Installing windows over netboot?

[crispy]

So.. im getting pretty tired of burning cd's and throw them away by now, so im trying to get another way to install windows... Ive seen people mention that you can install over lan. Like you got the windows install files on some server and then you can boot to that directory and start the install.

But HOW do you do it? Tried searching but it seems like you really need to be into alot of networking to get it working... And i just need it to work, not understanding how

Any fyi: its not pirated software.

My network is like this: DHCP router -> switch -> win2k workstation + my computer.

Can anyone help me out here?

 

[Congax]

This might help you out.

 

[GReaper]

Try Unattended.

Edit: Bah, someone beat me to it.

 

[crispy]

I skimmed through the install process, but it seems like i also need a boot disk so i might as well launch the install files from a normal bootdisk/cd right?

 

[crispy]

Well actually i dont really care what method i use to install windows with, as long as i dont have to burn any more cd's - Like i want the install files on my computer and a way to launch them from boot :>

Any ideas?

 

[GReaper]

You can PXE boot instead, if your motherboard and network card support it.

 

[crispy]

Yeah, ive tried to find out how to get PXE to work but i have no friggin idea

Im pretty sure my network card tries to boot using PXE since its sending alot of requests to the DHCP server...

What software do i need on the server? Do i have to edit some network settings somewhere? How do i make thoose images that the PXE server sends to the client?

 

[razeredge]

There is usually a setting in your boot menu for network boot or pxe boot (its usually set to hard drive by default), iirc you make a boot disk, that a) has the dos drivers the client pcs nic and b) directs to the location of windows files

Another option would be norton ghost, works similarily, except u basically install on one machine, take an 'image' of it and u can use that on all other machine, it will put and exact copy on every machine (other machines will need to be idenical hardware wise though

 

[Chronictank]

i dont really use net boot anymore, i just install a recovery partition and then copy paste all the stuff to another server
hell of alot quicker than making images, then you can simply leave the other pc compressing if needs be

 

[GReaper]

What software do i need on the server? Do i have to edit some network settings somewhere? How do i make thoose images that the PXE server sends to the client?

A DHCP server, a TFTP server, and preferably some Linux experience as this is the what will be used for network booting before the Windows installation files are copied.

It's probably easier for you to just keep a CD safe!

 

[Serbitar]

in work we have images stored on a usb drive then boot from the norton ghost cd and load the image onto the machine from the usb drive

never bothered with unattended installs.

 

[Mojo]

So you are burning cd's but they are not bootbale am I undertstanding this right?

To boot using pxe and windows you need a RIS server to boot to (or another similar service) plus the pre req services such as AD, dhcp + tftp (although setting up a ris service will handle the tftp part) a ris server will only run on a windows server.

I would look for a microsoft boot image file on the net and drag that and the files off the windows cd to a clean cd and burn it and keep it safe?

 

[GReaper]

Remote Installation Services (RIS) is what Mojo is referring to - it's the Microsoft way of doing this.

 

[Congax]

microsoft boot image file on the net

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

 

[crispy]

So you are burning cd's but they are not bootbale am I undertstanding this right?

Nah i can burn them fine, but im really fed up with cd's, disks, memory sticks and the likes :>

Seems like i need win2k server (which i havent got) to be able to use the RIS, so the only real alternative is PXE, but i figure im too much of a net-newb to figure that out

So the last options for me is to keep the images (or just installfiles) on my harddrive and somehow execute the setup from boot, but that means a bootdisk/cd of some sort. Any ideas for a boot cd (got no disk drive)?

 

[yaruar]

Nah i can burn them fine, but im really fed up with cd's, disks, memory sticks and the likes :>

Seems like i need win2k server (which i havent got) to be able to use the RIS, so the only real alternative is PXE, but i figure im too much of a net-newb to figure that out

So the last options for me is to keep the images (or just installfiles) on my harddrive and somehow execute the setup from boot, but that means a bootdisk/cd of some sort. Any ideas for a boot cd (got no disk drive)?

Personally i wouldn't bother with unattended installs, it's a pain to set up and not particually beneficial unless you intend to set up a number of machines and use different package groups. I'd build the machine and get a stable base image that you want using something like Trueimage and reinstall from that. Boot off a cd and draw the image from server/external drive/partition (although partition would be useless if you were rebuilding from a disc failure) It's probably the quickest and most pain free way of building a base system.

 

[Provender]

As others have mentioned disk image utilities like Ghost are great for restoring to a known good config. You can make a boot CD that acts like a boot floppy to get your basic network drivers loaded ( Rough and ready guide ) then pull your image across the wire but it can be a pain getting it configured right for your network card.

Why are you having to rebuild all the time anyway? Go look at VMWare if you want to make a sandbox to trash things in, takes about 30 secs to rollback

 

[crispy]

Well im not really interesting in ghosting tbh. Id rather apply service packs to the images and then just install when needed.

But it seems like the best solution for me is to keep some kind of boot cd that can boot up the computer and start the winxp install, either from an image or from a folder with the windows files. I also got a vista dvd on my computer which i'd like to launch like that (getting the stuff free from msdnaa in case you wonder)....

 

[Mojo]

Seems like i need win2k server (which i havent got) to be able to use the RIS, so the only real alternative is PXE, but i figure im too much of a net-newb to figure that out

Yeah you would need a server, btw PXE = Preboot Execution Environment, which basically means it will allow you to boot a client pc to the network using that clients firmware, (without the need of having an operating system installed), once booted the client machine will look for pxe services on the network, RIS is a PXE service so to speak.

So PXE is not an alternaitve unless u have a PXE service (server) to connect to. So it's not really an alternative noobness or not, unless u want to build a server and configre the required services.

But it's an overkill, and it takes a lot of time to do right, but fun if ur an IT geek.