Help With a RIS Setup

[Ben Avery]

G'day,

I'm having some real trouble with setting up a RIS installation on our server.

Background

The RIS server has been setup and was tested on a base install and worked ok.

Objective

We want to create a single RIS image with the following simple(?) requirements:

• The Windows XP Professional install should include SP2 plus all post SP2 updates to date (the main reason for this, other than large post-install downloads, is getting the KB888111 drivers for High Definition Audio integrated for the Dell machines these will be pushed out to - Dell OptiPlex 210L machines)
  
• I need the sif file to point to certain BTS driver folders during main install (not text mode part). These include, CHIPSET, GRAPHICS, LAN, MASS STORAGE, SOUND and WLAN. Although this particular install currently applies only to Dell OptiPlex machines, we would like this single RIS install to also work on the large variety of other laptops and desktops around the school.
  
• After the main O/S install is complete, we need to run our Program script from the GuiRunOnce section of the sif file.
  

Progress

So far I have tried the following:

I took a clean XP SP2 CD and used the RyanVM integrator (v1.3.0) to slipstream the post SP2 hotfixes update pack (RVMUpdatePack2.0.7a.cab) and addon for WMPlayer 10 (RVMAddonsWMP10_2.6.cab)

On completion I ran RISetup.exe on the RIS server, pointed a new installation to the directory containing the RyanVM updated XP cd and let the server copy accross the files etc.

Next, I edited the sif file to reflect our changes. The file is attached below (in txt format) along with the batch file (in txt format) used for the applications install.

I stopped and restarted the binlscv service and booted a PC via PXE. At reaching the "Press F12..." screen after the DHCP part, I press F12 and the screen goes black and nothing happens.

After several minutes troubleshooting I tried running the "Check this remote server for errors" option on RISetup.exe and it then let me boot up ok, however the customised screens from the original working image are now gone and the default RIS setup screens appear (not that this is a problem to fix).

I'm curious as to what happened. Is it because the server is not all that great spec or something else?

Anyway, after starting the install the setup gets to copying files but starts to error out on nearly all the files around the 88% mark.

What's going on!?

BA

batch.txt

sif.txt

Edited July 17, 2006 by Ben Avery

[oioldman]

i sometimes get that, just gives me a flashing cursor on the screen.

just warm restart affected pca nd all seems ok.

have no idea why. i use ontel pro/1000 mt desktop adapters in mine if that helps

[edit

i would suggest doing it first with no major changes to source files.

when i first started i did iw with just xp with correct nic files, then dod with integrated sp2, then did woth otifies and progressed from there.

This may take longer, but it helped me learn and understand it better.

When you mention 88%, at waht pint? the copying froms erver or the installing of files? what error do you mean? does it give file names etc?

[/edit]

Edited July 17, 2006 by oioldman

[RogueSpear]

You cannot run rissetup.exe against a source that has been modified (RVM, nLite). It has to be a stock source. What you need to do is run RVM or nLite against the image generated by rissetup.exe, but this has problems of it's own. You may want to check out my RIS guide here in this forum. It's a sticky at the top.

[JuMz]

You cannot run rissetup.exe against a source that has been modified (RVM, nLite). It has to be a stock source. What you need to do is run RVM or nLite against the image generated by rissetup.exe, but this has problems of it's own. You may want to check out my RIS guide here in this forum. It's a sticky at the top.

WHAT? Really? What the heck...So how do you slipstream updates? I never knew this...is it even possible even do use BTS packs?

[Ben Avery]

RogueSpear

Am currently working through your guide from the top. I am at the NIC driver section and cannot download your 7z package as it's no longer on your website! Do you have a current set of NIC drivers still?

BA

[RogueSpear]

Actually if you d/l AutoImage, the most recent set of driver is in there. Even if you don't want to use the program, all you have to do is copy them.

[Ben Avery]

RogueSpear

I went through the guide from the start right the way up until the end of the RyanVM part. I didn't want to use nLite or BTS for the present one so skipped those sections.

I ran into a few problems though.

After I have finished the guide, I stopped and started the service, and booted the PXE boot computer. It briefly goes through the DHCP part and F12 booted me into the RIS installation options part.

I clicked through the default settings, logging in with a domain admin account.

When the files started to copy accross, I get an Error:

The file KDCOM.DLL could not be loaded. The error code is 4.

This error fixes if I decompress the file and try again, but then the next file comes up with the same error etc.

Eventually, after decompressing all of the following files from your list, the RIS image loaded successfully:

AVMC20.DLL

AVMCAPI.DLL

BOOTVID.DLL

DIAPI2.DLL

DIAPI232.DLL

DIAPI2NT.DLL

DIGIASYN.DLL

DIGIDBP.DLL

DIGIFWRK.DLL

DIGIHLC.DLL

DIGIISDN.DLL

HAL.DLL

HALAACPI.DLL

HALACPI.DLL

HALAPIC.DLL

HALMACPI.DLL

HALMPS.DLL

HALSP.DLL

IBMSGNET.DLL

KD1394.DLL

KDCOM.DLL

NTKRNLMP.EXE

NTOSKRNL.EXE

OSCHOICE.EXE

SETUPLDR.EXE

XLOG.EXE

*.NLS

*.OSC

*.SYS

Things then ran and installed smoothly but very slowly as the files are now much larger.

Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?

Do you have any suggestions on how to fix this?

BA

[RogueSpear]

The guide was written with Windows 2000 Server RIS images as a base. I think I mentioned that in the guide. Anyway, I'm currently discovering some differences with 2003 RIS vs. 2000 RIS. I'm going to guess that some of the files can be compressed, but obviously not all of them can be.

You need to compress all of those files to make your image appear as a stock disc based image. What I found out when making the guide was that I didn't have to decompress anything back for the RIS image to work properly. Like I said this was under 2000 RIS. I honestly don't know why Microsoft would have performed this "downgrade", because that's really what it is. But it is what it is and I'm actively looking into what the differences are.

[cluberti]

"Downgrade"?

[RogueSpear]

Well under Windows 2000 you can have more file compressed (or uncompressed) and under Windows 2003 some of these same files are mandated to be uncompressed. Perhaps I'm splitting hairs here, but it really does nothing but create inconsistencies from one platform to the next.

On another note, it appears that I finally have AutoImage Windows 2003 RIS compliant. Thank god for VMware and 2GB of RAM lol.. created a whole domain with a DC/RIS server, clients, etc.

[Ben Avery]

Thanks RogueSpear

I thought it was me as (like yourself) I wouldn't have dreamed that M$ would go to the trouble of changing something so useful, especially as it means pulling so much more accross the network!

Anyway, I am indebted to you and your great guide, and with the small matter of having to decompress those files again, all now works well!

If I get a chance, I will attempt to recompress some of them and see if I can help find which ones work, and which ones don't. I think it may be a longish job!

Thanks again.

BA

[RogueSpear]

I can tell you that the .NLS and .SYS files can remain comressed. As far as the others go, I'm not sure if there are some that can be compressed or not under 2003, but I'm going to guess that a good deal of the .DLL files can be.