CD Installation

Installing Server 2003 from a CD

The Setup program of Server 2003 contained in the CD works really well and does not require a great deal of expertise to manage. Like its Windows counterparts, the Setup process involves a hardware check and a disk space check. If all goes well, the rest is a mixture of screen-staring (while the files are being copied), answering questions about the computer, accepting values or modifying settings. It can easily take up to an hour, depending on the number of features selected and the speed of the hardware.

When the Setup program starts running, it detects your existing version of Windows and decides which program to use for the installation. If your computer runs NT or later, then a program called winnt32.exe is used. If your computer runs Windows 9x or previous, Setup uses winnt.exe.

Microsoft has ensured a complete transparent installation for non-experts in the software. Congratulations, you can install the software successfully without knowing anything about what you have done. Beware, by simply accepting the default values presented on each screen, features of your system may be compromised.

To exercise more control over the entire installation process, you need to be aware of the choices you have. The listing below describes the different switches or options that can be used for launching the winnt32 installation program. See also details of the automation and cloning tools supplied in the CD.

Winnt32 options

Winnt32 can be run from the Run command-line prompt followed by any of the following options:

/checkupgradeonly	Checks whether an upgrade is possible. Does not install the sofware.
/cmd:command	Launch other programs or perform additional customisations before setup completes.
/cmdcons	Add the Recovery Console item to the boot.ini file.
/copydir:folder	Copies specified folders to the installation directory during setup.
/copysource:folder	Copies directories and deletes itself afterwards.
/debug[level]:[filename]	Level 0 offers basic debuging information. Use Level 4 for complete details.
/dudisable	Skips the dynamic update.
/duprepare:path	Path containing the CAB files with updates. Requires the use of the dushare option.
/dushare:path	Path to share created by dupprepare.
/m:folder	Look in the specified folder first to start copying files.
/makelocalsource	Copies the entire source to the hard drive.
/noreboot	Will bypass the screen at the end of the first setup wizard.
/s:sourcepath	To specify multiple source paths (CD-ROM, network, floppy…) Each specified path must be available or Setup will fail.
/syspart:drive	Will start setup to the specified drive and mark it as active. The drive can then be installed in a different computer. Requires the /tempdrive parameter.
/tempdrive:drive	Specifies where setup stores the temporary files.
/unattend	Automated, no-input-required upgrade of previous operating system.
/unattend:[num]:answer_file	As before but contains a text file with all the answers relating to the complete setup.
/udf:id[,udf_file]	Answers to questions that are unique to each computer.

Case Scenario: Want to install Server 2003 from the installation CD in drive F. We know the network card will not work with the drivers in the CD so it is important that we have access to these files during the setup. If the drivers were available from another computer in the network, we could issue the following command at the Run prompt.

F:\i386\winnt32 /copysource:n:\nic\oem /makelocalsource.

This command will tell the computer to make a local copy of the directory where the network card drivers are stored and delete it once the installation has completed.