InTheWayBoy

I gave up on trying to install all them seperately...never could get everything working right. I started using WAMP stuff, which is Windows Apache MySQL PHP/Perl. Last one I used was NetServer, which is really slick.

You know, I didn't even think to count VMWare. I do a setup on that at least once a day if I have time... FDV...I see now, that's clever. I checked out the site, and while it is easy in the end it's just a little ironic that the link is like thirty pages long! But that's all due to good documentation, so I'm just laughing with you!

As I understand it, if you change the disk controller to a standard/universal one, then when you swap over it should be okay. You might also have to worry about HAL's if you are changing to a different server all together. But for some reason I've always gone a different route. Mostly because for me I came into the equation after the old computer had failed and you couldn't get into windows to make the changes...so I would have no choice to go the in-place upgrade route. Most people just call it a repair install, so we'll go with that. Before you shut down, take a few minutes and download all your drivers for your computer. RAID, VGA, Sound, NIC, etc. You'll have to reinstall them eventually, so get em now while it's easy too. Then, shutdown and hook up the RAID drives. Create the array, and then use Ghost or TrueImage to clone the IDE to the new RAID array. After that, shutdown and remove the IDE. Config BIOS to boot to CD then RAID, and put the 2003 SBS CD in the drive. You'll also need to have the RAID controllers drivers on a floppy, or possibly integrated in the source if possible. Basically you boot to the OS setup, then continue on like you were installing a fresh copy. Don't forget to press F6 to load the RAID drivers if you are using a floppy. And when it gives you the choice to install a fresh copy or repair a previous installation, you wouldn't do the obvious thing and hit r to repair...no, you continue going like a fresh install. Eventually, if the gods are happy, you'll come to a screen where it says it's found a previous version and ask what you want to do. This is where you choose the repair option. From that point on all your settings are saved, but setup run through all the low level stuff. All your applications should still be working fine, but that's no guarantee. When setup is done you should be back to a desktop, but you'll have to reload drivers. Here is where you can load the new drivers you downloaded earlier, including the new RAID controller. You might also lose the smaller settings, like desktop icons and positions, but most things seem to stay in tact otherwise. However, I have never done this on a server so I can't say for sure if all the AD, DNS, Exchange stuff is gonna stick around. I would hope so, but you never know. And I have had several occassions where the repair option never showed. Meaning, I would follow the process but it would never detect the previous version. So I would then be forced to do a full fresh install. Why? Don't know... Personally, I would probably just rebuild the sucker from the ground up, but that's just me. Good luck!

You'll want to establish the array first, then install your OS. Once you install an OS like 2000/XP/2003, it's very painful to transfer that to a different disk subsystem. Or at least, it's easier to just plan ahead and not worry about that...so create the RAID array in the hardware RAID's setup menu... Of course, by doing this you'll need to be able to supply drivers for the OS setup so it can see the RAID controller, so you'll have to plan for that as well. Most boards with RAID should come with a floppy disk that you can use, or you can look into integrating the drivers into the OS setup's source. That's neat, because then you don't have to worry about anything as the OS setup doesn't skip a bit. But it's way more complicated than just sticking in a floppy, so keep that in mind. After that, there's nothing more to worry about. Since the OS already knows about your RAID controller, you don't need to install any drivers once the OS is finished installing. And, since it's hardware RAID, you don't have to install any extra applications unless you want, but I never bother with them. Most are just reporting info, or maybe give you a different way to configure things...but it's all useless in most cases. The OS and software don't know or care that the disks are RAID, so no worries there either. If you go the software route and use dynamic disks then that's one thing, but I figure that's gotta be slow compaired to even the cheapest hardware solution. Plus, you have an extra level of crap to worry about, since a screwed up OS may affect the whole array, resulting in you loosing extra data should things go belly up. Just my thoughts on it all...good luck!

I remember this one being kinda nice back when I was learning all about profiles: http://www.wown.com/articles_tutorials/Pro...erver-2003.html You also might want to try and elaborate...meaning, we can't just figure out what's wrong if you just say it's not working. Also, Active Directory is quite picky if it's not setup right. Check your clients DNS settings, they should be going to the PDC. As for the firewall question, I've never done this myself but I think you need a proxy server. Someone else can verify that, but I think that's what it's called. Basically your clients look to this proxy server for internet data, and you can configure that proxy server to allow/deny certain sites. And dude...it's the weekend...be patient.

