XP Unattended CD but drivers from net?

[Vagabond8]

Hi

I have got a difficult task for myself and i very much hope that someone here would be so kind to point me into the right direction.

The problem: 10-25 XP installs (both home and pro) taking place at the same time(not synchronus), so the whole installation from a network server is too slow even over Gb network.

So there could be a solution - that the XP setup files would be installed from a CD but the necessary GUI mode device drivers could be somehow included from the network server...

But then how to make it happen? Even though the motherboard drivers are installed during the text mode, it often happens that the NIC is not functional at that time.. and even if it was, how to make windows installation scripts to wait and confirm that the drivers really are there when the installation moves to that point....

The drivers should be on a network, to for one, make all the client PC's similar and use the same (most current or reliable) driver versions, and for two, to have the possibility of fast updating the drivers without the need to replace all the CD's.

I might sound newbish or overlook some very simple solution, but even though i'd really-really apprichiate if someone could give me some pointers to where to look for the solutions or maybe explain something i seem to be not knowing...

Thank you in advance...

Arthur

[Vagabond8]

Back again:)

I have read a lot of material and sort of getting dizzy already but anyways, i've thought of a possible solution:

What if the whole process was handeled exactly as a unattended networkinstall but instead of copyng the I386 from a network location where the installation point is located, the part of the setup-script is tricked to copy it from the CD instead.

In that case there should be 2 CD's... 1 for home and 1 for XP, but that doesn't matter as they'd last longer if the drivers did not have to be updated that often.

So the setup program would be tricked to copy the I386 from d: instead of the (usually) network mapped Z. Only the drivers directories would come from the Z.

What do you think, could it be made to work this way? And if yes, where should i look for the script that is responsible for coppyng the files?

(also, does a client system have a drive letter assigned for the CD-drive by default or could this be an obstacle?)