Krokodox

Ahhh, SDI image! I have not messed around with those since I gave up on MS ADS (Automatic System Deployment) for being crude, unintuitive, uninformative, unmanagable, uncooperative and slooooow. I never found the SDI to be of any good, perhaps someone could tell me what the advantage of using an SDI imag would be? BTW, MS designed ADS to be installed on W2K3 EE *only*, but I can tell you all that tinkering with the .MSI file makes it installable on anything from XP to W2K3 Web ;-) And it runs just fine, so this barrier is more of an administrative nature than of a technical nature

Yes. Using PXE, DHCP, TFTP, Windows service, directory structure, .ISO file, BartPE, RAMDisk and slipstreaming drivers are usual tasks i perform with RIS under W2K3 Please post your XPE PXE instructions. OK, here it comes, it has made wonders for my LAN setup. Beware though that I will not be able to answer any support questions! How to install a TFTP server on W2K3 NOTE! You need to have W2K3 with SP1, both for hosting TFTPD / DHCP as well as for building the BartPE .ISO image! TFTP service: 1. Expand TFTPD.EX_ (server part) och TFTP.EX_ (client part) from the CD-ROM's i386 directory to the %SystemRoot%\system32\ directory 2. Run INSTSRV TFTPD c:\windows\system32\tftpd.exe to install TFTPD.EXE as a service on the computer that will host the TFTP services 3. Create the file TFTPD.REG and edit it to contain the following registry. Import it once you are done. Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TFTPD] @="" "DependOnService"=hex(7) : 74,00,63,00,70,00,69,00,70,00,00,00,61,00,66,00,64,00,\ 00,00,00,00 "DependOnGroup"=hex(7) : 00,00 "Type"=dword:00000010 "Start"=dword:00000002 "ErrorControl"=dword:00000001 "ImagePath"=hex(2) : 63,00,3a,00,5c,00,77,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,\ 5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,74,00,66,00,74,\ 00,70,00,64,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,00,00 "DisplayName"="TFTP Server" "ObjectName"="LocalSystem" "Description"="Trivial File Transfer Protocol Server" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TFTPD\Enum] "0"="Root\\LEGACY_TFTPD\\0000" "Count"=dword:00000001 "NextInstance"=dword:00000001 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TFTPD\Parameters] "Clients"="*.*.*.*" "Masters"="" "Readable"="*" "Writeable"="" "Directory"="d:\\tftpdroot" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TFTPD\Security] "Security" = hex : 01,00,14,80,b8,00,00,00,c4,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,30,00,00,00,02,\ 00,1c,00,01,00,00,00,02,80,14,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,\ 00,00,02,00,88,00,06,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,fd,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,\ 05,12,00,00,00,00,00,18,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,\ 20,02,00,00,00,00,14,00,8d,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,04,00,00,00,00,\ 00,14,00,8d,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,06,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,00,01,\ 00,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,0b,00,00,00,00,00,18,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,02,00,\ 00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,25,02,00,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00,\ 01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00 4. Create the directory D:\TFTPDRoot (as per the line stating "Directory"="d:\\tftpdroot" in the .REG file above!) 5. Copy NTDETECT.COM from the CD-ROM's i386 directory to the newly created D:\TFTPDRoot directory. 6. Expand SETUPLDR.EX_ from the CD-ROM's i386 directory to file D:\TFTPDRoot\NTLDR (NOTE! The file must be renamed to NTLDR WITHOUT any extension!). Expand STARTROM.CO_ from the CD-ROM's i386 directory to file D:\TFTPDRoot\startrom.com. Expand STARTROM.N1_ from the CD-ROM's i386 directory to file D:\TFTPDRoot\startrom.n12 7: Create the file WINNT.SIF in the D:\TFTPDRoot directory and edit it to contain the following: [SetupData] BootDevice = "ramdisk(0)" BootPath = "\i386\System32\" OsLoadOptions = "/noguiboot /fastdetect /minint /rdexportascd /rdpath=pebuilder.iso" 8. Now open a CMD command prompt and start the TFTP service: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32>NET START TFTPD 9. Test the TFTP service with the help from the client application, if all goes well then the file WINNT.SIF should be retreived to the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 folder when you execute the following command: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32>TFTP -i localhost get winnt.sif PEBuilder: 1. Create an .ISO file with PEBuilder 3.1.4 (or newer) containing the RAMDisk component! 2. Copy the imagefile BartPE.ISO to D:\TFTPDRoot\pebuilder.iso (as per the "/rdpath=pebuilder.iso" in the .SIF file above!) DHCP service configuration: 1. The DHCP service must be installed and configures and have an active scope up and running 2. Configurera the DHCP service with the following Server Options: 043 Vendor Specific Info: 01 04 00 00 00 00 FF 066 Boot Server Host Name: srvname (substitute "srvname" with whatever your server is named;-) 067 Boot File Name: startrom.com (or startrom.n12 if you do not want to press F12 on the client upon PXE boot) 3. Open a CMD command prompt and create Server Option 060 in the DHCP service with help from the NETSH command: C:\WINDOWS\system32>netsh netsh>dhcp netsh dhcp>server \\<server name> (or IP addres!) netsh dhcp server>add optiondef 60 PXEClient String 0 comment=PXE support netsh dhcp server>set optionvalue 60 STRING PXEClient netsh dhcp server>exit 4. Restart the DHCP service in order to force it to reload the new settings: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32>NET STOP DHCPSERVER C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32>NET START DHCPSERVER 5. Now you should be able to PXE Boot BartPE from an PXE enabled client computer attached to the same LAN as the TFTPD server! NOTE! Every time a DHCP Server Option is changed you need to restart the DHCP service in order to force it to use the new settings! A *much better* alternative TFTP service from Microsoft(!): 1. Download the PXE/TFTP service that belongs to Windows XP Embedded from Microsoft's site. Unfortunately it is stated that one should not give out the exact URL, so I will not give it out here, but search for the name of the .MSI file ("Windows XP Embedded Remote Boot Server.msi") and it might pop up somewhere ;-) 2. Run the setup and let it install all services into their preferred installation directories. 3. When the setup finishes, copy the files NTDETECT.COM, NTLDR and WINNT.SIF that you create as per step 5 in the setup of the TFTP service above and replace the ones created by the setup program in the C:\PROGRAM FILES\WINDOWS EMBEDDED\REMOTE BOOT SERVICE\DOWNLOADS directory. This directory is the equivalent for the D:\TFTPDRoot directory described in step 4 in the setup of the TFTP service above. 4. Remove Server Option 043, 066 och 067 (leaving Server Option 060!) in case they exist on the DHCP server. 5. The setting for BOOT IMAGE and BOOT PARAMETERS in the TFTP GUI are not used since we replaced the NTDETECT.COM / NTLDR to newer ones not made for these XP Embedded specific settings! The advantage of this PXE / TFTPD service is that you can specify PXE actions per MAC-address, i.e. whether to force just a specific server to boot into PXE upon next reboot. The "standard" TFTPD server is not this flexible since all rebooting PXE clients will be handled the same way. Also, there is no need to restart the DHCP service when you change a boot setting for a specific server since this is handled automagically by this much improved (but not 110% slick) PXE / TFTPD service. And for all of us GUI friends, there is this cool GUI where you can line up all of your servers and manage them with a souple of mouseclicks ;-) Good luck and please do not forget where you saw this first!

