unattend nightmare!!!

Please read this step-by-step article on doing Unattended Installations:
http://www.microsoft.com/WINDOWS2000/techinfo/reskit/en/ProRK/prbc_cai_gumy.htm
(please remove any spaces)

hope this helps

The easiest way to create an unattended installation of Windows 2000 is initiated by booting from the Windows 2000 CD-ROM and using a WINNT.SIF file on a floppy as the answer file.

Create a Winnt.sif file on a floppy:

Go to the support folderand extract the files from the deploy.cab. Rrun setupmanager to create an unattend installation file (it will create an unattend.txt with all the answers that you have provided). Rename the unattend.txt to winnt.sif

You can add your product key tothe unattend.txt file manually. Open the file in Notepad and add the following line under the [UserData] section:

ProductID="XXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX" (use your real product key)

Then, just copy winnt.sif to a floppy, put your Windows 2K CD-ROMin the CD drive, and reboot. When the CD auto-boots, it will look for the file in A: automatically, and use it to answer the Setup questions.

The layout and the parameters of this answer file are described in:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/win2000/win2ksrv/technote/unattend.asp

There is also a MS-Word document Microsoft Windows 2000 Guide to Unattended Setup (Unattend.doc) on the W2k Server CD in \SUPPORT\TOOLS\DEPLOY.CAB

For extensive details take a look here:

http://www.wilsonmar.com/1w2kins.htm

(I know you didn't want a URL, but there is WAAAAAY too many details there to put in this answer).

Also, if you give us some ideas about the specific setup problems you are having, we may be able to help iron them out.Good Luck!

OK! i got to the point of creating a unattend file but also a batch file was created along with this (unattend)also! would i be wright in saying that only the unattend.txt file after renaming to unattend.sif is the only file i copy to A: ?

Also can unattend installation be done with O/S already loaded on machine and configure to wipe drive and reformat to an NTFS partition of complete drive space before setup of ne install?

i have created a unattend answer file and renamed it to winnt.sif shutdown the machine with win2k in the drive,reboot and as soon as i get the prompt to (press any key t boot from cd, i did that and straight away i inserted the floppy with the answer file,
started install from cd,i had to accept the lic agreement, and then go through the setup as a normal installation! (answer all questions manually)

here is the answer file i created below i know its minimum req but i think if i can sort out a simple unattend the i can add more parameters to eventually boot up, format macine with NTFS and reinstall complete O/S fully UNATTENDED
.;SetupMgrTag
[Data]
AutoPartition=1
MsDosInitiated="0"
UnattendedInstall="Yes"

[Unattended]
UnattendMode=FullUnattended
OemSkipEula=Yes
OemPreinstall=No
TargetPath=\WINNT

[GuiUnattended]
AdminPassword=**************
AutoLogon=Yes
AutoLogonCount=1
OEMSkipRegional=1
TimeZone=85
OemSkipWelcome=1

[UserData]
FullName="************************"
OrgName="*******************************"
ComputerName=laptop

[TapiLocation]
CountryCode=44
Dialing=Tone
AreaCode=0141

[RegionalSettings]
LanguageGroup=1
SystemLocale=00000809
UserLocale=00000809
InputLocale=0409:00000409

[Identification]
JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP

[Networking]
InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[Branding]
BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes

[URL] Home_Page=https://www.techrepublic.com

[Proxy]
Proxy_Enable=0
Use_Same_Proxy=0

PLEASE HELP ME OFFLOAD THESE POINTS THEY ARE KILLING ME!

Point value changed by question poster.

To use the Unattended install you don't actually need to boot to the W2k CD.
Instead boot the machine using a Win98 boot disk with CD Rom support and then enter the syntax
D:\i386\winnt(32) /s:d:\i386 /unattend:a:\unattend.txt

Add 32 to winntif you are upgrading an OS or leave as just winnt if it is a formatted hdd.

Hope that this helps!!

well, if you have the winnt.sif on a floppy, then it shouldn't be a problem, as long as you can boot from the windows 2000 CD, and the computer isn't set to boot from the floppy. As the files are being read from the CD, it will access the floppy and read the winnt.sif.

The only catch is if you're upgrading or performing a clean install. That's the way I've been doing it at home for about a year now.

As for your winnt.sif file, if it still looks the same as you pointed out earlier, itlooks correct. Don't forget to input the CD-Key and you should be golden.

Anyways, best of luck with your quest.

This question was closed by the author