Upgrading to MS Windows 98 The Easy Way

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By Brien M. Posey

With the dreaded millennium mark quickly approaching, many businesses are finding out the hard way that they haven't left enough time to prepare their systems for the end of the year. These preparations often involve upgrading the operating system on every PC. Fortunately, like most things in life, they have shortcuts. In this article, I'll explain a shortcut you can use to automate the upgrade process, and by using it, you'll be able to complete those upgrades in record time.

Why Automate an Upgrade?

Anyone who's ever installed Microsoft® Windows® 98 knows that it takes a great deal of time. Not only is there a lot of waiting time involved, but you have to answer many questions along the way.

Now imagine that you have fifty machines to upgrade. Even if you could run the upgrade process on all of the machines at the same time, each machine would stop several times and wait for you to answer questions or to click Next before continuing. Needless to say, it could really take a long time if you had to go through this process on every machine.

How Does It Work?

If you've ever performed an automated installation in Windows 95, you're probably familiar with the concept of writing a setup script. However, writing a setup script can be a tedious and time-consuming task. Fortunately, there's a GUI-based tool in Windows 98 that you can use to build a setup script painlessly. This tool is called Batch.exe.

Installing the Batch.exe Program

Unfortunately, Batch.exe doesn't ship with Windows 98. Instead, you must acquire it through the Windows 98 Resource Kit. To install the Batch.exe program, simply execute the Setup.exe file in the Windows 98 Resource Kit CD's Batch directory. The installation procedure is very short and sweet. Once you've run the Setup program, the Batch program will be added to the Windows 98 Program menu.

Running the Batch Program

When you run the Batch program, you'll see the window shown in Figure A. As you can see, the Batch program is menu driven and appears to be fairly simple to use. However, don't let this simplistic appearance fool you. The Batch program isn't short on power by any stretch of the imagination. In the sections that follow, I'll review the various options included in the Batch program.

Figure A: The Batch program automates the tedious task of building a setup script.

Gather Now

The most effective way to use the Batch program is to set up a model computer that has Windows 98 installed in the same way that you want to install it on the other machines. Once you've done this, run the Batch program and click the Gather Now button. When you do, Batch will analyze the contents of the computer's registry and complete many of the installation options for you. Even so, it's a good idea to view all of the options, since there are a few—such as the Product ID number—that won't be filled in automatically.

General Setup Options

General Setup Options is divided into several different tabs, each containing options pertaining to the installation process. I'll cover each of these tabs; however, because of space limitations, it's impossible for me to show screen captures of each section and to explain every option in each section. Instead, I'll provide you with an overview of the most important options.

Install Info

When you click the General Setup Info button, the Install Info tab is selected by default. This tab, shown in Figure B, allows you to enter the Product ID number for Windows 98.

The Install Info tab enables you to specify which directory you wish to use for the installation. You can also disable the warning message displayed when you overwrite an older version of Windows.

During the installation process, Windows Setup will ask if you want to make a backup copy of your old operating system. Using the Install Info tab, you can automatically create this backup, or skip the option altogether.

Figure B: The Install Info tab contains basic setup information.

User Info

The next tab under the General Setup Options section is the User Info tab. As you can see in Figure C, this tab enables you to specify the User Name, Company Name, Computer Name, Workgroup, and Description for the computer. As you may know, each computer on your network must have a unique Computer Name. Fortunately, an option that I'll explain later enables you to meet this requirement.

Figure C: The User Info tab enables you to specify the Computer Name and Workgroup.

Setup Prompts

The whole point of creating an automated setup script is to bypass the multitude of times that the Setup program prompts you for information. Perhaps the most annoying of these prompts are the ones that simply require you to press a key to continue or that ask for a very trivial piece of information, such as your company's name. Fortunately, the Setup Prompts tab enables you to skip all of that. It contains several check boxes that, when selected, allow you to skip items such as the pesky Microsoft Software License Terms and the prompt to create an emergency repair disk. If you want a truly unattended installation, you'll want to select all of these check boxes.

Regional Settings

The Regional Settings tab does exactly what the name implies. It's basically a chance to inform Setup of which time zone you're in and what type of keyboard you're using.

Desktop

The Desktop tab, shown in Figure D, is one of my personal favorites. As you're probably aware, the default installation clutters up your desktop with icons that you may not necessarily need. The Desktop tab enables you to select which icons you want to include on the desktop. It even enables you to do away with the Windows 98 Welcome screen and the Windows 98 Registration Wizard, and they won't be displayed after Setup completes.

Figure D: The Desktop tab enables you to avoid desktop clutter.

Printers

When I set up a new computer manually, I have a bad habit of forgetting to set up the printers. The Printers tab keeps you from having to remember to do this each time. It enables you to install the necessary printer drivers automatically during Setup.

MRU Locations

At first glance, you may be wondering what an MRU Location is. An MRU Location is nothing more than a fancy way of saying the most recently used location. By default, you can include this in your Setup script. However, if you prefer, you can clear the list of the most recently used paths with the click of a button.

User Profiles

The User Profiles tab enables you to decide whether everyone should have the same desktop, or whether each user may customize his or her own desktop. If you decide to allow unique profiles, you can make desktop icons, Network Neighborhood settings, and Start menu programs unique to each user.

Network Options

Clicking the Network Options button on the Microsoft Batch 98 window enables you to specify all installation parameters related to a computer's network configuration. These parameters relate to such aspects as protocols and NIC cards. Click the Network Options button to see the Network Options properties sheet. This sheet is divided into several tabs, as described below.

