Adding Text Mode Drivers to a RIS Image

Applies To: Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003

If your compute nodes require a hardware driver that is not distributed with the Windows Server 2003 operating system, you will have to add it to the Remote Installation Services (RIS) image that you use for the nodes. These drivers are generally of two types: text mode and Plug and Play. The following section discusses adding text mode drivers.

Adding text mode drivers

Many new 64-bit systems use disk drives such as SATA drives which, unfortunately, are not included in the standard Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition Setup. If the RIS image that you apply to a computer lacks the required drivers, those drivers will not be installed and operational failure will occur (even though automated installation will complete). So to use RIS to set up compute nodes you must add the text mode drivers to the base image and modify two files to point to these new drivers.

This procedure is specifically for an Adaptec AAR-1420SA SATA HostRAID driver, but you can use it when other drivers are required.

Adding a text mode driver to a RIS image

  1. A section of the Cluster Deployment Tasks involves Remote Installation Services (RIS). To start, click Install RIS. This will launch a wizard that will install remote installation services on your server.

  2. Next, click Manage Images then Add New Image. For client support, you typically check Respond to client computers requesting service, but do not check Do not respond to unknown client computers.

  3. Click Manage Images a second time and select Modify Image Configuration to add your image key.

  4. The mass storage drivers are only copied during the Text Mode portion of the compute node setup through RIS. You need to add an $OEM$\TEXTMODE folder to the image. Your folder structure should look like this:

    • %RIS_IMAGE_FOLDER%\amd64 (this folder already exists)

    • %RIS_IMAGE_FOLDER%\i386 (this folder already exists)

    • %RIS_IMAGE_FOLDER%\$OEM$ (create this folder)

    • %RIS_IMAGE_FOLDER%\$OEM$\TEXTMODE (create this subfolder)

    Note

    %RIS_IMAGE_FOLDER% is the folder which holds the RIS image on the head node. This folder might be similar to this:
    D:\RemoteInstall\Setup\English\Images\WINDOWS

  5. Copy the setup files from the driver disk to the TEXTMODE folder. In this example, there are four files:

    • %RIS_IMAGE_FOLDER%\$OEM$\TEXTMODE\txtsetup.oem

    • %RIS_IMAGE_FOLDER%\$OEM$\TEXTMODE\aar81xx.inf

    • %RIS_IMAGE_FOLDER%\$OEM$\TEXTMODE\aar81xx.sys

    • %RIS_IMAGE_FOLDER%\$OEM$\TEXTMODE\aar81xx.sys

  6. TXTSETUP.OEM, which was copied in the previous step, must be edited to reflect this new path for the drivers. In the [Disks] section, modify disk1 (or d1) to reflect the new path. In the example below, the original entry is commented out and a new entry added:

    [Disks]
    # d1 = "Adaptec AAR-1420SA Serial ATA HostRAID Driver for Windows x64 Edition (EM64T/AMD64)", \hraidsk1, \amd64
    d1 = "Adaptec AAR-1420SA Serial ATA HostRAID Driver for Windows x64 Edition (EM64T/AMD64)", \, \ 
    

    Note

    When you run an unattended installation using a small computer system interface (SCSI) controller with a manufacturer's drives, you may receive the following error message: Illegal or missing file types specified in section Files.SCSI.name. This behavior might occur because the line in the Txtsetup.oem file under the [Files.SCSI.name] heading is not a supported file type for a SCSI. For example, if you found an unsupported file type (such as a .dll), in the [Files.SCSI.name] section, you must remove the line.

  7. Edit the file RISTNDRD.SIF to indicate that a mass storage driver must be installed with the operating system and the location of the required files. This file is located in the %RIS_IMAGE_FOLDER%\amd64\Templates folder. Add the lines shown below the comment "# Add these lines." The name used in the [MassStorageDrivers] section should correspond to the name given in the [SCSI] section of TXTSETUP.OEM. After editing, save the file.

    [data]
    floppyless="1"
    msdosinitiated="1"
    OriSrc="\\%SERVERNAME%\RemInst\%INSTALLPATH%\%MACHINETYPE%"
    OriTyp="4"
    LocalSourceOnCD=1
    DisableAdminAccountOnDomainJoin=1
    
    [SetupData]
    OsLoadOptions="/noguiboot /fastdetect"
    SetupSourceDevice="\Device\LanmanRedirector\%SERVERNAME%\RemInst\%INSTALLPATH%"
    
    [Unattended]
    OemPreinstall=yes
    FileSystem=LeaveAlone
    ExtendOEMPartition=0
    TargetPath=\WINDOWS
    OemSkipEula=yes
    InstallFilesPath="\\%SERVERNAME%\RemInst\%INSTALLPATH%\%MACHINETYPE%"
    LegacyNIC=1
    UnattendMode=FullUnattended
    WaitForReboot=no
    
    #Add these lines
    
    OemPnPDriversPath=”\\%SERVERNAME%\RemInst\%INSTALLPATH%\$OEM$\textmode”
    DUDisable=no
    DriverSigningPolicy=ignore
    
    [MassStorageDrivers]
    "Adaptec HOSTRAID driver for Windows XP/2003 x64 Edition"="OEM"
    
    [OEMBootFiles]
    aar81xx.cat
    aar81xx.inf
    aar81xx.sys
    txtsetup.oem
    
  8. Stop and restart the RIS service on the head node by typing the following at a command prompt:

    net stop binlsvc
    net start binlsvc
    

See Also

Concepts

Adding Plug and Play Drivers to a RIS Image