[Windows Deployment: Network Install]: How to Install Any Version of Windows from Other Network Computers

How to Install Any Version of Windows from Other Network Computers

Talk about a complex thing to do: installing Windows over the network. Even installing it via a USB drive is simpler. However, this doesn’t mean it cannot be done. Using a free tool named Serva and a bit of time and attention, anyone can set up his/her network environment so that Windows installations are performed with ease, from one network computer. Here’s how the whole process works!

VERY IMPORTANT Prerequisites

There are many things you need to prepare beforehand, so that everything works smoothly. Please don’t skip any of these elements or the likelihood of failure will be high:

1. You need to download and extract a little tool named Serva. Download the appropriate version for your operating system (32-bit or 64-bit). You will notice that there are a "Non-Supporter" version and a "Supporter" version. The free one is the "Non-Supporter" version. It includes a small annoyance when you start it, plus a few limitations that won’t impact you unless you are a network admin or IT professional who needs to install lots of operating systems on many network computers. If you are such a professional, go ahead and purchase the "Supporter" version which costs a fair $29.99.
2. This software is a bit finicky. It doesn’t like long folder structures and installation folders, spaces and special characters. Therefore, extract it in a folder with a short name, directly on the root of one of your computer’s partitions. For example, I extracted it at "D:\SERVA". Choose a similar path on your computer.
   
3. You need the original installation files for the operating system(s) you want to install over the network. Have them at hand as you will need to copy them to a special folder, as they are, without modifications.
4. For the computers where you are about to install Windows over the network, identify their exact network card model(s). Then, download the appropriate drivers for the Windows version you are about to install on them. By default, Windows setup programs support a limited number of network cards. If your system is rather new, then it is very likely that it won’t support its network card and the installation procedure will fail.
5. Every time you run Serva, run it as administrator. This way it has the required permissions to create files, save the settings you make, etc.
6. When you run Serva, make sure that it is not blocked by your firewall. The application must be set as allowed on the computer where it runs, otherwise it won’t be able to transfer anything over the network.
7. The computer where the installation files are stored and the one where you want to install Windows must be part of the same network. This means that you have a router on your home network, managing network IP addresses and network traffic. If not, then you should directly connect the two computers with a crossover cable.

Step 1 - Run Serva & Make Its Initial Configuration

Run Serva as administrator. The free version will ask you to wait for 7 seconds before you can use it. Once the wait is over, click "Thanks, not today".

Its window is now open. Click Settings.

First, go to the DHCP tab. If your computers are part of the same network and the management of IP Addresses is taken care of by your router, enable these settings: proxyDHCP and BINL.

BINL is a special add-on that acts as a DHCP protocol extension and it is used by Serva during its preparation and maintenance procedures. proxyDHCP is a special setting that tells Serva that it doesn’t need to act as a DCHP server in order to provide IP addresses to the computers connecting to it.
Even though Serva’s developers don’t recommending enabling this setting, we have learned in our testing that it helps eliminate some issues. Therefore, also enable the box which says "Bind DHCP to this address" and leave the default IP address that is provided.

There is no need to modify other settings in this tab. Next, go to the TFTP tab.
TFTP comes from Trivial File Transfer Protocol and it is the protocol used by Serva to transfer files over the network. This protocol needs a bit of configuration as well.
First, check the box near TFTP Server. Then, you need to specify the so called "root" directory. This is the directory where you plan to store the Windows installation files. This folder can be the same folder where you extracted Serva or a new one. Keep in mind that you should use short paths and avoid using spaces and special characters (*, &, ", etc) in the directory name or its path.

To help eliminate problems in some networking environments, you might want to also check the box near "Bind TFTP to this address" and leave the default IP address unchanged.

Press OK to save your settings. Then close Serva and start it again (as administrator). During the restart, it will create a special folder structure in the root folder you specified.

Amongst those folders, you must find one named WIA_WDS and another named WIA_RIS. If they are not found inside the root folder you specified, something went wrong with Serva’s configuration. If all is well, go ahead and read the next section in this article.

