Designing Preinstallation Tasks for Unattended Installations

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

After you determine which distribution method to use, you need to identify your preinstallation tasks. Preinstallation tasks are performed before you begin an unattended installation. You might not need to perform any preinstallation tasks; you will need to perform some preinstallation tasks if you want to:

• Migrate user state before you perform an unattended installation. When you migrate user state, you save user settings and user data on some type of external media so you can restore the settings and data after the unattended installation is complete. You will likely not need to do this if you use folder redirection and roaming profiles to store user data and settings on a server. For more information about roaming profiles, see "Using roaming user profiles" in Help and Support Center for Windows Server 2003. For more information about folder redirection, see "Designing a Group Policy Infrastructure" in Designing a Managed Environment of this kit.

• Change the size or format of the system partition before you perform an unattended installation.

• Use Dynamic Update to download updated installation files and device drivers with your unattended installation.

Figure 2.6 shows the design steps you need to follow to design your preinstallation tasks.

Figure 2.6   Designing Preinstallation Tasks