Win2003 unattended != WinXP unattended?

[snelephant]

I am trying to build an unattended CD for Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition. I have discovered that some of the instructions given on this site for silent WinXP installation do not seem to work for Windows 2003.

Look what I found on the microsoft site Choosing a Method for Automating Post Installation Tasks in Windows 2003.:

Important

    * You cannot use Cmdlines.txt if you are using an operating system CD and a Winnt.sif file to perform an unattended installation. You can use Cmdlines.txt only if you are installing from a distribution share.

I intend to use a CD, not a distribution share. Does this mean I can't use the cmdlines.txt that I used in my WinXP unattended CD? My cmdlines.txt file contains commands to launch useraccounts.cmd and other essential batches.

What are my alternatives if I can't use cmdlines.txt? I tried [GuiRunOnce] with no success yet.

[snelephant]

Follow up,

A little trial and error revealed that cmdlines.txt CAN be used with an unattended Windows 2003 CD despite MS's claims that cmdlines.txt works only over a distribution share. In my tests the silent Win 2003 setup did in fact call cmdlines.txt. The evidence is in my completed installation, which contained changes that only could have been implemented by calls from the cmdlines.txt in the #OEM$ folder.

This worked using an ISO and VMware. I might post results from installs with a real CD at a future time.

[Alanoll]

really is ashame that the old 2003 site was merged with the XP one, but then again I think it was done because THEY ARE THE SAME. Sorry, Just incase someone else comes across this. Sure PARTS are different (like themes and unhardening IE) but the majority can be transfered over exactly.

[snelephant]

Sure, unattended Win2003 and unattended WinXP are the same--if your goal is use a $1000 Server OS to play MP3s on your desktop.

I am setting up a domain and the differences are, at the risk of understatement, not insignificant. While both 2003 and XP share much of their kernel, they have obviously distinct purposes: one is a server OS, the other is not. MS designed 2003 and XP to serve disparate functions and consequently incorporated mutually exclusive components, each requiring their own unique strategies for unattended deployment. There are issues in deploying a domain unattended, for example, that have no equivalent in XP.

Here is a typical challenge: how do you rename the domain administrator account? Renaming local accounts in WinXP is trivially simple. But Win2003 requires an entirely unique set of command line tools (DSmod) to manipulate objects in Active Directroy on a domain controller. This is to say nothing about unnattended forest integration, unattended certificate services, unnattended IIS authentication...the list is goes on.

I didn't even know there had been a separate site devoted to unattended Win2003 concepts. Sounds like a great idea.