(Unattended Installation)
Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2
The [Win9xUpg] section contains entries for specifying an unattended upgrade from Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Me to either Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional. These entries are not valid for any other type of upgrade.
This section requires the Win9xUpgrade entry in the [Unattended] section of the answer file.
For more information about reversing this upgrade, see the section “[Uninstall].”
If you upgrade from Windows 98 to Windows XP Home Edition and if you installed Microsoft Personal Web Server on Windows 98, Setup removes the Personal Web Server software component. However, Setup does not remove content files.
Answer File Entries for the [Win9xUpg]] Section
Entry | Description |
---|---|
Boot16 |
Specifies whether to enable MS-DOS boot mode. |
DefaultPassword |
Provides a default password for all local accounts created during a migration process. |
DomainJoinText |
Inserts the HTML text on the Join a Domain page of the final (GUI-mode) stage in Setup. |
ForcePasswordChange |
Specifies whether Setup requires a password change on all the local accounts it creates during the migration process. |
ForceWorkgroup |
Specifies whether Setup skips domain checks and runs the computer in Workgroup mode after the upgrade. |
IgnoreNetworkErrors |
Specifies whether Setup retries a domain that fails. |
KeepBadLinks |
Specifies whether Setup keeps all links. |
MigrateDefaultUser |
Specifies whether Setup migrates the default user account settings in Windows 98 and Windows Me to the default Windows XP user account. |
MigrateUsersAsAdmin |
Specifies whether Setup adds all accounts created during migration to the Local Administrators group, giving those users full control over the computer. |
MigrateUsersAsPowerUser |
Specifies whether to add all accounts created during migration to the Power Users group. |
MigrationDlls |
Specifies the location of upgrade packs that Setup needs to copy and process during an upgrade to Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. |
ReportOnly |
Specifies whether Setup generates an upgrade report and then exits without changing the current Windows 98 or Windows Me installation. |
SafeMode |
Specifies whether Setup maintains a list of settings during the upgrade. |
SaveReportTo |
Specifies the full path and file name of the upgrade report (text file) generated by Setup. |
ScanDrives |
Enables scanning of drives that Setup normally skips. |
UseLocalAccountOnError |
Specifies whether Setup creates a local account if Setup cannot automatically determine or resolve a network account. |
UserDomain |
Specifies the domain for one or more users. |
UserPassword |
Provides Setup with the passwords created for specific local accounts. |
Specifies whether to enable MS-DOS boot mode.
Boot16= Yes | No
Value | Description |
---|---|
Yes |
Enables MS-DOS boot mode. |
No |
Disables MS-DOS boot mode. |
[Win9xUpg]
Boot16= Yes
The default value is No.
Provides a default password for all local accounts created during a migration process.
DefaultPassword = password
Value | Description |
---|---|
password |
Password. |
[Win9xUpg]
DefaultPassword = ABC123
Because Setup cannot migrate the Windows passwords of users when upgrading a system, it must assign passwords for those created accounts. When Setup needs to assign one of these passwords, it checks first to see if a UserPassword entry exists for that user. If an entry does not exist, Setup uses the value of this entry (if specified).
There are security concerns about using this entry, because Setup stores the password as plain text in the answer file. After the upgrade, Setup automatically deletes all passwords in the answer file.
If you need to create a local account for a user without specifying the UserPassword and DefaultPassword entries, Setup creates a random password. After the first restart, the user must enter a password.
Note
- If you create a password that starts with an asterisk (*), Windows sets the password to Null. A null password could be a security risk and is not recommended.
Inserts the HTML text on the Join a Domain page of the final (GUI-mode) stage in Setup.
DomainJoinText = html_text
Value | Description |
---|---|
html_text |
HTML text. |
[Win9xUpg]
DomainJoinText = Contoso
The only supported HTML tags are anchor (<A>) and bold (<B>).
Specifies whether Setup requires a password change on all the local accounts it creates during the migration process.
ForcePasswordChange = Yes | No
Value | Description |
---|---|
Yes |
Requires a password change on all local accounts it creates during the migration process. |
No |
Does not require a password change for local accounts. |
[Win9xUpg]
ForcePasswordChange = No
The default value is Yes. If you use the entry ForcePasswordChange = Yes
, Setup informs users logging on with these accounts that the current password has expired. Users must select a new password before logging on.