The booting of BartPE without having to press a key is a setting (a "plugin") that you can select when you create your BartPE. The automatic start of networking support in BartPE is also found there. There is a GUI for network settings, it is scriptable so that you can pre-select DHCP or fixed IP, etc. Autostarting Ghost after the network is no problem either, you need to edit and / or rename the .bat file in the plugin folder for Ghost 8. Download latest version of PEBuilder, read the short and conscise manual, all you want to acheive is doable!

Mikrotik! (http://www.mikrotik.com/2index.html) Extremely capable, competent and SECURE. You can build WLAN infrastructure that covers an entire nation with it if you like, or just stick to protecting your home network. It has a *very* *nice* GUI, full-blown professional features, easy to setup / maintain, etc. And the throughput is amazing! Only caveat: It is built on L*nux! :-( BUT! The installation i so simple, just boot from the CD (or buy it pre-installed on a Flash-ATA), follow the quick configuration and connect from your favourite Windows host via the GUI. As for HW requirements it is almost ridiculous, a PIII/800Mhz/256MB with 2x100 Mbps/48 MB Flash-ATA will provide more horsepower than you will need, *ever*. High-availability failover is easy to setup, it has a DHCP / NTP server and all the bells and whistles that a serious network admin needs. Also the price is right: Free for home use with somewhat limited capability, $45 for a commercial full-blown license.

