TheTechGuide Forum

General Category => Tech Clinic => Topic started by: Mark on September 04, 2002, 03:54:34 AM

Title: Automatic partition creation in unattended setup ?
Post by: Mark on September 04, 2002, 03:54:34 AM

I am stumped !

I had to give up with the CD + WINNT.SIF unattended install of our W2K server as it seems that \"It doesnt always work\" as the Microsoft consultant so helpfully put it.

So I have moved on to trying to install from a network share. No problem with booting and connecting to the network share. Also created a ramdisk to copy the setup files to as the hard disk in the server is completely unformatted/partitioned but as soon as the files are copied the server reboots the ramdisk is lost and obviously the install fails.

So just how do I get the install process to create a suitable partition for setup ?

Is the reboot after the setup file copy process absolutely necessary or can it be overidden so that the install progresses ?

Or do I have to use some crafty partition creation tools before the unattended setup begins to run ?

Any tips on installing W2K server on a brand new machine with no partitions using a network share for the source files would be most appreciated :-)

Cheers,

Mark

Title: Automatic partition creation in unattended setup ?
Post by: Fjellu on September 04, 2002, 01:10:12 PM

CD + Winnt.sif should work as a charm. Have you tried slipstreaming SP3 into bootable CD. The service packs also adresses problems with the system installation process.

To create a partition of your choice automatically? I don\'t think it can be done without user intervention.

If you want a single NTFS partiton of your first hard drive, try this:

[Data]
    AutoPartition=\"1\"
    MsDosInitiated=\"0\"
    UnattendedInstall=\"Yes\"

[Unattended]
    UnattendMode=FullUnattended
    OemSkipEula=Yes
    OemPreinstall=Yes
    TargetPath=WINNT
    OEMPnPDriversPath=\"xxxxxxx\"
    DriverSigningPolicy=ignore
    FileSystem=ConvertNTFS
    ExtendOemPartition=0
    Repartition=yes