Warnings!

• You will not be part of the UOIT Domain after re-installation.
• You will not have access to the active directory after re-installation. (Printer search)
• You will lose all the programs currently installed on your computer and must find a way to get installation discs to install them on Windows 7. (This is due to Windows 7’s inability to upgrade XP directly into Windows 7)
• IT Services may not be able to help you with any problems that may arise or even to install any applications for you.( You may even get into trouble…but I believe paying $1500 a year for the laptops should let us decide what software should be on these laptops to say the least.)

**If you have any problems though feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail, and I can do my best to help you out. Backup Everything First step would be to backup all your data just in case something doesn’t work out. Best way would be a external hard drive, especially if you have a lot of large files, of course burning onto discs and USB flash memory work as well, choice is yours, but just make sure everything is backed up! Another optional step that should be done as well just in case you want to revert back to the existing installation would be use a software such as Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image to make an image of your C Drive, and keep it either in the D drive if you have enough space or ideally on an external drive. This way if you want to revert back to XP, you can do so seamlessly without having to go to the IT desk. Another benefit of this is that you can restore the backup into a virtual machine ( Microsoft Virtual PC or my favorite VMware Workstation) and retain all the initial programs that came with it. VMware also lets you mount any USB devices directly into the workstation which would allow you to access certain software specific to some hardware you may be using in Labs. Once everything is backed up, it’s time to wipe everything off the C drive and install the operating system (OS). Installing the Operating System Now you need a fresh copy of Windows 7 or any other operating system that you will be installing along with the serial numbers and everything that is required.  Boot up the computer with the installation disc and pretty much follow the instructions to install the operating system. When it asks you to choose the drive to install the operating system, choose the C drive and format it. Then install the new OS there. Once everything is installed and you are in the operating system, it is time to install the Lenovo drivers to get full access to the laptops features. This can be done by going to lenovo.com and searching for your laptop model.  The ThinkVantage setup tool is a good way to install any other Lenovo software automatically. Once this is done, you are ready to setup the laptop to be able to access the UOIT’s network. Setup Wireless Settings First we will configure the wireless settings. In Windows 7, go to Start Orb -> Control Panel-> Network and internet ->Network and Sharing Center. Once there click on Manage Wireless Networks. Then Click “Add” and then “Manually create a network profile”. Enter in “CAMPUS-AIR” for the network name. Set the Security type to WPA2-Enterprise. The encryption type is TKIP. Then click “Next”. Then once it says Successfully added, click on Change connection settings. Go to the security tab, and make sure authentication method is set to “Microsoft: Protected EAP (PEAP)” Then Click on Settings and uncheck “Validate Server Certificate” The Authentication Method should be set to Secured Password. Then go to Configure and uncheck the check box there. Then Click OK and get back to the Properties window.  Go into Advanced settings and ensure that User or Computer Authentication is selected. Then press OK to all the windows and it will add the network to your list. Now when it connects to the network once you are on campus, it will as you to login. Simply login with your network login and it should work. Connect to Printers and Home Drive Now for the printers and your H drive, make sure you are connected to the campus network (wireless or wired) and right click any blank space, then go to New and then choose Shortcut . For the location, type in "\\osfp01.oncampus.local". Once added,  it will ask you to put in your credentials. Your username should be in the format “oncampus/#########” and then your network password. You are now able to access the school’s printers. When you first try to use a printer, it may take a few minutes for the drivers to be downloaded to your computer, so be patient, anytime after the initial driver installation, you can use it just like any other network printer. The printer names contain the room in which the printers are located so it should be fairly easy to locate each printer (or just ask someone with the stock XP for the name of the printer). Your H drive can be added the same way, but you may have to find he exact location of your H drive since I believe they are separated by year. My “H” drive was located in “itsosfps01.oncampus.local\Users2006”. You can find this by logging into one of the computers in the commons and checking the location of your H drive. That should be it! You should now be able to have full access to the school network and its printers with your new Windows 7 installation.ENJOY! **I have to give credit to Dave’s Blog @ http://davecachia.ca/site/ and Chris F.’s Blog @ http://chrisjf.blogspot.com/ that I used to get my installation up and running with campus accessibility.

I had previously posted about installing Windows 7 on my Lenovo T500 while retaining full access to the schools network, which was of course deleted with the blog change. I was supposed to post a guide to installing it for anyone else that wants to install Windows 7 on their UOIT laptop while still being able to access the campus network, and I just received an email regarding it so just wanted to let you know that the guide will be up shortly. I will try my best to have it up by tonight.