Unattended Basic Installation of Windows NT 4.0 Workstation

Introduction:

When installing Windows NT 4.0 Workstation by booting with Disk 1 of the Windows NT installation disks, you have to answer many questions during the installation. An unattended installation is an installation where the questions are answered by an answer file, which the install program is told to look to for answers to installation questions. 

By using an answer file an installation of Windows NT can be repeated exactly numerous times, or many identical PCs can have Windows NT installed by doing an unattended installation using an answer file. Note that each different hardware configuration requires a different answer file.  

An unattended installation can be used to do more than just a basic installation of Windows NT, but can also be configured to install the latest service pack, install 3rd party video drivers and setup networking etc.. 


Preparing a Boot Disk for a Basic Installation:

*This installation assumes that your hardware list includes a CD-ROM and a Network Interface Card (NIC).

Create a boot disk which provides you with CD-ROM support. An easy way to do this is to make a Windows 98 Startup disk, which by default provides good CD-ROM support.

Creating a Windows 98 startup disk is simple. Put a blank disk in the floppy drive, then click on Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > select the Startup Disk tab and click on Create Disk. Windows 98 will now make a boot disk with CD-ROM support. Once the disk is created copy smartdrv.exe onto the disk.

Creating a DOS boot disk with CD support goes as follows. Put the boot disk to be in the floppy drive of PC running DOS. Type format a: /s to format the disk and make it bootable. Then copy the following files from the DOS directory to the floppy - format.com, smartdrv.exe, himem.sys, fdisk.exe, edit.com, mscdex.exe, qbasic.exe. Now you need to create an Autoexec.bat file and a Config.sys file on the bootable floppy. Using a text editor make a new file containing the following lines and save it on the boot disk as Autoexec.bat.

@echo off  

prompt $p$g

set temp=C:\temp

c:\mscdex /d:mscd000

smartdrv

Create a second new file called config.sys which contains the following lines of text. Note in line three gscdrom.sys is specific to my CD-ROM. Check the driver disk and documentation that came with your CD drive to make sure you use the correct file and copy the file to the boot disk.

device=himem.sys

lastdrive=z

device=gscdrom.sys /d:mscd000 /v

Preparing for Installing NIC Support:

Some new NICs setup under Windows NT quite nicely and do not require any user intervention other that to indicate what driver NT should use. Other cards primarily older ISA cards require a bit of extra work. In my case I am using a 3Com Etherlink III NIC which needs some extra steps to successfully install under Windows NT.

With problem NICs like my 3Com card you need to find out what Port and IRQ the NIC is configured to use. The driver disk which came with your NIC should contain a configuration program. Run the configuration program and check the configuration of the NIC, and record the Port and IRQ settings to use later when creating the answer file.

Creating the answer file:

The answer file is created using Microsoft Setup Manager which is located on the Windows NT install CD under \support\deptools\I386\setupmgr.exe. I have found that Setup Manager is not on all Windows NT CDs. I found it on an upgrade CD but not an OEM CD. I also found it on the TechNet Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit Utilities disk. When you run setup manager you get a screen with three buttons, the first is General Setup, second Networking Setup, and third is Advanced Setup.

Under General Setup there are seven tabs, User Information , General, Computer Role, Install Directory, Display Setting, Time Zone, and License Mode which is only used for server installs.

Under Networking Setup there are 6 tabs, General, Adapters, Protocols, Services, Internet which is for servers only, and Modem which requires RAS.

Under Advanced Setup there are eight tabs, General, File System, Mass Storage, Display, Keyboard, Printing Device, Boot Files, and Advertisement.

Once you go through all three areas you save the results as a text file, make a copy of the text file so you have a backup copy and open it with your choice of text editor. There are manual entries needed for the install to become unattended.

The following is a sample of an answer file off a Windows NT Upgrade CD. 

