Remote OS Installation

Creating Operating System Images

Remote OS Installation allows the installation of operating system images on clients. You can create two types of images using RIS:

CD-based images (using RISetup). CD-based images are similar to setting up a workstation directly from the Windows 2000 Professional compact disc; however, the source files reside across the network on available RIS servers.
Remote Installation Preparation Wizard (RIPrep) images using RIPrep. RIPrep images allow a network administrator to clone a standard corporate desktop configuration, complete with operating system configurations, desktop customizations, and locally installed applications.

These two types of images are suitable for use in different situations. The benefits and limitations, as well as considerations and how to use RISetup and RIPrep are discussed in the following sections.

Note

RIS only supports Windows 2000 Professional images, it does not support Windows 2000 Server or previous operating systems, including Windows 95 and Windows 98. RIS also does not support remote installation of the CD or RIPrep operating system images of Windows 2000 Server.