I got my clients to to boot via PXE and download a BartPE .ISO image via the LAN into local RAM-disk and start BartPE without any user intervention at all! It is possible to use the PXE / TFTP service that comes with Windows 2003, or to use the PXE / TFTP service that comes with MS XP Embedded (downloadable from MS), which is even better. The MS XP Embedded version makes it possible to configure the boot option per MAC-address, i.e. boot to local harddisk or boot to BartPE. I have RAdmin starting automagically together with the network card when the BartPE image boots, IP adresses are obtained via DHCP (which I have configured to distribute IP adresses on a per MAC-address basis). This way I always have the same address for a computer regardless of whether it is booted into BartPE via LAN or to Windows XP / 2003 locally. RAdmin enables me to take control over the computer, I can run McAfee antivirus, do Ghost backup / restore to / from remote server or repartition the harddisk, or whatever I need to do without having to get close to the computer! When using the XP Embedded PXE service it it possible to determine that a particular computer should boot into BartPE upon next re-boot, which is very convenient when there are many computers on the LAN and you do not want all of them to boot into BartPE upon next re-boot. Also, the Windows 2003 version of the PXE / TFTP service is a bit cumbersome to handle since it needs to be restarted whenever you decide to change the clients boot preference (LAN or local). But on a small LAN where you have full control over the client computers it can do the job just as well Let me know if there is an interest in me posting the XPE PXE or W2K3 PXE setup instructions, but beware: you need to know what you are dealing with, this is not for the beginners! I will not be able to provide any support or straighten out newbie questions, it is up to the implementor to understand what PXE, DHCP, TFTP, Windows service, directory structure, .ISO file, BartPE, RAMDisk and slipstreaming drivers means!

*L* Microsoft does not leave us bright people with other choice than to come up with brilliant solutions to make their almost-100%-capable software work the way *we* want them to... I have actually figured out / incorporated a full-featured customized RIS based server setup. It asks me for IP address(es), lets me choose between ProductIDs and / or enter one manually, and finally to select whether to install and configure IIS with PHP and / or MySQL Server for specific needs. I had to create / modify .OSC files, tweak winnt.sif, and make up a huge custom .CMD fiel that gets called several times during the setup with different parameters. This allows me to fine-tune the setup from one source. It all gets initiated in the .SIF file from : . . . [SetupParams] UserExecute = "%SystemDrive%\disks\sw\config.cmd runonceex %PWD% %DBROLE% %IISROLE%" . . . My CONFIG.CMD contains several labels, where the first one (called runonceex) import all registry settings needed for the sub-sequent calls to itself: @ECHO OFF IF NOT "%1" == "" GOTO %1 GOTO :DONE :RUNONCEEX SET KEY=HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx REG ADD %KEY% /v TITLE /d "Installing Applications" /f REG ADD %KEY%\001 /ve /d "Configuring Services..." /f REG ADD %KEY%\001 /v 1 /d "%SystemDrive%\disks\sw\config.cmd services %3" /f REG ADD %KEY%\003 /ve /d "Server Resource Kit..." /f REG ADD %KEY%\003 /v 1 /d "%SystemDrive%\disks\sw\config.cmd rktools" /f REG ADD %KEY%\004 /ve /d "Server Support Tools..." /f REG ADD %KEY%\004 /v 1 /d "%SystemDrive%\disks\sw\config.cmd suptools" /f REG ADD %KEY%\010 /ve /d "MySQL Server..." /f REG ADD %KEY%\010 /v 1 /d "%SystemDrive%\disks\sw\config.cmd mysql %3" /f REG ADD %KEY%\012 /ve /d "Configuring IIS..." /f REG ADD %KEY%\012 /v 1 /d "%SystemDrive%\disks\sw\config.cmd iis %4" /f . . . :RKTOOLS MSIEXEC /qb /i %SystemDrive%\disks\sw\microsoft\w2k3srvresourcekit\rktools.msi GOTO :DONE :SUPTOOLS MSIEXEC /qb /i %SystemDrive%\disks\sw\microsoft\w2k3srvtools\suptools.msi GOTO :DONE . . . :DONE ECHO %1 %2 %3 >> config.log EXIT This works well for me...

