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Home > Archive > 70-210 > May 2002 > Answer file problem
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Answer file problem
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| Hi all,
Going through me books slowly but sureley, one thing that I just CANT get right is unnatended installs, I follow the wizard through to create a new answer file, allow it to copy everything from the cd onto the server, and all looks as it ought to do, I then boot from a network boot disk on the remote pc, map a drive to the shared distribution folder, run winnt and all goes through, BUT it doesnt automate the install correctly, it seems to go throught the text based part ok, but during the gui part, it asks me all the normal questions, including the cd key which I put in the answer file after the wizard had made it, can anyone offer any pointers as to what I might be doing wrong? I've read it in my books but as far as I can tell I'm doing it right. | |
| jombeewoof 2002-04-21, 9:53 pm |
| in the answer file the cd-key should have a - every 5 characters that will fix that problem
as for the rest of the problem post the answerfile in here and let us see if we can't figure it out | |
| salv236 2002-04-22, 6:43 am |
| this varies on your current OS you can only upgrade to window 2000 server from windows NT server 3.51 and 4.0. insert your windows 2000 server cd and search for unattend.doc.
good luck with your studies im currently doing 70-215 from my MS-press and sybex books | |
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| add this to your answer file
[Productid]
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
and make sure that you point to the answer file correctly when specifying the
/s<sourcepath> switch | |
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| sorry correction about specifying the answer file with the /s option...
specify the answer file with /u:answer_file option and don't forget to specify the path to the answer file... | |
| Johnny5Alive 2002-04-22, 4:02 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by lenee
add this to your answer file
[Productid]
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
 Should be :
[userdata]
productid=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx | |
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| quote:
Originally posted by Johnny5Alive
Should be :
[userdata]
productid=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
agreed. Actually, the syntac is ProductID... | |
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| I agree i'm wrong(i checked it out at http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/bo...pchap/3870a.asp)...but just for the note.I did a Remote Install last week when setting up the training centre(12 machines) at my company. I had specified the productid (remboot.sif)exactly like how i had mentioned and to my surprise i never had to come back to any of the machines until it said "setup has completed".Hmm..i wonder whether it works either ways. I'm going to try a unattended tomorrow or day after(experiment) specifying like how i had mentioned and see whether it will work.I'll let ya all know. | |
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| Hi all,
Thanks a lot for all the replies, unfotunately due to other commitments I have been unable to reply, howver, I still have the same problem 
all goes well until the gui part of the installation, I get asked to accept the license agreement, then it goes on to detect hardware etc, and then I still get asked for the product key, I ran the setup from a batch file, which is pasted below, as is my answer file.
SERVER is the name of my server, CALVS is the name of my mini domain, and test2k is the name of the pc that will hopefully recive the unnatended install. The unattend.bat is a the one created by setupmgr but modified a little.
unattend.bat:
set AnswerFile=.\unattend.txt
set SetupFiles=\\SERVER\win2kd
winnt /s:%SetupFiles% /unattend:%AnswerFile%
unattend.txt:
;SetupMgrTag
[Data]
AutoPartition=1
MsDosInitiated="0"
UnattendedInstall="Yes"
[Unattended]
UnattendMode=FullUnattended
OemSkipEula=Yes
OemPreinstall=Yes
TargetPath=\WINNT
[GuiUnattended]
AdminPassword=pass
AutoLogon=Yes
AutoLogonCount=1
OEMSkipRegional=1
TimeZone=85
OemSkipWelcome=1
[UserData]
ProductId=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx \\xx'd out for posting here
FullName=testpc1
OrgName=course
ComputerName=testpc1
[TapiLocation]
CountryCode=44
Dialing=Tone
AreaCode=xxxxx \\changed to post here
[RegionalSettings]
LanguageGroup=1
Language=00000809
[SetupMgr]
DistFolder=C:\win2kd
DistShare=win2kd
[FavoritesEx]
Title1="test.url"
URL1="www.test.com"
[Branding]
BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes
[URL]
Home_Page=www.calvsplace.cwc.net
Search_Page=www.google.com
[Proxy]
Proxy_Enable=0
Use_Same_Proxy=1
[GuiRunOnce]
Command0="rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /in /n \\server\epson"
[Identification]
JoinDomain=calvs
DomainAdmin=administrator
DomainAdminPassword=xxxxx \\changed to post here
[Networking]
InstallDefaultComponents=Yes | |
| salv236 2002-05-08, 4:45 pm |
| have you followed the book step by step?
