Customizing and Automating Installations

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Table 5.9 provides a checklist of the information you need to get before automating and customizing an installation.

Table 5.9 Checklist for Preparing to Customize and Automate an Installation

Information

Reference

Obtain latest installation information.

Relnotes.txt and Read1st.txt on the Windows 2000 Professional operating system CD.

Understand the Windows 2000 setup process.

Setup and Startup in this book.

Verify hardware compatibility.

For the most up-to-date list of supported hardware, see the Hardware Compatibility List link on the Web Resources page at https://windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/reskit/webresources
For a version that was accurate as of the date Windows 2000 Professional was released, see Windows 2000 Professional operating system CD in drive :\Support\Hcl.txt.

Choose between performing an upgrade of your existing operating system and performing a clean installation.

Installing Windows 2000 Professional in this book.

Back up your data.

Installing Windows 2000 Professional earlier in this book.

Consider issues for multiple-boot configurations : Do you want to be able to choose between different operating systems each time you start your computer?

Installing Windows 2000 Professional in this book.

Create disk partitions : Do you have to create disk partitions or make changes to your existing disk partitions?

Installing Windows 2000 Professional in this book and Sysprep later in this chapter.

Decide what components are required for your customization : Choose what hardware, drivers, applications, and optional files you want to add to the distribution folder.

Step 3: Customize later in this chapter.

If you are running Winnt.exe or Winnt32.exe over the network: Select network connectivity, bootable floppy disks, or a bootable compact disc to connect to the distribution share that contains the installation files.

Running Setup from the Operating System CD in this chapter.