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Fully Unattended Windows 2000 Installation
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Posted by: NoNameRequired
I would like to create a fully unattended Windows 2000 setup CD which would install programs like Internet Explorer 6 and NVIDIA detonator drivers during setup.
I already have all the full setup files for the programs I would like to be installed each time I reformat.
I have already slipstreamed SP3 using the guide here.
I have tried following the steps here which explain how this would be done. However, they seem aimed for the experienced custom Windows CD creators which I am not. I have tried IEAK but do not understand it at all.
I have found a nice program which can be found on the Windows 2000 CD at
%CD Root%\Support\Tools\Deploy.cab
That program creates scripts for unattented setups but I wonder if one could add commands for installing programs.
I hope someone can help me understand how this would be done. I am sure many users might find making custom Windows CDs useful.
Thank You for you time.
Best Regards,
NoNameRequired
Posted by: Kdr Kane
It's very common to do what you are talking about in a business setting.
However, it usually requires someone that does this as a full time job. And has some experience at it.
I know people that do this. I don't do this simply because there's too much work for such a little gain if I did it for personal reasons.
You should continue learning if you are only trying to get some experience. However, imaging or cloning your hard drive is a much simpler solution.
Norton Ghost or Drive Image are two utilities you can use for imaging a hard drive. Installing off of an image takes 5 - 10 minutes to rebuild versus 1-2 hours for the method you are using.
Posted by: NoNameRequired
The hard-disk imaging is always an alternative, but for the sake of learning and self accomplishment I would like to complete my project.
Today I managed to make a fully unattended Windows 2000 setup. I simply start booting up from the Windows 2000 CD and step away. Minutes later my computer is waiting in Windows ready to go. It seems that at this point I only need to know how I could have the Windows upgrades setup files run by themselves. I have learned this is done by using scripts but I do not understand how to create them correctly.
Any help is welcome.
Thank You.
Posted by: Canis Lupus
You may or may not have visited some of these links already, but I'll post em anyway, if you really wanna complete your project 
http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/.../unattended.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...;EN-US;Q216258&
http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...;EN-US;Q230597&
http://www.microsoft.com/windows200...concepts3_6.htm
http://www.mcmcse.com/win2k/guides/unattend.shtml
http://www.labmice.net/Windows2000/...end_install.htm
http://ctdp.tripod.com/os/windows/w...2kunattend.html
http://www.madge.com/_assets/downlo...nd/Unatend2.htm
http://www.winnetmag.com/Articles/I...?ArticleID=8741
Happy surfing 
Posted by: Canis Lupus
And here's an interesting little tidbit you might wanna see (if you haven't seen it yet) .. got it from this site:
-------------------------------------
BUILD OR IMAGE?
Designing and Deploying Windows 2000 builds
Creating a desktop or server build that will be used on dozens or hundreds of machines is a serious undertaking as mistakes made during this process could lead to security holes and productivity lost though a lack of reliability and robustness.
Therefore a good deal of design and testing should go into producing a build, and once completed this exact same build should be rolled out to the target machines.
There are three fundamentally different ways to achieve this:
Manual installs
Ghosted images
Unattended installations
An unattended build is a process that allows an Operating System such as Windows 2000 to be installed and configured with little or no user intervention. It can cover items such as security, TCP/IP configuration, hardware configuration and program installation and configuration. It can be used for Servers and Desktops.
Manual Installs
There is virtually no merit in doing this except when you need a machine set up in a unique way, otherwise it is very time consuming, produces inconsistent results and does not scale to dozens let alone hundreds of machines.
The only other time it may makes sense to do this is to create a build that will be imaged, although even this has problems see below.
Ghosted Image Builds
These can be very useful as they are the quickest to deploy (15 - 45 minutes per PC typically) but pose a few problems:
Each target machine needs to be very similar, usually requiring the same make, model of PC and type of installed cards. However Windows 2000 sysprep program (which can used Plug and Play) will sort out a limited number of differences if all the required drivers are available.
Every time you want to make a change to the build you will need to go back to the original build, modify it (if possible, although it may need re-creating) and re-ghost, which leads onto a related problem
How do you create (and re-create) the build that makes up the ghosted image. If this is itself a manual process (with probably hundreds of individual steps) then you have undermined one of the main benefits - that of guaranteed uniformity.
Because of the problem of creating the build that makes up the image, modifications and patches are usually made to the master build PC rather than going back and re-installing everything from scratch. This will almost always lead to a less reliable build. For example which is likely to be more reliable; a new fresh install with DirectX 8.0a on or a build that initially had DirectX 6, then upgraded to 7, then 8 and then 8.0a?
Unattended Builds
These are initially slower to put together than Ghosted Images and take longer to install onto a machine (1 2 hours typically). However, they have significant advantages over ghosted images:
Any modification (such as an additional hotfix or updated driver) is made to the unattended script - usually quite easily, giving great granularity in refining and modifying builds.
Every machine created from the unattended install process is a virgin build there is no requirement to continually update and patch a master machine (there is no master machine) as in the case of the ghost image process.
It is able to cope with widely differing hardware and software requirements when implemented well (such as the 1E unattended installation system).
Every machine created with a set unattended build is going to be identical.
The Best Solution
If your company uses no more than a handful of servers and desktops then there is little point in using unattended installation as the cost of creating them will probably out way the advantages they bring.
However if you are a larger company with many PCs and servers, an unattended build process will almost certainly make sense.
Our general recommendation is:
For Servers - generally use unattended builds unless you are creating a server farm of many (e.g. dozens) identical servers in which case use unattended builds to create the masters and deploy via ghosting/imaging.
For Desktops - use unattended builds to create the masters and deploy via ghosting/imaging or RIS.
Posted by: Spork Lover
I was beaten to it!
What I did was this, I completly rebuilt my machine with all of the programs (minus games) and drivers I wanted installed. I created an image and burned it to a CD. Then I made that Image CD bootable. Whenever I want a rebuild, I just boot from that CD, and my computer is a born again virgin....untouched.
I used PQDI
Posted by: NoNameRequired
I thank you very much, but I found an much easier way to do it. I simply build an unattended setup script using a tool on the Windows 2000 CD, edited it for adding the updates and making the setup truely unattended and it works ! No need for all that technical mombo smumbo. I just use the original setup files off Microsoft's site and add the right switches.
So now I just put in my custom Windows 2000 CD and my floppy disk, come back a few moments later and I have an updated Windows 2000 ready to go totally hands free. I made sure by visiting the Windows Update Site. Sure enough, the only update available to me was the Euro Conversion Tool which is useless to me so I did not include it on my CD.
In the near future, I will write a step-by-step guide explaining how to do this and will be posting it on www.thehelper.net
Best Regards,
NoNameRequired
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