RIS Questions

[Thom Paine]

I'm just starting to use RIS on a new server we are installing.

I finally have it somewhat booting as it was being held up to a network card
problem, in that it couldn't find the driver. I followed the Server 2003
Deployment Kit and it states that I just need to make a folder in the
%OEM%\Drivers\NIC\ folder and dump the files in there and setup will find
them. This didn't seem to work. I had to copy the files into the I386 folder
for it to work properly.

Also, it is assigning the machine name to administrator1 which I do not
want.

It asks for a name when I'm installing and it doesn't run automagically all
the way through. It keeps asking for my volume licence key.

I have changed under userdata the field that has Fullname = %ORGNAME% but it
stops and asks the name.

Does anyone who is a pro at RIS have time to help me get things running good
on this new server? I'll likely have several questions.

Thanks.

-=/>Thom

 

[Florian Frommherz]

Howdy Thom!

I finally have it somewhat booting as it was being held up to a network card
problem, in that it couldn't find the driver. I followed the Server 2003
Deployment Kit and it states that I just need to make a folder in the
%OEM%\Drivers\NIC\ folder and dump the files in there and setup will find
them. This didn't seem to work. I had to copy the files into the I386 folder
for it to work properly.
Okay!

Also, it is assigning the machine name to administrator1 which I do not
want.

Go and open "Active Directory Users and Computers", navigate to the
Domain Controllers OU, right-click one of your Domain Controllers and
choose "Properties". Click "Remote Install" and there - the button
"Advanced Settings". You can there alter the default computer name as
you wish.

It asks for a name when I'm installing and it doesn't run automagically all
the way through. It keeps asking for my volume licence key.
I have changed under userdata the field that has Fullname = %ORGNAME% but it
stops and asks the name.

Hum - difficult to say what went wrong. Have you already looked at
setupmgr.exe? It is located on the Windows CD in
Support\Tools\Deploy.cab. You just need to extract that file and run
setupmgr.exe. It helps you create .SIF answer files and takes away a lot
of pain.

cheers,

Florian

 

[Thom Paine]

Go and open "Active Directory Users and Computers", navigate to the
Domain Controllers OU, right-click one of your Domain Controllers and
choose "Properties". Click "Remote Install" and there - the button
"Advanced Settings". You can there alter the default computer name as
you wish.

Sweet, that cleared up that little annoyance. I now have it set to custom
with WS%#.

Hum - difficult to say what went wrong. Have you already looked at
setupmgr.exe? It is located on the Windows CD in
Support\Tools\Deploy.cab. You just need to extract that file and run
setupmgr.exe. It helps you create .SIF answer files and takes away a lot
of pain.

I did run through the setupmgr and it created my instance of RIS, but
something in my .SIF must not be right.

Can I post it for you or someone to look at?

Thanks for the reply.

-=/>Thom

 

[Florian Frommherz]

Howdy!

Sweet, that cleared up that little annoyance. I now have it set to custom
with WS%#.

Yah, that looks better than "administratorX"

I did run through the setupmgr and it created my instance of RIS, but
something in my .SIF must not be right.

Can I post it for you or someone to look at?

Yes, you may. But please do *not* attach this as a seperate file - just
copy the interesting files into your newsreader and send it like this -
thanks!

cheers,

Florian

 

[Thom Paine]

Yes, you may. But please do *not* attach this as a seperate file - just

copy the interesting files into your newsreader and send it like this -
thanks!

Here is my .sif file. It's called ristndrd.sif. I'm not sure if that is
significant, but that is what the name of the file turrned out to be.
Things I've tried changing are in the [Unattended] section I tried changing
oempreinstall from no to yes. No difference.
I added driversigning=ignore and the location of the nic. This finally got
my nic working but I also had to copy the .inf and .sys files for my
broadcom gigabit nic to the i386 folder.

Under [Userdate] I changed fullname to %orgname% but it still asks for my
name.
I also have my volume licencing key in there but it asks for that during
install.

Thanks.