@minalgar: Interesting! I came to the same solution just this week, i.e. to use the "UserExecute" to call upon a batchfile passing on a variable from the .SIF file. This works well, but I am intrigued on how un4given1 has managed his way of doing this, please post more info! Also, if you search for my previous posts you will find a couple concerning customization of RIS, i.e. how to set mulitple IP addresses, etc

I have seen this problem before, AND solved it! The problem is that there is an other computer on the same network as yours that has the same IP address! In essence, what happens is that these two (or more!) computers "race" for answering on an incoming IP packet, and depending on who answers first the second computer "sees" the connection as being closed by someone else. If you have a DHCP server, then do a reconciliation, clear all "loans" and make sure that *every* computer refresh their IP address. Make sure that all computers get a unique address! Try ARP -A in a command window, it will help you out... Happy hunting!

Hi folks! I have added a small tutorial in how to do custom IP settings for multihomed adapters, the example shows how to implement it with RIS based setup, but the principle is the same as for a conventional manual setup :-) Instructions for custom TCP/IP during setup, with or without RIS Enjoy!

OK, here it comes, it is a bit tricky, but well worth the trouble. This example shows you how to bind two IP addresses to one LAN adapter. Below there is an example on how to bind one IP adress each to two LAN adapters. Alter the CUSTOM.OSC file on your RIS server, add the following in between the FORM tags: <BOLD>LAN </BOLD>IP: <INPUT NAME="IPLAN" VALUE="" SIZE=16 MAXLENGTH=16> / <INPUT NAME="SNLAN" VALUE="0" SIZE=16 MAXLENGTH=16><BR> <BOLD>WAN </BOLD>IP: <INPUT NAME="IPWAN" VALUE="" SIZE=16 MAXLENGTH=16> / <INPUT NAME="SNWAN" VALUE="" SIZE=16 MAXLENGTH=16><BR> <BR> DNS server: <INPUT NAME="DNS" VALUE="" SIZE=16 MAXLENGTH=16><BR> Gateway: <INPUT NAME="GATEWAY" VALUE="" SIZE=16 MAXLENGTH=16><BR> <BR> LAN adapter type: <SELECT NAME="INFIDLAN" SIZE=3> <OPTION VALUE="PCI\VEN_10b7&DEV_9200">3Com 3C90x <OPTION VALUE="PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1229">Intel PRO/100 <OPTION VALUE="PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_8139" SELECTED>Realtek 8139 </SELECT> In order to be able to address the "correct" LAN adapter (you might have a Firewire connection, which also counts as a LAN adapter!), you need to point out *which* LAN adapter is to receive your settings. The INFIDLAN makes this, the entries are taken from the .INF file that comes with the adapter(s). In your .SIF file (located in the i386\templates folder for your image on your RIS server), add the following: . . . [GuiRunOnce] "%SystemDrive%\disks\configip.cmd ip %IPLAN% %SNLAN% %IPWAN% %SNWAN% %DNS% %GATEWAY%" . . . [NetAdapters] Adapter1 = params.Adapter1 Adapter2 = params.Adapter2 [params.Adapter1] INFID = %INFIDLAN% ConnectionName = "Intranet" [params.Adapter2] INFID = "*" ;INFID = %INFIDWAN% ;ConnectionName = "Internet" [NetProtocols] MS_TCPIP = params.MS_TCPIP [params.MS_TCPIP] AdapterSections = params.MS_TCPIP.Adapter1, params.MS_TCPIP.Adapter2 [params.MS_TCPIP.Adapter1] SpecificTo = Adapter1 EnableAdapterDomainNameRegistration = Yes WINS = No NetBIOSOptions = 0 DHCP = Yes ;DHCP = No ;IPAddress = %IPLAN% ;SubnetMask = %SNLAN% [params.MS_TCPIP.Adapter2] SpecificTo = Adapter2 EnableAdapterDomainNameRegistration = Yes WINS = No NetBIOSOptions = 0 DHCP = Yes ;DHCP = No ;IPAddress = %IPWAN% ;SubnetMask = %SNWAN% ;DNSServerSearchOrder = %DNS% Now create a CONFIGIP.CMD file (save it in the $OEM$\$1\Disks directory for your RIS image) that uses NETSH.EXE to alter the TCP/IP settings. ECHO pushd interface ip > ip.txt ECHO set address name="Intranet" source=static addr=%1 mask=%2 >> ip.txt ECHO add address name="Intranet" addr=%3 mask=%4 >> ip.txt ECHO set address name="Intranet" gateway=%6 gwmetric=0 >> ip.txt ECHO set dns name="Intranet" source=static addr=%5 register=BOTH >> ip.txt ECHO set wins name="Intranet" source=static addr=none >> ip.txt ECHO popd >> ip.txt NETSH < ip.txt > NUL DEL ip.txt Note that the name "Intranet" above is the name given to the LAN adapter in the .SIF file above! The name is bound to the adapter during setup with help from the INFIDLAN variable in the CUSTOM.OSC file. It is actaully much easier to define one IP address per adapter if you have two LAN adapters installed in your computer, that could be arranged in the .SIF file directly without having to call NETSH via a .CMD file. NOTE! It is *much* easier to do multihoming with two LAN adapters if they are from different vendors, otherwise it is difficult to say which one will receive the LAN and whitch one will receive the WAN settings.... What you would need to do is to create an other .OSC file and link it between CUSTOM.OSC and OSCUST.OSC (maybe call it LAN2.OSC) and make it contain the settings for the secondary (WAN) LAN adapter (removing those entries from the example in the CUSTOM.OSC above). Your CUSTOM.OSC might look something like this then: . . . <FORM ACTION="LAN2"> . . . <BOLD>LAN </BOLD>IP: <INPUT NAME="IPLAN" VALUE="" SIZE=16 MAXLENGTH=16> / <INPUT NAME="SNLAN" VALUE="0" SIZE=16 MAXLENGTH=16><BR> <BR> LAN adapter type: <SELECT NAME="INFIDLAN" SIZE=3> <OPTION VALUE="PCI\VEN_10b7&DEV_9200">3Com 3C90x <OPTION VALUE="PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1229">Intel PRO/100 <OPTION VALUE="PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_8139" SELECTED>Realtek 8139 </SELECT> . . . and LAN2.OSC: <OSCML> <META KEY=F1 HREF="CUSTHELP"> <META KEY=F3 ACTION="REBOOT"> <META KEY=ESC HREF="OSCUST"> <TITLE> Client Installation Wizard WAN setting</TITLE> <FOOTER> [ENTER] continue [ESC] go back [F1] help [F3] restart computer</FOOTER> <BODY left=5 right=75> <BR> <BR> Enter IP settings for the WAN adapter:<BR> <BR> <FORM ACTION="OSCUST"><BOLD>WAN </BOLD>IP: <INPUT NAME="IPWAN" VALUE="" SIZE=16 MAXLENGTH=16> / <INPUT NAME="SNWAN" VALUE="" SIZE=16 MAXLENGTH=16><BR> <BR> DNS server: <INPUT NAME="DNS" VALUE="" SIZE=16 MAXLENGTH=16><BR> Gateway: <INPUT NAME="GATEWAY" VALUE="" SIZE=16 MAXLENGTH=16><BR> <BR> WAN adapter type: <SELECT NAME="INFIDWAN" SIZE=3> <OPTION VALUE="PCI\VEN_10b7&DEV_9200">3Com 3C90x <OPTION VALUE="PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1229" SELECTED>Intel PRO/100 <OPTION VALUE="PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_8139">Realtek 8139 </SELECT> </FORM> <BR> <BOLD>Note:</BOLD> Please enter valid IP address settings for the WAN adapter!<BR> </BODY> </OSCML> You need to separate the LAN and WAN settings to two files due to a bug in the Microsft .OSC interpreter, it is impossible to "leave" a <SELECT...> tag and go to the next, which means that it must reside as the last setting that you will make on any page. :-/ Now uncomment the remarked entries in the .SIF file above, remove the old redundant INFID resp. DHCP settings, and remove the call to CONFIGIP.CMD under [GuiRunOnce], and you are set! Good luck! :-)

