How to make Standalone DVD unattend installation for server 2008

[manishgambhir]

Hi There,

I have been able to make a full unattend.xml for Server 2008 R2 that is working as i need if i use it on a seprate UFD.

can anybody help me on how to add unattend.xml/autounattend.xml to DVD to make it standalone DVD unattended installation ???

Thanks In Advance.

Edited March 2, 2012 by manishgambhir

[mandrake]

Windows setup searches for the autounattend.xml on your DVD as well. So go ahead and create an ISO and burn a new Windows installation media with the answer file on the root.

Using WAIK you can create the iso with

oscdimg -n -m -b"iso\boot\etfsboot.com" iso\ myinstallation.iso

where .\iso\ contains all the files from the windows installation cd + answer file.

[manishgambhir]

Let me give it a shot, i was trying to add my xml files to wim files.

Edited March 5, 2012 by manishgambhir

[manishgambhir]

Thanks Mandrake, i was able to run the DVD unattended.

Is there any way to hide my unattend so the users dont play with it ?

[Tripredacus]

Is there any way to hide my unattend so the users dont play with it ?

Only by using a custom shell and playing some tricks, like having the file originally named something ambiguous in the sources folder, then copy it to the Ramdisk and rename it to unattend.xml... then call Setup.exe with the /unattend switch.

[manishgambhir]

Is there any way to hide my unattend so the users dont play with it ?

Only by using a custom shell and playing some tricks, like having the file originally named something ambiguous in the sources folder, then copy it to the Ramdisk and rename it to unattend.xml... then call Setup.exe with the /unattend switch.

Hi Tripredacus/All

before i could finalize my autounattend.xml i realized that i missed to ask server name and Ip from user. For which i'm using startnet.cmd. but looks like its not even reaching my startnet.cmd.

explaning the scenario here.

i have taken boot.wim from a winodws 2008 R2 Sp1 DVD. This boot.wim has two images in it.

Index 1. Microsoft Windows PE (x64) ->( mounted the image and saved file in x:\windows\system32)

Index 2. Microsoft windows Setup (x64)-> ( mounted the image and saved file in x:\windows\system32)

i have added startnet.cmd in both the wims but its still not reaching any of them.

when i run commad prompt during the install (by pressing shift + f10) and i browse to X:\Windows\system32, i see my startnet.cmd. but for some reason it is not being touched.

any idea ???

Thanks in advance.

Edited March 8, 2012 by manishgambhir

[Tripredacus]

before i could finalize my autounattend.xml i realized that i missed to ask server name and Ip from user. For which i'm using startnet.cmd. but looks like its not even reaching my startnet.cmd.

i have added startnet.cmd in both the wims but its still not reaching any of them.

any idea ???

Startnet.cmd is a failover in the search path of files that tell WinPE what to do when it boots. The first item it looks for is winpeshl.ini. If there is any data in that file, it won't bother looking for startnet.cmd.

[manishgambhir]

before i could finalize my autounattend.xml i realized that i missed to ask server name and Ip from user. For which i'm using startnet.cmd. but looks like its not even reaching my startnet.cmd.

i have added startnet.cmd in both the wims but its still not reaching any of them.

any idea ???

Startnet.cmd is a failover in the search path of files that tell WinPE what to do when it boots. The first item it looks for is winpeshl.ini. If there is any data in that file, it won't bother looking for startnet.cmd.

Let me give it a shot quickly and update you back here. as far as i remember, i didnt touch winpeshl.ini and technically it should come to startnet.cmd.

[manishgambhir]

before i could finalize my autounattend.xml i realized that i missed to ask server name and Ip from user. For which i'm using startnet.cmd. but looks like its not even reaching my startnet.cmd.

i have added startnet.cmd in both the wims but its still not reaching any of them.

any idea ???

Startnet.cmd is a failover in the search path of files that tell WinPE what to do when it boots. The first item it looks for is winpeshl.ini. If there is any data in that file, it won't bother looking for startnet.cmd.

Let me give it a shot quickly and update you back here. as far as i remember, i didnt touch winpeshl.ini and technically it should come to startnet.cmd.

i checked it doesnt have winpeshl.ini, do you want me to create it and leave it blank ?

[Tripredacus]

You can try putting your command into the winpeshl.ini instead of startnet.cmd. Check the WAIK documentation (WinPE.chm) for the proper syntax for the file.

[manishgambhir]

HI All,

All these things work if i use AIK's boot.wim, but the dont work with Boot.wim taken from windows server 2008's DVD. i wanted to use boot.wim from windows server 2008's dvd because of better drivers support.