-=/>Thom

[data]
floppyless = "1"
msdosinitiated = "1"
OriSrc = "\\%SERVERNAME%\RemInst\%INSTALLPATH%\%MACHINETYPE%"
OriTyp = "4"
LocalSourceOnCD = 1
DisableAdminAccountOnDomainJoin = 1

[SetupData]
OsLoadOptions = "/noguiboot /fastdetect"
SetupSourceDevice =
"\Device\LanmanRedirector\%SERVERNAME%\RemInst\%INSTALLPATH%"

[Unattended]
OemPreinstall = no
FileSystem = LeaveAlone
ExtendOEMPartition = 0
TargetPath = \WINDOWS
OemSkipEula = yes
InstallFilesPath = "\\%SERVERNAME%\RemInst\%INSTALLPATH%\%MACHINETYPE%"
LegacyNIC = 1
DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore
OemPnpDriversPath = \Drivers\Nic

[UserData]
FullName = "%ORGNAME"
OrgName = "%ORGNAME%"
ComputerName = %MACHINENAME%
ProductID=blah-blah-blah-blah-blah

[GuiUnattended]
OemSkipWelcome = 1
OemSkipRegional = 1
TimeZone = %TIMEZONE%
AdminPassword = "*"


[Display]
BitsPerPel = 16
XResolution = 800
YResolution = 600
VRefresh = 60

[Networking]

[NetServices]
MS_Server=params.MS_PSched

[Identification]
JoinDomain = %MACHINEDOMAIN%
DoOldStyleDomainJoin = Yes

[RemoteInstall]
Repartition = Yes
UseWholeDisk = Yes


[OSChooser]
Description = "Windows Professional"
Help = "This will install Windows Professional in a standard configuration."
LaunchFile = "%INSTALLPATH%\%MACHINETYPE%\templates\startrom.com"
ImageType = "Flat"


 

[Florian Frommherz]

Howdy Thom!

Under [Userdate] I changed fullname to %orgname% but it still asks for my
name.
[UserData]
FullName = "%ORGNAME"

Is this a typo or is this really in your file? If so, add the second %
at the end of the variable: FULLNAME="%ORGNAME%"

Also please add the following line to your "Unattended"-section. I don't
know exactly if this is the cause for the setup to ask for the serial
key again:

UnattendedMode = FullUnattend

Your file seems to be reasonable - but I'll check it again when I'm home
and have a little more time for these things

cheers,

Florian

 

[Florian Frommherz]

AAAAAAHR!

UnattendedMode = FullUnattend

I mean: UnattendMode = FullUnattended

cheers,

Florian

 

[Thom Paine]

I mean: UnattendMode = FullUnattended
Thanks for the replies Florian, but that didn't seem to work.

The install is still stopping and asking for my Name as well as my Volume
Licence Key.

I'll keep reading my Resource Kit and see if I can find why.

Thanks.

-=/>Thom

 

[Thom Paine]

Florian:

I think I see the issue.

It doesn't seem to be using the .sif file I am editing.

I checked more closely to this past install, and it is still calling the
computer ADMINISTRATOR1.

Any idea on where I should check for this correct .sif file?

Thanks.

-=/>Thom

 

[Florian Frommherz]

Howdy Thom!

It doesn't seem to be using the .sif file I am editing.

I checked more closely to this past install, and it is still calling the
computer ADMINISTRATOR1.

The setup will only use the one .sif file located in:
<RISfolder>\Setup\<language>\Images\<ImageName>\i386\templates

Make sure you edit this file! I'm currently still searching for the
*.sif-file creation tool that I once used to automate my installations
but I seem to not find it anymore. :-(

cheers,

Florian

 

[Thom Paine]

The setup will only use the one .sif file located in:

<RISfolder>\Setup\<language>\Images\<ImageName>\i386\templates

Make sure you edit this file! I'm currently still searching for the
*.sif-file creation tool that I once used to automate my installations but
I seem to not find it anymore. :-(

I think that is where I have the file, and I rebooted the server to check,
but maybe I'm still missing something. I only work at this location on
Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but I'll stop by tonight and have a look because I
want to get this working.

I'll reply tonight after I check it out.

Thanks Florian.

-=/>Thom

 

[Thom Paine]

Hi Florian.

Yes, this is the file I edited.

It's called ristndrd.sif and I backed up the original one in there already.

I rebooted the server to see if that would help but it did not.

Any idea what I could be missing? It seems like it is still using the
default sif file somewhere.

Thanks.

-=/>Thom

 

[Thom Paine]

I think I have it figured out.

I didn't delete the computer account from the server that was originally
called ADMINISTRATOR1 and it seemed to remember the old .sif file to
install.

Once I deleted that computer account, it reread the sif file and proceeded
to install properly.

Thanks Florian.

I'll post other questions in another thread as I have some drivers to figure
out.

-=/>Thom