The tables in this appendix provide the information that you need to create an answer file for automating the installation or removal of AD DS:

Promotion Operation

CreateDCAccount Operation

UseExistingAccount Operation

Demotion Operation

Unattended Installation Return Codes

Dcpromo.exe accepts these parameters either directly from the command line or as entered in a text file that is formatted in standard .INI format. The text file must contain a section heading [DCINSTALL] followed by AD DS (domain controller) server role unattended installation parameters.

Create a text file that contains the [DCINSTALL] heading and in which each line in the file contains an option and its value in the form option=value. To use the options directly from the command line, precede each option:value pair with a forward slash (/) and separate each /option=value pair with a space. At the command line, you can also use a colon (:) to separate the option and the value (/option:value).

The following are example lines in an answer text file:

[DCINSTALL]

UserName=Jsmith

Password=*

SiteName=NorthRegion

The following is an example set of the same options as typed in the Dcpromo.exe command line:

dcpromo /unattend /username:Jsmith /password:* /sitename:NorthRegion ...