With my method you can! OK, it will not be RIS that sets the partitions, and you can not pre-set them in a script or in your .SIF file, etc. What will happen is that Windows setup kicks-in the all-familiar partition-creation routine during the text portion of the "ordinary" setup. Since this happens pretty soon after the Windows setup starts it makes it feel "almost" as if it was a part of the RIS menu system. If anybody is interested I can give more details in how to implement a *full* TCP/IP unattended configuration for a multihomed server setup via RIS. :

Ris is great! : In order to repartition manually or automagically, create a new .OSC file on the RIS server one and link it in between the others! Alter the CUSTOM.OSC to link to a new .OSC file, called HDD.OSC instead of the original OSCUST: ... <FORM ACTION="HDD"> ... Then create HDD.OSC, let it contain something like this: <OSCML> <META KEY=F1 HREF="CUSTHELP"> <META KEY=F3 ACTION="REBOOT"> <META KEY=ESC HREF="CUSTOM"> <TITLE> Client Installation Wizard Repartition HDD</TITLE> <FOOTER> [ENTER] continue [ESC] go back [F1] help [F3] restart computer</FOOTER> <BODY left=5 right=75> <BR> <BR> Select whether you want to partition the harddisk manually or if the whole disk should be used automatically. <BR> <BR> <FORM ACTION="OSCUST"> Repartiton HDD: <SELECT NAME="REPARTITION" SIZE=2> <OPTION VALUE="Yes" SELECTED>Yes <OPTION VALUE="No">No </SELECT> </FORM> </BODY> </OSCML> Now you have a variable containing the value "Yes" or "No" depending on whether you select to let the setup repartition the whole drive or not. All you have to do now is to change your .SIF file to use the value of this new parameter where the setup determines whether to repartiion or not: ... [RemoteInstall] Repartition = %REPARTITION% UseWholeDisk = %REPARTITION% ... That's it!

c:\windows (and subdirs) is 565 MB for a W2K3 Web Server installed and configured 100% unattended via a RIS Server. The install image was slimmed down with help from nLite. The image uses 85 MB RAM when started with only Windows Update and IIS 6 + the essential services (NetBIOS, Event Viewer, RAdmin, etc.) running. I have chosen to automate the setup 100% in order to be able to create several servers with identical configuration (OS, IIS, Services like MySQL, RAdmin and PHP, etc) instead of cloning with SysPrep since neither Ghost 7.5 CE or 8.0 CE nor Acronis TrueImage Server managed to make a bootable clone (i have read that wipeing out the disk signature might help, but it's too late for that now!) I have modified RunOnceEx.cmd to call a batch file for each step in the setup with a parameter telling the batch file which part to process during first logon after setup. This made it a lot easier to keep all configuration in a single place and more readable / easier to maintain. The hardest part was to export and automate the import of all the IIS 6 settings for PHP and rip out ASP... Right now I am quite happy with having managed the *extremely* cumbersome and not-so-well-made M$ custom setup / componentization of unattended setup. It would *not* have been possible without MSFN! The installation takes less than 25 minutes from bare-metal (SCSI) to fully configured server via an *extremely* crowded 100 MBps LAN. I have also forced RIS to ask me for IP address and Product ID (preconfigured all ID's I have, all I have to do is to pick one!) when the PXE boot switches to RIS setup. RIS is useful since I do not need a CD-ROM which I always mis-place, and the image on the server can easily be maintained for future upgrades / configuration changes. M$ has ADS server for mass-rollout to multiple servers simultaneously, but it is much too cumbersome, awkward and resource-hogging. Also it needs some tweaking to install on anything less than an Enterprise Server... nLite is really a gem! It needs some bugfixes and if it would be able to integrate better with the requirements that RIS needs it would really be a must-have-killer-app-that-no-sysadmin-can-live-without. Does anybody else have any experiences with RIS? I would be glad for some info on tweaking / modifying it from someone with more experience.