Step 2 - Copy the Windows Installation Files

Go to the root folder you specified. Here, you need to copy the Windows installation files, as they are, without any modifications from your side.
If you want to install older versions of Windows like Windows XP or Windows 2000, you need to copy those files in the WIA_RIS folder. Since these operating systems are very old and we don’t recommend using them, we won’t provide specific instructions for them.
If you plan to install Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8, then open the WIA_WDS folder. There, create a new folder named according to the Windows version you want to copy. Use simple folder names, with no spaces or special characters. For example, I used Windows_7.

Create separate folders, with different names for all the Windows versions you plan to install over the network, using Serva.
Inside that folder, copy and paste all the installation files for the Windows version you want to install over the network. Simply go to the root of the installation disc, and copy its entire file and folder structure.

Step 3 - Start Serva

Start Serva again, as administrator and wait for it to detect the installation files you added. It will create its special folder structure, required to distribute the installation files over the network.
Then, close Serva and go to the next step.

Step 4 - Copy the Network Card Driver(s)

Next, you need to copy the network card drivers for the computer(s) on which you want to install Windows.
Go the folder where you copied the installation files. In my case it was "D:\serva" (both the root and Serva installation folder), followed by "WIA_WDS\Windows_7".

There, go to "$OEM$\$1\Drivers\NIC". If you can’t find these folders, create them yourself.
Then, extract the network card drivers and place them inside. If your drivers come as a setup.exe or as a self-extractable archive, extract it first. Make sure the driver’s ".inf" and ".cat" files are stored directly in the NIC folder.

Step 5 - Share WIA_WDS Folder with the Network

In order for Serva to distribute the Windows installation files over the network, they need to be shared with the network, so that other computers can access them. Unfortunately, Serva requires you to share the WIA_WDS folder (and not its subfolders or other folders) using a very specific share name: WIA_WDS_SHARE. Using any other share name means that the installation procedure is likely to fail.

To share this folder with the name we mentioned, you first need to enable advanced sharing in Windows and then share it. Here’s how advanced sharing works in Windows: Share Libraries or Folders Using Advanced Sharing.
You must give the user Everyone read-only permissions. You can also share this folder with specific user accounts, whose login details you will use later on, during the network installation process. Again, read-only permissions are enough.

Step 6 - Start Serva

Start Serva again, using administrator permissions. It will detect the network drivers you added and make a few changes, so that the drivers are distributed correctly when you launch the installation process on other computers. You can now leave it open and waiting for network connections.
Next, go to the computer(s) where you want to install Windows.

Step 7 - On the Target PC - Enable Lan Booting & Boot from the Network

Go to the computer where you want to install Windows and enter its BIOS. Make sure networking booting is enabled. This setting can be named "Boot from the network" or "Boot from PXE".
Then, start the computer and press the required key to bring up the Boot Menu. On most computers, you need to press F12 or F8, depending on the BIOS version. Select Network or PXE (again, this depends on your computer’s BIOS), to boot from the network, using Serva.

If all is well, you should see a screen similar to the one below, where the computer’s MAC is displayed and the network card requests an IP address via DHCP.

When the computer is connected to the network, Serva loads and displays a screen with the operating systems available for installation. Pick the one you want and press ENTER.

The installation files are loaded and a small window named ServaPENet is shown. At this step, Serva installs the network driver you added earlier, loads network resources and connects to the Windows installation folder. Depending on how you shared the WIA_WDS folder, it will ask you to provide a username and password to access it. Type the details of the user account you shared it with and connect.
If all went well, the Windows installation process is now started.

Step 8 - Install Windows Over the Network

Next, continue with the Windows installation, as usual. If you plan to install Windows 8, check this installation guide: How to Install Windows 8 RTM on Your Computer.
If you plan to instal Windows 7, check this article: How to Install Windows 7 - Complete Round of Installation Guides.

