Installing Windows Server 2003

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Before you install Windows Server 2003, you need to decide whether to perform clean installations or upgrades. You also need to decide if you want to perform an automated installation.

Choosing Between Clean Installations and Upgrades

If your servers are new and do not contain operating systems, you must perform clean installations. If you have existing servers, you can perform clean installations or upgrades. Consider the following points when choosing between a clean installation and an upgrade.

Choosing a new installation:

  • If you reformat your hard disk and then perform a new installation, the efficiency of your disk might improve (compared to not reformatting it). Reformatting also gives you the opportunity to modify the size or number of disk partitions to make them match your requirements more closely.

  • If you want to practice careful configuration management (for example, for a server where high availability is important), you might want to perform a new installation on that server instead of an upgrade. This is especially true on servers on which you have upgraded the operating system several times in the past.

Choosing an upgrade:

  • With an upgrade, configuration is simpler, and you retain your existing users, settings, groups, rights, and permissions.

  • With an upgrade, you do not need to reinstall files and applications. As with any major changes to the hard disk, however, it is recommended that you back up the disk before beginning an upgrade.

Preparing for a Clean Installation on Existing File Servers

Review the following issues before performing a clean installation on existing file servers:

  • If you are performing a clean installation on a file server that contains a domain-based DFS root, remove the server as a DFS root before you begin the installation.

  • If you are performing a clean installation on a member of an FRS replica set, use the Distributed File System snap-in (available in Windows Server 2003 or in the Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack) to remove all inbound and outbound FRS connections to the server before beginning the clean installation.

Upgrading Existing File Servers

If you plan to upgrade file servers to Windows Server 2003, review the following issues:

  • Service pack requirements for servers running Windows NT 4.0. Before you can upgrade a server that is running Windows NT 4.0 to Windows Server 2003, you must first install Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 5 or a later version.

  • Upgrading servers that contain multidisk volumes. If a server contains multidisk volumes, review the following issues:

    • If you are upgrading from Windows NT Server 4.0 to Windows Server 2003, verify that your backup software and hardware are compatible with both Windows NT Server 4.0 and Windows Server 2003. Next, back up and then delete all multidisk volumes (volume sets, mirror sets, stripe sets, and stripe sets with parity) before you upgrade, because Windows Server 2003 cannot access these volumes. Be sure to verify that your backup was successful before deleting the volumes. After you finish upgrading to Windows Server 2003, create new dynamic volumes, and then restore the data.

    • If you are upgrading from Windows NT Server 4.0 to Windows Server 2003, and the paging file resides on a multidisk volume, you must use System in Control Panel to move the paging file to a primary partition or logical drive before beginning Setup.

    • If you are upgrading from Windows 2000 Server to Windows Server 2003, you must use Disk Management to convert all basic disks that contain multidisk volumes to dynamic disks before beginning Setup. If you do not do this, Setup does not continue.

  • Upgrading servers that contain multiple DFS roots. If you are running a prerelease version of Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, and the server hosts multiple DFS roots, only one of those roots will be available after the upgrade. For more information about this and other DFS issues during upgrades, see "Deploying DFS" later in this chapter.

  • Upgrading servers that are part of FRS replica sets. To keep the data in a replica set available during the upgrade, stagger the upgrades of replica members.

Choosing Automated Installations

Many large organizations use automated installations to install Windows Server 2003. Bulk installations are faster, easier, less expensive, more consistent, and more efficient than having users or IT professionals sit at servers and enter data manually. Windows Server 2003 provides the following tools and methods that you can use to design and deploy very simple or very sophisticated automated installations:

  • Remote Installation Services (RIS)

  • System Preparation Tool (Sysprep)

  • Unattended Installation

These automated installation methods address a variety of specific issues, and each method has inherent advantages and disadvantages, depending on the environment in which you use these methods. To determine the best methods to use in the context of your specific environment, see "Choosing an Automated Installation Method" in Automating and Customizing Installations of this kit.