Specifies whether Setup skips domain checks and runs the computer in Workgroup mode after the upgrade.
ForceWorkgroup = Yes | No
Value | Description |
---|---|
Yes |
Skips domain checks and runs the computer in Workgroup mode after the upgrade. |
No |
Joins the computer to a domain after the upgrade. |
[Win9xUpg]
ForceWorkgroup = Yes
The default value is No.
Specifies whether Setup retries a domain that fails.
IgnoreNetworkErrors = Yes | No
Value | Description |
---|---|
Yes |
Does not try to join a domain again if the first attempt fails. In this case, Setup is completely unattended, but the domain account migration might fail. |
No |
Tries to join a domain again if the first attempt fails. |
[Win9xUpg]
IgnoreNetworkErrors = Yes
The default value is No.
Specifies whether Setup keeps all links.
KeepBadLinks = Yes | No
Value | Description |
---|---|
Yes |
Keeps all links. |
No |
Removes incompatible links. |
[Win9xUpg]
KeepBadLinks = No
The default value is Yes.
Specifies whether Setup migrates the default user account settings in Windows 98 and Windows Me to the default Windows XP user account.
MigrateDefaultUser = Yes | No
Value | Description |
---|---|
Yes |
Migrates the default user account settings in Windows 98 and Windows Me to the default Windows XP user account. |
No |
Does not migrate the default user account settings. |
[Win9xUpg]
MigrateDefaultUser = No
The default value is Yes.
If you set this entry to No, the default user settings in Windows 98 and Windows Me do not persist. Subsequent user accounts created on the computer inherit the defaults of the upgraded operating system (Windows XP or Windows Server 2003).
Some applications rely on settings migrated to the default user. These applications might not work unless you enable default user migration.
Use this entry only in special cases (for example, when it is known that no applications require default user migration).
Specifies whether Setup adds all accounts created during migration to the Local Administrators group, giving those users full control over the computer.
MigrateUsersAsAdmin = Yes | No
Value | Description |
---|---|
Yes |
Adds all accounts created during migration to the Local Administrators group, giving those users full control over the computer. |
No |
Does not add all accounts created during migration to the Local Administrators group. |
[Win9xUpg]
MigrateUsersAsAdmin = No
The default value is Yes.
If you do not migrate users as administrators, some migrated applications and settings might not work properly after the upgrade finishes.
Specifies whether to add all accounts created during migration to the Power Users group.
MigrateUsersAsPowerUser = Yes | No
Value | Description |
---|---|
Yes |
Adds all accounts created during migration to the Power Users group, giving the new users in the Power Users group more permissions than users in the Users group, but fewer permissions than users in the Administrators group. Power Users can perform any operating system task except tasks reserved for the Administrators group. |
No |
Does not add all accounts created during migration to the Power Users group. |
[Win9xUpg]
MigrateUsersAsPowerUser = No
The default value is Yes.
Specifies the location of upgrade packs that Setup needs to copy and process during an upgrade to Windows XP or Windows Server 2003.
MigrationDlls = migration_dll_path[, ...]
Value | Description |
---|---|
migration_dll_path [, ...] |
Path migration dlls. |
[Win9xUpg]
MigrationDlls = "%systemdrive%\MigFiles"
If you specify multiple paths, you must separate the paths with commas. Setup searches each of these paths (and their subfolders) for upgrade packs. You can put multiple upgrade packs in a single path, but each upgrade pack must exist in its own subfolder of that path. Do not put more than one upgrade pack in a single folder.
An upgrade pack consists of a migration .dll file (Migrate.dll) and any additional files required to properly upgrade a software component from Windows 98 or Windows Me to either Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional.
Specifies whether Setup generates an upgrade report and then exits without changing the current Windows 98 or Windows Me installation.
ReportOnly = Yes | No
Value | Description |
---|---|
Yes |
Generates an upgrade report and then exits without changing the current Windows 98 or Windows Me installation. |
No |
Upgrades the current Windows 98 or Windows Me installation and does not generate a report. |
[Win9xUpg]
ReportOnly = Yes
The default value is No.
The upgrade report contains a list of hardware and software incompatibilities. If you do not specify the SaveReportTo entry, Setup saves the upgrade report to the root of the system drive.
Specifies whether Setup maintains a list of settings during the upgrade.
