An unattended install on Windows XP is simply a practical method of automatic deployment of windows Xp which can be very useful when you have a large number of computers with different hardware and software profiles that will obviously require different configurations.

Unattended installs require the use of the Winnt or Winnt32 command line utilities ( depending on whether the computer is a 16 or 32 bit existing configuration) and the set up of a configuration files or answer files, usually called unattend.txt, which will provide configuation information during the install ( as opposed to an attended install where an operator would have to manually input the configuation information during the installation process).

Often when doing an unattended installation a distribution server will be used to install Windows XP but it can also be done with a Windows professional CD. Unattended installs also allow the facility to do custom installs to support different configurations within an organisation, simply adding additional set up files in the distribution folder and amendments to the answer files. using this method a custom install can be done loading Windows Xp AND applications required on local machine saving many hours in large organisations.

The distribution server will normally contain Windows XP and any applications required along with the answers file hence the target machine ( the computer you are installing on) must be able to connect to the server on the network. The target machine simply requires enough software to connect to distribution server along with enough free hard disc space for installation.

Even though this procedure is referred to as “unattended” a technician is still required to initiate the procedure on each machine, i.e. to lauch the command line utility Winnnt32 /unattend:answerfile, for an installation solution where XP can be installed remotely you will need RIS ( remote installation services), also in situations where most of the computers have identical, or at least very similar hardware and software configurations, then Ghosting or using system preparation tools will probably be quicker.

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