Lesson 1: Performing Remote Installations

The most efficient method of deploying Windows 2000 Professional is to use remote installation. You can perform remote installations of Windows 2000 Professional if you have a Windows 2000 Server infrastructure in place and the computers in your network support remote boot.

Remote installation is the process of connecting to a server running Remote Installation Services (RIS), called the RIS server, and then starting an automated installation of Windows 2000 Professional on a local computer. Remote installation enables administrators to install Windows 2000 Professional on client computers throughout a network from a central location. This reduces the time spent by administrators visiting all the computers in a network, thereby reducing the cost of deploying Windows 2000 Professional.

RIS provides the following benefits:

• Enables remote installation of Windows 2000 Professional
• Simplifies server image management by eliminating hardware-specific images, and by detecting Plug and Play hardware during Setup
• Supports recovery of the operating system and computer in the event of computer failure
• Retains security settings after restarting the destination computer
• Reduces TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) by allowing either users or technical staff to install the operating system on individual computers

Before beginning a rollout of Windows 2000 Professional using RIS, you should become familiar with the prerequisites for the service and you must install the service using the Remote Installation Services Setup wizard.

The RIS server can be a domain controller or a member server. Table 14.1 lists the network services required for RIS and their RIS function. These network services do not have to be installed on the same computer as RIS, but must be available somewhere on the network.

Table 14.1 Network Services Required for RIS

Network service	RIS function
DNS Service	RIS relies on the DNS Server for locating both the directory service and client computer accounts.
DHCP Service	Client computers that can perform a network boot receive an IP address from the DHCP server.
Active Directory Directory Services	RIS relies upon Active Directory directory services in Windows 2000 for locating existing client computers as well as existing RIS servers.

Remote installation requires that RIS (included on the Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM) be installed on a volume that is shared over the network. This shared volume must meet the following criteria:

• The shared volume cannot be on the same drive that is running Windows 2000 Server.
• The shared volume must be large enough to hold the RIS software and the various Windows 2000 Professional images.
• The shared volume must be formatted with the Windows 2000 NTFS file system.

When your network meets the prerequisites for RIS, you can run the Remote Installation Services Setup wizard, which does the following:

• Installs the RIS software
• Creates the remote installation folder and copies the Windows 2000 Professional installation files to the server
• Adds .sif files, which are a variation of an Unattend.txt file
• Configures the Client Installation wizard screens that will appear during a remote installation
• Updates the registry
• Creates the Single-Instance Store Volume
• Starts the required remote installation services

When installation of RIS is complete, you can configure RIS using the server's computer object in Active Directory Users and Computers. For more information on the management of Active Directory objects, see Chapter 5, "Administering Active Directory Directory Services."

The RIS server stores the RIS images used to automatically install Windows 2000 Professional on client computers that are enabled for remote boot. The RIS server can be a domain controller or a standalone server that is a member of a domain containing Active Directory directory services.

In this practice, you install Windows 2000 Remote Installation Services from a Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM.

In this exercise, you install the Remote Installation Services on a computer running Windows 2000 Server.

1. Log on as Administrator, and insert the Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive.
2. Open Control Panel, and double-click Add/Remove Programs.

The Add/Remove Programs window appears.

3. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.

The Add/Remove Windows Components page appears.

4. Click to select Remote Installation Services in the Components box, and then click Next.

Setup installs and configures Remote Installation Services.

The Completing The Windows Components Wizard page appears.

5. Click Finish.

A System Settings Change dialog box appears, indicating that you must reboot before the new settings will take effect.

6. Remove the Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM from you CD-ROM drive and click Yes.

In this exercise, you configure Remote Installation Services.

1. Log on as administrator.

The Microsoft Windows 2000 Configure Your Server screen appears, indicating that you have selected components that require additional configuration.

2. Click Finish Setup.

The Add/Remove Programs window appears, indicating that you now need to configure Remote Installation Services.

3. Click Configure.

The Remote Installation Services Setup wizard appears.

4. Read the information on the welcome screen, and then click Next.

The Remote Installation Folder Location page appears.

Notice that the drive on which you create the Remote Installation Folder cannot be the system drive and must be formatted with NTFS version 5.0 or later.

5. Enter E:\RemoteInst in the Path box.

The Initial Settings page appears.

6. Click Next to accept the default settings.

The Installation Source Files Location page appears.

7. Enter the path to the installation source files and then click Next.

The Windows Installation Image Folder Name page appears.

8. Click Next to accept the default name of win2000pro.

The Friendly Description And Help Text page appears.