Troubleshooting Problems with Serva

If you don’t pay attention to all the steps in this procedure, some things are likely to fail. Here are some things we learned while experimenting with this tool:

• If ServaPENet returns this error: "Failed No NIC/Driver, Aborting!", it means that you forgot to copy the network card drivers as instructed at Step 4. If you copied them and you still get the error, double check that you have the correct driver for the network card of the computer where you want to install Windows, for the Windows version you are about to install. Also, double check that you copied it to the correct folder. Then, restart Serva to make sure it detects the driver before the network installation procedure starts.
• If, on the target computer, Serva is not able to load at all over the network, consider enabling the "Bind DHCP to this address" and "Bind TFTP to this address" settings in the DHCP and TFTP tabs.
• If you connected two computers directly, with a crossover cable, you need to set Serva as DHCP server, in order for everything to work. This means setting the 1st address available in the IP pool, the pool size, and the subnet mask to be used when Serva assigns IP addresses.
• One last piece of advice is to check the Serva logs. The messages shown there can help you troubleshoot different problems.

Another good tip is to restart Serva every time you change any of its settings and every time you add something to its root folder.
Since we are not the developers of this software, we cannot provide support for it and help you with all the issues you might encounter. If our guide does not help you, then double check Serva’s documentation - Serva PXE/BINL - AN01: Windows Install and advanced configuration guide - Advanced Topics on TFTP.

Conclusion

As you can see from this guide, setting things up with Serva requires quite a bit of time and attention. However, it is the simplest way of installing any modern version of Windows over the network. It works great both for home networks and small or medium sized business networks.

[Windows/ Linux - DNS]: Hack DNS For Faster Internet Speed

Hack DNS For Faster Internet Speed

n this post i am going to share a method to make a attack on Dns for Faster Internet Speed . By this method you can easily have fast internet browsing and downloading. By this your internet speed can boost up to 20-30%. You just have to follow the simple steps discussed in this post and you can easily hack DNS to have better internet experience.

Also Read: Top Best Password Cracking Techniques Used By Hackers

Hack DNS For Faster Internet Speed

What is DNS?

Now talking firstly about basic of DNS which stands for Domain name server which converts your IP address into your domain address and vice versa. This is actually a protocol . This was designed because it is very difficult for a human being to learn the digits of a IP address and think about remembering the Ip address of all your favorite sites. Thats why DNS is designed which automatically converts your alphabet worlds into their respective IP address.

Also Read: Boost Your Internet Speed By Changing Default DNS to Google DNS

How To Use Alternative DNS Services To Speed Up your Internet ?

Your slow internet speed is not always a fault of your Internet Service provider. It might can be of your default DNS services sets to browse on your internet .So i recommend you to use some alternative DNS instead of Dns provide by your ISP’s, I’ll tell you to use a free public DNS service that will tell your computer to use that service instead of using your ISP prescribed service and will help you to get a faster internet speed on your device.

Also Read: Windows 10 Upgrade Free Download Full Version

How To Speed Up Web Browsing Using DNS Hack

Now to get a faster internet speed, I’ll tell you about free OpenDNS services that are one of the most popular free DNS services that was started to provide an alternative method to those who were discontented with their existing DNS services. Just follow the below steps to do so.

Also Read: How To Create WiFi Hotspot In Windows 10

1.  Go To Control Panel > Network and Internet options.
   
   
2. Now click on Network and Sharing Center.
   
3. Click on your internet connection that you have currently connected and open properties of that network.
   
4. Now click on the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click on Properties.
   
5. Now choose the following DNS server addresses to get a faster internet speed
   *Preferred DNS server: 208.67.222.222
   *Alternate DNS server: 208.67.220.220
   
   
6. Now click on Ok and now configure Ipv6
   Preferred DNS server: 2620:0:ccc::2
   Alternate DNS server: 2620:0:ccd::2
   
   
7. Save all the settings and now you are using a DNS with fast internet browsing.

Thats  it you are one by this your internet speed will get boost and you can enjoy fast browsing.

Also Read: Top Best Hacking Tools Free Download

So above is the method for Hack DNS For Faster Internet Speed. By following the simple steps discussed above you can easily boost up your internet speed and can have better browsing experience also by this you can search safely on your private internet. Must try both the methods and have fun over the internet. Don’t forget to share this cool post. Leave a comment below if you face any problem at any step.

