Remote Installation Services | Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Administrators Companion

Remote Installation Services (RIS) allows administrators to install Windows on computers from across the network with almost no user intervention. You can also use RIS with the IntelliMirror technologies (User Settings Management, User Data Management, and Software Installation and Maintenance) to install Windows remotely and then automatically add a user's personalized work environment—complete with the user's computer settings, software applications, and data.

This capability can come in handy. For example, you might want to purchase a new computer and give it to an existing user, or recycle an old server as a desktop. Using RIS and IntelliMirror, simply boot the computer from the network and automatically install the appropriate version of Windows. When users log on for the first time, their settings and applications are downloaded from the network and they'll be up and running in no time.

It's not hard to see the advantages RIS offers to an administrator who is short of both time and money. The sections that follow describe how RIS works, help you determine whether the network meets the requirements for RIS, and explain how to install, configure, and use RIS to set up client systems.

Windows 2000 RIS servers can deploy only Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional (if the Windows 2000 server is running Service Pack 2 or later).

How RIS Works

RIS is a combination of technologies that provides the nifty ability to easily boot a system and install an operating system from a remote server—all without requiring any data on the system beforehand.

The first technology that facilitates the ability to install an operating system remotely is Preboot Execution Environment (PXE). PXE allows a user of a computer with a PXE-compliant network interface card (NIC) to boot directly from the network by pressing F12 at bootup.

When the client boots to the network using a PXE-compliant NIC (or a network boot disk and a NIC that is supported by the disk), it requests an IP address from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, which also supplies the IP address of the nearest RIS server.

When a prestaged client (one whose computer account has already been created in Active Directory) contacts the RIS server, the RIS server queries Active Directory for the unique GUID for the client and then transmits the name of any operating system images the client is permitted to install. If the client isn't prestaged, it must at this point log on to a domain and use the Client Installation Wizard to select an operating system image. (RIS uses Group Policy to determine which images the user has access to, and it displays only those images.)

RIS Requirements and System Recommendations

To use RIS, the network needs to have the following services running properly: Active Directory, DHCP, and DNS. You can install RIS on any Windows 2000 or Windows .NET server, but you should take some care to ensure that the RIS server is located on the same LAN as your clients (RIS is not slow-link aware, and installing Windows from across a WAN link isn't recommended. It also relies on DHCP broadcasts, which generally aren't forwarded by routers). If you have multiple sites, consider deploying a RIS server to each site.

RIS servers need to meet the minimum system requirements for the version of Windows Server you're using, and in addition they must have a separate 2-GB hard disk or partition for the operating system images. (You can get by with less if you deploy only a couple of images.)

As mentioned in Chapter 5, you shouldn't be using a system that meets only the minimum system requirements, especially when it comes to RAM. Don't deploy a server with less than 256 MB of RAM, and if you're going to combine services such as Active Directory, DHCP, DNS, and RIS, get more; the extra cost is small. In addition, RIS must be installed on an NTFS 5-formatted partition that is separate from the system partition. RIS doesn't support Encrypting File System (EFS) files.

Operating system images stored on a RIS server can be synchronized with operating system images on other RIS servers with the use of Dfs, as discussed later in this chapter. However, RIS cannot follow Dfs links, so all needed data and images must be stored locally.

RIS clients also need to meet or preferably exceed the minimum system requirements for the operating system that they will install. In addition, the systems should have a 10 Mbps or preferably 100 Mbps NIC that supports PXE remote boot or is explicitly supported by the remote boot disk. (See the section entitled Creating a Remote Boot Disk later in this chapter for more information.)

Installing RIS

Before you can use RIS on the network, you need to install it, of course. Once you've chosen the server you want to use as a RIS server, use the following procedure to install the service and run the initial setup wizard:

Open Add/Remove Programs from Control Panel, and then click Add/Remove Windows Components in the left pane to launch the Windows Components Wizard.
Select the Remote Installation Services check box, and then click Next to install it. Reboot the server when prompted.
Launch Add/Remove Programs again from Control Panel, and click Configure next to Configure Remote Installation Services (Figure 25-18).
Click Next in the first screen, enter the folder path you want to use as the root for the RIS operating systems, and click Next. Note that the path you enter cannot be on the system partition, and it must be an NTFS 5-formatted partition with enough free disk space for all of the installations. You cannot use a Dfs share either.