Protocols

The default tab on the Network Options properties sheet is the Protocols tab. This tab enables you to select which protocols will be installed during setup. You may also select the default protocol and configure the TCP/IP settings.

The Services tab enables you to control file and print sharing. You may enable or disable file and print sharing for both Microsoft Windows NT® and NetWare networks. You can also control master browser options.

Clients

The Clients tab enables you to control which network clients will be installed. For example, you may install Client for Microsoft Networks or Client for NetWare Networks. In addition to specifying the clients to install, you may select the default logon and specify to which domain or server to log on.

Access Control

The Access Control tab enables you to choose between User-level Access and Share-level Access. User-level Access obtains a user list from a network server and uses that list to set permissions on share points. Share-level Access enables you to set a password for each individual share.

Additional Clients

Select the Other Clients tab if you would like to attach the computer to a network running a NOS other than Windows NT or NetWare. For example, you'd use this tab to connect to a Banyan network or to a legacy NetWare network.

Optional Components

The normal Setup program enables you to choose between a Default and a Custom Setup. Selecting Custom Setup enables you to choose which Windows components will be installed. For example, you could decide not to install programs such as Calculator or Write in order to save space.

The Optional Components tab on the Microsoft Batch 98 window performs the same task—it enables you to specify which Windows programs will and won't be installed.

Internet Explorer Options

Internet Explorer is very tightly integrated with the Windows 98 operating system. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the Batch program enables you to set installation options for Internet Explorer.

Click the Internet Explorer Options button on the Microsoft Batch 98 window to view the Internet Explorer Options properties sheet. This sheet is further subdivided into several tabs.

Desktop

The default tab on the Internet Explorer Options properties sheet is the Desktop tab. This tab enables you to decide which Internet Explorer components will be made available on the desktop. For example, if the channel bar tends to get in your way, you can easily disable it with a click of your mouse.

Display

The Display tab controls the behavior of the Windows Interface. For example, you can tell Setup to install Windows 98 with the standard desktop, or you can enable Active Desktop, which allows Web content to be displayed directly on the desktop. You can also determine whether each new folder that's opened should have its own window. Finally, you can decide whether you want to use a single- or a double-click to open items on the desktop.

Browser

The Browser tab enables you to set several Web pages. As you might expect, you can use this tab to set the default home page. However, you can also set the post setup page—the page that's displayed the first time the browser is used. Finally, you can set the online support page, which is a Web page that will be accessed automatically when a user clicks the Help option in the browser's menu bar.

Security

Network administrators are concerned with protecting their computers from malicious Web content. One form of protection involves setting the security level imposed upon various Internet zones, which you can do by selecting the Security tab. Using this tab, you can set the level of security with which you feel comfortable.

Proxy Settings

Since the purpose of the Batch tool is to ease the burden of mass-distributing Windows to a large number of computers, it should come as no surprise that some network settings are built into the Batch tool. Since one common method of tying the computers on your network into the Internet is through a Proxy Server, Microsoft has included a tab for controlling Proxy Server settings. This tab enables you to set the name and port number associated with the Proxy Server that is responsible for routing various types of Internet content. If necessary, you can instruct Setup to bypass the Proxy Server for local sites.

Advanced Options

As you might have guessed, the Advanced Options button on the Microsoft Batch 98 window takes you to the Advanced Options properties sheet. This sheet enables you to set a few options that weren't included in the other areas of the Batch program.

Additional Files

The default tab on the Advanced Options properties sheet is the Additional Files tab. This tab enables you to import external files as a part of the registry. You can also set the location of the system policy files.

Windows Update

As the name implies, the Windows Update window enables you to enable or disable the Windows Update feature. It also offers you the opportunity to specify the location of the Windows Update Web site.

Building the Script

Once you've gone through all of the Setup options, it's time to build the installation script file. Click the Save Settings To INF button on the Microsoft Batch 98 window. When you do this, Windows will create a file called Msbatch.inf in the \Program Files\Microsoft Batch 98 directory. As you can see in Figure E, this file looks the same as any other setup script.

Figure E: The Batch program creates a Setup script called Msbatch.inf.

What About Multiple Machine Names?

I mentioned earlier that one drawback to Setup scripts is the problem of each computer requiring a unique computer name. To compensate for this problem, the Batch program offers the ability to create custom scripts for up to 9,999 computers. To do this, select the Multiple Machine Name Save option from the File menu. You'll see the Multiple Machine-Name Save dialog box, shown in Figure F. As you can see, this dialog box enables you to specify a text file containing a list of machine names. It can then create a custom setup file for each machine.

Figure F: You can create a custom setup file for each machine on your network.

Running the Script

Now that you've created your custom scripts, all that's left is to run the Setup program. Running Setup with a custom script is easy. Specify the name and path of the script file after the Setup command. For example, you may use a command similar to one of the following:

SETUP MSBATCH.INF
SETUP C:\TEMP\MSBATCH.INF
SETUP \\TALAINIA\E$\TEMP\MSBATCH.INF

Of course, the path will probably be different from the ones that I've shown here unless you happen to copy the Msbatch.inf file to the Temp directory. You should also remember that the file name will be different if you've created computer name related files. For example, you may need to use a command like the one shown below:

SETUP COMPUTER1.INF

Brien M. Posey is an MCSE and works as a freelance technical writer and as a network engineer for the Department of Defense. If you'd like to contact Brien, send him an e-mail Brien_Posey@xpressions.com. (Because of the large volume of e-mail he receives, it's impossible for him to respond to every message. However, he does read them all.)

The above article is courtesy of TechRepublic https://www.techrepublic.com.

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