what books are you using for your studies? (MS_Press, New Rider, Sybex e.t.c.)
have you checked the 2k server CD whether you meet the hardware comatability list.(There should be a file on the CD called HCL.txt)
from what i can gather i ddi an unattend install but i did it from a 9x platform to 2k server and from research it does not support that kind of upgrade. You can only upgrade to 2k server if u have windos NT server 3.51 or 4 otherwise you will need to do a lean installation.
you cannot upgrade from DOS, windows 9x 2k pro or NT workstation. | |
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| Thanks for the reply, but:
oh dear, now you totally confused me!
the pc that im trying to do the install on is my "main" pc, I have removable hard drive bays and I put in a formatted 2 gig drive, booted from a network boot disk, mapped the drive to my server with the previously created distribution folder, and ran winnt from the batch file I posted above. The pc, as my main pc runs 2k pro happily in its day to day life so I cant see that theres any compatibility issues, I didnt check the hcl, I've had 2k on my systems for as long as I can remember and have never come across a compatibility problem (I dont buy cheapo pc components)
The install im doing (or attempting) is not out of the book, its me trying to put what I've read in the books, into a real situation, I ran setupmgr and took it from there. You mention in your reply about upgrading, in my case, there is no upgrade, just an empty drive, and for some strange reason (probably not strange at all once I know the reason!!) every time it insists on automating only the first stages of the install, I just cant see where the problem is. I should think I know most of whats needed for the exams, but I'd rather KNOW it and be able to DO it rather than just be able to answer theoretical questions, if you see what I mean. | |
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| I just read setuplog and it seems it cant find my unnatend files- which is of course what the problem is, rather than a problem with my unattend files.
20:31:52.637 cmdline.c @ 205 SETUP: SpSetupLoadParameter was unable to find unattendmode.
20:31:52.637 cmdline.c @ 205 SETUP: SpSetupLoadParameter was unable to find EulaComplete.
20:31:52.637 cmdline.c @ 205 SETUP: SpSetupLoadParameter was unable to find uniqueness.
20:31:52.637 cmdline.c @ 205 SETUP: SpSetupLoadParameter was unable to find driversigningpolicy.
20:31:52.637 cmdline.c @ 205 SETUP: SpSetupLoadParameter was unable to find nondriversigningpolicy.
Has anyone any suggestions at all as to what Im doing wrong? I've read and re-read and still cant seem to figure out whay it doesnt work. | |
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| Can no one offer a pointer? | |
| secondskin 2002-05-17, 12:23 pm |
| Where is the unnatend placed, on the share on the server ? | |
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| Hi,
Its an install on a clean drive, it DOES go on, just I have to fill in all the details once I get to the gui part of the install, the text based part goes fine. | |
| secondskin 2002-05-17, 2:31 pm |
| Have you tried doing a cdrom install with an unnatend file. | |
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| ok, heres what I just tried:
put the aforementioned unattend.txt file on a floppy.
booted from the 2k boot disks
ran the following line:
winnt /s:. /unattend:a:\unattend.txt
and the same happened,
EDIT: changed the line to winnt /s:. /u:a:\unattend.txt
it worked fine!, but why not over the lan?
Also how do you do it booting from cd? since it starts the install aytomatically? | |
| denis_baribeau 2002-05-18, 11:18 am |
| winnt /s:. /unattend:a:\unattend.txt
shouldn't be .\unattended.txt just a guess | |
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| Thanks, I must have been editing as you replied 
funny how the wizard turned out that line though, anyway, best way to learn I suppose, is go over it 1000's of times till it works, annoying though how its 3/4 of the way through the install till you know if its right! | |
| secondskin 2002-05-18, 12:08 pm |
| To do from a cd rom instal using unnatend do the following.
1: Rename the unattend.txt to unattend.sif.
Place this and only file on floppy. No other files should be on there.
2: In your boot up sequance in your bios, it must be set to
CDROM, A:, C:
After the cdrom boots it always checks the A: drive for any unnatend files. Make sure you have it in this order.
You can leave the floppy in throughout the entire install.
Hope this helps | |
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| Thanks, I'll try it tomorrow!, I didnt realise that setup, erm I mean winnt checked the floppy automatically. |
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