Gettysburg College Domain Requirement

Gettysburg College has said since it was released by Microsoft, Windows XP Professional is our minimum standard for an Operating System. Starting this September, we will be enforcing that standard. Machines running Windows XP Home, ME, 98 or below will not be allowed onto the campus network. This will be the last year for machines running the Windows 2000 Operating System.

Learn more about why IT has moved to requiring XP pro to connect to the campus network.

Both Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional have the capability to join the Gettysburg College domain. This will allow IT to provide necessary software as well as updates to Windows and Norton. It will also automatically map your H drive as well as eliminate a password for Microsoft Outlook.

While Windows users are not required to join the domain, if they choose not to join, their machine will not function on the Gettysburg College network. Macintosh and Linux users will be handled in a case-by-case fashion.

IT will be providing students with upgrade CDs that contain Microsoft Windows XP Professional as well as instructions on how to join the campus domain. Only machines that currently have Windows XP Home will be eligible for a CD. CDs are available in the G-Tech office located in Room 7 of Musselman Library.

The minimum specifications for an upgrade are as follows:

• 1 Ghz processor
• 256 MB of Ram
• 10 GB Hard Drive
• CD-ROM Drive

To find out if your computer meets this specification right click on "My Computer" and select properties. You should see this screen. Below in Red is the Operating System. In Blue is the processor speed, and in Green is the amount of RAM.

 

 

To find out if your Hard Drive is big enough, double click on "My Computer" and then right click on "local disk C:" and select properties. Below in Yellow is the Hard Drive Size.

 

If you already know that your machine does not meet the specifications above, or is either Windows 95, 98, or ME, please consider taking part in the new Gettysburg College Laptop Purchase Program.

If your machine does have Windows XP Home Edition and you would like to upgrade and have your Upgrade CD provided by IT Click HERE FOR ONLINE INSTRUCTIONS or click HERE TO DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUR COMPUTER.

Note: The upgrade process can take between 1-2 hours during which time you should NOT reboot your machine or abort the process.