Boot into PXE and install XP unattended from share

[Gantlett]

Hello

I am looking for a solution to install Windows XP and Windows 7 from a PXE server with a boot menu, where I can choose to install one of the OS's. In addition, I want the XP install to NOT be image based, rather it should run from a shared folder on the network. The reason I want XP to be installed from a network share, as opposed to an image, is that I want the XP install to be hardware independent.

I tried installing WDS 2008. It plays very nice with Windows 7, but it only supports WIM based installations. Deploying XP through WIM format means deploying a syspreped image which will have some hardware dependency and I want to avoid that at all cost. I also want to avoid booting the target machines from a floppy disk - a PXE menu is the most elegant way I can think of to install an OS.

How can I achieve this?

Thanks in advance.

[engmod]

Windows 2000 or windows 2003 server will enable you to pxe a scripted install.

[Gantlett]

Since I must use Server 2008 (which will only support WDS, which will only support image based deployments...), I am worried that a syspreped XP image (made on a VM) will have hardware dependencies I can't predict.

How realistic is my concern? I'm worried I might attempt to deploy XP to a machine and I'd get a

 "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <Windows root>\system32\hal.dll. Please re-install a copy of the above file."

[submix8c]

Hmmm... If Win2k8 doesn't support it, how about a Linux installation solely for the purpose of roll-out to the other machines? Heck it probably could just be a low-end oldie-PC... Hook it into the network and...

Comments, anyone?

[Gantlett]

I looked into Linux solutions, but from what I found it seems that there's no proven way of doing this. I only found very complicated and vague guides. The problem is that I have a limited amount of time for this project and I can't mess around with it too much... I'd love to use any solution, as long as someone has had success with it.

[sorren]

i dun really understand but maybe you can try this

[Gantlett]

Thanks sorren, looks great - will have a good read!

[Gantlett]

Hi

This thread can be closed because a few things have changed in my scenario - I have a new problem and I'll open a new thread for it.

Thanks everyone!

Edited November 11, 2009 by Gantlett

[hj_fr]

Gantlett> fastest solution:

1) Boot a PE environment (BartPE or WinPE) from a PXE server (linux or windows, it's your choice)

2) mount a shared dir and launch the windows install