Figure 25-18. The Add/Remove Programs screen.
Select the Respond To Client Computers Requesting Service check box if you want to turn on RIS immediately. If you do enable RIS immediately, you might want to select the Do Not Respond To Unknown Client Computers check box to prevent computers not already having a computer account in Active Directory from receiving an operating system installation. (This precaution avoids the potential security risk described in the Real World sidebar "Reasons for Ignoring Unknown Clients" later in this chapter.) Click Next.
In the next screen, enter the path to the Windows installation files, and then click Next.
Enter a name for the folder that will store this operating system image, and then click Next. The name cannot contain any special characters or spaces and must be 39 characters in length or shorter. The total path cannot exceed 130 characters.
Enter a user-friendly name for the operating system image in the Friendly Description box of the next screen (Figure 25-19). This is the description users will see listed as an operating system choice when they boot their system from the network.
Enter a more detailed description of the operating system image in the Help Text box, and click Next. This supplements the friendly description in helping a user decide which operating system image to install.

Figure 25-19. Specifying a friendly description and help text for an operating system image.
Review the settings in the next screen, and then click Finish to set up the server. RIS configures a number of settings and copies the necessary files, and then the service starts, if you chose to enable it, allowing the server to begin serving client requests.
If the RIS server isn't already an authorized DHCP server, launch the DHCP snap-in.
Right-click the DHCP root in the console tree, and choose Manage Authorized Servers from the shortcut menu.
Click Authorize, enter the IP address for the RIS server in the dialog box, and then click OK.

Administering RIS

The Remote Installation Services Setup Wizard does an adequate job of setting up the server with all of the default settings, but sooner or later you're going to need to tweak these settings.

RIS servers are administered from the Active Directory Users and Group MMC snap-in by right-clicking the server, choosing Properties from the shortcut menu, and then clicking the Remote Install tab. There are also Group Policy settings that you can use to change the level of interaction users have during a remote install.

Administering RIS servers and changing RIS Group Policy settings are discussed in the sections that follow.

You can administer most functions of a RIS server remotely by installing the Windows 2000 Administration Tools (Adminpak.msi) from the \i386 folder of the Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM. This tool also allows you to administer most other server services remotely.

Verifying Server Functionality

The most reliable way to determine whether a RIS server is working is to boot a computer from the network and install an operating system from it. However, before you do that, check the integrity of the RIS server using Microsoft's Check Server Wizard. This wizard quickly checks the status of your RIS server and attempts to fix any problems it finds.

To use the Check Server Wizard, follow these steps:

Open the Active Directory Users and Computers console. (You can find this in the Administrative Tools folder or by choosing the Run command from the Start menu and then typing dsa.msc and clicking OK.)
In the applicable domain and OU, right-click the server hosting RIS and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.
Click the Remote Install tab.
Click Verify Server (shown in Figure 25-20) to start the Check Server Wizard.

Figure 25-20. Verifying the status of a RIS server.
Click Next in the first window, and the wizard checks the server. Read the summary of the test results and click Finish.

The Check Server Wizard checks only that the RIS server is properly set up. It doesn't check the integrity of any operating system images on the server or the ability of clients to properly reach the server across the network. If you experience any problems, check the server's event log and check the functionality of the DHCP, DNS, and Active Directory services.

Enabling or Disabling RIS

To enable the RIS server to respond to client requests or to disable the RIS server from serving client requests, follow these steps:

Open the Active Directory Users and Computers console.
In the applicable domain and OU, right-click the server hosting RIS and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.
Click the Remote Install tab (Figure 25-20).
Select the Respond To Client Computers Requesting Service check box if you want to turn on RIS, or clear it if you want to disable RIS.
Select the Do Not Respond To Unknown Client Computers check box if you want to prevent computers not already having a computer account in Active Directory from receiving an OS installation.

