Hi Felix here :confused: . I have a whole bunch of computers that I would like to upgrade with Windows XP Pro. I have tried a nice system I found on the internet called; DiegoStart. The system works until some extend. It is really oriented to client computers on a network and it is full of securities and features that I do not need for these machines. I have managed to take the best out of that system and tailored it to my needs. The above mentioned system uses BartPE to boot up the client machines. It is a very nice system and it offers nice options, but every time I start a new client machine I have to manually run the CMD, log on to my server, map the network drive and then run a little batch file I have created to start the whole process. I know you might be wondering; is there a question in all this? Well what I need is a simple system to log on to my server, mount the mapped drive and run my little batch file to start the installation. Unfortunately I don’t know if BartPE comes with a feature like “GuiRunOnce” that would solve my problems right there, but all I need is a boot system where I can create a batch file and do everything I described above without a keystroke. There are many boot system out there, but so far I haven’t found any that do what I need. Any suggestions will be highly appreciated! I hope you guys don’t get headaches reading this. Thank you so much in advance!
Felix
there is a way to autoinstall a windows 2000 or NT4 system dont know about XP - it was a microsoft tool
il read up on it come back later
I would setup a Windows 2003 Server. Enable RIS and make sure your soon to be Windows XP Pro clients motherboard / Nic support PXE. If so enable Network / Nic as your first boot device as your network card on the mobo and/or in the PCI slot support PXE then you can do unattend install of Windows XP Pro on 1-300 machines at one time. Just my two cents questions? Concerns? Write back on this topic. I am on dial up and about to leave so I am limited to what I can write.
All the machines that I have are able to boot from PXE. I have the RIS installed in my server and I have tried it, but somehow it changes the file extensions when it copies the i386 folder because the installation hangs at about 70% asking for files that are already in the folder and somehow the extension has been changed; like for exemple: (DLL to DL_ and stuff like that) when it searches for those files it can not find them, plus i have followed all the instruction placing the Winnt.INF file everywhere and I have not being able to make it work. I hate the RIS thing. Maybe I am doing something wrong, and by the way the CD use to extract the files from is an original XP_SP2.
First I would do a test of RISing one machine at one time. Instead of doing a set. As you can image 500 machines at once I wouldn't recommand doing it in the real world.
My case senrio one machine at a time should always work.
As for the WINNT.SIF file be careful of this file. Make the WinNT.SIF file and save it after you made it to where you want it.
From my experience opening this file and/or moving / copying this file breaks the file.
Make it, save it, to where you want it and leave it alone from that point on.
I have created a CD called the AllState Common Enviornment CD 1.2 ACE 1.2 CD. What this CD is, is Windows XP Pro with SP2 slipstreamed with all the answer file / device drivers for our Dell's. This replaces the RIS server as we didn't have that great as luck as we wished.
Make a bootable Windows XP Pro SP2 CD and drop a WINNT.SIF file into the i386 folder. Once you done so you will have a Bootable Windows XP Pro SP2 CD just like you would RISing, but with a CD. Fail proof you just need a CD Rom. I will write more if you answer with questions.
All the machines that I have are able to boot from PXE. I have the RIS installed in my server and I have tried it, but somehow it changes the file extensions when it copies the i386 folder because the installation hangs at about 70% asking for files that are already in the folder and somehow the extension has been changed; like for exemple: (DLL to DL_ and stuff like that) when it searches for those files it can not find them, plus i have followed all the instruction placing the Winnt.INF file everywhere and I have not being able to make it work. I hate the RIS thing. Maybe I am doing something wrong, and by the way the CD use to extract the files from is an original XP_SP2.
Well, I have that CD that you mentioned. I was thinking in kind of mass production or a more sophisticated word; deploy! My CD works perfectly but imagine, having to load OS on all those machine using 1 CD. I found a system over the weekend called Acronis Imaging System, or something like that. This system has the same principle as Norton Ghost, but it is Windows based or GUI. I was able to create an XP Image with it from a Dell Optiplex GX110 (PIII 500 MHz, 128MB Ram, 6GB HDD) the system makes a rescue or boot CD with their own proprietary software and from there you can restore the image in other machines, with everything you need on them in about 12 minutes. The rare case is that I started playing with the image and I was able to restore the same Dell image on a Compaq Presario (P Celeron 800Mhz, 128MB Ram, 10GB HDD) and it worked fine, somehow, this system discovers the hardware after the system is restored. This might not worked for all machines or chipsets, but for now 2 totally different chipsets and BIOS have been able to interface with the same image. I am getting much exited. I will let you know how it goes. The software can be downloaded 30 days free trial fully functional @ www.Acronis.com and the version I used is: workstation V 9.xx. I will keep you posted. By the way the advantage in all this is that the image contains all the applications I needed on the systems and the company also has a version for imaging servers!
Point taken. RIS to be honest with you give it thumbs down. Also if we had a bigger staff we would probably figure out why this is happening where one machine at a time or during the RISing wouldn't freeze. But hey I got bigger problems in my life.
CD I deployed works well. How often do you reimage a system espically if that machine only a User uses and not a Admin. Rarely do me image a machine. The key in all of this and most people dont understand. Virus and Spyware, can only be installed if your an Administrator :)
Let me know what you end up doing.
Jimmy
Well, I have that CD that you mentioned. I was thinking in kind of mass production or a more sophisticated word; deploy! My CD works perfectly but imagine, having to load OS on all those machine using 1 CD. I found a system over the weekend called Acronis Imaging System, or something like that. This system has the same principle as Norton Ghost, but it is Windows based or GUI. I was able to create an XP Image with it from a Dell Optiplex GX110 (PIII 500 MHz, 128MB Ram, 6GB HDD) the system makes a rescue or boot CD with their own proprietary software and from there you can restore the image in other machines, with everything you need on them in about 12 minutes. The rare case is that I started playing with the image and I was able to restore the same Dell image on a Compaq Presario (P Celeron 800Mhz, 128MB Ram, 10GB HDD) and it worked fine, somehow, this system discovers the hardware after the system is restored. This might not worked for all machines or chipsets, but for now 2 totally different chipsets and BIOS have been able to interface with the same image. I am getting much exited. I will let you know how it goes. The software can be downloaded 30 days free trial fully functional @ www.Acronis.com and the version I used is: workstation V 9.xx. I will keep you posted. By the way the advantage in all this is that the image contains all the applications I needed on the systems and the company also has a version for imaging servers!
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