 

[Windows]: Live Telecasting on Your Web

Live Telecasting on Your Web 

Presented here is an Internet-based project for telecasting live video from your computer to your webpage. The video can be viewed on the computers of your family members, relatives or friends living in different parts of the world.

This is also an interesting project for people who have basic knowledge of computer hardware, software, operating system, networking, Internet technology and webpage written in hypertext markup language (HTML). For more information, you may refer to ‘Make Your Own Web Server’ project published in January 2013 issue.

Tools required for the project:
1. A TV tuner card with audio and video inputs
2. A camera with audio and video outputs
3. A microphone
4. A broadband Internet modem
5. A high-speed broadband Internet connection
6. A video streaming software

Hardware and software installation
It is assumed that your PC has Windows operating system with Internet connection and is ready for the following hardware and software installations and testing:
1. Installation of a TV tuner card on the PCI slot for audio and video capturing
2. Installation of TV tuner card drivers
3. Testing of video camera picture and sound system
4. Installation of a video streaming server software
5. Creating an HTML page for live web telecasting
6. Uploading the created HTML page to your website
7. Watching live programme on your Web server

1. Installation of a TV tuner card for audio and video capturing. This is the most important part of the project. Here we used an inexpensive and easily available PixelView PCI TV tuner card for capturing picture and sound for telecasting.
It has video and audio input sockets provided on its back side for connecting to any type of camera with video and audio outputs.

Fig. 1: PixelView TV tuner card with video and audio inputs	Fig. 2: PCI slots in your computer
Fig. 3: Pinnacle 110i TV tuner Card	Fig. 4: Connection of Sony Handycam with a TV tuner card

First switch off the power supply of your PC and open the cover of the CPU unit. Insert the PixelView PCI TV tuner card (refer Fig. 1) into the spare (available) PCI slot. Use a bolt to fix the card on the frame to ensure that it is properly fixed in the PCI slot (refer Fig. 2).

Now, close the PC cover and power on your PC for TV tuner card driver installation. (Note. You can also use any other compatible TV tuner card, such as Pinnacle110i, as shown in Fig. 3. Other types of USB TV tuner cards with audio and video inputs can also be used for the purpose.)
Here we are using Sony Handycam (refer Fig. 4). A 50m long CCTV system AV cable can be used between camera and PC for longer distance coverage. (Webcam is not used due to cable length limitation and non-availability of AV outputs.)

Fig. 5: Installation of PixelView PCI TV tuner card driver for Conexant BT878

Fig. 6: Testing sound and picture of Sony Handycam for telecasting

Fig. 7: BroadCam video streaming server

2. Installation of TV tuner card drivers. Insert the TV tuner card driver CD in the CD drive of your PC and click on the Install option. It will start installing the driver on your PC. Follow the on-screen instructions as shown in Fig. 5.

If you are using Pinnacle 110i TV tuner, you can download the driver from the link mentioned below:

http://drivers.softpedia.com/dyn-postdownload.php?p=14328&t=4&i=1

3. Testing of video camera picture and sound system. After driver installation, launch PixelView from your desktop. The screenshot of the program output is as shown in Fig. 6. Select TV option from PixelView control panel, configure the video as PAL system and country as India. Now connect an antenna or a cable TV to the card to watch TV programme on your PC. If your TV programme is working well, it is time to test the camera.
Test the picture and sound of your camera with the TV tuner card by connecting camera audio and video outputs to audio and video inputs of the TV tuner card. You can use a self-made 50m long CCTV cable with male and female connectors on both ends of the cable for audio and video connections (refer Fig. 8).

Fig. 8: Self-made audio-video cable with both end male and female connectors

Fig. 9: Live telecasting on Web server

Download Source Code: Click Here

Select Composite option from PixelView’s control panel and switch on the Sony Handycam. You will get a picture on your PC monitor screen and sound on your speakers.

