Lesson 3:Performing Remote Installations | 70-270: MCSE Guide to Microsoft Windows XP Professional (MCSE/MCSA Guides)

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

After this lesson, you will be able to

Describe how to deploy Windows XP Professional using RIS
Install RIS
Create a boot floppy

Estimated lesson time: 60 minutes

To install RIS and create a boot floppy for network interface cards that are not equipped with a Pre-Boot Execution Environment (PXE) boot ROM, or for systems with basic input/output systems (BIOS) that don't support starting from the PXE boot ROM, you must have a computer running one of the Windows 2000 Server family of products. You also must have either the CD-ROM or access to a network source of files used to install the Server product and Windows XP Professional.

Understanding Remote Installation

Remote installation is the process of connecting to a server running RIS, called the RIS server, and then starting an automated installation of Windows XP Professional on a local computer. Remote installation enables administrators to install Windows XP 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 XP Professional.

RIS provides the following benefits:

It enables remote installation of Windows XP Professional.
It simplifies server image management by eliminating hardware-specific images and by detecting Plug and Play hardware during setup.
It supports recovery of the operating system and computer in the event of computer failure.
It retains security settings after restarting the destination computer.
It reduces total cost of ownership (TCO) by allowing either users or technical staff to install the operating system on individual computers.

Installing and Configuring RIS

Before beginning a rollout of Windows XP 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.

Examining the Prerequisites

RIS is only available on computers running one of the Windows 2000 Server family of products. The RIS server can be a domain controller or a member server. Table 19.2 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 they must be available somewhere on the network.

Table 19.2 Network Services Requirements 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	RIS relies on the Active Directory service in Windows XP Professional 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 XP Professional images.
The shared volume must be formatted with the Windows 2000 NTFS file system version 5 or later.

Using the Remote Installation Services Setup Wizard

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

It installs the RIS software.
It creates the remote installation folder and copies the Windows XP Professional installation files to the server.
It adds .sif files, which are a variation of an UNATTEND.TXT file.
It configures the Client Installation Wizard screens that appear during a remote installation.
It updates the registry.
It creates the Single-Instance Store volume.
It starts the required RIS.

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

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

Practice: Installing and Configuring RIS

In this practice, you install Windows 2000 RIS from a Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM and then configure RIS.

To complete this exercise you need to have a Windows XP Professional CD-ROM or access to a shared folder that contains the Windows XP Professional installation files. You must also have a drive on a computer running one of the Windows 2000 Server family of products on which you installed RIS, formatted with NTFS version 5 or later and containing enough room to hold the Windows XP Professional installation files. There must be a DHCP server available on your network, a DNS server on your network, and a domain.

Exercise 1: Installing RIS

In this exercise, you install RIS on a computer running Windows 2000 Server.

To install RIS

Log on as Administrator, and insert the Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive.
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
Control Panel displays the Add/Remove Programs window.
Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
In the Add/Remove Windows Components window, in the Components box, select Remote Installation Services.
Do not change the other items that are currently selected.
Click Next.
Setup installs and configures RIS.

The Completing The Windows Components Wizard page appears.
Click Finish.
A System Settings Change dialog box appears, indicating that you must reboot before the new settings will take effect.
Remove the Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM from your CD-ROM drive and click Yes.

Exercise 2: Configuring RIS

In this exercise, you configure RIS.

To configure RIS

Log on as administrator.
The Microsoft Windows 2000 Configure Your Server screen appears, indicating that you have selected components that require additional configuration.
Click Finish Setup.
The Add/Remove Programs window appears, indicating that you now need to configure RIS.
Click Configure.
Windows 2000 Server displays the Welcome To The Remote Installation Services Setup Wizard page.
Read the information in the Welcome page and then click Next.
The Remote Installation Services Setup Wizard displays the Remote Installation Folder Location page.

Notice the drive on which you create the Remote Installation folder cannot be the system drive and must be formatted with NTFS version 5 or later.
Enter E:\RemoteInst in the Path text box.
Enter an appropriate path for your system. The folder should not exist; it is created as part of the configuration process. Remember that the drive must be on the computer on which you installed RIS, must be formatted with NTFS version 5 or later, and must have about 300 MB of space available to hold the Windows XP Professional installation files.
Click Next to accept the default settings.
By default, the RIS server does not support client computers until you configure it to do so.

