Chapter Summary

In this chapter, you learned about several means you can use to perform unattended installations of Windows XP Professional. You can use Setup Manager to prepare answer files that can be used with any type of unattended installation. It is then easy to install Windows XP Professional on a computer by using the winnt command with the /u and /s switches, or the winnt32 command with the /unattend and /s switches.

RIS runs on a server and enables you to store multiple images of Windows XP Professional computers complete with settings, applications, service packs, and so on. On a network containing DHCP, DNS, and Active Directory, client computers can use a PXE-enabled NIC or a special boot floppy disk to connect to the RIS server and install a selected image of Windows XP Professional.

Sysprep allows you to prepare an image of a Windows XP Professional computer that is configured with applications, service packs, and settings. You can use a third-party imaging application to clone the image to new computers. When the computer is first turned on, the Mini-Setup Wizard runs so that the user can input specifically required information.

Key Terms

• answer file

• Client Installation Wizard

• Mini-Setup Wizard

• PreBoot eXecution Environment (PXE)

• remote boot floppy disk

• Remote Boot Floppy Generator utility (Rbfg.exe)

• Remote Installation Preparation Wizard (RIPrep)

• Remote Installation Services (RIS)

• security identifier (SID)

• Setup Manager

• System Preparation Tool (Sysprep)

• systemroot

• uniqueness database file (UDF)