Simultaneous installation of Windows 2000/Service Pack 3
By Julian Ostrow


First, you must initialize Windows 2000 Setup--

1 - Log onto the computer as "Administrator" and insert the Windows 2000 CD-ROM.
2 - Open Windows Explorer and create folder "Deploy" in the root folder of the C:\ drive. This folder will be used to contain files extracted from the Deploy.cab file on the Windows 2000 CD.
3 - Double-click the deply file in the Support\Tools folder on the CD-ROM drive. The contents of the Deploy.cab file will be displayed.
4 - Select all files listed.
5 - Right-click any one of the selected files and click Extract on the menu. The "Browse For Folder" dialog will appear.
6 - Select the Deploy folder previously created on your system drive [commonly C:\], and then click "OK."
7 - In Windows Explorer, click the Deply folder to view the contents.
8 - Open "Readme.txt."
9 - Review the topics covered in "Readme.txt", then close Notepad.


Next, create an unattended setup script--

1 - Double-click "Setupmgr.exe" in Windows Explorer.
2 - Click "Next." The "New or Existing Answer File" page will appear.
3 - Make sure that the "Create A New Answer File" option is slected, and then click "Next."
4 - Make sure that "Windows 2000 Unattended Installation" is selected, and then click "Next." The Platform page appears. You have two choices: "Windows 2000 Professional" or "Windows 2000 Server."
5 - Make sure that "Windows 2000 Professional" is selected, and then click "Next." The "User Interaction Level" page appears. Your choices are:

  • Provide Defaults - The answers you provide in the answer file are the default answers that the user sees. The user can accept the default answers or change any of the answers supplied by the script.
  • Fully Automated - The installation is fully automated. The user doesn't have the chance to review or change the answers supplied by the script.
  • Hide Pages - The answers provided by the script are supplie during the installation. Any page for which the script supplies all answers is hidden from the user so that the user can't review or change the answers supplied by the script.
  • Read Only - The script provides the answers, and the user can view the answers on any page that is not hidden, but the user can't change the answers.
  • GUI Attended - The text-mode portion of the installation is automated, but the user must supply the answers for the GUI-mode portion of the installation.
    6 - Select "Fully Automated", and then click "Next." The "License Agreement" page appears.
    7 - Click "I Accept the Terms Of the License Agreement", and then click "Next." The "Customize the Software" page appears.
    8 - Enter your name in the "Names" box, your organization in the "Organization" box, and click "Next." The "Computer Names" page will appear. Your choices are:

  • Enter a series of names to be used during the various iterations of the script.
  • Provide the name of a text file to import that has one computer name per line listed. Setup imports and uses these names as the computer names in the various iterations of the script.
  • Select "Automatically Generate Computer Names Based On Organization Name" to allow the system to automatically generate the computer names to be used.

