Richie_OLSJ Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 I have a windows 2003 network and am using RIS to currently re-install workstations.However, I am having to go to each workstation, boot with PXE and start the install.I am wondering if there is a way of running the RIS install from Windows (XP) so that I can remotely start the install.I have played about with using winnt32.exe, but it doesn't kill the existing partition if windows is already installed.Anyone have any success or is this just impossible?Richie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Br4tt3 Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 No, there is no supported way off kicking off a Win32 install using RIS from within xp or 2003. What u are looking for is WinPE. Using this software, u can redeploy ur machines even though u r not physical present to perform the installation. Of course, most people buy stuff like altiris or sms to get a "zero-touch" feeling over it, but all u need really, is WinPE and a sh**load of vbscripting...and maby a AD... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bj-kaiser Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 I'm actually trying to get something like that together. Powered by AutoIt3 and SQLite for the configuration storage. (Hey, for me this is a improvement to having a Image for every machine type)So far, it can query the MAC-adress/es from ipconfig and do a search with that in the database to get a script for diskpart. (That's what is there so far). What I'm planning is support for sysprep.inf/unattend.txt and imagex, also I'm about to integrate some sort of VNC to automatically connect to a viewer named in the database.So far I only do this in my spare time (as there seems to be no interest by my employer). If there is a need for a free (as in free beer ;-)) alternative to RIS and I don't feel like it's a to big blame to me if others see my code, I may publish it one day. (When I got at least the basic features implemented) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie_OLSJ Posted February 2, 2007 Author Share Posted February 2, 2007 I thought Win PE was just effectively a network boot cd.If it's not, then how do I run Win PE remotely to achieve what I want?Also, where can I get Win PE from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie_OLSJ Posted February 2, 2007 Author Share Posted February 2, 2007 Ok, so now I'm downloading WinPE.I'm searching, but so far failing, to find any information on how to use WinPE to reboot an XP PC and then run a RIS install.Anyone managed to do this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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