Remote Installation Services Image Folder Name Is Limited to 39 Characters

ID: Q241427

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

SUMMARY

When you run Risetup.exe and choose to add a new operating system image to the Remote Installation Services (RIS) server, the image folder name that you are prompted to type is limited to 39 characters or less.

MORE INFORMATION

This restriction is because of size limits imposed on the SetupSourceDevice value in the [SetupData] section of the Setup information file (SIF).

The SetupSourceDevice value is limited to 130 characters or less and is displayed in the following format:

\\RIS_computername\Reminst\Setup\lang\Images\foldername

where computername is the name of the computer, lang is the language name, and foldername is the name of the folder.

If you exceed the 130-character limit, you may receive one of the following error messages during a RIS client installation:

Error loading Kbdus.dll

Bootfile error

Ntdetect failed

If you receive any of these error messages, check the SIF on the client (located in the RemoteInstall\Tmp folder). The file name contains the client's GUID (Global Unique ID) and a .sif extension. Open the file using a text editor and examine the SetupSourcDevice value. If the the SetupSourcDevice value is longer than 130 characters, rename the image folder on the RIS server (for example, D:\RemoteInstall\Setup\lang\Images\Image_foldername) to a shorter name, and then reattempt the client installation.

NOTE: The length of the SetupSourceDevice value can vary, depending on the length of the RIS computer name and its language name (the length of the RIS computer name is limited to 15 characters and the longest length of the language name that is currently supported is 17 characters). The 39-character limit is calculated using the maximum of those two variables.

Additional query words: bootfile

Keywords : kbenv
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbinfo