Installing Windows 2000 using an answer file
When you install Windows 2000, there are a lot of questions to be answered. To
save time and avoid errors, you can supply an "answer file" that will provide
the answers automatically.
John and I have worked up a couple of answer files that will get you most of
the way to a working system. See below for the last few steps you need to
take to get fully up on the network. If everyone uses these files when they
install Windows 2000, we will at least have all our machines set up in the
same way, and there's a good probability they will even be set up correctly.
Fully unattended installation
winnt.sif
This file is for when you want to save time: you boot off the CD, pop in the
disk, and when you come back from lunch your machine will be installed. It
will be set up with Win2K on a single partition occupying the entire first
hard disk. WARNING: This implies that when you use this answer file
all data on your disk will be erased without any further
confirmation.
It's not really quite that simple: you still need to specify the name and
IP address of the machine. You do this by editing the information on the
first few lines of the file before you start. If you forget to do this, your
machine will not have a working network connection.
For this to be truly unattended you need to make sure the CD-ROM drive and the
hard disk come before the floppy disk in the boot order in the BIOS menus
(usually you get these by hitting F2 early on in the boot process); otherwise
partway through the install, when it reboots, it will stop until you remove
the floppy.
So the whole procedure is:
- Save the file pointed to by the above link to a blank floppy disk. Beware
that your browser might want to call it "winnt.sif.txt".
- Edit the first two items in the file to specify the correct machine name
and IP address.
- Get the Win2K install CD (the "Select" CD from the developer kit that does
not need a CD key).
- Set the boot order to CD, hard disk, floppy.
- Put in the floppy and the CD.
- Boot. Note that on some machines (Dell 610s at least) you need to watch
for the "press a key to boot from the CD" prompt.
- After it finishes, follow the additional instructions below.
Normal installation with defaults
winnt.sif
This file has all the same settings, but it will not just go ahead without
you. You step through the setup screens as usual, and the answer-file answers
will be provided as defaults. This is the one to use if you want different
partitioning, if you want to change something from the default, or if you just
feel more comfortable seeing what's going on rather than having it happen
automatically.
So the whole procedure is:
- Save the file pointed to by the above link to a blank floppy disk. Beware
that your browser might want to call it "winnt.sif.txt".
- Get the Win2K install CD (the "Select" CD from the developer kit that does
not need a CD key).
- Put in the floppy and the CD (if the floppy is first in the boot order you
have to wait until it boots from the CD, then quickly put in the floppy).
- Boot. Note that on some machines (Dell 610s at least) you need to watch
for the "press a key to boot from the CD" prompt.
- Interact with Setup to partition the drive the way you want and to supply
the machine name.
- To supply the IP address, opt for a custom network setup. Go
to the properties for the TCP/IP protocol to enter the address (everything
else is already there).
- After it finishes, follow the additional instructions below.
Post-install setup
The answer file is useful, but there are various settings that cannot or
should not be controlled from Setup. Here is the procedure to finsh the
installation:
- Log in as Administrator (no password).
- Set the Administrator password. Hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete and choose Change
Password.
- One final network tweak. Go to My Network Places -> Properties,
Local Area Connection -> Properties, Internet Protocol, Properties, Advanced,
DNS, and un-check "Register this connection's addresses in DNS".
- Join the domain "graphics-domain". Go to My Computer -> Properties, Network
Identification, Properties. Under "More..." enter stanford.edu as the primary
DNS suffix and un-check "Change primary DNS suffix...". Under "Member of..."
select "Domain" and enter "graphics-domain". Say OK and it will ask you for
your domain credentials, then (eventually) come back with "Welcome to
graphics-domain." Then you have to reboot.
- Log in using your domain user name (note that you have to expand the password
dialog to specify the domain). If this works, it's a good sign.
- Install Service Pack 2. Go to Start -> Run, enter "\\telefrag\os", go to
Win2k-sp2, and run w2ksp2.exe. Don't ask it to back up the files necessary to
uninstall the SP, because that takes a ton of disk space. You will have to
reboot (yes, again).
Now you officially have a basic install.
Further suggestions
Turn off some foolproofing: Go to My Computer, Tools -> Folder Options, View.
Select "Show hidden files and folders" and un-check "Hide file extensions for
known types" and "Hide proteceted operating system files". You might also
like to turn on "Display the full path in the address bar"
Other things you will need are on telefrag as well:
- Drivers for your video card
- SGLSSH (needed to log into lab Unix machines)
along with other things you might want:
- Microsoft Office
- Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat
- WinZip
- Netscape
- Exceed (X Windows server)
- Cygwin (Unix style command line tools)
- MikTeX (Very easy precompiled TeX installation)
srm@graphics.stanford.edu