Real World

Reasons for Ignoring Unknown Clients

Selecting the Do Not Respond To Unknown Client Computers check box adds one extra step (creating a computer account for a client) to the process of deploying Windows, but it does so for a couple of good reasons. The first reason is security. If this check box isn't selected, anyone who can reach the server can receive an operating system installation, provided that the user has adequate permissions (they still need to log on to the domain).

The second reason is compatibility with existing remote-boot applications. If you don't select this check box and you are using another company's remote boot/installation program on the network, clients may not be able to reach the other program. When you clear this check box, you ensure that only prestaged clients with registered computer accounts use RIS. See the section entitled Prestaging a Client later in this chapter for more details.

Viewing Clients

You might want to view a list of clients that have used the server to install Windows or that are prestaged to install Windows from the server. To do so, follow these steps:

Open the Active Directory Users and Computers console.
In the applicable domain and OU, right-click the server hosting RIS and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.
Click the Remote Install tab.
Click Show Clients to see a list of clients that have been serviced or that are ready to be serviced by the server.

Changing How Clients Are Configured

You might want to change how RIS configures clients, especially if your company has its own computer naming convention. By default, the computer name is created by appending a number to the user name used to log on to Active Directory during the client installation. You can change this to another scheme if you want.

The Active Directory location in which the new client computer account is created can also be changed. The default location is the Computers container in the same domain as the RIS server, but you can change this to the same container as the user's user account (probably the Users container) or to any other location in Active Directory.

Note that if an end user will be setting up the computer, the user's account needs to have sufficient permissions to create a new computer account in the specified location, unless the system is prestaged, as described in the section entitled Prestaging a Client later in this chapter.

To change the way in which RIS configures new clients, use the following procedure:

Open the Active Directory Users and Computers console.
In the applicable domain and OU, right-click the server hosting RIS and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.
Click the Remote Install tab.
Click Advanced Settings.
Select the field you want to use to generate client computer names from the list box, as shown in Figure 25-21, or click Customize to create your own computer name format, as shown in Figure 25-22.

Figure 25-21. Selecting a predefined computer naming format.

You can combine several fields when defining a computer naming format. For example, the string %1First%10Last%# would yield computer names using the first letter of a user's first name and then 10 characters from the user's last name, followed by a number, for example JSMITH11. This would yield a NetBIOS-compliant computer name easily readable by earlier clients such as Windows NT and Windows 98.

Figure 25-22. Defining a customized computer naming format.
Specify where to create the clients' computer accounts:
- To create the clients' computer accounts in the default Active Directory location (the Computers container in the RIS server's domain), select the Default Directory Service Location option in the New Clients tab.
- To create the computer accounts in the same place in Active Directory as the user's user account (probably the Users container), select the Same Location As That Of The User Setting Up The Client Computer option.
- To manually specify a location in Active Directory for the computer accounts, select The Following Directory Service Location, and then click Browse and locate the appropriate container. Click OK when you're done.

Changing Client Group Policy Settings

You can regulate the level of control users have over RIS installations by using Group Policy. To do so, use the following procedure (note that you can also apply permissions to individual operating system images, as discussed in the section entitled Managing Operating System Images later in this chapter):

Launch the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in or the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in, depending on whether you want to apply policy to user groups and computers or physical network sites.
Right-click the site, domain, or organizational unit (OU) for which you want to apply the Group Policy, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.
Click the Group Policy tab, and create or select the GPO you want to modify.
In the Group Policy snap-in, select User Configuration, then Software Settings, Remote Installation Services, and finally double-click Choice Options.
Enable, disable, or leave unconfigured the client installation choices, as discussed next, which appear during client setup after the user logs on:
- Automatic Setup The easiest installation option, this option checks the GUID of the computer to see if it's been prestaged, and if so, it keeps the previously created computer account. Otherwise it creates a computer name based on the naming convention specified by the RIS server (as described earlier in this chapter).
- Custom Setup This option provides users with the ability to override the computer name used as well as the location within Active Directory used to store the computer account. This option is useful for allowing users to set up someone else's computer (for example, an administrator could log on with his or her own user account and then set up a user's computer with a computer name appropriate for the user).
- Restart Setup Resumes a setup attempt that failed.
- Tools Displays any maintenance tools that you might have installed for network boot clients, such as BIOS updating tools, system diagnostics, and so on.

