The Windows 2000 Support Tools

The Windows 2000 (Win2K) Support Tools consist of several Win32-based applications, command-line utilities, Windows Scripting Host (WSH) scripts, Microsoft COM objects, Microsoft Word documents, and online Help files that you must install manually. However, the Support Tools don’t install automatically when you install Win2K. In fact, their installation isn’t an option in the Win2K installation. The installation program is located on the Win2K CD-ROM in the \support\tools folder.

The setup program installs the Support Tools files onto your hard disk and requires 18.2MB of free space for a full installation. You must log on as a member of the Administrator group to install the Support Tools.

Setup creates a Windows 2000 Support Tools folder within the Programs folder on the Start menu. Setup also adds the \program files\support tools directory (or the directory name you choose for installing the tools) to your computer's Path environment variable, which lets you run the command-line tools from any folder on your system.

When installation is complete, you can navigate to 12 of the tools and the supporting Help files through the Start menu at Start, Programs, Windows 2000 Support Tools. The rest of the tools (i.e., the tools that don’t have a Win32 interface) reside in the \program files\support tools folder (assuming you chose the default folder for installation). Microsoft has also included three valuable online documents in the form of compiled Help files:

• The Deployment Planning Guide
• Error and Events Messages
• Tools Help

You can access these documents from the Windows 2000 Support Tools menu.

The Deployment Planning Guide provides both rollout planning guidelines and strategies for deploying the various technologies that make up Win2K. The Error and Event Messages online Help file contains most of the error and event messages Win2K generates, as well as detailed explanations and suggested user actions. Detailed information about individual Win2K Support Tools is also available in the online Help document, Tools Help.