Windows Administration Service Project
Logan Bangerter
IT2530
Utah Valley University
Service Project
Introduction
My name is Logan Bangerter. I am currently attending Utah Valley University, where I am pursuing a bachelors degree in information technology. Part of getting there is taking an IT2530 class on windows administration. I am fairly new to the field, but I am already learning so much about this industry, that it is making me excited to dive deeper into this field.
Project Descriptions
For my service project concerning this class, I am taking on three different projects.
Project #1
I currently work for a home-building company called Bangerter Homes. It is a fairly small company where not much computing is done. However, I told my boss about looking for a project relating to Windows 10. He assigned me with a task to take a look at a computer that the company no longer uses. All the computers in the building were running on Windows 10, but this one wasn't. It was still running on Windows XP.
The computer used to be for the secretary, but she now has a better working computer near it. However, this updated computer could be used to increase productivity for the company. Establishing a plan was easy. First, we needed a piece of hardware to upgrade to Windows 10, which I purchased on a USB thumb drive. Then, to prevent data loss, I had to purchase a flash drive to create a backup for the data. Considering there were many data to backup, this process would take a while.
As one might expect, backing up the data on the flash drive was the first thing I did. After that, I attempted to hook up the thumb drive into the computer to commence the upgrade. However, I made one fatal mistake. The computer wasn't compatible for Windows 10. I tried to figure out if there was any way that I could make it compatible. I first checked to see how much RAM it had. In order to upgrade to Windows 10, a computer must have at least 1.00 GB of RAM to be powerful enough to run the OS. Amazingly, this computer only had 0.99 GB.
The second problem I ran into was that the computer was able to detect the device, but whenever I attempted to open the Windows 10 wizard, a warning message came up saying: "E:/ is not a valid win32 application." I found out that it meant that the thumb drive might have been corrupt at some point, so I may not have been able to upgrade it anyway. Nevertheless, I kept searching for a solution. One of them was having to download an app that would update win32 so that it would accept this external app easier.
This is where I ran into my final problem: the internet connectivity of the computer is garbage. No matter how long I waited, the internet refused to load the pages that I tried to get on. I have tried every basic troubleshooting method that I was able to find, but to no avail. Needless to say, I originally intended to do a simple upgrade, but there were more problems with the computer than I had originally anticipated.
This is where I decided to talk with my boss. I told him that in order to upgrade to Windows 10, we would have to do a complete overhaul of the computer. We would need to upgrade the whole computer so that it was compatible with Windows 10. He wasn't willing to pay the money for that, so we came to the conclusion that we would have to scrap the whole project all together.
Project #2
For a while now, I have decided to start playing some older video games on my personal laptop. I used an emulator called Bizhawk to play these games on. The much older games were easy and flowed smoothly, but then I attempted to play the 3D games (that is, Nintendo 64 and PlayStation games). None of the games from those systems attempted to work. Instead, I received the message below.
Seeing this as an opportunity to gain some experience, I decided to turn this into a project. So I started searching for solutions on why it wouldn't work. After a while of searching, I found out that I needed certain plugins for the more technical games on my system. Apparently, you had to find these plugins yourself, because the manufacturers of this emulator does not yet have ownership of these specific plugins, or they hadn't make their own. Normally this is where I start searching for another emulator to play on instead, but I wanted this specific emulator, because it was the only one that supported tool assistance for speed runs, which is something I enjoy doing.
I still searched for another emulator to use, because I had to borrow the plugins to make the certain games run. Starting with the N64 plugins, I downloaded an emulator called Mupen64 where I dug into the plugins folder, and copied the plugin files into a folder titled "plugins in the Bizhawk parent folder. Thinking that I had done it, I tried starting a game again, only to get the same message. After wondering what was still wrong, I figured out very quickly that the path for the plugins was directed at the wrong place. So I quickly changed that for the folder that I had created, attempted to run the game again, and it started to work. I then did the exact same thing for the PlayStation plugins, using an emulator called PCSX.
Project #3
For my last project, one of my friends called me and told me that he was having trouble downloading some apps for his computer. We set a date to meet so that I can take a look. He wanted to download apps like VLC Media Player, Google Chrome, etc. He said he mainly needed help installing Google Chrome, but as long as I'm there, he asked me if I could install the other apps too.