You can also connect another similar device with audio and video output to TV tuner card for watching on your PC or for telecasting. You can connect a DVD player or a set-top box for watching movies or TV programmes or telecast the selected TV programme on Internet through your webpage.

(Note. For Pinnacle110i TV tuner card, you can also use VLC media player for testing sound and picture of Sony Handycam for telecasting.)
4. Installation of video streaming server. There are a number of software available on the Internet for video streaming, but here we have used BroadCam video streaming server software because of its simplicity, easy availability and quick installation. This software is available in both free and paid versions. For software configurations, tutorial and other help, visit the link: http://www.nchsoftware.com/broadcam/tutorial.html
You can download this software from the link: http://www.nchsoftware.com/broadcam/ and install it by double clicking on bcsetup.exe file, and follow the on-screen instructions. After proper installation, you will find an icon on your computer desktop with the title ‘BroadCam Video Streaming Server.’ Click on this icon to run the program on your PC and you will get a screen as shown in Fig. 7.

Click on the Start Server button (it has start and stop functions) to start video for live telecasting.

Click on BroadCam Video Streaming Server Live to check live input settings.
Click on Open Links option to get live streaming link and web HTML code.
5. Creating an HTML page for live web telecasting. From BroadCam video streaming server program, select Tools/Options/Web Access options and click on the link given below corresponding to Local Network option:

http://192.168.1.99:86/live.html?src=1

You will get a video streaming screen and HTML code for inserting on your webpage. Select HTML code, then copy and paste it on your webpage.
You can create your own webpage and paste a video streaming HTML code on it by using any HTML editor such as Microsoft FrontPage.
The HTML code for creating your webpage for live telecasting is provided in this month’s EFY DVD and at source.efymag.com. You can copy this HTML code and paste it on Notepad editor and save the file name as index.html

6. Uploading an HTML page on your webpage. You can upload index.html file created above by following the details as described in ‘Make Your Own Web Server’ article in EFY January 2013 issue, or you can use FTP for uploading index.html to your web as explained below:
1. Click on Start-> Run button on your desktop
2. Type your ftp IP address such as ftp://210.150.160.38
3. Enter your user name and password
4. Copy index.html file into your web wwwroot folder. (This is the root directory of your site.)

7. Watching your live programme on your Web server. Now, open Internet browser and type your web address as:
http://www.yourwebname.com

You will see your webpage as shown in Fig. 9

You can see the live video from here. 

[Windows]: Change Windows Product Key After Install

Change Windows Product Key After Install

Do you need to change your product key so you can activate Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10? There are two methods that will help you easily change the product key and activate.

Method 1: Command Line Utility

You can use a great command line tool that will help you do this very quickly. Just follow these steps:

Launch the Start Menu and type in command prompt or cmd so that it shows up on your start menu search list. Right click on the Command Prompt shortcut and select Run As Administrator.

At the administrator command prompt, type in "slmgr.vbs -ipk "

slmgr.vbs -ipk 00000-00000-00000-00000-00000

To activate windows after changing the key, run "slmgr.vbs -ato"

Method 2: Using the Activation UI

Alternatively, if you want to use a graphical interface, run the following at a command prompt as suggested by Dave in the comments. 

slui.exe 3

Then just type in your product key and click the Activate button.

[MAC]: How to Install Ubuntu 14.04 on a Macbook Air

How to Install Ubuntu 14.04 on a Macbook Air

How to Install Ubuntu Linux on Macbook Air. This is model MacbookAir3,1 made in 2010. This may seem like a lot of steps, but you really only have to do it once. Once your OS is installed you just open the computer and start using it.

1. Obtain Ubuntu image and burn to DVD
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/14...
ubuntu-14.04.2-desktop-amd64+mac.iso
This image is adjusted to work properly on Mac systems. 