    9 - The names will be automatically generated, so you don't have to manually enter computer names.
    10 - Click "Next." The "Administrator Password" page appears. notice that you have two choices: "Prompt The User For An Administrator Password" and "Use the Following Administrator Password." [Passwords are 127 characters maximum] Notice that you can also have the administrator log on automatically, and you can set the number of times you want the administrator to log on automatically when the computer is restarted.
    11 - Make sure that "Use The Following Administrator password" is selected, and type "password" in the "Password" box and the "Confirm Password" box. Click "Next." The "Display Settings" page appears. Notice that you can adjust the colors, screen area, and refresh frequency settings for the display. You can also choose "Custom" to create your own settings instead of picking from the selections already listed.
    12 - Click "Next" to accept the default settings. The "Network Settings" page appears. Notice that you can choose "Typical Settings" which installs TCP/IP, enables DHCP, and installs the Client for Microsoft networks protocol for each destination computer. You can also choose "Custom Settings."
    13 - Select "Custom Settings", and then click "Next." The "Number of Network Adapters" page appears.
    14 - Make sure that the default option, "One Network Adapter", is selected and then click "Next." The "Networking Components" page appears. Notice that the Client For Microsoft Networks, File And Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks, and Internet Protocol [TCP/IP] components are installed by default.
    15 - Select Internet Protocol [TCP/IP], and then click "Properties." The "General" tab of the Internet Protocol [TCP/IP] Properties dialog box appears. Notice that it is identical to configuring TCP/IP via Network Neighborhood.
    16 - Click "Cancel", and then click "Next" to accept the default settings for networking components. The "Workgroup Or Domain" page appears.
    17 - Click "Next" to accept the default option, "Workgroup", and the workgroup name "WORKGROUP." The "Time Zone" page appears.
    18 - Select the appropriate time zone, and then click "Next." The "Additional Settings" page appears.
    19 - Ensure that the default option, "Yes, Edit The Additional Settings" is selected, and then click "Next." The "Telephony" page appears.
    20 - Sekect the appropriate settings for "What Country/Region Are You In?"
    21 - Type the appropriate numbers for "What Area [Or City] Code Are You In?"
    22 - Type the appropriate number[s] for "If You Dial A Number To Access An Outside Line, What Is It?"
    23 - Select the appropriate settings or "The Phone System At This Location Uses", and then click "Next."
    24 - Click "Next" to accept the default. The "Languages" page appears; it allows you to add support for additional languages.
    25 - Click "Next" to accept the default. The "Browser And Shell Settings" page appears. Notice that you can choose from the following three settings: Use Default Internet Explorer Settings, Use An Autoconfiguration Script Created By The Internet Explorer Administration Kit To Configure Your Browser, and Individually Specify Proxy and Default Home Page Settings.
    26 - Click "Next" to accept the default option, "Use Default Internet Explorer Settings." The "Installation Folder" page appears. Notice that you can select from three choices: A Folder Named WinNT, A Uniquely Named Folder Generated By Setup, and This Folder.
    27 - Select "This Folder", and in the "This Folder" box, type "W2000Pro" and then click Next. The "Install Printers" page appears.
    28 - Click "Next" to continue without having the script install any network printers. The "Run Once" page will appear. This allows you to configure Windows to run one or more commands the first time a user logs on.
    29 - Click "Next" to continue without having the script run any additional commands. The "Distribution Folder" page appears. This page allows you to have the "Setup Manager Wizard" create a distribution folder on your computer, or a network with the required installation files. You can add additional files to this distribution folder. To simultaneously install a service pack, add the update packfile to the distribution folder and enter the commands to apply the update packs as part of the installation. [Update.exe -:distribution_folder]
    30 - Make sure that the default option, "Yes, Create Or Modify A Distribution Folder", is selected, and then click "Next." The "Distribution Folder Name" page appears.
    31 - Click "Next" to accept the default option, "Create A New Distribution Folder." The "Additional Mass Storage Drivers" page appears.
    32 - Click "Next" to continue without adding any additional drivers. The "Hardware Abstraction Layer" page appears. This page allows you to replace the default HAL.
    33 - Click "Next" to use the default Hardware Abstraction Layer. The "Additional Commands" page appears. This page allows you to specify additional commands to be run at the end of the unattended setup.
    34 - Click "Next" to continue without running any additional commands. The "OEM Branding" page appears. This page allows you to customize Windows Setup by adding your customer OEM branding. You can specify both a logo bitmap and a background bitmap.
    35 - Click "Next" to continue without specifying any OEM branding. The "Additional Files Or Folders" page appears. This page allows you to specify additional files or folders to be copied to the destination computers.
    36 - Click "Next" to continue without specifying any additional files or folders to copy. The "Answer File Name" page appears.
    37 - Type the path C:\Deploy\Unattend.txt in the "Location And File Name" box, and then click "Next." The "Location Of Setup Files" page appears. The files can be copied from the CD or you can specify a network location.
    38 - Click "Next" to accept the default option, "Copy The Files From CD." The "Copying FIles" page appears while the Setup Manager Wizard copies the distribution files. This will take a few minutes. An indicator shows you the progress of the copy operation. The "Completing The Windows 2000 Setup Manager Wizard" appears.
    39 - Click "Finish." Notice that three new files were created in C:\Deploy: Unattend.bat, Unattend.txt, and Unattend.udf. Notice also that a C:\Win2000dist folder was also created and shared.

    This completes the creation of the setup files required. Next you must do a network installation--

    1 - Boot from the network client on each computer you will be installing Windows 2000 on.
    2 - Connect to the distribution server that you created the answer file on.
    3 - Run Winnt.exe or Winnt32.exe to being the Setup program. Use the /s:\\server\shared_win2k_folder\ and /unattend:answer_file switches to use the configuration you made before.

    The answer file you previously created will take over from there and install with your preconfigured settings.