If you want to spend some time, I think this would be what you need: http://www.uvnc.com/addons/singleclick.html It's a special version of UltraVNC...they designed it so the user (Your friend) only needs to download and then execute. Of course, you need to take the time to set it up before you send it. This wouldn't require any extra applications other than the actual file, and it doesn't mess with passwords and firewalls and such...very nice indeed!

Just to clarify, RIS won't let you boot an actual ISO image...what it does is it takes your WinXP CD and copies all the necessary files to the RIS server. It then does some random things to them, making them ready to be used. After that is done, then you can boot to the RIS server either using PXE or a network boot disk. RIS then asks what you want to install (Only if you have more than one image loaded on the RIS server), and then proceeds to load setup. It's important to understand that at no point is an actual ISO file accessed using RIS. Even when you are loading the files into the RIS server, this needs to be done from a CD. Of course, this could be a CD image that is hooked up to a virtual drive, but you can't just throw an ISO file at RIS and expect everything to work out. Also, RIS will only work with 2000, XP, or 2003. You can also get BartPE and WinPE to boot off of RIS with some work. You won't be able to run any Win9x setup installs, or any custom bootable CD's. Many people want to try and boot their spiffy multi-boot CD's over the network using RIS, and it just doesn't work that way.

This looks rather handy...I have no way to test it now that it's the weekend, but it looks to be perfect for backing up a user profile before a reload. Thanx for the slick app!

So if a file was located at: X:\Files\Docs\Temp\file.doc Then it will be located to here: X:\Files\file.doc Is that what you mean? Can you give an example? As for what is causing it I'm kinda lost. Are these files in a profile, redirected folder, network share, or DFS? Is it ony happening for one user/share?

Too bad there isn't a daily option Sometimes it gets that frequent, but I'm counting my corporate network in this as well. But even before that, when I was an onsite repair tech it was still daily...and even before that it was almost daily cause I was learning all this stuff... Now on my personal rig, I only reload every month or three now, since I really don't use it other than for surfing and downloading. Back when I was playing games and trying out all kinds of applications it was weekly. And what is FDV? Can't say I've ever seen that acronym...File Difference Verification?

It sounds like you don't have access to the desktop...like the location of the desktop has goofed NTFS permissions denying you the ability to add, rename, or delete files. If you can find the location of the desktop files, right-click and go to security to see what rights you have. What did you determine the problem was two posts ago...you made it sounds like you fixed the problem. It may be related to what you have going on now.

Bingo!

That will depend on how you set it up...you could either have the clients look to the server for local things and the router for external things. Or you could setup 2003 with Routing and Remote Access which would mean your clients would look to the server for everything, and the server would determine if it needs to serve the info or if it needs to pass it through to the router. If you go with the second method, you'll need two NIC's in the 2003 box, one for the LAN and one for the WAN. This method also allows you to use the VPN features of 2003, so you might wannt look into this since you are inquiring about VPN.

Ummmm...do you have a domain controller running somewhere? You can't use RIS without Active Directory...the errors you are saying sound like you don't have one.

muiz - AutoIT is slient, and can be hidden. If you looked at what they said, you take the script and compile into an .exe. You can then run that .exe, which only shows up as an icon in your system tray. I like to keep it like that, so that I know when it's working. You can also take it a step further and disable the icon, resulting in a totaly silent install. This is what I do with my silent installers...the autoit script handles all the work of installing the application, and then it's compiled into an .exe. But the autoit .exe and the install source are then packaged into a 7zip SFX. The end result is a single file that will install your application silently. In a case like this, where the developer didn't include a way to silently install, this is one of the few ways you can make it work outside of repackaging.

You need to decide what role this server is going to play. Is it going to be the only server in the organization, and if so are you planning on running an Active Directory domain? 2003, and any OS for the most part, can become a file or print server just by sharing the resources...right-click on the folder, then go to "Sharing" and configure appropriately. Now, if you want to do things like limit access to files and such, then you need to figure out a way to setup security. The easiest way in the long run is to setup an Active Directory domain if you don't already have one. That way you have a central location that dictates security settings for users and computers. Once you have something setup, then it's (Almost) as simple as add or removing a user/group/computer from a share to regulate access. If you have a peer-to-peer network it's still possible, but becomes a headache later on when you have to change names and such. Since you wouldn't have a true server in a peer-to-peer network, then if you change something on one computer you'll most likely have to physically change it on all the others. I have no idea about the Exchange question though. You can easily make 2003 into a DHCP...all you would have to do is disable the other DHCP servers just to make sure they don't get in the way. Each router/printer is different, so I can't recommend where to look, but it's most likely in there somewhere.

