I am looking to deploy XP w/SP2 through RIS. From what I understand, I need
to install XP to a system and then create a RIS image from that installation
using RIPrep. Is it possible to just use an unattended answer file and the
contents of an XP CD (with custom drivers) as the RIS image? I have
probably 20 different models of workstations and creating an image for each
one does not sound like the proper way to do this. I can create a custom
disc with all the drivers and everything on it, but I would really prefer to
not walk around to a few hundred workstations with media to in hand.

Maybe I have read the documentation wrong, this just does not seem right to
me. Is my view of RIS completely wrong?

Thanks!

mene wrote:
>I am looking to deploy XP w/SP2 through RIS. From what I understand, I
>need to install XP to a system and then create a RIS image from that
>installation using RIPrep. Is it possible to just use an unattended answer
>file and the contents of an XP CD (with custom drivers) as the RIS image?
>I have probably 20 different models of workstations and creating an image
>for each one does not sound like the proper way to do this. I can create a
>custom disc with all the drivers and everything on it, but I would really
>prefer to not walk around to a few hundred workstations with media to in
>hand.
>
> Maybe I have read the documentation wrong, this just does not seem right
> to me. Is my view of RIS completely wrong?

Wow - I wish I would have read this post before the other one. The answer i
gave you there is really what you should be looking into. You would benefit
from something from these two pages more than you ever would Microsoft's
RIS:

http://unattended.sourceforge.net/ (Network)
or
http://unattended.msfn.org/ (CD/DVD)

I personally combined the two methods to come up with a pretty complete one
that covers just about every machine I've tried via Network or DVD version.
Easy to upkeep and gets you everything you need installed done painlessly.
If you have more applications to install than they have listed on either
page (with the parameters) - a good resource is:

http://www.appdeploy.com/

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>
> Thanks!
>
>

Ah yeah sorry about the two post confusion. I thought separating them would
be best since they are kind of different.

Anyway, thanks for the two sites, that has already been the primary source
for most of my setup information.

So basically RIS does not permit what I am looking to accomplish eh?


"Shenan Stanley" <newshelper@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:eo1SEs9BGHA.228@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> mene wrote:
>>I am looking to deploy XP w/SP2 through RIS. From what I understand, I
>>need to install XP to a system and then create a RIS image from that
>>installation using RIPrep. Is it possible to just use an unattended
>>answer file and the contents of an XP CD (with custom drivers) as the RIS
>>image? I have probably 20 different models of workstations and creating an
>>image for each one does not sound like the proper way to do this. I can
>>create a custom disc with all the drivers and everything on it, but I
>>would really prefer to not walk around to a few hundred workstations with
>>media to in hand.
>>
>> Maybe I have read the documentation wrong, this just does not seem right
>> to me. Is my view of RIS completely wrong?
>
> Wow - I wish I would have read this post before the other one. The answer
> i gave you there is really what you should be looking into. You would
> benefit from something from these two pages more than you ever would
> Microsoft's RIS:
>
> http://unattended.sourceforge.net/ (Network)
> or
> http://unattended.msfn.org/ (CD/DVD)
>
> I personally combined the two methods to come up with a pretty complete
> one that covers just about every machine I've tried via Network or DVD
> version. Easy to upkeep and gets you everything you need installed done
> painlessly. If you have more applications to install than they have listed
> on either page (with the parameters) - a good resource is:
>
> http://www.appdeploy.com/
>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> MS-MVP
> --
> How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>>
>
>

mene wrote:
> Ah yeah sorry about the two post confusion. I thought separating them
> would be best since they are kind of different.
>
> Anyway, thanks for the two sites, that has already been the primary source
> for most of my setup information.
>
> So basically RIS does not permit what I am looking to accomplish eh?

I wouldn't say that - but I think (from your description of your situation)
these options would be easier for you to grasp and utilize than RIS.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html