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/* Quick overview Unattended Setup of Windows Systems.           */
/* Version: 0.0                                                  */
/* Date   : 30/08/2011                                           */
/* By     : Albert                                               */
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1. Overview Major NT Systems:
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=> In a birds eye view, historically, we can find as the major NT client Operating Systems:
   (Not counting the DOS based shells like Windows 1.x, 2.x, 3.x, Win95, Win98, Win ME)

. NT Workstation 3.5(1)
. NT 4 Workstation
. Windows 2000 Workstation
. XP
. Vista
. Windows 7

=> Likewise, for the major versions of the Server based Operating Systems, we have:

. NT Server 3.5(1)
. NT 4 Server
. Windows Server 2000 
. Windows Server 2003 (and R2)
. Windows Server 2008 (and R2)


- For a certain Server version, you might find variants like:
  Web Edition, Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, Datacenter Edition etc..

- For a certain Client version, you might find variants like:
  Home Edition, Professional Edition etc..

but those variants are not so very important for our high-level overview.


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2: The "oldfashioned" NT 3.5x/4.0/2000 (and XP) style of automatic setups:
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NT 3.5x/4.0/2000:
-----------------

For NT 3.5x/4.0/2000, to realize an automatic setup, it was customary to create
an "unattend.txt" textfile, which would contain "the answers" that the setup program
normally would ask a user, like the install directory, username, productkey, Regional settings etc..

Once the unattend.txt file (which is just an editable ascii file) was ready, you would 

-> If you would install from a CD, rename "unattend.txt" to "winnt.sif",
   and place it into the I386 directory.

-> If you would boot the PC from a bootfloppy, with some basic networking in place, 
   the PC would connect to a networkshare and install Windows from there.
   In this case, the answerfile could have any name, so "unattend.txt" is alright anyway.
   
Ofcourse, the "unattend.txt" and "winnt.sif" files are identical, but if you install from CD, 
it must be named winnt.sif or the Windows install doesn't use it. 
For a network based install, it was common to leave the name of the answerfile to unattend.txt.

In general, for a installation from a networkshare, the initiation of the install was to call 
the setup program (winnt.exe or winnt32.exe), and refer to the answerfile in the following way:

Winnt.exe /u:[Answer_File_FUll_Name] 

Note: a winnt.sif on a floppydisk would always be choosen first.


XP:
---

The oulined method even works for XP too. 
Even if "activation" is required for XP, that can be done too using an unattend.txt.

For the activation using unattend.txt, please see:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457088.aspx



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3: Remote installation Services in Win2K3
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The predecessor of the modern "Windows Deployment service" of Windows Server 2008,
is the "Remote Installation Service" (RIS) of Windows Server 2003.

With this service, you can (in principle) let remote systems, install Win2K3, Win2000, and XP.
But it must be said that RIS actually seems to be more or less "optimized" to remotely install 
XP Professional systems.

Clients:
--------

The clients preferably are enabled for "PXE boot", meaning that the netcard is able to request IP
params from a DHCP Server. 
If client systems are not, they need another way to boot and load IP parameters (for example, using
the oldfashioned bootfloppy).

RIS Server:
-----------

You first need to install RIS on your 2003 Server. This is a matter of or using add/remove programs, 
to add the RIS service.

But there are quite a few requisites before you can use RIS.

- Be sure to have a seperate partition/disk for the Win2K3 Operating System of the Server, 
  and a seperate partition/disk for storage of the client images.
- You need Active Directory (and thus also DNS). Your RIS Server is either a member Server in AD, or it
  may be a Domain Controller (not recommended).
- DHCP is installed in your network
  Create a scope thats meant for the "to be installed" clients.
  For example, you create a IP interval like 10.10.10.5 - 10.10.10.200, 
  and call the scope "risxp", and authorize it in AD (rightclick the scope in DHCP management). 
- And ofcourse you need the Client source, like the install DVD of Windows XP Professsional.


NOT READY YET.

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4: Windows Deployment Services in Win2K3, Win2K8
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