Preparing the Windows 2000 Server Upgrade Package

The following procedure describes how to set up a typical upgrade package for Windows 2000 Server. The first step is to set up the location of the package source files and the predefined SMS package for distributing Windows 2000 Server.

To create a Windows 2000 Server SMS package

1. Set up a location for the package source files.

   This process is described in the chapter "Automating Server Installation and Upgrade" in this book. This will include the Windows 2000 files, an answer file, and other files as needed.

2. In the SMS Administrator console, select Packages. From the Action menu, point to New, and then click Package From Definition as shown in Figure 14.3.

Enlarge figure

Figure 14.3 Initiating the SMS Package from Definition Wizard

3. On the Welcome page, click Next. From the Package definition list, click Windows 2000 Server.
4. On the Source Files page, click Create a compressed version of the source, and then click Next. In the Source directory box, enter the path to the package source files (see step 1). Click Next, and then click Finish.

   If the site server is extremely tight for disk space, you can choose Always obtains files from a source directory from the Source Files page. However, this slows future distributions of the software, and you must ensure that the source directory is always available.

5. When the wizard finishes, select Programs under your new package. In the results pane (the right side of the console), double-click Automated upgrade from NTS 3.51/4.0 (x86). Then verify that the predefined Command line is the correct setup command for your needs. Repeat step 5 for the other programs that you use.

   To verify that the predefined Command line meets your needs, see "Examining the Windows 2000 Server Package Definition" later in this chapter.

   Consider specifying an answer file in the program command line, which can allow you to specify a large number of configuration options. For more information about answer files, see "Automating Server Installation and Upgrade" in this book.

6. In the Comment box, enter a comment for each of the programs that you will use.

   The user can see your comments, so be sure they are descriptive. Give your users contact information, such as the name, phone number, or e-mail address of someone that they can contact for more information.

7. On the Requirements tab for each program, adjust (if necessary) the Estimated disk space and Estimated run time to values that are appropriate for the upgrade you are doing. These values are information for your users.
8. On the Environment tab for each program, verify that Program can run is set to Whether or not a user is logged on.

   This setting ensures that the program is run with administrative rights, which is necessary for Microsoft® Windows NT® Server upgrades.

9. Click OK to close the program properties box.
10. Select the Windows 2000 Server package, and from the Action menu, click Properties. On the Reporting tab, enter 5.0 for the Version. Verify that the Name is Windows NT and the Publisher is Microsoft.



Important

Setting these values is necessary for the advertisement status information to be accurate. Otherwise, every execution of the SMS package is recorded as successful even if it aborts or fails.

11. Click OK to close the package properties dialog box.
12. If you want to ensure that users do not upgrade their computers before you are ready to deploy Windows 2000, select Access Accounts under your new package, and in the results pane, delete the Guests and Users access accounts.

    Note that SMS does hide the software distribution shares and that users would require administrative rights on the computers (or the computers would have to be running Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft Windows 98) for them to take advantage of these shares.

    You have to give access to users who are authorized to upgrade to Windows 2000 at a later time.

Also, do not adjust the distribution points or create an advertisement at this time.

Caution

If you want to use security to control who can adjust or deploy the package, see the chapter "Distributing Software" in the Systems Management Server 2.0 Administrator's Guide.

If you require multiple Windows 2000 upgrade answer files to accommodate variations in your upgrades, you must create additional programs for the package in the SMS Administrator console. Each program will specify a different answer file for the winnt32 /unattend switch. Separate answer files allow different groups of computers to be upgraded in different ways while still using just a single package.

Systems Management Server 2.0 includes a variety of sophisticated options for packages and their programs. For example, you can specify that the Windows 2000 files be made available with a specific share name at your distribution points. This way they can easily be used by people performing manual upgrades as well as by SMS. The SMS documentation includes complete details on these options.

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