Remote OS Installation |
Ensure that both your server and client hardware meet the minimum installation hardware requirements for Windows 2000. For more information about Remote OS Installation hardware requirements and compatible computers or network adapters, see the Hardware Compatibility List link on the Web Resources page at http://windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/reskit/webresources.
In addition, be sure that your server and client hardware meet the requirements in the following sections.
Windows 2000 Remote OS Installation requires the following server hardware:
RIS requires a significant amount of disk space to store operating system images. Dedicate an entire hard disk drive partition specifically to the directory tree of the RIS server. Small computer system interface (SCSI)–based disk controllers or disks are preferred. Format the drive where you want to install RIS with NTFS. You cannot install RIS on the same drive as the system volume. RIS does not support the installation of images on to Encrypting File System (EFS) or the Distributed file system (Dfs) volumes.
Windows 2000 Remote OS Installation requires the following client hardware:
Note
There are several ways to enable a computer with PXE remote boot services. All clients with Net PC and PC98 are required to have PXE support. The way that a hardware vendor supports PXE and the version of PXE that you have implemented is important for troubleshooting and diagnosing failures.
Network adapter manufacturers can embed the PXE ROM code on a chip as part of the network adapter itself. The chip is usually a piece of silicon that you can upgrade independently of the system BIOS. There are several manufacturers that create a version of PXE-based remote boot code as part of the client system or as chips that reside on network adapters. A PXE-based remote boot ROM network adapter is included on computers that are Net PC or PC98-compliant systems. The client might also be an existing computer equipped with a PXE-based remote boot ROM that adheres to the PXE environment specifications. For more information about PXE protocol and process, see "Preboot Execution Environment" later in this chapter.
The remote installation boot floppy disk is used to start the process of remote operating system installation for computers that do not have a supported PXE-based remote boot ROM. The boot floppy disk is a PXE emulator that connects to the RIS server through PCI network adapters. The Rbfg.exe tool is used to generate a remote installation boot floppy disk. When you create a boot floppy disk, all of the network adapters listed in the Adapter List option are available on that floppy disk, and a specific network boot disk is not required. All of the adapters in this list are PCI-based network adapters. ISA, ISA (Plug and Play), and PCMCIA adapters are not supported. To see a list of supported network adapters, start the Rbfg.exe tool, and then click Adapter List. The Rbfg.exe tool does not allow you to add additional network adapters.
Note
PXE remote boot can also occur when the BIOS is configured to start from the network adapter as the primary start device, as opposed to from the hard disk drive. Hardware vendors can embed PXE remote boot support in the computer's system BIOS. In this case, the remote boot ROM code is actually part of the computer's BIOS, which requires that you upgrade the system to upgrade the PXE ROM code.
The remote installation boot floppy disk can be useful when you need to install an operating system on portable computer systems and systems that do not include a supported boot ROM using RIS. Because the current PXE specifications do not support PCMCIA adapters, you can place the portable computer in a docking station and use a RBFG-generated boot floppy disk to connect to the server, assuming that the docking station contains a supported PCI network adapter. Some docking stations have PXE ROMs built into the network adapter and do not need the floppy disk. (See your portable computer manual.)
The remote boot floppy disk generator tool, Rbfg.exe, can be found on every RIS server, in the Reminst share at \\RISservername\Reminst\Admin\i386 directory. The Rbfg.exe tool also exists in the Administrative Tools Windows Installer (Adminpak.msi) package that is included with Windows 2000 Server. You can run this tool from either the Reminst share, or on a computer that has the Administrative Tools package installed. The Rbfg.exe floppy disk generator gives you the option to create a remote boot disk to use with RIS on either floppy disk drive A or drive B.
To create a remote boot disk
\\RISservername\Reminst\Admin\i386\Rbfg.exe