Automate Windows Installs

“Answer files are text files that contain the answers to various prompts Setup makes when installing Windows. By creating an answer file, you can automate the installation of Windows and make it a hands-free operation, saving time and simplifying deployment. Way back in the early days of Windows NT 4.0, administrators had to create their answer files from scratch (or tweak the sample unattend.txt file provided on the Windows NT 4.0 product CD) using a text editor like Notepad. Windows 2000 changed things by providing a support tool called Setup Manager found in the \Support\Tools\Deploy.cab folder on the Windows 2000 product CD. Using Setup Manager you can easily create new answer files by stepping through a wizard, or you can open existing answer files and modify them according to your needs. Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 contain updated versions of Setup Manager that function similarly. (Always use the version of Setup Manager for the latest version of your operating system/service pack combo.)

“The problem is that when administrators use answer files to deploy a lot of Windows machines on their networks, they often end up with a collection of different answer files for different purposes–depending on whether they are installing workstations or servers, assigning different server roles, deploying machines across different subnets or domains, or installing different versions of Windows. The result is answer file hell, a counterpart to the old DLL hell that used to plague users of earlier versions of Windows when they installed a surplus of third-party applications.” [Read more...]