Don't enable Custom Setup if you're going to prestage computers that will be set up by users, because it presents the possibility of creating duplicate computer accounts if the GUID, computer name, and Active Directory location don't exactly match the one created when prestaging the computer.

If you choose the Not Configured setting, the default setting is used unless the option is explicitly enabled or disabled by another GPO that applies to the user performing the installation.

Managing Operating System Images

Managing the operating systems available for install using RIS involves a few different tasks. You might want to add new operating systems to make it easier to deploy servers as well as different clients, or you might want to customize an existing operating system image with an unattended answer file. You can also restrict the users and groups allowed to install a particular operating system and change other properties of an operating system image. The following sections describe the process.

Adding CD-Based Images You'll probably want to add some operating systems after setting up the RIS server. For example, you might want to deploy both Windows XP Professional and Windows 2000 Professional (Service Pack 2 or newer must be installed to deploy Windows XP Professional).

To take a Windows CD or network share and create a new operating system image from it that RIS can deploy to clients, use the following procedure:

Open the Active Directory Users and Computers console.
In the applicable domain and OU, right-click the server hosting RIS, choose Properties from the shortcut menu, and then click the Remote Install tab.
Click Advanced Settings, and then click the Images tab (Figure 25-23).

Figure 25-23. The Images tab of the RIS Properties dialog box.
Click Add to start the Add Wizard.
You install RIPrep images from the computer you create the image on at the time you create the image. For more information, see the section entitled Using Remote Installation Preparation later in this chapter.
Select the Add A New Installation Image option, and then click Next.
In the next screen, enter the path to the Windows installation files, and then click Next.
Enter a name for the folder that will store this operating system image, and then click Next. The name cannot contain any special characters or spaces.
Enter a user-friendly name for the operating system image in the Friendly Description box of the next screen (Figure 25-24). This is the description users will see listed as an operating system choice when they boot their system from the network.

Figure 25-24. Specifying a friendly description and help text for an operating system image.
Enter a more detailed description of the operating system image in the Help Text box, and click Next. This supplements the friendly description in helping a user decide which operating system image to install.
If you want to allow clients to install support for multiple languages, you need to copy the contents of the \i386\Lang folder (and all subfolders) from the Windows CD-ROM to the \\RISServerName\RemoteInstall\Setup\clientlanguage \Images\imagename\i386\Lang folder. To enable multiple languages during client setup, you need to replace the Welcome.osc file on the RIS server with an appropriately modified and renamed Multilng.osc, and create Client Installation Wizard screens for any additional languages. This procedure and customizing the screens in the Client Setup Wizard is discussed in the Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit.
If you're installing a different version of Windows (not just a different product SKU), you may be asked whether you want to keep the existing client installation screens. Use the installation screens associated with the newest version of Windows you are installing; for example, if you're adding a Windows 2000 image after already adding Windows XP images, choose the Use The Old Client Installation Screens option to preserve the previously installed Windows XP screens.
The client installation screens only affect the RIS portion of the installation, not the actual Windows Setup, so using one version or another shouldn't adversely affect the actual setup process.
Review the settings in the next screen, and then click Finish to add the image to RIS.

Adding Unattended Answer Files to Existing Images Answer files are small text files that are used to provide answers to the questions asked by Windows Setup. As such, they can be used to completely automate the Windows setup process, partially automate the process, or merely provide default settings.

When you add an operating system image to a RIS server, an answer file is created automatically that runs Setup completely automated with the default settings. This file is called Ristndrd.sif and it is located in the \\RISServerName\RemoteInstall \Setup\clientlanguage\Images\imagename\i386\Templates folder.

You can create additional answer files for CD-based images (you can't add answer files to RIPrep-based images) using the same techniques you'd use for a standard CD or network-based installation of Windows (which are discussed at length in Chapter 5).

