Universal Windows Boot Disk

[iTwins]

Seeing a lot of you having a hard time with unattended Windows installation I figure I might be able to offer you some help.

Back in the old days (about 8 years ago), my predecessors create one boot disk for each operating system and one for each RAID controller used. In some cases, there are also boot disks for specific LAN cards as well (because the original Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition cannot be unattendedly installed without the presence of a working LAN adapter). My company with over a dozen official operating systems at that time and half dozen different RAID controllers that the original MS Windows NT 4.0 operating systems do not support, the number of boot disks to choose from can be hazardous to your health to say the least. This is where I step in, the Universal Standard Build Boot Disk (official name used in my company) was first introduced in early 2004. It has now progressed to this first Internet release, the Universal Windows Boot Disk (UWBD). UWBD and USBBD are almost identical, except the juicy security settings, the VLK (Volume License Keys) and the other company details are removed in UWBD. The global company I work for is quite sensitive in nature and wish to be anonymous at all times.

Download Universal Windows Boot Disk v3.0 RC4 Internet Edition here

I never really enjoyed writing Installation Guides but in order for a product to be used in a Production environment, it is unavoidable. This guide is quite out of date in which it was based on the USBBD v2.1 dated August 2005. I have not updated it since. Being a BETA or Release Candidate, it is an exception to use in Production but do not required to write a guide. Therefore, I intend to keep this product a Release Candidate forever or until I have the time to update the guide. Anyways, it could provide you some understanding how to use UWBD

Download UWBD Administrator's Guide here

And here's a guide that teaches you how to insert this boot disk into an CD disc (or DVD disc). Simple stuffs. Surprisingly, there are a lot of IT people who do not know how to do this. What a shame! For advanced users, you're on your own.

Download DIY Standard Build CD Administrator's Guide

It's a complicated boot disk with many many options to choose from. If there is anything you are unsure of, simply give me shout and I'll try to help you asap. If not, help yourself by modifying the batch files yourself.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

- My company's Standard Build UNATTEND.TXT files were permanently removed for confidentiality and security reasons. If you choose Standard Build operating systems, it will err and nothing will happen or worst, drop to DOS

- Page 11 of the Administrator's Guide listed out all the mandatory directory names that UWBD recognizes. That list is out of date. The below screen capture is the latest:

Vanillas:

----------

W2K3ENT - Windows Server 2003 Enterprise

W2K3ESP1 - Windows Server 2003 Enterprise with SP1

W2K3R2E - Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise

W2K3R2S - Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard

W2K3SSP1 - Windows Server 2003 Enterprise with SP1

W2K3STD - Windows Server 2003 Standard

W2KASR - Windows 2000 Advanced Server

W2KPRO - Windows 2000 Professional

W2KSVR - Windows 2000 Server

WXPSP2C - Windows XP Professional with SP2 (Customized)

WXPSP2G - Windows XP Professional with SP2 (generic - Microsoft default)

CTWXPSP2 - Windows XP Professional with SP2 (Chinese Traditional)

WXPSP2M - Windows XP Media Center Edition with SP2

WXPSP2T - Windows XP Tablet PC Edition with SP2

All else are Standard Build OSes which you cannot use anyways. Ignore them...

Your network share, if you wish to perform network installation, the directory naming convention must also be the same.

- I was planning to add NT 4.0 and Win95/98/ME into this to make a a true Universal Windows Boot Disk, but decided otherwise because I will never use it anyways; why waste the effort!

- UWBD's UNATTEND.TXT's do not come with Mass Storage Driver support. TXTSETUP.OEM are a thing of the past. Nowadays we use integration or slipstreaming. You can found many good references to slipstreaming SCSI/SATA/RAID drivers here in MSFN. Or you can use my RAID Slipstreamer tool

- I know being an IT person we all have egos - we never read manuals. We think we know everything but in reality we don't. Anyways, if you come across something that you cannot solve, please read the Administrator's Guide first before asking for help.

- There are always bugs with this boot disk - even I found it complicated. But rest assure, there are no showstoppers (apart from choosing Standard Build instalations). Nevertheless, please report all problems.

