High Performance NT4 Optimization and Tuning:Installing Windows NT Server

MS-DOS And WINNT.EXE

If you have an unsupported CD-ROM drive or no CD-ROM drive at all, you can still install Windows NT Server without using floppy disks by booting MS-DOS and running the WINNT.EXE program. This program can be run from either a local CD-ROM drive supported by MS-DOS or from a network sharepoint from either MS-DOS, Windows 3.x in standard mode, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (which must be started with the WIN/T switch and must have an NDIS 2.0 or other real-mode network driver loaded), or Windows 95 (the DOS session must have the “Prevent MS-DOS based program from detecting Windows” Advanced Program property enabled). All of these methods will copy the entire source media for the Windows NT Server installation to the local hard disk and then run the same install program as mentioned earlier, using the local copy as the source media instead of a CD-ROM.

Note: If you are going to install Windows NT Server from a network share, you must first copy the entire installation directory to this share and share it (preferably as read-only). For instance, to prepare for an Intel installation, copy the entire I386 subdirectory on the CD-ROM to a directory on a server, then share that subdirectory.

The command line for WINNT.EXE is:

WINNT /s:SourceMediaPath /t:TempDrive /i:IniFile [/o | /ox] /x /f /c /b

where:

• /s:—Specifies the source path for the installation files in the form of a UNC file name (such as \\SRV\CD-ROM\I386) or a local drive letter (such as E:\I386).

• /t:—Specifies the temporary drive where the source media will be copied to. The temporary directory is always $WIN_NT$.~LT.

Windows NT Server does not support any MS-DOS compression schemes, so you must make sure that the local files are copied to a directory that is accessible from the Windows NT Setup program. You can use the /t switch to override the WINNT drive selection for the temporary files.

• /i:—Specifies a different INF file for the text setup program to use. The default is DOSNET.INF.

• /o—Creates the three boot floppies that specify the temporary directory as the source media.

• /ox—Creates the three boot floppies that can use either the CD-ROM or additional floppies for installation. These floppies are an exact copy of the floppies that ship with Windows NT Server.

Use the /ox switch to create boot floppies that can be used for the repair disk process. I suggest this version, because it can use floppies (or a portable CD-ROM drive) for the source media comparison. Floppies created with the /o switch will attempt to find files in the $WIN_NT$.~LT directory on your hard disk, and after the install, this directory is deleted. Once the directory has been deleted, it is no longer available for a source media to make a local copy comparison.

• /x—Overrides the creation of any boot floppies.

• /f—Overrides the verification of files as they are copied from the source media to your local hard disk.

• /c—Skips the free-space check (to make sure you have enough free space to contain the copied files) on your local hard disk drive.

• /b—Skips the creation of boot floppies, but creates a new directory on your hard disk called $WIN_NT$.~BT, which contains a complete copy of the boot files.

My favorite installation method (compared to a floppy installation) is to use the WINNT /S:SourceMediaPath /B option. This provides the fastest installation method when you have no supported CD-ROM drive.

Once the installation process has started, files are moved from the temporary directory to the SystemRoot directory. This means that you do not need twice the free space to install Windows NT Server in this fashion. If for any reason the temporary directories ($WIN_NT$.~LT and $WIN_NT$.~BT) are not deleted automatically after the installation, you may delete them. If you wish to add drivers later, you can specify the network sharepoint (in UNC format) as the source media path.

RISC Processor Installation

Installation on a RISC processor follows the same basic format as on an Intel processor, with a few minor differences. The first gotcha is that each RISC-based computer is a bit different in how you run a program from the CD-ROM drive. So, I have to refer you to your operating manual to determine that particular process. The basic process, however, is presented here:

1. Insert the Windows NT Server CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive.

2. Restart your computer.

3. When the ARC menu appears, choose Run A Program From The Menu.

4. Type CD:\System\SETUPLDR, (where System is the RISC computer type: Alpha, MIPS, or PPC), and press Enter. Note that this varies from RISC computer to RISC computer, and in some cases, you must supply a fully qualified device name. Your documentation will include the specifics. At this point, you are attempting to run the SETUPLDR program, which is the same program that the normal install process executes.

5. From here on out, the installation process is exactly the same as the process presented earlier in this chapter.

Note: In order to install Windows NT Server, you must have a system partition of at least 2MB in size. This partition must be formatted as FAT.
If you are upgrading an existing version of Windows NT Server or you’re converting a Windows NT Workstation to Windows NT Server, you can run the WINNT32.EXE program.

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