How to Perform an Unattended Install of Windows XP

Unattended Install of Windows XP Guillermo Musumeci













How to Perform an Unattended
Install of Windows XP


















Guillermo Musumeci

v1.0 - June 2007



 
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Unattended Install of Windows XP Guillermo Musumeci
Contents
 
1) How to perform an unattended install of Windows XP .................................................... 3
2) Create a Basic Unattended CD Step by Step ................................................................. 4
3) Create an Advanced Unattended CD Step by Step ....................................................... 17
3.1) OEM Distribution Folders ................................................................................... 17
3.2) Add drivers to unattended setup ......................................................................... 17
3.3) The WINNT.SIF file for advanced unattended CD ................................................... 18
3.4) Install applications using the unattended setup ..................................................... 22
3.5) Remove folders to save CD space ....................................................................... 23
4) Tools .................................................................................................................... 25
5) Recommended Links - Reference .............................................................................. 26
6) WINNT.SIF Extra Switches ....................................................................................... 27

 
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Unattended Install of Windows XP Guillermo Musumeci
1) How to perform an unattended install of Windows XP

By automating installation and post-installation tasks, you can:

• Reduce the number of errors caused by technicians, administrators, and end users during
your deployment.
• Ensure consistency throughout your organization, which reduces support costs after
deployment.
• Increase productivity by requiring little or no end-user interaction during your deployment.
• Update or modify your installation process without having to educate or retrain end users,
technicians, or administrators.

To automate installation and post-installation tasks, you need to create and configure an
answer file. In addition, you need to choose which command line parameters to use when you
start the Setup program. The answer file for unattended installations of Windows XP
Professional is usually named Unattend.txt, but you can name it anything you want.

However, if you start a destination computer from an operating system CD and the answer file
is on a floppy disk, you must name the answer file Winnt.sif. Setup will then detect the
answer file on the disk without user input.

The answer file supplies Setup with answers to all the questions that you are asked during a
standard, interactive installation. The answer file also contains information about your
installation and configuration requirements. In addition, an answer file tells Setup how to
interact with the distribution shares and files that you have created (or the installation files on
the operating system CD, if that is what you are using to install the product).

An answer file contains multiple sections — some mandatory and some optional — that you
can modify. Section names are delineated by brackets (for example, [Unattended]). Every
section has one or more entries that contain installation and configuration information. For
more information about answer file sections and entries, see "Unattend.txt" in the "Reference"
section of the Microsoft Windows Corporate Deployment Tools User’s Guide (Deploy.chm).
Deploy.chm is included in the Deploy.cab file in the Support folder on the Windows XP
operating system CD.























 
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Unattended Install of Windows XP Guillermo Musumeci
2) Create a Basic Unattended CD Step by Step

1. Copy the file deploy.cab from the Support folder on the Windows XP operating system
CD. Extract to content of this file. Run the setupmgr.exe file.





 
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Unattended Install of Windows XP Guillermo Musumeci


Select Unattended Setup and then Next



Select Windows XP Professional and then Next


 
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Unattended Install of Windows XP Guillermo Musumeci


Select Full Automated and then Next



Select Set up from a CD and then Next


 
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Unattended Install of Windows XP Guillermo Musumeci



Check I accept the terms of the License Agreement and then Next



Enter your Name and your Organization and then Next
 
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Unattended Install of Windows XP Guillermo Musumeci


Enter the display configuration (Colors, Screen area and Refresh frequency) or leave the
Use Windows Default option and then Next (This step is optional).



Enter your Time Zone then Next (This step is optional).


 
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Unattended Install of Windows XP Guillermo Musumeci

Enter a valid Product Key then Next.



Enter a List of Computers Name or check the Automatically generate computer names
based on the organization name specified on the Name and Organization page then
Next.

 
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Unattended Install of Windows XP Guillermo Musumeci


Enter a password in the Password and Confirm Password fields or leave blank if you want.
You have the choice to encrypt the password using the check the Encrypt the Administrator
password in the answer file option. Finally you can force the computer to logon n times
when it starts using the check When a destination computer starts, automatically log on
as Administrator. If you choose to leave the password blank, you can set the Number of
times to log on automatically only to 1 and. Then click Next.



Leave the Typical settings option and then Next
 
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