After you've created an answer file, you can associate it with an operating system image in RIS. The answer file appears as a new operating system image, both on the RIS server and to RIS clients, although almost no additional disk space is consumed (just a couple of kilobytes for the answer file). The answer file simply modifies how clients use an existing image sitting on the hard drive.

To associate an answer file you've created with an existing image on a RIS server, use the following procedure:

If you want to manually create answer files for RIS images, do not alter the first two sections of the answer file: [data] and [SetupData]. These sections need to appear exactly as they do in the default answer file created by RIS.

Open the Active Directory Users and Computers console.
In the applicable domain and OU, right-click the server hosting RIS, choose Properties from the shortcut menu, and then click the Remote Install tab.
Click Advanced Settings, and then click the Images tab.
Click Add to start the Add Wizard.
In the first screen of the wizard, select Associate A New Answer File To An Existing Image and then click Next.
Choose whether you want to use a sample answer file provided by Windows, an answer file from another RIS server, or an answer file you created already in another location. Click Next.
RIS provides two answer files that you can use on any CD-based operating system installation: the default answer file that performs an automated installation into a single disk partition after repartitioning and formatting the partition, and another answer file that installs Windows without repartitioning or reformatting the hard drive.
If you chose to use an answer file from another server or location, specify the server or location, and then click Next.
Select the operating system image to which you want to apply the answer file (Figure 25-25), and then click Next.

Figure 25-25. The Select An Installation Image screen of the Add Wizard.
If you chose to use a sample answer file, select the answer file you want to use, and then click Next.
If you chose to provide an answer file, locate the answer file and then click Next.
Enter a user-friendly name for the operating system image in the Friendly Description box of the next screen. This is what users will see as an operating system choice when they boot their system from the network.
Enter a more detailed description of the operating system image in the Help Text box. Click Next, review the settings you chose, and click Finish.

You need to create or modify an answer file if you want to automate the part of Setup that prompts for the registered user, company, and CD key.

Setting Permissions for Images To control which users and groups can install an operating system image using RIS, use the following procedure to modify the security settings for the answer file associated with each operating system image:

Open the Active Directory Users and Computers console.
In the applicable domain and OU, right-click the server hosting RIS, choose Properties from the shortcut menu, and then click the Remote Install tab.
Click Advanced Settings, and then click the Images tab.
Select an operating system image from the list and then click Properties.
Click Permissions and then click the Security tab.
Specify which groups are allowed to access the specified operating system image, and to which groups, if any, you want to explicitly deny access. Click OK when you're done.

Changing Image Properties To rename operating system images, change their descriptions, or remove operating system images from a RIS server, use the following procedure:

Open the Active Directory Users and Computers console.
In the applicable domain and OU, right-click the server hosting RIS, choose Properties from the shortcut menu, and then click the Remote Install tab.
Click Advanced Settings, and then click the Images tab (shown previously in Figure 25-25).
To view or change the friendly description and help text associated with an image, select the image and click Properties. You can also see whether the image is CD-based (flat) or RIPrep-based here.
To remove an unattended answer file associated with an operating system image, select the image you want to remove and click Remove (make a copy of the answer file first if you don't want to lose it).

When you remove an operating system from the list, RIS deletes the answer file for the image but leaves the actual installation files intact. To actually delete the installation files, open Windows Explorer and delete the physical folder containing the operating system image.

Replicating Operating System Images Using Dfs

If all client computers that use RIS to install an operating system are to contain the same settings, all RIS servers need to be configured in exactly the same way. Unfortunately, Windows doesn't directly support replication of operating system images or RIS configuration settings between RIS servers. However, you can use Windows Distributed File System (Dfs) feature to replicate images stored on the hard drive to other Dfs servers.

To replicate RIS images using Dfs, you need to do the following:

Launch the Distributed File System MMC snap-in from the Administrative Tools folder.
If the domain Dfs root that you want to host your RIS operating system images in isn't already open, from the Action menu, choose Show Root (to create a new root, see Chapter 17).
From the Action menu, choose New Link to create a link to the master RIS server's operating system images.
In the Link Name box, enter the share name you want to use for the new link (which appears to users as a subfolder of the Dfs root file share), as shown in Figure 25-26.

