Automating Server Installation and Upgrade

Determining Whether to Upgrade or Clean Install

In the enterprise environment, it is not cost effective to install Windows 2000 using the standard interactive setup on each computer. To greatly lower the total cost of ownership (TCO), you can perform automated installations of Windows 2000 Server on multiple computers.

Critical Decision Before you can automate the installation of Windows 2000 Professional, you must decide whether the installation will be an upgrade from Windows NT or a clean installation.

The following two items will help you determine whether to upgrade or to perform a clean installation.

If your organization has already implemented a Windows operating system and your information technology (IT) department is centrally managed, you will want to perform an upgrade. If you are planning to create a managed environment but one does not currently exist in your organization, then you will want to perform a clean installation so that you can implement standard configurations as you perform your installation.
If you plan to use currently existing hardware and software applications, then you will need to perform an upgrade. Alternatively, if you plan to purchase new hardware and install new software applications, you will need to perform a clean installation.