Article ID: 300483
Article Last Modified on 3/29/2007
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
This article was previously published under Q300483
IN THIS TASK
- SUMMARY
- REFERENCES
SUMMARY
With Remote Installation Services, you can set up new client computers remotely by using a Remote Installation Services (RIS) network shared folder as the source of the Windows 2000 Professional files. You can install operating systems on remote boot-enabled client computers by connecting the computer to the network, starting the client computer, booting off a PXE ROM or Remote Boot Disk, and logging on with a valid user account. This document outlines the steps necessary to install, configure, and use Remote Installation Services (RIS).
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Hardware and Software Requirements
Remote Installation Server Hardware Requirements
- Pentium or Pentium II 200 megahertz (MHz) recommended (166 MHz minimum).
- 64 megabyte (MB) RAM minimum. If additional services such as the Active Directory, DHCP, and DNS services are installed, the minimum amount of RAM is 96 or 128 MB.
- 2-gigabyte (GB) drive dedicated to the Remote Installation Service's directory tree on the RIS server.
- 10 or 100 megabits per second (Mbps) network adapter card. (100 Mbps preferred.) NOTE: You should dedicate an entire hard drive or partition specifically to the Remote Installation Services directory tree. (SCSI-based disk controller/disks are preferred.)
Client Hardware Requirements
- Pentium 166 MHz or greater NetPC client computer.
- 32 MB of RAM.
- 1.2-GB drive minimum
- PXE DHCP-based boot ROM version .99c or greater or a network adapter supported by the RIS boot floppy. Always check with the manufacturer of your network adapter to get the latest version of the PXE ROM.
The drive on the server where you choose to install RIS must be formatted with the NTFS file system. RIS requires a significant amount of disk space and cannot be installed on the same drive or partition on which Windows 2000 Server is installed. Ensure that the chosen drive contains enough free disk space for at least one full set of the Windows 2000 Professional installation files--a minimum of approximately 800 MB to 1 GB.
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Software Requirements
Using Remote Installation Services requires several components that are included as part of the Windows 2000 Server operating system. The following services can be installed either on individual servers or on the same server. They must be active and available:
- Domain Name System (DNS Service)
- Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
- Active Directory
Prerequisites for Client Installations
Ensure that the client computer's network card has been set as the primary boot device within the system BIOS. When the client computer boots and is configured with the network card as the primary boot device, it requests a network service boot from the remote installation server on the network. After it is contacted, the RIS server prompts users to press the F12 key to download the Client Installation wizard. Users should be instructed to press F12 only if prompted, and only if they need a new OS installation or access to maintenance and troubleshooting tools. Once the OS has been installed via RIS, the user can ignore the request to press F12 during future client computer reboots or reset the primary boot device back to the floppy a:\ drive or the hard drive c:\.
If you are using the remote RIS boot floppy disk, simply insert the boot floppy into the drive and start the client computer. The computer boots from the floppy disk, and the user is requested to press F12 to initiate the network service boot. When the RIS boot floppy disk is used, the user must remove the boot floppy at some point after pressing F12 and before the text mode portion of Windows 2000 Professional setup completes.
NOTE: Compaq computers provide the ability to press the F12 key during power-up on PC98 or Net PC-based systems. In this case, the user is required to press F12 on the Compaq splash screen, and then press F12 again when prompted by the RIS server.
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Installing the Windows 2000 Remote Installation Services
- On a Windows 2000 Server computer, click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
- Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
- Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
- Scroll down and select Remote Installation Services, and then click Next.
- Insert the Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM into the CD drive, and then click OK.
The necessary files are copied to the server. NOTE: After the CD is inserted, a dialog box asks if you want to upgrade to the operating system. Click No and exit this screen.
- Click Finish to end the wizard.
- Click Yes when you are prompted to restart your computer.
- When the server is finished rebooting, log on as a local administrator.
To set up remote installation services
- Click Start, click Run, and type RISetup.exe. This starts the Remote Installation Services (RIS) Setup Wizard.
- The Welcome screen appears, indicating some of the requirements to successfully install RIS. Click Next.
- The next screen prompts you to enter the RIS server drive letter and directory where you would like to install the RIS files. In our example, this would be E:\RemoteInstall. Click Next.
The Setup Wizard prompts you to either enable RIS at the end of setup, or disable the service to allow modification of specific server options before servicing client computers. The two options are:- Respond to client computers requesting service. If you select this option, Remote Installation Services is enabled and will respond to client computers requesting service.
- Do not respond to unknown client computers. If you select this option, Remote Installation Services will respond only to known client computers.
- For the purpose of this guide, select Respond to client computers requesting service, and then click Next.
- The Setup Wizard prompts you for the location of the Windows 2000 Professional installation files. RIS supports the remote installation of Windows 2000 Professional. RIS also supports the installation of Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Microsoft Windows XP Professional if the RIS server has Service Pack 3 or later applied. For additional information about a related topic, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Insert the Windows 2000 Professional CD into the server's CD-ROM drive and type the drive letter that contains the CD (or browse to a network share that contains the installation source files). Click Next.
308508 Unable to Create Windows 2000 Server Image on RIS Server
- The wizard prompts you to enter the directory name that will contain the Windows 2000 Professional installation files on the RIS server. This directory is created beneath the directory specified in the Steps above. The directory name should reflect its contents--for example, Win2000.pro. Click Next to accept the default name of win2000.pro.