Approaching the problem was not only incredibly simple, but fast. I first started with Google Chrome. His problem with downloading it was that when he began downloading, he received an error message that said: "Installation failed. The Google Chrome installer failed to start." The first thing I tried to do was make sure his Windows 10 OS was up-to-date, then I attempted to install Google Chrome again. Needless to say, it worked. As I went through the adjustments that my friend wanted me to do, we were successful in making Google Chrome work.
Shortly after that, I installed the other apps that he wanted me to do. These apps included VLC Media Player, 7zip, and K9 Web Protection. My friend was cool, helpful, and supportive throughout the whole project. It was by far my most simplest one of the three.
Service Hours
Reflection
The following details my experience and what I got out of these projects.
Attitude
This is the first time that I've ever volunteered to help people with their computer problems. Everyone that I've talked to has received me very well, and were very professional about it. No matter what problems that I ran into, they were calm, collected, and patient for me to try to troubleshoot their computer problems. I, on the other hand, felt stressed at certain situations, mainly during the times where I ran into unexpected problems.
It was simple enough for my personal project, but when I was working for other people, I felt the weight of responsibility that if I didn't fix these problems, I wouldn't feel very useful. Nevertheless, I tried the best I could to fix these problems, and while I was able to fix some of them, one of them that I couldn't fix led to one of my projects failing. But like I said before, my boss was very understanding about the situation, which made me calm and cool.
Behavior
All of the people that I worked for aren't very "computer-savvy," so I had to figure out these problems by myself, and whatever internet resources I had. I feel that this project really helped me gain a better understanding about the inner-machinations of a computer. I've learned that before you deal with ANY problem, know the specific details about the computer, and see if it's updated, compatible, and in full-working condition. Some of the projects were much easier than others, but each project made me learn something valuable about communication, adaptability to the computer environment, and troubleshooting the problems.
Cognitive Connection
The point of doing all of these projects was for my Windows Administration class. We specifically focused on Windows 10, which is the norm of the Windows OS now. There were many things I came across on my projects that I've learned in my class, such as updating the OS, configuring specific apps, and creating backups for certain files. I believe that no matter how many lectures you hear in your school classes, it's not going to have the same powerful effect like experiencing it for yourself. The best way to learn is taking those things that you learned, and applying it in your life. This is how I felt doing these projects. I feel like I've gained more knowledge and have a better understanding on how to help someone in the future, when the need arises.
Project Descriptions
For my service project concerning this class, I am taking on three different projects.
Project #1
I currently work for a home-building company called Bangerter Homes. It is a fairly small company where not much computing is done. However, I told my boss about looking for a project relating to Windows 10. He assigned me with a task to take a look at a computer that the company no longer uses. All the computers in the building were running on Windows 10, but this one wasn't. It was still running on Windows XP.
Picture of the Windows XP operating system on the computer.
The computer used to be for the secretary, but she now has a better working computer near it. However, this updated computer could be used to increase productivity for the company. Establishing a plan was easy. First, we needed a piece of hardware to upgrade to Windows 10, which I purchased on a USB thumb drive. Then, to prevent data loss, I had to purchase a flash drive to create a backup for the data. Considering there were many data to backup, this process would take a while.
This is where I plug in the flash drive into the computer.
As one might expect, backing up the data on the flash drive was the first thing I did. After that, I attempted to hook up the thumb drive into the computer to commence the upgrade. However, I made one fatal mistake. The computer wasn't compatible for Windows 10. I tried to figure out if there was any way that I could make it compatible. I first checked to see how much RAM it had. In order to upgrade to Windows 10, a computer must have at least 1.00 GB of RAM to be powerful enough to run the OS. Amazingly, this computer only had 0.99 GB.
The second problem I ran into was that the computer was able to detect the device, but whenever I attempted to open the Windows 10 wizard, a warning message came up saying: "E:/ is not a valid win32 application." I found out that it meant that the thumb drive might have been corrupt at some point, so I may not have been able to upgrade it anyway. Nevertheless, I kept searching for a solution. One of them was having to download an app that would update win32 so that it would accept this external app easier.
This is where I ran into my final problem: the internet connectivity of the computer is garbage. No matter how long I waited, the internet refused to load the pages that I tried to get on. I have tried every basic troubleshooting method that I was able to find, but to no avail. Needless to say, I originally intended to do a simple upgrade, but there were more problems with the computer than I had originally anticipated.