- The UWBD includes support for unattended Active Directory domain controller installations. At one time it also included unattended installation of Exchange Server 2003 on Windows Server 2003 SP1 however, I must have misplaced it and it's now lost forever. It was one very amazing unattended installation OS. The Citrix Metaframe XP on Windows Server 2003 and Citrix Presentation Server on Windows Server 2003 R2 versions were also lost along with the Exchange Server 2003. Oh well...

Have fun and hope you find this useful.

Cheers

Appendix:

Each operating system's structure is similar to this, which is the Microsoft unattended installation standard. The $1\Drivers\RAID... must be defined the same as teh UNATTEND.TXT under "OEMPnPDriversPath". I never bothered to integrate drivers into the DRIVERS.CAB. This method is hassle-free.

A sample UNATTEND.TXT. This is the Windows XP Professional Tablet PC Edition:

[Unattended]
	Unattendmode = FullUnattended
	OemPreinstall = YES
	TargetPath = WINXP
	Filesystem = ConvertNTFS
	OemSkipEula = YES
	DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore
	ExtendOemPartition = 1
	AutoActivate = No
	UnattendSwitch = Yes
	CrashDumpSetting = 0
	DisableDynamicUpdates = Yes
	WaitForReboot = No
	OEMPnPDriversPath=Drivers\Audio;Drivers\Misc;Drivers\NIC;Drivers\RAID;Drivers\System;Drivers\Video;Drivers\Modem;Drivers\PCMCIA;

[RegionalSettings]
	LanguageGroup=1,7,8,10,11,9,13,14

[Data]
	UseBIOSToBoot = 1

[GUIRunOnce]


[UserData]
	FullName = "Generic Windows XP Pro Tablet PC with SP2"
	OrgName = "Jeff's Recovery DVD"


[GuiUnattended]
	AdminPassword = *
	EncryptedAdminPassword = No
	AutoLogon = NO
	AutoLogonCount = 0
	OemSkipWelcome = 1
	OemSkipRegional = 1

[PCHealth]


[Shell]
	DefaultStartPanelOff = Yes
	DefaultThemesOff = No

[Display]
	BitsPerPel = 32
	XResolution = 1024
	YResolution = 768
	VRefresh = 75


[Components]
	spider = off
	zonegames = off
	hearts = off
	freecell= Off
	minesweeper = Off
	pinball = Off
	Solitaire = Off
	deskpaper = off
	media_clips = off
	media_utopia = off
	msnexplr = off
	TabletOC=On
	TPG=On
	System=On
	OOBE=On
	Notebook=On
	Stickynotes=On


[Branding]
	BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes

[URL]


[Proxy]


[Identification]
	JoinWorkgroup = HOME

[Networking]
	InstallDefaultComponents=No

[NetAdapters]
	Adapter1=params.Adapter1

[params.Adapter1]
	INFID=*

[NetClients]
	MS_MSClient=params.MS_MSClient

[NetServices]
	MS_SERVER=params.MS_SERVER

[NetProtocols]
	MS_TCPIP=params.MS_TCPIP

[params.MS_TCPIP]
	DNS=Yes
	UseDomainNameDevolution=No
	EnableLMHosts=Yes
	AdapterSections=params.MS_TCPIP.Adapter1

[params.MS_TCPIP.Adapter1]
	SpecificTo=Adapter1
	NetBIOSOptions=0

Edited February 24, 2007 by iTwins

[Csimbi]

Thanks, looks good - hope someone can use this to do something good...

I have a dumb question: can I use this somehow to install XP from a USB stick to my HDD?

XP installation from a CD is extremely slow; USB saves the seek times and give better transfer speeds as well.

Thanks.

[iTwins]

Thanks, looks good - hope someone can use this to do something good...

I have a dumb question: can I use this somehow to install XP from a USB stick to my HDD?

XP installation from a CD is extremely slow; USB saves the seek times and give better transfer speeds as well.

Thanks.

Unfortunately, this was not designed for the thumbdrive. However, in most cases, I use network install instead, which is much faster than CD install. Especially when it comes to testing drivers or testing unattended application installation and integration, you can make changes to the network source files and then immediately test it without the need to waste time on burning CDs.