SafeMode = Yes | No
Value | Description |
---|---|
Yes |
Instructs Setup to maintain a list of settings during the upgrade. |
No |
Does not instruct Setup to maintain a list of settings during upgrade. |
[Win9xUpg]
SafeMode = Yes
The default value is No.
If any setting causes an upgrade to Windows 98 or later to fail or stop responding, the next Setup skips that setting. Using this entry slows Setup, but it enables Setup to skip certain types of malfunctioning software installed on Windows 98 or later.
Safe Mode starts automatically if Setup detects a problem. If you use the entry SafeMode = Off
, you must run Setup three times. If you use the entry SafeMode = Yes
, you must run Setup only twice.
Specifies the full path and file name of the upgrade report (text file) generated by Setup.
SaveReportTo = path_of_report
Value | Description |
---|---|
path_of_report |
Path to report. |
[Win9xUpg]
SaveReportTo = "%systemdrive%\Upgrade Report"
If the existing Windows 98 or Windows Me operating system has network connectivity, the path_of_report can be a UNC path. Enclose path_of_report in quotation marks if it is a long file name.
You can use system environment variables enclosed in percent signs (%) in the path. If you specify the special environment variable %computername%
in the path, the resulting file name contains the actual computer name. This is useful if Setup collects upgrade reports from several Windows 98-based or Windows Me-based computers to a central location.
Enables scanning of drives that Setup normally skips.
ScanDrives = [drive][,drive,drive]
Value | Description |
---|---|
[drive][,drive,drive] |
Drive letter. |
[Win9xUpg]
ScanDrives = C, D
None.
Specifies whether Setup creates a local account if Setup cannot automatically determine or resolve a network account.
UseLocalAccountOnError = Yes | No
Value | Description |
---|---|
Yes |
Creates a local user account if Setup cannot automatically determine or resolve a network account. |
No |
Does not create a local user account. |
[Win9xUpg]
UseLocalAccountOnError = Yes
The default value is No.
This entry is valid only on computers with Microsoft Networking Client installed.
Windows 98 and Windows Me keep only the domain of the last logged-in user in the registry. Because neither Windows 98 nor Windows Me keeps the domains of other users who might have logged on to the computer, Setup searches all trusted domains on the network by default. Setup automatically uses a domain account when it finds an exact match.
If Setup does not find a user on any trusted domain, or if it finds the user account on two or more domains on the network, a dialog box appears prompting the person performing the upgrade to resolve the conflict. This dialog box also appears if network errors occur.
Using the entry UseLocalAccountOnError = Yes
in the answer file ensures a complete unattended installation. This causes Setup to create a local account whenever Setup cannot automatically resolve a network account. In addition, if Setup cannot add a computer to the computer domain during installation of the network on Windows, all user accounts change to local accounts.
Specifies the domain for one or more users.
UserDomain = domain_name, user_name[, user_name, user_name, ...]
Value | Description |
---|---|
domain_name |
Domain name. |
user_name |
User name. |
[Win9xUpg]
UserDomain = Contoso, ConnieM
You can use multiple UserDomain lines to specify different domains for different users. When specified, this entry prevents Setup from searching all trusted domains on the network for a matching user account. (The search process can be time-consuming if a large number of trusted domains exist on the network.)
If Setup does not find the account in the specified domain, either because the account does not exist or the domain is not accessible, a dialog box appears prompting the user to resolve the account, unless you use the entry UseLocalAccountOnError entry = Yes
.
Provides Setup with the passwords created for specific local accounts.
UserPassword = user, password[,user, password,...]
Value | Description |
---|---|
user |
User name. |
password |
User password. |
[Win9xUpg]
UserPassword = ConnieM, ABC12345
Because Setup cannot migrate the Windows passwords of users when upgrading a system, it must create passwords for nondomain accounts during the migration process. Using this entry, an administrator can predetermine the passwords for specific users.
There are security concerns about using this entry because Setup stores the password as plain text in the answer file. However, after the upgrade finishes, Setup deletes all the password entries from the copy of the answer file left on the computer. However, Setup does not delete the original copy of the answer file.
If you need to create a local account for a user without specifying the UserPassword and DefaultPassword entries, Setup creates a random password. After the first restart, the user must enter the password created during the Windows setup process.
Note
- If you create a password that starts with an asterisk (*), Windows sets the password to Null. A null password could be a security risk and is not recommended.