[Unattended]
OemPreinstall = no
ConfirmHardware = no
NtUpgrade = no
Win31Upgrade = no
TargetPath = WINNT
OverwriteOemFilesOnUpgrade = no

[UserData]
FullName = "Your User Name"
OrgName = "Your Organization Name"
ComputerName = COMPUTER_NAME

[GuiUnattended]
TimeZone = "(GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada); Tijuana"

[Display]
ConfigureAtLogon = 0
BitsPerPel = 16
XResolution = 640
YResolution = 480
VRefresh = 70
AutoConfirm = 1

[Network]
Attend = yes
DetectAdapters = ""
InstallProtocols = ProtocolsSection
JoinDomain = Domain_To_Join

[ProtocolsSection]
TC = TCParameters

[TCParameters]
DHCP = yes

It is possible to take this sample data above and modify it with a text editor and have a usable answer file. But it is much simpler to use Startup Manger to create an answer file so you only have to do a minimal about of changes to the answer file with a text editor.

Working with Setup Manger:

To start creating an answer file you need to start Setup Manager for Windows NT 4.0 which runs under Windows 98/NT and Windows 2000. Then click on the General Installation button to begin entering information in the fields on the User Information tab. The first three fields User name, Organization and Computer Name are starting forward. The forth and final field Product ID requires that you enter the Product ID for NT exactly as you see it on the Certificate of Authenticity, including the dashes: xxxxx-oem-xxxxxxx-xxxxx.

The General tab require no entries for a basic installation so it can be skipped over. On the Computer Role tab select the role of the computer to be Workstation in workgroup, and type a workgroup name in the Enter the workgroup name field.

Install Directory tab can be left with the default setting which will install Windows NT in the WINNT directory. Display setting tab can be left at the default settings. Time Zone tab provides a drop down list of time zones from which you can pick your time zone.

The last tab is License mode which only applies to server installations and is not accessible when the computer role is not set to server. Click on the OK button to return to Setup managers opening screen.

Network Options:

Select the Network Installation Options button. The first tab is General which is where you specify the parameters for installing your Network interface Card (NIC). Accept the default setting of Unattended Network Installation, then you have to make some choices based on your experience with the hardware you are working on. If you know NT has good built in support for your NIC selecting Automatically detect and install first adapter may work for you. NICs which are integrated into the motherboard using the AMD chip set would respond well to this setting. In my case using am old 3Com NIC which NT does not detect well I select Specify adapter(s) to be detected. I have found that using Specify adapter(s) to be installed caused the install to produce an error message about NIC settings which if accepted the install would continue and the nIC would be correctly configured.

Click on the Adapters tab > Add, click the arrow and select your NIC from the list, ( Note - If your NIC is not in the list I am not covering that option at this moment but will in the Advanced Unattended Instructions) and click on OK. If NT works well with you card you maybe able to skip this section. Many NICs will setup well under NT without you manually setting the parameters. MY 3Com card is not one of those cards. In the early stages of the installation I used a configuration program to find that my card is configured to use Port 310 and IRQ 5. you card click on Parameters to set the resource parameters for you card. The first parameter is Interrupt Number which in my case i enter 5. Second is I/O Base Address which in my case I take the value 310 which is a hexadecimal value which has to be converted to a decimal value of 784 and entered in the field. This can be done with any scientific calculator including the one that comes with Windows. Transceiver is the next field, the choices are 10 Base T, Thick Net (AUI/DIX), and Thin Net (BNC/COAX) for which a number value is required. They are numbered 0 1 2 respectively.

10 Base T = 0

Thick Net (AUI/DIX) = 1

Thin Net (BNC/COAX) = 2 

I am using 10 Base T so I enter a value of 0. 

Network Interface type can be PNP Bios, PCI, or ISA, which requires a value of 1 thru 3 respectively. 

PNP Bios = 1

PCI = 2

ISA = 3

I am using ISA so I input a value of 3. Bus number Number is should be set to 0.