- You are prompted for a friendly description and help text that describes this OS image. The friendly description and help text is displayed to users or IT staff during the client installation wizard (OSChooser) at initial startup on a remote client. For example, if this workstation OS will be tailored to sales staff, then a friendly description might be 'Windows 2000 Professional for Sales Staff.' The help text is displayed when the user selects the description within the Client Installation wizard. Make sure you provide clear help text to your users, to ensure that they choose the correct OS option at installation time. For this exercise, click Next to accept the default name of Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional.
- At this point, you are presented with a summary screen indicating the choices you have made. Click Finish to confirm your choices. Once the installation wizard completes, you are ready to either service client computers, or additionally configure the RIS settings.
- Click Done. Now that RIS is successfully installed, you must authorize the RIS server within Active Directory. If you do not authorize the RIS server, it will fail to service client computers requesting a network service boot. The next section outlines these steps.
Authorizing RIS in Active Directory
RIS allows you to control which RIS servers can service client computers on the network. For a RIS server to operate, it must first be authorized within Active Directory. If the RIS server is not authorized within Active Directory, client computers requesting service will not be able to contact the RIS server and will not be answered. To authorize a RIS server within Active Directory, you must be logged on as an enterprise administrator or a domain administrator of the root domain.
- Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools and click DHCP.
- Right-click DHCP in the upper-left corner of the DHCP screen, and select Manage Authorized Servers. If your server is not already listed, click Authorize, and enter the IP address of the RIS server.
- Click Yes when prompted to verify that the address is correct. At this point, your RIS server is authorized within Active Directory and is now able to respond to client computers requesting service.
Note: If you authorize the RIS server on a non-domain controller computer, follow these steps to install the Administrator Tools Package: Click Start, click Run, and type adminpak.msi on a Server system. From a Professional based system, execute adminpak.msi from the Windows 2000 Server CD.
Setting required user permissions
If users are allowed to use RIS to install their own client computers, the administrator must ensure that those users have been granted the correct permissions for creating machine accounts within the domain. The permissions granted using the steps below will allow users to create computer accounts anywhere in the domain.
- Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and click Active Directory Users and Computers.
- Right-click the Domain Name (for this example, Reskit.com) at the top of the snap-in, and click the Delegate Control option.
- A wizard starts. Click Next.
- Click Add to add users who are allowed to install their own computers using Remote OS Installation.
- For the purpose of this guide, highlight Everyone and click Add. Click OK.
- Click Next to continue.
- Check the Join a Computer to the Domain option, and click Next.
- Click Finish.
You can now either use the default RIS settings and immediately begin servicing client computers, or you can make changes to the RIS settings first.
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Installing client computers using remote installation
This section describes the steps required to successfully install Windows 2000 Professional on a Net PC, a Managed PC (PC 98 compliant system), or a PC that contains a network card supported by the remote installation boot floppy. To ensure a successful client installation, complete all prerequisites listed at the beginning of this document.
- Reboot your client machine from either the remote floppy or the PXE boot ROM. When prompted, press the F12 key to start the download of the client installation wizard.
- Press Enter at the welcome screen.
- For the user name, type Jon Grande (this user is created using the Common Infrastructure step-by-step guide discussed in the Prerequisites Section above.) Press the Tab key twice. For this instruction set, the password is left blank and the domain name should be entered as reskit.com. Press Enter to continue.
- You will get a warning message that all data on the client machine hard drive will be deleted. To continue, press Enter.
- A computer account and a global unique ID for this workstation are displayed. Press Enter to begin Setup. The Windows 2000 Setup program begins.
- If prompted, go through the Windows 2000 Professional Setup Wizard.For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
304868 How to Install Windows 2000 Professional
After the installation is complete, the user is prompted to log on to the network with an existing user account, password, and logon domain. At this point, you have successfully configured and installed a remote operating system using RIS.
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Remote Installation Boot Disk Option
The remote installation boot disk can be used with computers that do not contain a remote boot-enabled ROM on the network card. The boot disk is designed to simulate the PXE boot process for computers that lack a supported DHCP PXE-based remote boot ROM. The boot disk generator utility is called RBFG.EXE and is located within the \RemoteInstall\admin directory on every Remote Installation Server.
The RBFG.exe utility is also contained within the Administrator Tools package that ships with Windows 2000 Server. The Administrator Tools package can be deployed across your organization using either Systems Management Server 2.0 or using the new Software Management feature, which is part of the Group Policy infrastructure.
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Creating a Remote Installation Boot Floppy
To create a Remote Installation Boot Floppy, run the RBFG.exe utility from the RIS server or a computer with the administrator tools package installed.
- Browse to the E:\RemoteInstall\Admin\i386 folder and double click RBFG.exe, which will bring up the "Windows 2000 Remote Boot Disk Generator" dialog box.
NOTE: E:\ drive should be the drive letter where you setup the REMOTE INSTALLATION SERVICES in Step 2
To see a list of network adapters supported, click Adapter List. (Note: the RBFG.exe utility does not allow you to add network adapters). To create a remote installation boot disk, insert a disk into the appropriate drive and then select Create Disk.
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