9. Click Next to accept the default friendly description and help text.

The Review Settings page appears.

10. Review the information and then click Finish.

It will take several minutes for the following steps to complete:

• The remote installation folder is created.
• The files needed by the services are copied.
• The Windows installation files are copied.
• The client installation wizard screen files are updated.
• A new unattended Setup answer file is created.
• Remote installation services are created.
• The registry is updated.
• The Single-Instance-Store Volume is created.
• The required remote installation services are started.

11. When all the tasks are completed, click Done.
12. Close any open windows.

Client computers that support remote installation must have one of the following configurations:

• A configuration meeting the Net PC specification.
• A network adapter card with a Pre-Boot Execution Environment (PXE) boot ROM and BIOS support for starting from the PXE boot ROM.
• A supported network adapter card and a remote installation boot disk.

The Net PC is a highly manageable platform with the ability to perform a network boot, manage upgrades, and prevent users from changing the hardware or operating system configuration. Additional requirements for the Net PC are:

• The network adapter must be set as the primary boot device within the system BIOS.
• The user account that will be used to perform the installation must be assigned the user right "Log on as a batch job." For more information on assigning user rights, see Chapter 7, "Managing Software by Using Group Policy."

• Users must be assigned permission to create computer accounts in the domain that they are joining. The domain is specified in the Advanced Settings on the RIS server.

Computers that do not directly meet the Net PC specification can still interact with the RIS server. To enable remote installation on a computer that does not meet the Net PC specification:

1. Install a network adapter card with a PXE boot ROM.
2. Set the BIOS to start from the PXE boot ROM.
3. The user account that will be used to perform the installation must be assigned the user right Log On As A Batch Job.
4. Users must be assigned permission to create computer accounts in the domain that they are joining. The domain is specified in the Advanced Settings on the RIS server.

If the network adapter card in a client is not equipped with a PXE boot ROM or the BIOS does not allow starting from the network adapter card, create a remote installation boot disk. The boot disk simulates the PXE boot process. Windows 2000 ships with the Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator that allows you to easily create a boot disk (see Figure 14.1).

Figure 14.1 Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator

The Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator is started by running the Rbfg.exe. The Rbfg.exe file is located in the \RemoteInstall\admin\i386 folder on the Remote Installation Server. These boot floppies only support the PCI-based network adapters listed in the Supported Adapters list. To see the list of the supported network adapters, click the Adapter List button shown in Figure 14.1. A partial listing of the supported network adapter cards is shown in Figure 14.2.

Figure 14.2 Network Adapters supported by boot floppies

You will also need to set the user rights and permissions. The user account that will be used to perform the installation must be assigned the user right Log On As A Batch Job. The users must be assigned permission to create computer accounts in the domain that they are joining. The domain is specified in the Advanced Settings on the RIS server.

In this practice, you create a remote boot disk.

1. Log on as administrator.
2. Click Start and then click Run.

The Run dialog box appears.

3. Type E:\RemoteInst\Admin\i386\rbfg in the Open box.

4. Click OK.

The Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator window appears.

5. Read the information in the Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator window and then click Adapter List.
6. Scroll through the list of supported adapters, and then click OK to return to the Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator window.
7. Insert a formatted 3.5-inch floppy into your floppy disk drive.

8. Click Create Disk.

A Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator dialog box appears, prompting you to create another boot floppy.

9. Click No.
10. Click Close to close the Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator window.

In this lesson, you learned that if you have a Windows 2000 Server infrastructure in place, and the computers in your network support remote boot, the most efficient method of deploying Windows 2000 Professional is to use remote installation. Remote installation is the process of connecting to an RIS server and then starting an automated installation of Windows 2000 Professional on a local computer. Remote installation enables administrators to install Windows 2000 Professional on client computers throughout a network from a central location. This reduces the time spent by administrators visiting all the computers in a network, thereby reducing the cost of deploying Windows 2000 Professional.

The requirements for Remote Installation include the following. Client computers that support remote installation must have one of the three following configurations: a configuration meeting the Net PC specification, in which the network adapter must be set as the primary boot device within the system BIOS; a network adapter card with a Pre-Boot Execution Environment (PXE) boot ROM and BIOS support for starting from the PXE boot ROM; or a supported network adapter card and a remote installation boot disk.

Finally, the user account that will be used to perform the installation must be assigned the user right Log On As A Batch Job, and users must be assigned permission to create computer accounts in the domain that they are joining. The domain is specified in the Advanced Settings on the RIS server.