Automating Windows 2000 Setup
In these days of the mega-merger it is not unusual to come across a
company with more than 20,000 computer users scattered across
geographically disparate areas. There are also large numbers of
small-to-medium-sized corporations with a computing base ranging
from a couple of hundred users to thousands of users. All these
companies have one thing in common (other than a user base
demanding lightning-fast service)—the requirement to deploy operating
systems quickly and efficiently with maximum control.
The deployment of an operating system within a business can
prove to be a complicated and repetitive task. Manual installation of
even the most user-friendly operating system requires a substantial
investment in time and resources. Each time an operating system is
installed it requires general configuration and installation information.
Such information can range from the preferred display resolution
to the domain of a workstation. The process of collating the
installation information and feeding it to the operating system so
that it no longer requires human interaction during the installation
process is called automating setup.
The information required during the setup of Windows 2000
Professional can be quite varied and includes:
 Acceptance of the end-user license agreement (EULA)
 Username and organization Time zone
 Computer name
 Administrator password
 Display settings
 Network settings
 Regional settings
 Browser and shell settings
 Installation folder
 Printer setup
Often the operating system settings are the same along lines of
business, functional groups, or even throughout the enterprise.
Installing a thousand similar configurations of Windows 2000
Professional is no one’s idea of fun nor a constructive use of
resources. Setup automation is undertaken by organizations that
need to eliminate dead time (like repetitive operating system installation)
or deploy a number of workstations within a particular time
frame. The ability to rapidly deploy operating systems is considered
to be of essential importance to the modern IT department. Today’s
operating systems are complex and sometimes difficult to understand,
so it comes as no surprise to learn that the deployment
process at times requires special skills and understanding. A certain
level of preparation is also required before the automation of setup
can take place. A knowledge of the business, project requirements
and constraints, target workstations, network environment, and
other technical considerations are just a few of the factors that will
affect how Windows 2000 Professional is deployed.
Two deployment techniques often used in Microsoft environments
to automate the setup process are automated installation
scripts and disk imaging. Automated installation scripts use answer
files that can be submitted to the setup program in the form of a
clear text file that is relatively easy to manipulate and understand.
The answer file contains information on how to automatically
answer the configuration questions asked during setup. Disk