Figure 25-26. Creating a new Dfs link.
In the Send The User To This Shared Folder box, enter the UNC path to the master RIS server's RemInst share, or click Browse to locate it.
Enter a description of the link and then click OK.
Select the newly created link from the console tree and then choose the Action menu's New Replica command.
In the Send The User To This Shared Folder box, enter the UNC path of the RemInst share on another RIS server whose operating system images you want to keep synchronized with the master RIS server, as shown in Figure 25-27.

Figure 25-27. Creating a new target.
Select the Automatic Replication option and then click OK.

Dfs only replicates changes to operating system images; you'll still need to add each image to all the RIS servers and configure their settings similarly for the operating system images to work properly.

Adding RIS Tools

RIS allows independent software vendors (ISVs) and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to add tools that are available after booting from the network. Because client systems might have blank hard disks before Windows is installed using RIS, the maintenance and troubleshooting tools provided by some ISVs and OEMs can be extremely useful. These tools can also provide administrators with a handy way to update such things as the client's system BIOS.

RIS doesn't ship with any tools installed, and there is no built-in mechanism for adding tools; instead, you must use the external setup program supplied with the tools to install them. You can then use the Tools tab of the Remote Installation Services dialog box (discussed earlier in this chapter) to view the properties for the tools or remove the tools' associated template files (files with the extension .SIF), making the tools unavailable to clients.

Using Remote Installation Preparation

The Remote Installation Preparation (RIPrep) Wizard allows you to create a Windows installation complete with applications and settings, image it, and then deploy it using RIS.

This technique is very similar to using the System Preparation (SysPrep) tool in combination with a third-party disk-imaging program. However, using RIPrep has a couple of advantages. First, the hardware on the client systems can be completely different from that on the reference system, as RIS uses the Plug and Play functionality of Windows to perform a complete device scan (however, the systems must use the same Hardware Abstraction Layer, typically Advanced Configuration and Power Management [ACPI] PC). SysPrep performs only a partial device scan and requires systems to have identical mass storage controllers. (See Chapter 5 for more information on SysPrep.)

Second, there is no need to copy the system image to the client's hard disk, because all information is pulled from the RIS server after performing a network boot. In addition, the installation process can be automated to such a degree as to obviate the need for trained supervision of the installation—even untrained users will have no trouble starting a RIS installation.

The operating system and all applications and files must be installed in a single boot partition on the C drive of the reference computer for RIPrep to function properly.

To create an operating system image using RIPrep, follow these steps:

Install Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Professional on the reference system. Make sure that during the installation process you create a single disk partition and make it only big enough to accommodate the operating system and any applications you will install. During client setup, RIS uses the size of the reference system's C partition to determine the required disk space for the Windows installation.
Install any applications that don't use Windows Installer.
If you want to install Windows Installer applications, install them using the Software Installation and Maintenance feature of IntelliMirror, as described earlier in this chapter. This permits you to manage these applications through Group Policy after the RIS setup process installs Windows on client systems (make sure that the same GPOs are applied to both the reference computer and the computers that eventually install Windows using the RIS image, or else the software you install might be immediately uninstalled).
You should install applications from a permanently accessible location so that if an application needs to use the setup files again, it can do so without prompting the user for a CD-ROM. Usually this is done by installing applications from a network share containing the application's setup files.
Configure the system the way you want to deploy it—for example, by changing the color scheme or desktop settings. To save the profile settings, copy the profile you used to change the system's settings into the All Users profile (see the sidebar entitled "Remote Installation Cautions" later in this chapter for more information).
Close all applications and stop all services running on the system.
Run Riprep.exe from the RIS server's RemoteInstall\Admin\i386 folder. Click Next in the first screen of the Remote Installation Preparation Wizard.
Enter the name of the RIS server on which you want to store the image, and then click Next.
Enter a name for the folder that will store this operating system image, and then click Next.
Enter a user-friendly name for the operating system image in the Friendly Description box of the next screen (Figure 25-28). This is the name users will see listed as an operating system choice when they boot their system from the network.

