Troubleshooting an Unattended install

[crazyfeet]

Hi,

Fairly new to trying out an unattended install and it's a bit of a learning curve for me. I'm following the information from the Microsoft Desktop Deployment Resource Kit by Jerry Honeycutt. I'm trying to set up an unattended install from a network distribution point onto a Fujitsu Siemans PC. I have a Bart boot up cdrom which is detecting the network card ok and I can map drives to the distribution point from pc. However the fun comes when I start the install of XP. I have made an initial stab at compiling a winnt.sif file, I have also added the $oem$ with the drivers directory below it for the Fujitsu OEM setup.

What I need advise on is how to troubleshoot the install. The issues I'm getting are:

(1) The pc does not auto reboot after the test mode part of the install - ie files get get copied to hard disk, but system does not automatically reboot to continue install. If I reboot pc then the install does continue on to the next stage.

(2) I'm not getting all the correct drives loaded after install completes. This includes the Ethernet drivers for which I made a point of copying drivers into $oem$/Drivers/LAN prior to the install. I obviously need to recheck the inf files in the drives section should I load the inf files to $oem$/Drivers rather than $oem$/Drivers/LAN ?

With regards to the other drivers I need a bit of advise on tracking down the correct drivers, The Deployment Resource Kit mentions mentions making a note of the devices not working and if necessary looking at the registry to find each Plug and Play ID for the devices concerned. Well, what and where in the registry can I find this information.

All help gratefully received !

[RogueSpear]

First of all I have to tell you that performing an unattended install from a network installation point has always been the hardest type for me to get working properly. If it's possible for you to try getting the hang of things either using CD-RW media or even better, using VMware Workstation and an .ISO file, I would suggest that. There is indeed a lot to learn, but really most of it is not too terribly difficult to pick up. It's mostly a lot of reading and a lot trial and error. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that if you can get down some of the essentials and build up your confidence in this topic area, then you could later try to tackle the network method. Most of the fundamentals carry over, but there are some differences.

Now, if you're in a networked environment and need to install XP to some workstations, I would suggest doing one of two things. If you're running an Active Directory domain, consider using RIS. I've found it to be so much easier than network installation points. If you only have say a dozen workstations in a workgroup, then consider using CD/DVD for your installs. If there's more than what will fit on a CD, perhaps you could either use DVDs or you could script drive mappings during RunOnceEx and go from there. Also, definately take a look at the Unattended Install Guide here at MSFN. It has changed an awful lot since I first found it a couple of years ago, but there is really a lot of great information in there. You'll certainly learn a ton if you go through it.

You made no mention of the contents of your WINNT.SIF file, but there are some essentials entries that need to be in place there in order for your additional drivers to take hold and install.

[VCC]

@crazyfeet,

I share your pain. I tried the same thing with BartPE. My question to you would be, "How attached are you to using BartPE for that particular senario?" For a network install from a boot CD, I suggest WinPE 1.2 if you can get your hands on it. It's text base, but it works well (net use <drive letter>: <UNC network path>).

I would also point you to Siginet's PowerPacker and RyanVM's Integrator, because if you're going to boot from CDs, just take the network out of the equation and let the CD do ALL the work for you (you won't be tying up network traffic that way either). It's not that difficult now to learn and many things can be integrated into the setup. As RogueSpear mentioned, the Unattended site is a GREAT place to start learning.

Hope this helps some. Good Luck.

Edited January 31, 2006 by VCC