Remote OS Installation Overview

Remote OS Installation and the IntelliMirrorSUP>™technologies are combined to form the change and configuration management features included in Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server. Using Remote OS Installation you can customize and enable automated installation of Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Professional on new or replacement computers. You can experience better disaster recovery with easier operating system and application management by combining Remote OS Installation with the user data management, software installation and maintenance, and user settings management features that make up IntelliMirror. For more information about IntelliMirror, see "Introduction to Desktop Management" in this book.

This chapter focuses on implementation of Remote OS Installation by using Remote Installation Services (RIS) technology for the installation of Windows 2000 Professional on remote boot–enabled clients. RIS supports clients without an operating system or failed computers that need to have the operating system restored. When using Remote OS Installation with the default settings, everything is deleted from the hard disk and a new operating system is installed. Previous user profile and configuration settings are also removed when installing the operating system.

Note

Remote OS Installation cannot be used to upgrade an existing operating system on computers currently running Microsoft® Windows® 95, Microsoft® Windows® 98, Microsoft® Windows NT® Workstation version 3.51, or Microsoft® Windows NT® Workstation version 4.0.

If you want to maintain your existing user profiles, there are a few additional methods that Windows 2000 supports for installing and upgrading an operating system on clients. These include the following:

• Performing disk duplication with the System Preparation (SysPrep.exe) tool

• Using Microsoft® Systems Management Server

• Using a bootable CD

These methods are not discussed in detail in this chapter. For more information about installing and upgrading an operating system by using these methods, see "Automating Server Installation and Upgrade," "Automating Client Installation and Upgrade," and "Using Systems Management Server to Deploy Windows 2000" in the Microsoft ® Windows ®  2000 Server Resource Kit Deployment Planning Guide . For more information about upgrading Windows 2000 on an existing Windows 2000 Professional client, see "Software Installation and Maintenance" in this book.