Today I was updating our Windows XP scripted install. I was making sure that the updates that came out from Microsoft were integrated in. I also had to make a few updates to make sure that my programs installed correctly after Windows was done installing. Everything went according to plan. I was able to update our scripted install in no time.
In this series of articles we have covered a lot. Creating a scripted install of Windows XP is not something any normal person would do for fun, but it does solve a lot of problems. The main benefit is being able to create an "image" that will work on multiple hardware types. A scripted install also lets you setup user settings as part of the install, ensure your computer is up-to-date, and easily add applications. Every time we put a new computer model, or Windows updates come out I am very happy with how fast I can adapt what I do.
Once again Altiris has your back. You can create a scripted OS install task in Deployment Console. It has all of the benefits that I mentioned above combined with the ease of Deployment Console. In this article we will talk about how to create a Scripted OS task.
Deployment Console: Scripted OS Job
Before we get started there will be a few things that you will need. The first is your Windows XP files. Throughout this series we have worked with a folder on our desktop named "WinXP". The contents of this folder started out as the default Windows XP files, copied from a CD. Over time we have added files like Windows Updates, drivers, registry keys, and programs. This file also has an answer file (as you remember, the answer file contains all of the configuration settings that Windows uses to install itself).
You can create a new local copy of the Windows XP files, or you can use the folder that we have been tweaking. If you use the tweaked folder, you get all of the "stuff" we have been adding in. I will be using my custom version of Windows in a folder titled "WinXPSP3". As you can probably guess, I made a new version when SP3 came out.
Now we have the files prepared, open Deployment Console. Once it is open, it is time to get started.
Creating the Job:
- Right click in the empty space in the left had pane, the lower panel titled "Jobs".
- Now, click "New Job"
- Change the name of the job to something you can easily read and know what it does:
- In the top right hand pane, click the "Add" button.
- Select "Scripted OS Install", it is third down from the top
- A new window titled "Scripted OS Install" will appear. Make sure that the "Windows" radio button is selected and click the "Next" button.
- Now, select the OS version, OS language and the pre-boot environment. When everything is selected, click the "Next" button.
Note: You can use this job to deploy the following versions of Windows: Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.
- On this screen you need to select "Add new..." under the title "Select or add new OS source files".
- On the screen title "Operating System - Source Files" enter a "unique name for the OS source files" and enter the path to where they are saved, in this case on the desktop:
Click the "OK" button when you are done.
- Deployment Console will copy your files to a new location (I guess this means that you can use a CD directly).
- When the files are done copying, the following message will appear:
This process has found the answer file we created in Part 3. I want to use the answer file that I created, so I clicked the "Yes" button.
- On the following screen you can add a service pack if you would like
I am running the latest service pack, so I skipped this step and clicked the "Next" button
- On this screen you can choose an image that will be used to image the hard drive. It has to be a FAT based drive, so I left all of the settings as default, and clicked "Next" to continue.
- On this screen you can import a unattend.txt file (that is basically the same as the WINNT.SIF answer file that we created as part of this series).
Most of the settings in my WINNT.SIF answer file was found in unattend.txt help files. I decided to rename my answer file to unattend.txt and import it.
- Now, all of the variables from my answer file will be imported. I want them all to be imported so I selected the "Accept all further variable proposals" check box and clicked the "OK" button.
- Another message appeared:
I want the computer to login after Windows is done installing, so I clicked the "Yes" button
- We are almost done. You should see a screen titled "Answer File Setup". This screen lists all of your answer file settings. The gray settings are default to this Altiris job, the green settings were imported from my answer file.
The great thing about this process is that you can add in settings and tweak the answer file according to your needs.
- You may want to look through the settings to make sure that everything matches up. For instance I noticed that in my answer file the Windows serial number was "ProductKey" and in this process it is "ProductID". I decided to move the number over:
You will also have to enter a company name.
Check out this reference: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/155197
- Click the "Next" button to continue
- This screen appears:
It has a fancy script. I am not sure what it means, so I decided to leave it alone. Click the "Next" button to continue.
- The AClient is installed as part of this scripted install. On this screen you can configure the AClient settings:
Once everything is configured click the "Next" button to continue
- We are finally done! Click the "Finish" button to continue
Now you are ready to assign computers to the job.
Pulling it all together:
If you are crazy like me, you can create a scripted install by hand. You can also use Altiris to do all of the hard work for you. You can also do a little of both.
Since this is a job, and the AClient is installing as part of the process, you can really get creative. You could install all of your apps from this job. You could install Windows and then take an image of your work. Creativity is a bonus here.
Testing is important when adopting a solution like this. There are lost of different places that things can go wrong. But, if this is carefully executed you will save a lot of time getting your computers setup.
Conclusion:
A few years back I was tasked with creating an image that work on about 20 different hardware types. It had to work on desktops and laptops. It had to work on HPs and Dells. It had to work on single core processors and multi-core processors. We were not sure what to do. There were some solutions out there, but they seemed almost impossible to implement. We were left with creating multiple images, which did not make management happy. It also didn't make the system admins very happy. Managing one image is difficult (at times it seems impossible). But managing many images is near impossible (we are talking about upwards of 10 images here).
One day I stumbled upon nLite. I found that if we installed Windows, it would take care of the single-core/multi-core problem that we face. I also found that we could integrate every driver that we may need. That took care of the number of different hard drive types we had to accomodate.
This process seemed to create new problems, but we were able to figure them out. Now we have a system that is very adaptable and flexible. We are able to control every aspect of Windows, so after the install everything is setup how we need it to be. We silently install or import layers for all of our programs. Things work great. As you have seen in this article, you can get a jump start on this process by using Deployment Solution.
Like I mentioned in my last article, Altiris has been making my life much better these days. The more I use layers the easier this scripted install process has become. No more silent installs for me. We are testing SVS Pro right now. Being able to stream layers to a user has performed really well in groups. It completely eliminates the need to import an entire layer.
You may read this (or part of this) and think to yourself that it seems like too much trouble. It may be for you, but a perfect fit for someone else. I know that some people use this method to quickly and reliably create standard images. It is great that Altiris has given computer geeks some great tools so we can create a solution that works for us.
Scripted OS Install - Part 7: Installing Software