A "Push", or unattended installation of Windows provides a means for network administrators to easily install Windows XP on similarly equipped systems. The network administrator can create a bootable diskette that will automatically log into a central server and install the operating system from an image of the Windows installation directory stored on that server.
This page provides instructions for a basic unattended installation of Windows XP that includes the installation of drivers for the Intel(R) PRO/100 and Intel(R) PRO/1000 adapters.
The elements necessary for the Windows XP unattended installation are:
A Windows XP server with a shared image of the Windows Installation CD
An unattended installation configuration file that provides Windows setup with information it needs to complete the installation. The name of this file is UNATTEND.TXT
A DOS boot disk that contains Microsoft Network Client software, which is used to connect to the Windows server. This disk also includes AutoExec commands to automatically start the Windows installation.
The server must be setup with a distribution folder that holds the required Windows XP files and which clients can reach when connecting via TCP/IP or IPX.
For illustration purposes, the examples in this readme use the network share D:\PUSHXP. To create this share, create a directory on the server, (EX: D:\PUSHXP).
Next, use the "My Computer" applet in Windows XP to locate the D:\PUSHXP folder. Right-click on the folder and select "Sharing". Select "Share this folder", Give it a share name (EX: PUSHXP). This share name will be used to connect to this directory from the remote target systems. By default, the permissions for this share will be for "Everyone" to have "Full Control". Adjust permissions as necessary and click OK.
To prepare the distribution folder:
Copy the entire contents of the Windows XP CD to D:\PUSHXP. Use Windows Explorer or XCOPY in order to maintain the same directory structure as on the CD. When the copy is complete, the Windows XP installation files should be in the D:\PUSHXP directory and the I386 and other installation directories should be subdirectories of the D:\PUSHXP directory.
Copy Unattend.txt from the Intel media (found in \Push\XP) into the shared directory D:\PUSHXP\I386.
Edit the Unattend.txt file with Notepad or another text-editor to include your customizations. At a minimum you should change the items in the [UserData] section of the file.
Create the driver install directory structure and copy the driver files to it.
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NOTE: The PUSHCOPY.BAT file provided with the drivers in the \Push directory will copy the appropriate files for the installation. PUSHCOPY also copies the components needed to perform the automated installations contained in the [GuiRunOnce] section of the sample UNATTEND.TXT file. These include an unattended installation of the
Intel(R) PROSet configuration and diagnostic utility.
Example: From a Windows XP command prompt: The above command will create the $OEM$ directory structure and copy all the necessary files to install the driver and PROSetII. However, PROSetII will not be installed unless the line: See "Appendix B. Directory structure for unattended installation files" for more information about the directory structure and file layout of the $OEM$ directory. |
Make sure that you have a copy of a network bootable MS-DOS floppy that will connect to the Z:\PUSHXP directory and use it to boot the destination system (the one you want to push install to) and connect to this shared network directory.
Run the command: (assumes prompt at \\Server\PUSHXP\i386):
winnt /u:Z:\I386\unattend.txt
/s:Z:\I386 /t:c
(where Z: equals mapped drive)
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NOTE: In the above procedure, setup runs the installation in unattended mode and also detects the plug and play network adapters. All driver files are copied from the shared directory to the target system directories and installation of the OS and Network Adapters continues without user intervention. |
For a complete description of the parameters supported in Unattend.txt see the DEPLOY.CHM document in the DEPLOY.CAB cabinet file on the Windows XP CD. To obtain the document, use Internet Explorer 5.0 or greater to open DEPLOY.CAB in the \SUPPORT\TOOLS directory on the CD.
Other documents and utilities in the DEPLOY.CAB file provide details and tools for setting up a variety of unattended installation methods.
[Unattended]
UnattendMode=FullUnattended
OemSkipEula=Yes
OemPreinstall=Yes
OemPnPDriversPath=\drivers\net\INTEL
TargetPath= *
DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore
Filesystem=LeaveAlone
OverwriteOemFilesOnUpgrade=No
; This switch prevents the user setup dialog from running when XP
; starts for the first time.
UnattendSwitch=Yes
[GuiUnattended]
AdminPassword=*
AutoLogon=Yes
AutoLogonCount=1
OEMSkipRegional=1
TimeZone=4
OemSkipWelcome=1
[UserData]
FullName=Name
OrgName=Organization
ComputerName=Computer1
; PRODUCT ID is required for most installations.
ProductID="xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx"
[GuiRunOnce]
; *** command to install PROSetII - uncomment to install PROSetII after push
install
; Command2="c:\drivers\net\INTEL\Proset.msi /qn"
[Identification]
JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP
; *Use the following for a domain installation
; JoinDomain=MYDOMAIN
; CreateComputerAccountInDomain=Yes
; DomainAdmin=Installer
; DomainAdminPassword=install
[Networking]
InstallDefaultComponents=Yes
The following directory structure is created by PUSHCOPY.BAT to place the files necessary for the installation of the driver and PROSet. The directory D:\PUSHXP refers to the location of the files from the Windows XP installation CD.
D:\PUSHXP\I386\$OEM$\$$\System32
<no files are copied into this directory>
D:\PUSHXP\I386\$OEM$\$1\DRIVERS\NET\INTEL
(From the PRO100\XP_NET32 directory of the Intel drivers CD)
E100B325.INF
E100B325.DIN
E100B325.SYS
E100B325.CAT
E100BMSG.DLL
INTELNIC.DLL
PROUNSTL.EXE
(From the PRO1000\XP_NET32 directory of the Intel drivers CD)
E1000325.INF
E1000325.DIN
E1000325.SYS
E1000325.CAT
E1000MSG.DLL
(From the \APPS\PROSET\XP_NET32 directory on the Intel drivers CD)
ANSMXP.INF
ANSPXP.INF
IANSMSG.DLL
IANSWXP.SYS
IANSWXP.CAT
PROSET.EXE
PROSET.MSI
S8023DEV.REG
*.MST ; International Language files
(From the \APPS\SETUP\PUSH\XP directory on the Intel drivers CD)
UNATTEND.TXT
PUSHXP.TXT
; To activate the PROSet II installation once the above directories have
; been created and populated, uncomment the line:
; Command2="c:\drivers\net\INTEL\Proset.msi /qn"
; in the [GuiRunOnce] section of Unattend.txt
Last modified on 10/08/02 12:13p Revision 9