Figure 25-28. Specifying a friendly description and help text for an installation image.
Enter a more detailed description of the operating system image in the Help Text box. This provides information to help users decide which operating system image to install. Click Next.
In the last screen, review the settings you chose and then click Next.
Review the information presented after the image is created, and click Next to copy the image to the RIS server. When this process is complete, the system shuts down. On reboot, a mini-setup program runs, preparing the system to create another RIPrep image, if desired.

Real World

Remote Installation Cautions

Make sure that the BIOS on both the reference system and the RIS clients has up-to-date Advanced Configuration Power Interface (ACPI) support. RIPrep doesn't support mixing systems with different HALs (ACPI, Standard PC, uniprocessor, and multiprocessor). You can't include encrypted files in a RIPrep image.

Additionally, certain desktop shortcuts might not work properly on RIS clients made from RIPrep images. For example, the Microsoft Outlook 2000 desktop shortcut does not work after a RIPrep RIS installation unless you disable 8.3 name creation on the reference computer before running RIPrep. To do this, change the \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystems \NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation registry key from 0 to 1. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q250642.

You should also test the user profiles of the source computer before running RIPrep. To do this, after configuring all settings, log on as a different user and verify that the settings are applied. If the settings aren't properly applied, copy the Administrator profile (or whatever account you used when configuring the computer) to the All Users profile. To do so, log on with the account you used to set up the computer, open Control Panel, double-click the System tool (you might have to click the Performance And Maintenance link first), click the Advanced tab, click Settings in the User Profiles section, select your current account, and click Copy To. In the Copy To dialog box, enter the path of the All Users profile and then click Change. Select the Everyone group in the next dialog box and then click OK. If this procedure doesn't work, you can also manually copy the contents of your profile folder into the \All Users profile folder.

Performing User Installations

After you've installed and configured the RIS servers, you're ready to start deploying systems. Although this is in many cases an easy end-user job, you might need to do a little preparation beforehand, and you must ensure that client systems meet certain prerequisites. This section describes these preparations and, finally, walks you through a sample OS installation, just so you know what to expect.

Prerequisites for Client Systems

A system that is to be used as a RIS client needs to meet the minimum system requirements for the version of Windows you will be installing and in addition must have a network card that either supports PXE remote booting or is supported by the remote boot disk.

When installing clients from a RIPrep image, the hard disk is formatted by default into one large partition on the first disk. If you prefer, you can have it create a partition on the first disk that is exactly the same size as the image partition and leave the rest of the disk unpartitioned. To do this, set the UseWholeDisk key in the Riprep.sif file from Yes to No. This file is located in the \\RISServerName\RemoteInstall\Setup\clientlanguage\Images\imagename \i386\Templates folder.

Preparing for a Remote Installation

If the RIS client computer doesn't have a PXE-compliant network card, you must create a remote boot disk before using RIS. You can also choose to prestage the system by creating a computer account for the system in Active Directory before the installation, allowing the installation to proceed almost completely automatically, if desired. (Someone will still have to press F12 to boot the computer from the network, log on, and choose the operating system, but that doesn't count.)

Prestaging a Client

You can prestage clients that you plan to set up using RIS by creating managed computer accounts for them in Active Directory. These computer accounts are associated with the client systems' globally unique identifiers (GUIDs), which are unique to every network card, and thus are not prone to theft by rogue clients. Prestaging clients further streamlines the installation process and increases security by eliminating the need for a user to create the computer account for the system using the Client Setup Wizard.

To prestage a client, follow these steps:

Open the Active Directory Users and Computers console. (You can find this in the Administrative Tools folder or by choosing the Run command from the Start menu and then typing dsa.msc and clicking OK.)
Open the domain or OU in which you want to create the new computer account.
Right-click the container you want to use to store the computer account, choose New from the shortcut menu, and then choose Computer from the submenu.
In the New Object - Computer dialog box (Figure 25-29), enter the name you want to assign to the computer in the Computer Name box.

