includes a device list, though it will be somewhat out of date.

Of course, you need to back up all your data and applications. It's also a good idea to test the backup media afterward, to make sure the data you've written is readable.

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