Uploading the Master System to the Distribution Server

Once you have installed the master system, you can upload it and any additional directories you want to the distribution server.

During a normal Windows NT installation, the Setup program interactively requests information. Because the CPS utility installs Windows NT on identically configured computers at which users are not present, the requested information is provided in a file named PROFILE.INI. For information about editing PROFILE.INI, see the PROFILE.TXT file in the \I386\CPS directory on the Windows NT resource kit CD-ROM.

To upload the master system

  1. On the master system computer, create a directory to hold the CPS utility files, and then change the default to that directory.
  2. With the Windows NT resource kit CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive of the master system computer, copy the \I386\CPS directory from the CD-ROM to the directory you created in step 1. For example, if your CD-ROM drive is D:, type the following:

    xcopy d:\i386\cps

  3. If you need to edit PROFILE.INI, edit the copy you made in step 2 using a text editor such as Windows Notepad.
  4. On the distribution server, create the directory that is to receive the master system files, and share this directory.
  5. On the master system computer, type the following:

    uplodprf -s:master -i:profile.ini [\dir1] [\dir2] [...]

    where master is the UNC name of the directory you created in step 4 (or the network path to that directory, if you have a network connection to it), and dir1, dir2, ... are the paths to additional directories on the master system computer that you want to preinstall on the target computers.

In addition to the Windows NT system files and any additional directories or files you specify, the uplodprf tool uploads the registry files from the master system and then removes user-specific information from the copy on the distribution server. For options available with the uplodprf tool, at the command prompt type uplodprf /?.

As a final step, review entries in the [DefaultValues] section of the DEFAULTS.INF file in the %systemroot%/system32 subdirectory of the shared directory you have created on the master system computer. Some of the values in this section, such as DefaultOrgName and DefaultTimeZone, will probably be the same for all the users who will use this profile, and can be set at this time.

You are now ready to distribute the master profile to the target computers.