Sounds like the path to your desktop has been changed. You can dig in the registry to find out where it's located at, or you could try saving a fake file to the desktop and then searching for it.

You'll be fine...Office is an application, Windows is an operating system. When you install Office, just look for the Custom Installation button, which will show you a screen that lets you select what you want to install. You can configure it to only install Word, but it will still need some other random files for Office to work. Don't worry, it'll install all the necessary files for you...after that you should be good to go!

You probably have a hardware issue, most likely your Power Supply. While it's possible that a virus may cause extra stress on your computer, resulting in more power usage, I would almost bet money that a virus is NOT causing these issues.

Well first off what is the point of the $$Renamte.txt file? I've never heard of that, nor seen it on this board before. I looks like you are using it to convert a truncated folder name into a standard folder name...but why? When you use the switch in your winnt.sif to move the profiles folder it should make everything work. You shouldn't need to adjust names to make it work...but I've never actually done that so maybe I'm wrong.

When I did mine, I just used my WinXP winnt.sif and just added some extras...Licensing, Terminal Services, etc...and it worked fine. I don't think there is any special thing you have to do differently. I'd check your winnt.sif again, and how are you making the unattended? Are you doing it manually, or using something like nlite?

I don't think it's piracy...more just clever usage of text files. Since the player is free and clear, the only obsticle is the validity of the VM files. Since the vmx turns out to be just text, and the vmhd seems to have been figured out it's all common knowledge at this point.

Well not necessarily...as I said, you can't use an SP2 CDKey on an SP1 source, as it only has support for SP0 and SP1 CDKeys. But, since SP2 came out after SP1 it contains support for SP0 + SP1 + SP2 CDKey...so you're good to go! The unattended is definantly something you don't wanna beta test on a friends machine...at least, not a friend you like And just in case you don't have a VM solution already, there is an free mini version of VMWare (Best VM Ever) called VMPlayer. It only lets you start VM's, not create them. But we've all found out that with a little text editing you can pretty much create your own VM. Works great for testing unattended installs. I started a thread over here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=58664

Well that sucks about the source files on the unit...but it does happen. But you do have an out...you can use YOUR XP Home disc on the unit. However, there are sometimes when that doesn't work. For instance, if the CDKey on the unit is a SP2 key (Meaning the unit was bought after SP2 was released), then it won't work on a CD that is SP1 level. Also, and I never figured this one out, but there are sometimes when a key just flat-out won't work...very rare, but it does happen. Another gotcha about using YOUR CD, is that it might be customized to YOUR computer. This could be a simple as drivers for your unit to custom branding by the OEM. So if YOUR CD is a Dell CD, and you install it on another computer that isn't a Dell, it'll still show the Dell logo's in certain places. And the last issue is the type of CD you have...you say the CDKey on the unit says "OEM". That means that CDKey will only work on an OEM CD. If you bought your CD in a retail setting, then it won't work. How do you know if you have an OEM CD? It usually says on the CD that it's an OEM, or only to be sold with a new PC. If it's a retail it says something else... As for the BartPE question, you most definantly can use XP Home to create that. You can also use 2003 if you had that, but I can't see a real reason to use anything other than XP. I wish there were some better tutorials, but this looks well enough: http://www.bootcd.us/PEBuilder_tutorial.php It's for an older version, but most of the stuff is still the same. I suggest start out with the bare system, and then move up. The basic system comes with enough tools to remove files and such. Plugins, which are really just applications packaged correctly to work with BartPE, can be found for many applications like Spybot, AdAware, and almost any other program ever made. There is a gotcha for BartPE too...when you boot the system it is reading the local registry from the CD. So, when a tool like AdAware scans the registry from spyware, it's really scanning the CD's registry, not the computer you booted it from. Of course, they have found many ways around this, and Spybot has recently built-in support to read the computers registry and not the CD. The best place for BartPE help is their forums: http://911cd.net/forums But, you can always ask questions here...someone will help ya

You can do that, but not very easily...and it would require tools that may cost $$$. I've seen this switch up happen before. It's a pain...the only solid way I've found to ensure that your 'data' partition doesn't become C: is to make it an extended partition. That way it can't be C: Now to do that would require you to reload everything, which isn't the greatest. Once you've installed Windows on a drive (D: in this case) you can't just move it to another one. And if you wanted to do this without loosing any data, then you would need to use a program like PartitionMagic or Disk Director.