Installing XP: Part II

In this guide, we will look at unattended installation

options and RIS. Before we talk more about
unattended installations, however, let’s go over the
system requirements to install XP.
• CPU: 233 MHz. required but 300 MHz.
recommended
• RAM: 64 MB required; 128 MB recommended;
4 GB maximum
• Disk Drive: 1.5 GB of free space for an NTFS or
FAT partition
• Other Requirements: SVGA Display card and
input device

The ProProfs logo

[edit section] Unattended Installations
There are a few methods for installing XP without
attending the installation:
• Setup Manager, which creates an “answer file”
for unattended installations
• System Prep Tool, which duplicates an existing
installation to computers with identical
hardware

[edit section] Installing Windows via Setup

Manager
Setup Manager is used to install Windows XP on
multiple computers with varying hardware
configurations.
To find Setup Manager, extract setupmgr.exe from
the DEPLOY.CAB file on the Windows XP
installation disk. Setup Manager works by creating
“answer files” that basically fill in what would be
responses in attended installations. Therefore, to
create an “answer file” via Setup Manager, you must
effectively run through the entire attended installation
process (before the installation begins). Setup
Manager asks you to choose between five
“automation options:”
 • GUI Attended: Automates the first (low-level)
portion of Windows setup. Everything else is
attended
• Provide Defaults: The same as an attended
setup, but provides responses for the fields that
are required to attend to (in other words, the user
can keep on pressing “Next”)
• Read Only: The same as Provide Defaults,
except the user cannot edit
• Hide Pages: The same as Provide Defaults,
except Setup will “hide” pre-completed pages
• Fully Automated: Setup will run without user
intervention
Note that to create computers with multiple names
(absolutely necessary if installing onto more than
one networked computer via an answer file), you
will need to specify “Multiple Names” as an option
so that the Setup Manager can create UDB/UDF
files.
There are three ways to deploy the installation from
the answer file:
• Winnt32.exe (only for Windows 98 and
beyond): Use switch /unattend:answers.txt
• Winnt.exe (NT 4 and previous): Use switch
/unattend:answers.txt
 • CD-ROM: First copy the answer file to a floppy
and rename the file “winnt.sif”

[edit section] Installing Windows via SysPrep

Sysprep.exe, or System Preparation tool, is used to
prepare multiple unattended installations of
Windows on computers with similar hardware
configurations. Sysprep can be found in the
DEPLOY.CAB file.
Here are the steps in using sysprep:
1. Install Windows XP to the disk drive of the master
computer
2. Run sysprep to create an “image” or mirror image
of the Windows installation on the drive
3. Create an answer file (sysprep.inf) if you so desire
using the Setup Manager that is used to run through
the setup on the duplicated disks
4. Use a disk managing software of your choice to
copy the image produced by sysprep.exe to the disks
that you desire to place in the computers you wish to
install Windows on
5. Insert disk drives in those computers
6. Run through a shorter version of setup or use the
unattended sysprep.inf file on the floppy you may
have created in Step 3
[edit section] Installing Windows via RIS
RIS, or Remote Installation Services, allows you to
install Windows to computers over a network that
utilizes an RIS server. To use RIS, you must either
create an image of Windows using riprep.exe
(essentially the same as sysprep.exe, but for RIS
only) or use a default, provided image such as the one
found on the XP CD-ROM. After copying this image
to an RIS server, you are now ready to initiate the
RIS process.
First, make sure that the computer you desire to
install RIS onto has the ability to boot from a
network (PXE client) and has a DHCP server, an RIS
server, a DNS server, and Active Directory. Once the
installation process begins, sit back and relax – but
don’t forget to attend the small setup process that
begins once the image has been copied.

[edit section] Upgrading Windows

You can upgrade from Windows NT 4 and Windows
98 and above (2000, ME) to XP. You can also
upgrade from XP Home to XP Pro without a hitch.
However, to upgrade from Windows 95, you will
need to first upgrade to Windows 98 and then
upgrade from there to XP.
There are two wizards you should be aware of
regarding upgrading to XP:
• File and Settings Transfer Wizard: Used to
transfer old shortcuts, favorites, and other
personalized Windows items to a new XP
installation over an upgrade on a single computer
• User State Management Tool: Allows for “mass
migration” – basically a file and settings wizard
for multiple PC’s, and uses command-line
options. The program that scans settings is
scanstate.exe, and the program that loads
settings is loadstate.exe

[edit section] In Perspective

Hopefully you’ve learned a bit more about installing
Windows XP. In the next lesson, we will review
some more information about Windows XP
installation and special post-installation features that
the 70-270 exam covers. For now, however, you will
need to be quizzed!
[edit section] Quick Review
1. You are the network administrator for a
company of about 30 users. You order new
computers so that everybody will be getting a new
PC. However, you wish to migrate their old
settings to the new computers. How will you best
accomplish this?
a. Run the Scanstate utility on each PC and save the
results to the network. Run the Loadstate utility in the
installation script for each employee’s new computer,
specifying the shared folder on the network as the
state source.
b. Start each computer in the recovery console and
copy all registry files and personal folders to a CD-
ROM disk. Load them onto the new computer.
c. Use sysprep.exe to create an image of each
computer. Copy the image onto a new drive and
place it in the new computer
d. Log on to the old computer and copy all of the
personal folders to the network. Once you’ve
installed the new computers, put the old files back
from the network
2. You wish to migrate from NT 4 to XP on about
200 computers. Which two of the following
options should you do for each computer?
a. Run scanstate on XP
b. Run scanstate on NT 4
c. Run loadstate on XP
d. Run loadstate on NT 4
e. Run riprep on XP
f. Run riprep on NT 4

3. Which of the following would be the best way to

install onto many computers with similar
configurations Windows XP that are not
networked?
a. Riprep and then PXE boot
b. Sysprep and then PXE boot
c. Riprep and then an answer file
d. Sysprep and then an answer file
[edit section] Answers
1. Scanstate/Loadstate allow you to mass-migrate
users and their old files and settings. Options B
would not work because the recovery console would
not allow you to easily do such a thing and because it
would be difficult to migrate old registry files to a
new operating system. C would not work because
you would in effect be trying to implement your old
operating system on a new drive (remember,
sysprep.exe creates images). D would not be
feasible because settings involve more than files –
they involve registry entries. The answer is A.
2. You would want to scan the state, or the settings,
on the old computer. You would want to load these
settings on the new one. Thus, B and C are the
correct answers.
3. Riprep would be totally out of the question as it
requires a networking connection to send the image
over. PXE boot must also be eliminated because it
implies a network boot is available. Thus the only
option is D.