Chapter 5 - Getting Started

Chapter 5

The first four chapters of the book have dealt with fairly abstract planning. In this chapter, we get down to the matter of actually installing the operating system. There are five ways to install Microsoft Windows:

• Manual installation from a CD-ROM or network share
• Unattended installation using an answer file in conjunction with a CD-ROM or network share
• Using SysPrep and a third-party disk imaging program to make an "image" of a Windows installation, which can then rapidly be deployed by CD or network share
• Automated installation by booting from the network and installing from a Remote Installation Services (RIS) server
• Centrally managed operating system upgrade using either Group Policy's Software Installation and Maintenance feature (IntelliMirror), or using Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS)

The first three methods are covered in this chapter; using RIS servers and performing upgrades using Group Policy are discussed in Chapter 25 (consult Microsoft's Web site for information on using SMS to upgrade Windows).