Yeh, I hate it when things work first time, lucky it doesn't happen very often :D
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Yeh, I hate it when things work first time, lucky it doesn't happen very often :D
Lotus, you caught me. What is an unattended installation? :)
greengoose1, I made a bootdisk to do an unattended install, here http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...ght=unattended
Lotus, has since gone a lot further by finding tools to add software, drivers etc.
Hi Plilgo, I missed all this I'm afraid. But like to make up disks. I remember JT Doom's "Butter" as he called it. But as I recall he did not go in this direction.
Looked at the thread you refered to and got that info. If LotusAstra can add to this with some of the details when he shows up, I for one, would appreciate some more of what he has done. Like to play with boot disks. Sure helps the on hands learning process.
Lotus, talked about it in this thread http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...ght=unattended
Thanks Philgo. :)
Cheers Philgo, that could have saved me some typing :D, but I've typed it now so here's some more info anyway... :)
Hi greengoose1, essentially an unattended installation is the same as an attended install, except it's unattended (ie: you don't have to be there to push buttons and answer questions), you pre-configure everything before-hand so when it comes to time to install/recover the system you just boot from the install disk, select the partition to install to and half an hour later the OS, service pack & hotfixes, drivers and software is all installed for you, all customisations to the OS (inc user accounts/rights, IE and explorer views, start menu, theme, wallpaper, icons & menus etc) can also be included so you get everything how you want it, just like you would do manually, except you would be creating scripts to automate things for you.
The reasoning behind doing this is that once you have a complete unattended install setup you can immediately cut down or remove the need altogether for doing regular OS backups on every system you own, which is a great bonus for those of us with several PC's or multiple OS's, this leaves us to concentrate on backing up just our data files, the important stuff.
For further info, see the "unattended XP Install" guide (linked in my signature), read the intro, and if it (and what I've said) sounds like something you'd benefit from, go ahead and follow the rest of the guide to create an install disk that will be useful/expandable for many years to come, it can be quickly adapted to work for Windows 2000/2003 and i believe even longhorn may use a similar installation routine, so it should have a use many years down the line. That's the guide i followed, all step by step, and their forums usually have most questions already answered for you, it's all their for the taking...
You can use multiple CD's, a hard drive, or a DVD to include all those large programs you install, i don't have a DVD burner yet, so a second CD containing some of the more larger installations like Office, Audio/Video/photo editing stuff etc is what i use, i used WIHU (link also in my sig) to create the menu for this second CD so that choosing what to install is just a case of selecting from a series of check boxes. I also added Partition/Boot Magic and Ghost to the main install CD, got a nice menu that appears up after booting the CD, if i eventually go the DVD route I'd probably include BartPE on it too. I do find it all rather addictive as some of you probably guessed :)
Automation, love it... one of the great things about PC's is they do exactly what they are told to do :)
Regards :)
Hey LotusAstra, I appreciate the info. When the same thing is said different ways it helps clarify the subject. I use both floppies and CD's in the saving of data as well as data disks you have to open up to get to the file and bootable disks. Also you can make them to help in maintence and general tools for the "toolbox". As you said alot of time can be saved in different tasks.
Thanks for your views. It all helps as I be a slow learner. :D :D
No worries mate, i hope people find it as useful as i do...
Gotta admit tho, people here surprisingly don't seem to be very impressed with the unattended install method, or maybe they just don't post their opinion? but anyway, i think it's a very relevant option for PC recovery and I find it very useful to have.
Regards :)
I find the idea of interest, but to find the time to mess with it is something else again. Definately going to have to cut back on other projects. :(
Through my own stupidity I broke something in Windows the other day. Rather than mess about I decided to restore a Ghost image I'd made a couple of days previously (all my data is on another partition, and backed up on CDR and another PC). I timed it, it took precisely 7 minutes to have a fully working restored Windows XP again, and that was including the optional Ghost integrity check.
Apart from the hours necessary to make an unattended install CD, it surely will take several hours to restore Windows, drivers and apps that way? I can see how it would benefit a rollout to many PC's (which is what MS intended), I'm sorry but I can't see a single benefit to unattended install over imaging software for a single PC (or even 2 or 3 come to that).
While there are indeed benefits to using unattended install procedures in other cases, as a substitute for a backup (particularly and image backup) I have to side with Sparks. An image works out quicker all the way around.
The thing we need to take into account is that for an unattended install, the building process is a one time only event, and updating it is a breeze, new service packs, drivers or any software upgrades are easily integrated into the install source with very little effort. Every time you deploy this installation the system will be perfectly clean (or as you intended) every time.
As to restore times, takes my system about 30 to 40 minutes depending on what i tell it to install for me (automated, based on MAC address), either way, just a few clicks and i can relax while the PC takes care of the rest for me.
Not going to knock down Ghost and go on about the negative sides of it, you're all probably well aware of it's requirments/limitations... Ghost was one of my favourite programs not so long ago, you probably all remember that too, all those posts where I'd praise Ghost for the wonderful things i achieved with it, so i give it credit for that, i used it for years and it's never let me down... but both unattended installations and disk imaging have their place in this world, and for the reasons I've mentioned, that's why unattended suits me better for my needs. I know the ropes with Ghost, been there done that, got fed up with its limitations etc, my point is just to make people aware of other methods i now use, Ghosting isn't the only way to deploy an OS, and Ghost isn't necessarily the best option when it comes to long term, or dealing with several systems!
Regards :)
I have found that in all utility programs and applications that a combination of parts and wholes work best for me. That's why I look at alot of ways to do things paying attention to time, ease, and results of execution. Also on important job tasks is the mechanics of operation involved with whatever job task you are doing.
Fortunately, there is available more than one application per job task and that is not bad as we all see that same thing differently in many cases. We can get to pick what works best for us individually.
But what is more important we have a forum to put forth our views and can discuss them and when you get a thread going like this you have a chance to learn alot from other peoples experiences. :)
Amen brother!!!Quote:
But what is more important we have a forum to put forth our views and can discuss them and when you get a thread going like this you have a chance to learn alot from other peoples experiences.
It has taken me around 20 minutes to go back and forth on all the links on just this page, not to mention the 10 others I've saved from the threads mentioned. I'm soaking up so much info that my head is about to burst! :)
I thank all of you kindly and greatly!