Creating a Disk Configuration Plan for Unattended Installations

Creating a Disk Configuration Plan for Unattended Installations

You need to create a disk configuration plan if you need to do any of the following before you perform the installation:

Change the size of the system partition on your destination co 414w222e mputers.

Repartition and reformat the system partition on your destination computers, and you are not using an operating system CD to start your destination computers.

Create and format extra partitions on your destination co 414w222e mputers.

You do not need to create a disk configuration plan in the following situations:

You want to extend the system partition, create and format extra partitions during or after the installation, or convert an existing system partition to NTFS. These tasks do not require substantial analysis and planning, and are relatively easy to perform by configuring answer file settings or running commands or scripts from the answer file.

You are using an operating system CD to perform an unattended installation, and you want to repartition and format the system partition on destination computers. In this case, you can use the Repartition entry in the [Unattended] section of the unattended installation answer file to repartition and format the system partition before the unattended installation begins.

Configuring Disk Settings

Begin your disk configuration plan by choosing the tool that most suits your needs:

MS-DOS or Windows 98 disk configuration tools

You can start a destination computer by using an MS-DOS or a Windows 98 boot disk, and then use the fdisk and format commands to partition and format the hard disk before you perform an unattended installation. This works only if you want to format your disks with the FAT or FAT32 file systems. If you want your hard disks formatted with NTFS, you will have to use the convert command to convert the FAT or FAT32 file system to NTFS after you have installed the operating system onto the destination computer, or you will have to use the oformat command. For more information about disk tools, including commands for configuring disks, see "Helpful Command Line Tools" in the Microsoft Windows Corporate Deployment Tools User's Guide (Deploy.chm). Deploy.chm is included in the Deploy.cab file in the Support folder on the Windows Server 2003 operating system CD. For more information about disk partitions and file systems, see the Server Management Guide of the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit (or see the Server Management Guide on the Web at https://www.microsoft.com/reskit).

Third-party disk configuration tools

Some third-party disk management programs provide a bootable floppy disk or CD that allows you to partition and format hard disks. If you use a third-party program to partition or format a disk, be sure that the third-party program creates partitions that are compatible with NTFS 3.1, which is the version of NTFS that is used in Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003 operating systems.

Windows Preinstallation Environment

You can start a destination computer by using a Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) CD, and then using the diskpart command to partition the hard
disk and the format command to format the hard disk. Windows PE is a bootable operating system that provides limited operating system functionality for performing preinstallation
tasks. Windows PE is available only if you have purchased Enterprise Agreement 6.0,
Enterprise Subscription Agreement 6.0, or Select License 6.0 with Software Assurance (SA).
For more information about Windows PE and Windows PE licensing plans, see the Windows Preinstallation Environment link on the Web Resources page at https://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources.

Each method of configuring disk settings has advantages and disadvantages. You need to determine which method is better suited to your organization and your deployment needs. For more information about configuring disks, see "Disk Management overview" in Help and Support Center for Windows Server 2003.

Components of a Disk Configuration Plan

After you determine which method to use to configure disk settings, you need to create your disk configuration plan. At a minimum, your disk configuration plan must identify:

Disk configuration settings. Disk configuration settings include the number of partitions, partition sizes, and file system formats for the destination computer. Disk configuration settings are based on several factors, including disk sizes, disk types, backup capabilities, and user needs. Analyze these factors in your disk configuration plan to determine the right disk configuration for your organization.

Procedures for configuring disk settings. Your disk configuration plan must describe every step of the disk configuration process, including how to start a destination computer and how to run the partitioning or formatting tools.

Tools that you use to configure disk settings. Disk configuration tools include the format, fdisk, and diskpart commands. Your disk configuration plan must describe all the tools you will use to configure disk settings, including the tools you will use to start a destination computer and to partition, format, and check a disk.