2. Backup data

3. Boot DVD from external drive. Start while holding C 

4. Erase SSD using gParted
- go to System / Administration / Partition Editor 
- choose Device / Create Partition Table... 
- choose "msdos" for the type of partition table 

5. Install Ubuntu without WiFi

6. Enable WiFi

7. select nVidia driver and reboot, to eliminate graphic glitches and crashes
- search for “drivers” to find Additional Drivers utility
- if no drivers show, use Ubuntu Software Center to activate nVidia restriced source
- select proprietary driver and click Apply, then exit
- sudo nvidia-xconfig
- reboot
- Upon logging in immediately run NVIDIA X Server Settings, select X Server Display Configuration, and click Save to X Configuration File. 


Optional Optimizing Steps

1. disable Apport to prevent “System Program Problem Detected” popups
sudo gedit /etc/default/apport

2. Enable TRIM wear leveling on ext4 
As of Ubuntu 14.04, scheduled TRIM is enabled by default for Intel, SAMSUNG, OCZ, Patriot and Sandisk SSDs. If you have another brand, you can disable the vendor check by editing the file /etc/cron.weekly/fstrim and add –no-model-check
sudo gedit /etc/cron.weekly/fstrim

3. Fix brightness keys
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Add Option line to Device section: Option "RegistryDwords" "EnableBrightnessControl=1" 

4. Avoid long EFI wait “white screen” before GRUB
Boot from a Mac OSX USB device, then click Utilities/Terminal, and enter: 
sudo bless --device /dev/disk0s1 --setBoot --legacy 
Assuming that the bootloader is on sda1, otherwise /dev/disk0s2 if it's on sda2, etc. 

5. Turn off password lock when screen dims
- Settings / Brightness & Lock
- dim after 10 minutes
- lock off

6. Settings / Mouse & Touchpad / Tap to Click

[Software RAID] Software RAID 1 in Windows 7 for Increased Data Security

Software RAID 1 in Windows 7 for Increased Data Security

Software RAID 1, or "Mirroring", makes an exact copy of all the data between two disks. So, when one of the drives fails - because HDD failure is a matter of time - all data is safe on the other disk. Let's create a software RAID 1 in Windows 7.

To create software RAID 1 with Windows 7 we will need two hard disk drives - preferably of the same size - and at least Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate.

We can't create a software RAID 1 in Windows 7 Home Premium

Software RAID in Windows 7 is nothing less than a mess. Different Windows 7 versions have arbitrary restrictions on which RAID levels they allow us to create.

If we bought a PC with pre-installed Windows 7, chances are that we have Windows 7 Home Premium. That means that software RAID 1 is out of reach.

Due to licensing reasons, on Windows 7 Home Premium we can only create a RAID 0, "Striping", which is a useless type of RAID for data security.

When one disk fails in the RAID 0, all the data from all the disks is lost, permanently and without any chance for recovery.

The "Spanned Volume" option isn't even RAID. It's a JBOD array (Just a Bunch of Disks), where two or more disks appear as a single large disk. But this too doesn't offer any data security, when one disk is lost, all the data from every disk in the array is lost.

So, we won't be covering either scenario in Windows 7 Home Premium.

Why software RAID 1 and not software RAID 5?

For the same arbitrary licensing reasons, software RAID 5 is completely off-limits to any version of Windows 7.

We will find the option by right-clicking on the drive, but it will always be grayed-out, just taunting us with what it would be...

Only Windows Server editions - as old as Windows 2000 server - can create a software RAID 5.

With RAID 0 being useless for data security and RAID 5 being unavailable, creating a software RAID 1 in Windows 7 is the only viable option.

How to create a software RAID 1 in Windows 7

As we mentioned earlier, on a level 1 RAID two disks have the exact copy of all the data at any single moment. So, when one of them fails, the data is safe on the other.

The downside of RAID 1 is that we lose 50% of the total disk capacity. If we use two 1TB disks for RAID 1, the array will have a 1TB capacity in total.

To create the software RAID, we press the Windows key + R, to open the "run" dialogue, and type:

diskmgmt.msc

Creating a software RAID 1 with brand new disks

If both of the disks we will use for the Software RAID 1 are brand new, once we open the Disc Management console, we will get a message to initialize the disks.

If the disks are smaller than 2TB each, the MBR partition style is good enough. Else, we need to select the GPT partition style.

