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On Thursday 01 June 2006 12:31 pm, Andrew Zbikowski wrote:
> In my opinion, system imaging sucks, espically when you have lots of
> different hardware!!!
>
> In my opinion, your best option is to setup Remote Installation
> Services on a Windows 2003 server. If you would like an open source
> solutions, look into Unattended (http://unattended.sourceforge.net/).
> I've never used Unattended myself, but both RIS and Unattended try to
> acomplish the same goal. If you're dealing with a number of Windows
> clients, I reccomend RIS and Active Directory. Yes, it's a Microsoft
> centric solution, but if you know what your doing it works well and
> will give you minimum headaches.
>
> Both Ghost and Microsoft's documentation for RIS and system imaging
> pushes you tward creating, ick, images using sysprep and risprep.
> Ignore sysprep and risprep please! I use Ghost only for crating exact
> backups of machines that I'm about to reinstall, or when replacing
> harddrives but perserving the existing OS. (ie: bigger hard drive is
> needed). System imaging is great for these situations.
>
> For system installation, imaging is bad because the image contains the
> OS, all preinstalled software, as well as all the drivers needed for
> the hardware. And you need to create an image containing all that for
> every different piece of hardware in your enviorment. It's just a huge
> waste of space! And because you need to change things like the
> computer name, you have to walk through the Windows mini setup for
> every computer, manually join the computer to Active Directory, etc.
> etc. etc.
>
> With both RIS and Unattended, you can setup a network bootable fully
> unattended installtion that will work for every platform. This way,
> you have a single OS installation source, a single source for software
> installaltion, and a source for divers. The software and driver souce
> can be used not only for new installs, but also for installing
> software on machines that already have windows installed and just need
> updates. And with some work, you can go from bare metal to fully
> installed and ready with about 60 seconds of interaction with the
> computer.
>
> First, get the Deploy.cab that has been updated for Windows XP Service
> Pack 2, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.
> You can find this at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=838080. The
> Deploy.cab included on your Windows media may be out of date. The
> Deploy.cab contans many helpful resources. You'll mainly be concerned
> with deploy.chm (Documentation, very helpful! You will be referencing
> this file alot), and setupmgr.exe. setupmgr.exe helps you generate an
> answer file to completely automate your Windows installation.
>
> Before getting to the automate step, get Windows security updates out
> of the way. Visit http://smithii.com/?q=node/view/12 and download the
> script to make slipstreaming all the Windows updates into your image
> really easy. The script will copy the XP install files from your
> Volume License CD, then start downloading all the updates, and once
> all the updates are downloaded it will slipstream them into the
> install files. Your install files are now updated with the latest
> updates.
>
> Now on your server, you'll use the RIS setup tool to copy this image
> to the RIS server. This part is fairly painless.
>
> Now for the fun stuff. Use setupmgr.exe to generate your first answer
> file. Select RIS, fill out infomation, etc. Once you have a .sif file,
> create a copy. Edit your copy with your favorite text editor. Now go
> back and reference deploy.chm to understand your answer file. There
> are a few options that you will want to add:
>
> For example, I have a unattended file for a Dell GX620. I've added the
> following to my [Unattended] section:
>
> [Unattended]
>     DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore
>     OemPreinstall=Yes
>     OemPnpDriversPath =
> Drivers\GX620\Audio;\Drivers\GX620\NIC;\Drivers\GX620\Chipset
>     OverwriteOemFilesOnUpgrade=No
>
> [GuiRunOnce]
>     Command0=C:\Drivers\GX620\GX620.bat
>
> Read through the Unattended install section in the chm file. Look over
> all the options. You'll find useful stuff, and it's well worth your
> time.
>
> Now that you've been introduced to the unattended file a bit, you will
> need to go about adding drivers to your RIS image. For starters, read
> this KB article:
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315279/en-us
>
> You may notice I've also added other drivers paths to my unattended
> answer file. To do this, go to
> \\servername\REMINST\Setup\English\Images\ImageFolder.
>
> In ImageFolder (i386 will be in ImageFolder) create a directory named
> $oem$. Under $oem$, create a folder name $1. Under $1, create a folder
> named Drivers. Under my Drivers folder, I have a Scripts folder, and
> then a folder for each hardware platform I support with RIS. Currenty
> I'm setup for Dell GX260, GX270, GX280, and GX620. Earlier Dell
> Optiplex hardware is fully supported by the default drivers in Windows
> XP, so I also have a non machine specific install for these
> computers.I have a different unattended answer file for each hardware,
> but the only difference is the driver paths defined under [Unattended]
> and the Run Once script.
>
> The run once script does the finishing touches: It fires off unattened
> installations for Anti Virus software, Microsoft Office, Java, Citrix
> Client, an Intel video driver that I haven't gotten to work durring
> the RIS install, and probally a few things I've forgotten. Once all
> the installs are done, it reboots the sytem. (I disabled rebooting in
> any automated software installs)
>
> The simple bat script looks like this:
> REM Map a network drive
> start /wait net use I: \\server\Software "" /user:guest /persistent:no
>
> REM Install the stupid Intel Video Driver that doesn't work with RIS.
> start /wait %SystemDrive%\Drivers\GX620\Video\Setup.exe -32x1024x768x72 -s
>
> REM Install Office 2003
> start /wait I:\MS_Office\2003\CD\setup.exe /qb-
>
> REM etc etc etc....
>
> REM Reboot! :)
> %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -r -m \\%computername% -t 60 -c "Post
> Install Reboot" -f
>
> This all seems like alot of work, but the end result is I turn on any
> computer, select the network boot option, follow a few prompts, and
> start the install, and walk away. From boot to install setup takes
> about 60 seconds, and the entire install process takes 30-90. After
> the 60 seconds needed to start the install, there is nothing more that
> needs doing.
>
> How is this not off topic? Well I mentioned Unattended as an
> alternative to RIS. :D
>
> I've got a number of other web links that may be helpful, though my
> bookmarks are totally unorganized so I just pulled the important ones.
> I learned all this with google and the Microsoft knowledge base
> searches, so everything you need is out there.
>
> Hope this was helpful...