Hello,
My Task: Create a Fully Automated Windows XP RIS Installation across
different hardware types (Only 1 build)
This is a fairly urgent question as due to some recent unfortunate
circumstances - it has become my job to take over the roll of another
co-worker, with a deliverable that needs to be met by the end of this
month. In short, this is my 'time to shine' and i am totally over
worked, and under a lot of pressure. Help Google!
-- i will start by giving you some background information about
myself, and my situation, so that you can tailor your response
accordingly.
I have several certifications in the I.T. area, however this topic
has not been my main specialization. Actually, i know little, to
nothing about OS deployment whatsoever. However, i do think that it
can be a fairly easy/simple process because of the way our environment
is currently scripted. Currently, we have 4 different dell optiplex
desktop, and 6 different IBM thinkpad laptops. (i can go into detail
about this later if you like)
As it stands now, we have 1 image for all of these PC's within our
environment, and it is my task to bring this into the future with
Windows XP Pro with SP2 on all the desktop and laptops.
It is my task to create a universal RIS build for all our
environment's hardware. This will only install the OS itself --
obviously it will auto detect all of the hardware and ensure that the
user is sitting at a clean Windows XP machine when they first long in,
regardless of the type of machine they are on, (From my research i
think that all of the drivers this would be done from the
'OEMpnpDrivers=' path setting in the remboot.sif file.. please
confirm...) -- once i can get to this point, i am sure it will be
easy to create the following modifications:
1. Customize the windows XP desktop to the look and feel of Windows
2000 desktop, - (there is less overhead on the OS, and clients will
not have the total withdrawal from moving from 1 type of architecture
to another).
2. Install several 'Core' applications onto the dekstop. (Examples, MS
Office, etc. -- i have fully scripted these applications and once i
can tell the RIS script to run these .MSI's i think i should be able
to install them with ease.
3. There are many other custom changes that i must make to this RIS
deployment, however, if i can get this install to deploy on all our
architecture successfully i believe i can take over from there.
Here is a site i found useing Google, but it seems to be more fitted
for a answer file, or CD based deployment. and does not cover how i
will set up this service on the server side, nor how to script the
install from start to finish.
http://unattended.msfn.org
It was a great find, and it helped me learn alot about what i think
needs to get done, but i am at a loss here, and i think i need a crash
course in how to do this properly, from start to finish.
I hope you can help Google! -- Thanks!!! |
Request for Question Clarification by
legolas-ga
on
08 Feb 2005 18:32 PST
Is there a particular reason you want to you RIS vs creating an image
and using the sysprep tool to force a full hardware scan/remove the
SID's from the image for deployment? Given the fact that you'd like to
perform some modifications to the install and install many programs as
well, it may be easier to create a 'template' rather than
scripting/RIS/Hand entering/editing Registry keys to produce the
desired output.
I can recommend a solution that would involve the use of a third-party
tool to complete. OR, alternatively, I can give you the info you need
to deploy using RIS--but, some of your requirements are going to be
difficult/impossible to accomplish using RIS.
So, basically, there are two options you can choose from:
1) A unattended install from an image of a perfectly configured client
that, when loaded onto the new computer will perform the hardware
scans/SID generation, etc.. or,
2) Using RIS where some of the customizations will be
difficult/impossible, but, there is nothing else to buy (assuming you
already have Windows 2000/2003 Server).
Let me know!
Legolas-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
55783f8-ga
on
09 Feb 2005 08:15 PST
Hello,
One of the main reasons that this is being preformed as a RIS based
deployment is so that we can fully automate changes to our installs.
We have found that with a sysprep solution, it is difficult or
impossible to remove all of the characteristics of the first machine
the build is made on, also when we call Microsoft for support, they
seem to point fingers and blame some of the trouble we are having on a
possible build issue, or a sysprep problem ?
From what I understand, with RIS, once we have all of our changes
fully scripted, we would simply add/remove another registry key, or a
file to make the change to the RIS build, and it would be live
instantly. ? There would be no need to re-compile the image, or redo
the entire process if it was a major change, etc.
However, if you can educate me in some of the ways a single sysprep
image can be more efficient then deploying a RIS image, I should be
able to convince my team in why we should perform it in this manner,
however as it stands now there is pressure from above that tells me
this is the only way to do it, and I am not sure I fully understand
why that is the case.
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Clarification of Question by
55783f8-ga
on
09 Feb 2005 08:51 PST
Hi Legolas,
I apologize for any further confusion that this may have caused. ?
However the reason we are going to need a fully scripted RIS build is
so that all of the manual changes we have to create to get to the
?Perfect Image? are eliminated ? and simply by running a script, all
of those manual changes are made for us, at the touch of a button.
I understand that this is going to take same time to acquire, however
once it is complete we will have a streamlined way of making changes
to our environment, simply by adding/removing more registry keys or
files to this configuration script, and it will remove a lot of the
manual mistakes that can be made while trying to obtain the perfect
image, as even tough these pre-sysprep changes are fully documented,
there are still a lot of mistakes that can and have been made.
If possible, your help with option number 2:
"Using RIS where some of the customizations will be
Difficult/impossible, but, there is nothing else to buy (assuming you
Already have Windows 2000/2003 Server)."
Would be most appreciated.
Thanks!
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