After that, we right-click on one of the two unallocated volumes, and select "New Mirrored Volume...".

On the New Mirrored Volume Wizard we add the 2nd disk...

...which will allow us to move forward.

In theory we can have more than two disks in a RAID 1 array, but they will all be copies of one disk, and a terrible waste of space. Four 1TB disks in RAID 1 give us a 1TB array, with 75% of the total capacity lost.

Finally, we assign a drive letter to the new array...

...and format it to NTFS.

The system warns us that this operation will convert basic disks to dynamic. The only downside of that is that we can't dual-boot another operating system from a dynamic disk e.g. a Linux distribution or another version of Windows.

By choosing "Yes", our Software RAID 1 in Windows 7 is ready.

We will find it in the "Computer", as a single disk.

Creating a Software RAID 1 copy of an existing data disk or partition

Let's say we didn't buy two more disks, but had already a disk or partition containing our data, and bought another disk to create a RAID 1.

In this case, we right-click the NTFS volume and select "Add Mirror...".

The system will show us the new disk, and we click on Add Mirror.

Both the disk we already had and the new disk will be converted to dynamic disks.

The software RAID 1 is created, and starts resynching.

As you can see, the original data we had on the single disk isn't lost, and we have complete access to it while the RAID is resynching.

It's best to leave the RAID 1 resynching complete before we do any intensive writing or deleting of data. It is a strenuous procedure for the disks, and we shouldn't make it any harder. Disks are known to have failed during the RAID resynching.

Creating a Software RAID 1 for the Windows installation

Since we don't need to format both drives to create Software RAID 1, we can also create a RAID 1 with the Windows installation. But we shouldn't do this if we wish to dual-boot with an other operating system, because of the dynamic disk restrictions we mentioned earlier.

We just need to mirror both the System reserved partition...

...and the C: partition.

Mind you that if, for some reason, we don't have a "System Reserved" partition, it's impossible to create a bootable software RAID 1, the option will be grayed out.

Now, on each system startup, we will get two boot options, one for each disk.

Both installations are identical, so it doesn't matter if we choose the "secondary plex" one.

What happens when one disk fails in RAID 1

When one of the hard drives does fail, we get a "Failed Redundancy" message at the Disk Management console.

We still have complete access to our data, and nothing is lost provided the other disk still works properly.

Unfortunately, the system doesn't give us any warning whatsoever that one of the disks has failed.

This is a huge oversight, especially if we consider that a Linux Software RAID can send us an email as soon as a disk fails. But that's Microsoft for you.

We must make a habit of checking ourselves the Disk Management console every once in a while, to make sure that RAID 1 is working with both disks and full redundancy.

If we have the Windows installation on RAID 1, and lose the original disk, we will just get a cryptic message when trying to start the plain Windows 7 option.

In this case, we need to reset and choose the secondary plex.

How to fix a collapsed software RAID 1

We must replace the HDD that has failed with a new one, as soon as possible.

Then, before we remake the array, we take a complete backup of any essential data from the working disk, preferably on an external hard drive.

The last thing we want is for the only working disk to also crash while rebuilding the array.

After we have backed up our data, we remove the mirror...

...making sure we have selected the Missing disk...

After that the missing disk entry will disappear, and we can create the RAID with the new hard drive.

Why choose the Software RAID 1 instead of the motherboards "hardware" RAID?

Many users thing of this as a "hardware" RAID, and thus a better solution than a software RAID 1 or software RAID 5.

The thing is that motherboard RAID isn't hardware RAID. It actually is software RAID, run by the BIOS and the Windows drivers.

It's a worse solution than both true software and true hardware RAID, and that is why it is known as Fake RAID. You can read about it at the linked article.

The fact is that we need a really expensive hardware RAID controller - upwards of $300-$400 - to get true hardware RAID. Some cheap PCI or PCI-E controllers also use Fake RAID.

All in all, software RAID 1 in Windows 7 is far from perfect, but it is the best way to get RAID 1 on our Windows 7 PC, without paying through the nose for it.