Site navigation:

counter
Valid HTML 4.01!

Performing an attended installation of Windows 2000 Server

Windows 2000 Logo

Windows Setup - Textmode Phase

Welcome to setup
The Welcome to Setup Screen

After setup loads the necessary drivers, you will see the Welcome screen. You will be given the option to set up Windows, repair Windows, or quit. Press enter to continue with setup.

The EULA Partitioning your drives Deletion warning
The EULA, the drive partitioning screen, and the deletion warning

The all-too-familiar EULA screen appears next. Hit F8 if you agree, or ESC to quit. If you hit F8, you will be taken to the drive partitioning screen. Here, you will see the partition configuration of your hard drives. In my case, I FDISKed my drives before starting setup, so setup calls my C: partition "Unformatted or damaged." To correct this, I simply hit D to delete the partition. Setup will prompt you a couple more times to confirm partition deletion. Just follow the prompts to delete. So now, I have two drives with unpartitioned space. I can manually configure my partitions or I can let Windows handle it and install itself on one giant partition. If you have a larger hard drive, you may not want to choose this option. I will create a couple of partitions just to show you how it is done. If I had chosen to skip this step, I could just hit enter and let setup take care of partitioning.

Choose a size
Choosing your partition size

To create a new partition, hit C at the drive partitioning screen. You will then see the partition size screen. Choose your partition size, and hit enter to create the partition. Repeat this step for every partition you want to create. Once back at the partitioning screen, press enter on whichever partition you want Windows installed on. You will then be asked whether you want to format that partition using the NTFS or FAT file system. Unless you are dual-booting and want to share files between operating systems, I recommend using NTFS. Even if you are dual-booting, however, it would be desirable to keep different boot partitions from seeing each other. Thus, NTFS is the preferred choice here.

Formatting Copying Rebooting
Formatting, copying, and rebooting

After selecting what type of file system you want to use, Setup proceeds with the format. When the format is complete, Setup will copy the files it needs to begin the graphical portion of setup. Go grab yourself a drink or a snack, because the formatting and copying process will take a little while. When it is complete, Setup will reboot the computer and begin the graphical portion of setup.

Next: Graphical Setup --->

Disclaimer: All articles written on this site are based on my own experiences only. They are not meant to be comprehensive or as a "final word." Please do not consider them as such. If you are using them in a mission-critical environment, I take no responsibility if you hose your network or system. ALWAYS TEST before you implement new systems in a mission-critical environment. All articles copyright 2002 and 2004 by Jonathan Young. Not responsible for death or injury resulting from reading, following, or implementing any of the articles and/or essays on this site.