The Remote Installation Services Setup Wizard displays the Initial Settings page.
Select the Respond To Client Computers Requesting Service check box and then click Next.
The Remote Installation Services Setup Wizard displays the Installation Sources Files Location page.
Enter the path to the installation source files and then click Next.
If you were using a Windows XP Professional CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive of the server on which you were configuring RIS, you would enter X:\i386, where X is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive.

The Remote Installation Services Setup Wizard displays the Windows Installation Image Folder Name page.
In the Folder Name text box, type WINXP.PRO and then click Next.
The Remote Installation Services Setup Wizard displays the Friendly Description And Help Text page.
Click Next to accept the default friendly description and help text.
The default description is Microsoft Windows XP Professional. The help text is "Automatically installs Windows Professional without prompting the user for input."

The Remote Installation Services Setup Wizard displays the Review Settings page.
Review the information and then click Finish.
It takes 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.
- RIS is created.
- The registry is updated.
- The Single-Instance-Store volume is created.
- The required RIS are started.
When all the tasks are completed, click Done and close any open windows.

Understanding Client Requirements for Remote Installation

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 PXE boot ROM and BIOS support for starting from the PXE boot ROM.
A supported network adapter card and a remote installation boot disk.

Net PCs

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 as follows:

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 13, "Configuring Security Settings and Internet Options."
The Administrator group does not have the right to log on to a batch job by default and thus will need to be assigned this right prior to attempting a remote installation.
Users must be assigned permission to create computer accounts in the domain they are joining. The domain is specified in the Advanced Settings on the RIS server.

Computers Not Meeting the Net PC Specification

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, perform the following steps:

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

Creating Boot Floppies

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 (see Figure 19.2), which allows you to easily create a boot disk.

Figure 19.2 Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator

Run RBFG.EXE to start the Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator. The RBFG.EXE file is located in the \RemoteInstall\Admin\i386 folder on the Remote Installation server. These boot floppies only support the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)-based network adapters listed in the Adapters List. To see the list of the supported network adapters, click Adapter List, as shown in Figure 19.2. A partial listing of the supported network adapter cards is shown in Figure 19.3.

Figure 19.3 Network adapters supported by boot floppies

You 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 they are joining. The domain is specified in the Advanced Settings on the RIS server.

Practice: Creating a Remote Boot Disk

In this practice, you create a remote boot disk.

To create a remote boot disk

Log on as administrator.
Click Start and then click Run.
The Run dialog box appears.
Type E:\RemoteInst\Admin\i386\rbfg in the Open text box.
Your path for RBFG.EXE may vary. See Step 5 under the procedure to install RIS in the previous practice.
Click OK.
The Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator window appears.
Read the information in the Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator window and then click Adapter List.
Scroll through the list of supported adapters, and then click OK to return to the Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator.
Insert a formatted 3.5-inch floppy into your floppy disk drive.
If you have more than one floppy disk drive in your computer, make sure you select the appropriate floppy disk drive in the Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator.
Click Create Disk.
A Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator dialog box appears, prompting you to create another boot floppy.
Click No.
Click Close to close the Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator window.

Lesson Review

The following questions will help you determine whether you have learned enough to move on to the next lesson. If you have difficulty answering these questions, review the material in this lesson before beginning the next lesson. The answers are in Appendix A, "Questions and Answers."

What is a RIS server and what is it used for?
What network services are required for RIS?
What can you do if the network adapter card in a client is not equipped with a PXE boot ROM? Does this solution work for all network adapter cards? Why or why not?
What user rights must be assigned to the user account that will be used to perform the remote installation?

Lesson Summary

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 XP Professional is to use remote installation.
Remote installation is the process of connecting to a Remote Installation Services (RIS) server and starting an automated installation of Windows XP Professional on a local computer.
Remote installation enables administrators to install Windows XP Professional on client computers throughout a network from a central location.
Client computers that support remote installation must have one of the following configurations:
- A configuration meeting the Net PC specification, and 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
- A supported network adapter card and a remote installation boot disk
The user account that will be used to perform the installation must be assigned the user right Log On as a Batch Job and must be assigned permission to create computer accounts in the domain they are joining.