Figure 25-29. Assigning a name to a new computer.
Change the computer name used for clients using earlier versions of Windows, if necessary, in the Computer Name (Pre-Windows 2000) box, and then click Next.
Select the This Is A Managed Computer check box, and then enter the GUID for the computer in the Computer's Unique ID box, as shown in Figure 25-30. Click Next.

Figure 25-30. Entering a GUID for a new computer.
In the next screen, choose whether you want the client to be serviced by the first RIS server to respond to the client request, or a specific server, as shown in Figure 25-31. Click Next.

Figure 25-31. Specifying a RIS server for the client.
Review settings and then click Finish to create the computer account.

Real World

Working with GUIDs

RIS uses a computer's GUID to keep track of client computers. The GUID comes from the PXE ROM on PXE-enabled network cards or from the network card's MAC address when you boot with the Remote Boot Disk. (In this case it is the MAC address with 24 zeros appended to the beginning of the address.) The computer manufacturer often writes the GUID on a sticker located on or inside the computer's case. It can also be located inside the system BIOS.

If you have trouble finding the GUID, there are a few ways you can locate it. The first way is using a network sniffer such as Network Monitor while the client performs a network boot. (RIS clients send their GUID when looking for a RIS server.) A much easier way to deal with this dilemma is to set up a RIS server configured to answer all RIS client requests on a private subnet. (see the section entitled Enabling or Disabling RIS earlier in this chapter.) Then connect any clients you want to prestage and have them perform a network boot, log on, and select an OS image. Just before the client performs the Windows installation, a summary screen is shown that displays the GUID, among other things. At this point the client is prestaged in Active Directory (as long as the RIS server you used is part of the Active Directory). You should write down the GUID for future reference.

Creating a Remote Boot Disk

If the client you are configuring doesn't have a NIC that is PXE remote-boot compatible, you need to create a remote boot disk to use RIS to install Windows on the system. To do so, follow these steps:

Place a blank, 1.44-MB floppy disk in the computer's floppy drive.
Connect to the RIS server and launch Rbfg.exe from the server's \RemoteInstall\Admin\i386 folder.
In the Microsoft Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator dialog box, select the floppy drive you will use, as shown in Figure 25-32.

Figure 25-32. The Microsoft Windows Remote Boot Disk Generator dialog box.
To view a list of network cards supported by the remote boot disk, click Adapter List.
Click Create Disk to create the disk.

Performing a Remote Operating System Installation

The actual process of installing an operating system remotely is fairly easy, and you might choose to have users do it themselves. We'll walk you through the procedure here, just to cover all bases. To perform a remote OS installation, go to the client system and follow these steps:

If you're using a boot disk, place it in the floppy drive.
Turn on or restart the computer, and press F12 when prompted to boot from the network (if you don't get this prompt, you might have to go into the BIOS and change the boot order to boot to either the network or the floppy drive).
Press Enter in the first screen to begin the Client Installation Wizard.
Enter a valid user name for the domain you're logging on to in the first box, and then press Tab. If the computer isn't prestaged, make sure that the user account has sufficient privileges to create a new computer account.
Enter the password for the account and then press Tab.
Enter the DNS name of the domain and then press Enter.
Choose either Setup, Custom Setup, Restart A Previous Setup Attempt, or Maintenance And Troubleshooting Tools, and then press Enter. (Some or all of these options might not be available depending on the Group Policy settings, as described in the tip following this list.)
If you choose to perform a custom setup, enter the computer name and directory service path you want to use for the computer account, and then press Enter.
In the next screen, choose the image you want to use and then press Enter.
Verify that the settings are correct and then press Enter. Windows is then automatically installed on the client system (however, if you don't specify a registered user, company information, and CD key using an answer file, the user has to enter this information during setup).

You can control whether or not clients can perform automated installations or custom setups, gain access to RIS tools, or restart setup in case of a problem by using User Configuration-Windows Settings-Remote Installation Services-Choice Options in Group Policy, as described earlier in this chapter.