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– Install RIS on the server by first installing the Remote Installation Services, rebooting, and then running
Risetup.exe from the Run command.
– While using Risetup.exe, you will be asked whether you want to RIS to respond to all client requests, or not to unknown computers. If you choose the second option, only pre-staged computers will be answered (This will be discussed in a moment), and no other machine will be able to obtain an image from this server!
– RIS will automatically create a default Windows 2000 Professional image called a CD-based image, and will prompt you for the source files. In reality, this is not really a disk “image” but rather an automated unattended standard W2K Pro installation.
– The RIS server must also be authorized in AD in order to respond to client requests. This is also accomplished via the DHCP manager tool.
This will be the only image that exists on the server unless you create others. In order to create other images, you need to first create your desktop build, complete with applications, configuration and the like (just as if you were creating an build to image with Ghost). After this is complete, you need to run
Riprep.exe on the system to create the image. Riprep.exe can be found on the RIS server. The path:
RISservernameReminstAdmini386Riprep.exe
You do get to choose the RIS server on which you ultimately want to hold the image, as well as a friendly name for the image itself.
Riprep.exe performs a similar function to Sysprep.exe, in that it removes the SID and other setting that must be unique once the system is deployed. Again, you can use Setup Manager to create answer files that will automatically answer the questions asked (For the sake of knowing, these answer files can ultimately be restricted with NTFS permissions, which allow you to control who can access the particular image.).
Wow, RIS is a big topic – but so far weve only looked at the server side. There are, however, also requirements for a RIS client. First and foremost, the client must support booting from the network via a PXE Boot ROM (Pre-boot execution environment). All is not lost if your network card doesn’t support this, however. You can create a Remote Installation boot floppy from the RIS server by running
Rbfg.exe. This tool will create a network-bootable RIS floppy disk – the only problem is that many cards are not supported, so you’ll have to check the driver list. When the client does boot, remember that it will not have an OS (or may have one not functioning), and will be trying to obtain one from the network. After the system obtains an IP address, it will prompt the user to hit F12 to contact the RIS server, and the process has begun.