This is where I decided to talk with my boss. I told him that in order to upgrade to Windows 10, we would have to do a complete overhaul of the computer. We would need to upgrade the whole computer so that it was compatible with Windows 10. He wasn't willing to pay the money for that, so we came to the conclusion that we would have to scrap the whole project all together.
Project #2
For a while now, I have decided to start playing some older video games on my personal laptop. I used an emulator called Bizhawk to play these games on. The much older games were easy and flowed smoothly, but then I attempted to play the 3D games (that is, Nintendo 64 and PlayStation games). None of the games from those systems attempted to work. Instead, I received the message below.
The message on my laptop that refuses me to play 3D games.
Seeing this as an opportunity to gain some experience, I decided to turn this into a project. So I started searching for solutions on why it wouldn't work. After a while of searching, I found out that I needed certain plugins for the more technical games on my system. Apparently, you had to find these plugins yourself, because the manufacturers of this emulator does not yet have ownership of these specific plugins, or they hadn't make their own. Normally this is where I start searching for another emulator to play on instead, but I wanted this specific emulator, because it was the only one that supported tool assistance for speed runs, which is something I enjoy doing.
I still searched for another emulator to use, because I had to borrow the plugins to make the certain games run. Starting with the N64 plugins, I downloaded an emulator called Mupen64 where I dug into the plugins folder, and copied the plugin files into a folder titled "plugins in the Bizhawk parent folder. Thinking that I had done it, I tried starting a game again, only to get the same message. After wondering what was still wrong, I figured out very quickly that the path for the plugins was directed at the wrong place. So I quickly changed that for the folder that I had created, attempted to run the game again, and it started to work. I then did the exact same thing for the PlayStation plugins, using an emulator called PCSX.
Picture of my emulator playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Project #3
For my last project, one of my friends called me and told me that he was having trouble downloading some apps for his computer. We set a date to meet so that I can take a look. He wanted to download apps like VLC Media Player, Google Chrome, etc. He said he mainly needed help installing Google Chrome, but as long as I'm there, he asked me if I could install the other apps too.
My friend's laptop computer
Approaching the problem was not only incredibly simple, but fast. I first started with Google Chrome. His problem with downloading it was that when he began downloading, he received an error message that said: "Installation failed. The Google Chrome installer failed to start." The first thing I tried to do was make sure his Windows 10 OS was up-to-date, then I attempted to install Google Chrome again. Needless to say, it worked. As I went through the adjustments that my friend wanted me to do, we were successful in making Google Chrome work.
Shortly after that, I installed the other apps that he wanted me to do. These apps included VLC Media Player, 7zip, and K9 Web Protection. My friend was cool, helpful, and supportive throughout the whole project. It was by far my most simplest one of the three.
I had just finished installing VLC Media Player on my friend's laptop.
Service Hours
The following details my experience and what I got out of these projects.
Attitude
This is the first time that I've ever volunteered to help people with their computer problems. Everyone that I've talked to has received me very well, and were very professional about it. No matter what problems that I ran into, they were calm, collected, and patient for me to try to troubleshoot their computer problems. I, on the other hand, felt stressed at certain situations, mainly during the times where I ran into unexpected problems.
It was simple enough for my personal project, but when I was working for other people, I felt the weight of responsibility that if I didn't fix these problems, I wouldn't feel very useful. Nevertheless, I tried the best I could to fix these problems, and while I was able to fix some of them, one of them that I couldn't fix led to one of my projects failing. But like I said before, my boss was very understanding about the situation, which made me calm and cool.
Behavior
All of the people that I worked for aren't very "computer-savvy," so I had to figure out these problems by myself, and whatever internet resources I had. I feel that this project really helped me gain a better understanding about the inner-machinations of a computer. I've learned that before you deal with ANY problem, know the specific details about the computer, and see if it's updated, compatible, and in full-working condition. Some of the projects were much easier than others, but each project made me learn something valuable about communication, adaptability to the computer environment, and troubleshooting the problems.
Cognitive Connection
The point of doing all of these projects was for my Windows Administration class. We specifically focused on Windows 10, which is the norm of the Windows OS now. There were many things I came across on my projects that I've learned in my class, such as updating the OS, configuring specific apps, and creating backups for certain files. I believe that no matter how many lectures you hear in your school classes, it's not going to have the same powerful effect like experiencing it for yourself. The best way to learn is taking those things that you learned, and applying it in your life. This is how I felt doing these projects. I feel like I've gained more knowledge and have a better understanding on how to help someone in the future, when the need arises.
Comments
Post a Comment