Windows 2000 Unattended Install WITHOUT the floppy disk

[polycon]

Greetings all,

Before I start, I would just like to say that I expected this topic to have come up before (somewhere!) and that I did patiently trawl through your forums before I bit the bullet and decided to post myself...

My problem is simple enough... I can't install the Windows2000 professional OS on a system without a floppy disk drive. I have the WINNT.SIF file in the correct location, the uppermost parameters are as follows:-

;SetupMgrTag

[Data]

AutoPartition=1

MsDosInitiated="no"

UnattendedInstall="Yes"

AutomaticUpdates=yes

[unattended]

UnattendMode=FullUnattended

OemSkipEula=YES

OemPreinstall=YES

TargetPath=\WINDOWS

Repartition=Yes

WaitForReboot="No"

UnattendSwitch="yes"

KeyboardLayout="United Kingdom"

I have created many CD-ROMs for unattended XP installations, so none of this stuff is "new" to me...

The CD will run through the text part no worries, then stop at the GUI part where the license code needs to be entered (I guess this is the part its trying to find the answer file on the floppy...)

I've read elsewhere that an inf file can be edited with a few numbers (270 or something like that) to supress this prompt, but have been unable to get this to work. Also, I have read that a batch file can be setup to run the winnt32 command with the appropriate switches, but alas, I've also been unable to get this to play ball..

RIS or network installs are just not an option for me...

Please go easy on my first post , and if you are still reading this TYVM!!!

[Mordac85]

Welcome to the forums! Well, the license key is an easy one. Just add the following line to your unattend.txt under the UserData section like this:

[UserData]
	ProductID=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

As for the command line switches to kick off the install, to quote the M$ Windows 2000 Guide to Unattended Setup:

To start Windows 2000 Setup in unattended Setup mode from MS-DOS® or Windows 3.1/Windows for Workgroups, a user must specify:

winnt /u:<answer file> /s: <install source> /t:<target drive>

To start Windows 2000 Setup in unattended Setup mode from Windows 95 or Windows 98, Windows NT®, or Windows 2000, a user must specify:

winnt32 /unattend:<answer file> /s:<install source> [/syspart:<target drive>] [/tempdrive:<target drive>]

Of course, the MSFN Unattended Guide is also a great resource.