Performing Unattended Installations

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

There are several ways to perform an unattended installation:

• You can start a destination computer with the operating system CD, and use a Winnt.sif answer file to automate a clean installation of the operating system.

• You can start a destination computer with an MS-DOS startup disk, and then run Winnt.exe with an answer file to perform an automated clean installation.

• You can start a destination computer with a 32-bit operating system — for example, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, or Windows Server 2003 — and then run Winnt32.exe with an answer file to perform an automated clean installation.

• You can start a destination computer with a 32-bit operating system — for example, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, or Windows Server 2003 — and then run Winnt32.exe with an answer file to perform an automated upgrade.

To determine which unattended installation method to use, use the information you recorded in the "Unattended Installation Worksheet" (ACIUI_1.doc). This worksheet contains your overall design requirements, such as upgrade and clean installation requirements, startup method, and distribution requirements.

Figure 2.9 shows when you perform an unattended installation.

Figure 2.9   Performing Unattended Installations