Remote W2k install and W98 boot disk

[Bill]

Have W2k server installation files installed on a network
share. Can I use a W98 bootdisk to boot my computer and
access the files over the network? Does W98 boot disk
provide network support. If not - any suggestions?

 

[Gerry Hickman]

Hi Bill,

You probably could do it with Win98, but you probably can't fit what
you'd need on a single floppy. That's why most people use Dos 6.22

Ultimately, it makes little difference, but I'm hoping to switch to
something like Bart's on CD-RW at some point in the future; just don't
have time to sort it out at present. I'm hoping to get a CD-RW with all
the utilities, NIC drivers and so on. At present, I need a different
boot floppy for each model of machine we have.

 

[Bill]

So by default, network connectivity is not supported by
the boot disk? Any chance you might have a link to a KP
article on this subject?

 

[Patrick J. LoPresti]

Sorry for tooting my own horn, but you guys really ought to check out
my little open source project at <http://unattended.sourceforge.net/>.

I also provide a different boot floppy for each network card. But I
also provide a .iso CD-ROM image which contains copies of all of the
floppies. You can boot from that CD, then choose which "virtual"
floppy to chain-boot to get support for your network card. This is
not quite as nice as autodetecting the network hardware, but it is
much nicer (and faster) than physical floppies.

One of my users has created a HOWTO for using Bart's boot disk with my
system, and that provides autodection for the network hardware. I
will probably incorporate his work when I can find the time, or when
someone sends me actual patches.

I personally do not require autodetection; in fact, I do not require
floppies or CDs at all. I always install by using PXE to boot
directly from the network, and every PXE-compliant card can be handled
by a single DOS driver.

Contributions to the project are welcome...

- Pat

 

[NIC Student]

No DHCP Gerry? - ouch! Can't you promise to only turn it on when deploying
pcs?

 

[Gerry Hickman]

No DHCP Gerry? - ouch! Can't you promise to only turn it on when deploying
pcs?

Not really, you can only have one DHCP per subnet, but it's on on-going
debacle which I hope to win one day

Interestingly I've had some e-mails from this group from other guys in
the same boat citing "security", but no one seems to have said exactly
what the big security risk is... sure you can plug in a laptop and get
an IP, but that's often a GOOD thing - your visiting professionals can
get on the net and access their web-based e-mail and so on, but no one
joined them to any NT domain...

 

[NIC Student]

I've heard that whine before about dhcp and security. In some areas of our
network we use a limited dhcp scope with reservations made for the few
machines that are allowed. DHCP won't give out addresses to anyone else,
although they could still sniff the traffic if they really tried. We are
also looking at a radius server to cope with wireless security.