Setup Tools and Settings

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

In this section

  • Setup Tools

  • Related Information

This section describes the Winnt32.exe and Winnt.exe commands.

Setup Tools

The following tools are associated with Setup.

Winnt32.exe

Winnt32.exe is on the Windows Server 2003 product CD in the I386 folder. For Itanium architecture-based computers, Winnt32.exe is located in the IA64 folder on the product CD.

Version Compatibility

Winnt32.exe can be run on a computer running Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or a product in the Windows Server 2003 family. If you run Winnt32.exe on a computer running Windows NT 4.0, you must first apply Service Pack 5 or later.

To install Windows Server 2003, use the version of Winnt32.exe on your Windows Server 2003 product CD, not the version of Winnt32.exe that exists on a CD for a different product.

Description

Winnt32.exe provides some ways to run Setup that contrast with starting the computer from the product CD or starting Setup by inserting the product CD and waiting for a display to appear automatically. With options available with Winnt32.exe, you can make slight changes to the interactive installation process, or you can run unattended installation (by using an answer file).

The typical way you would use Winnt32.exe with interactive installations is by creating a shared network folder containing files from the Windows Server 2003 product CD. You would then prepare the folder to work with specific Winnt32.exe options and run Winnt32.exe across the network using those options. For example, you can create a shared subfolder with additional drivers and have the subfolder installed at the same time as the operating system. As another example, you can perform an installation in which you use Dynamic Update files that you have downloaded and prepared in a special shared folder. (When you use the correct options with Winnt32.exe, the files are downloaded from the Windows Update Web site.)

For more information about Winnt32.exe, see “Command line reference A-Z” on the Microsoft TechNet Web site. For more information about using Winnt32.exe for unattended installation, see “Unattended Installation Technical Reference.”

Winnt.exe

Category

Winnt.exe is on the Windows Server 2003 product CD in the I386 folder.

Version Compatibility

Winnt.exe can be run on a computer running MS-DOS. To install Windows Server 2003, use the version of Winnt.exe on your Windows Server 2003 product CD, not the version of Winnt.exe that exists on the CD for a different product.

Description

Winnt.exe is a command-line interface for starting an installation or upgrade on a computer running MS-DOS.

Winnt.exe provides some ways to run Setup that contrast with starting the computer from the product CD or starting Setup by inserting the product CD and waiting for a display to appear automatically. With options available with Winnt.exe, you can make slight changes to the interactive installation process, or you can run unattended installation (by using an answer file).

The typical way you would use Winnt.exe with interactive installations is by creating a shared network folder containing files from the Windows Server 2003 product CD. You would then prepare the folder to work with specific Winnt.exe options and run Winnt.exe across the network using those options. For example, you can create a shared subfolder with additional drivers and have the subfolder installed at the same time as the operating system.

For more information about Winnt.exe, see “Command line reference A-Z” on the Microsoft TechNet Web site. For more information about using Winnt.exe for unattended installation, see “Unattended Installation Technical Reference.”

The following resources contain additional information that is relevant to this section.