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LANDesk(R) Management Suite: Installing MS Windows using Distribution
INSTALLING MICROSOFT WINDOWS* USING DISTRIBUTION
Overview
Installing Microsoft Windows* is beyond the intentional use of
LANDesk(R) Management Suite (v2.01x) Distribute since it requires
modifying the operating system that Distribute itself relies on. With
some extra effort on the part of the administrator, Windows 3.1 can be
installed. There will be some limitations. Specifically, the Windows
permanent swap file will not be properly configured. Additionally, the
target machines will all use the default settings associated with
hardware.
Problems
The file C:\386SPART.PAR is used by Windows as a permanent swap file.
It will typically not be detected on your administration console by
Distribute because it is a hidden, system file (and already exists on
your system). In addition, it is prohibitively large (~50M), making it
undesirable to be included with the package. Attempting to include the
file by 'attrib'ing it won't work either; Windows, upon invocation, will
simply report it as a corrupt swap file. This is also what happens when
a swap file is not distributed.
After the distribution, the configuration of the permanent swap file
remains to be done by the user (using the Control Panel | 386 Enhanced
| Virtual Memory) . Alternatively, you could configure the Windows
installation with no swap file, which gets rid of the error message.
You would probably still want to somehow configure all of the targets
for performance reasons.
Process
A. Editing SDPKG.INI (called FILEFILT.INI in LANDesk Management Suite
2.0)
The file SDPKG.INI is a configuration file for Distribute's package
building engine. Building a package to install MS Windows requires
changes to several settings. This is because we normally treat certain
files differently during the regular package building process. For
example, the registration database is given special parsing treatment,
rather than just copying it wholesale as we do in this example. It is
important that these entries be returned to their normal settings after
the MS Windows package is built.
Under the section
[ExcludeFilesExceptions]
add the lines:
WinCom=win.com
RegDat=reg.dat
SysDrv=system.drv
WinCmf=win.cnf
Under the section:
[IniExclude]
Comment out all entries.
B. Personality File Path macros
Personality File Path macros must be created before the package building
process. Create a macro called "NEWWIN" that maps the source directory
to the destination directory. These directories should be the same.
C. Preparing your workstation
In order for Distribute to detect the changes that Windows would
normally make to your system files, you will have to regress your system
files to appear as though Windows had not been installed.
(Alternatively, you could add these commands to the script by hand, but
that is more difficult). Not all of these changes may be required, but
they will allow the Windows setup program to make all possible changes.
1. In AUTOEXEC.BAT, remove (or comment out) the reference to
SMARTDRV.EXE. Remove Windows from your path statement.
2. In CONFIG.SYS, remove (or comment out) any references to HIMEM.SYS
and EMM386.EXE. Remove the STACKS= statement.
D. Steps to building package
1. Choose Step 1 as normal.
a. When prompted for the name of the installation package, choose
PROGMAN.INI.
b. Exit from Windows.
c. Run Windows setup, installing to the directory for which you
have created a macro.
d. Choose the generic default settings, including standard VGA
video.
2. If the Windows environment is to be configured for NetWare*, next
run Novell's install program, specifying the new Windows directory.
3. Launch Windows and ensure that the groups are organized as you
would like them to be.
4. Choose Step 2 and complete the package build. Carefully edit the
script to ensure that no unneeded files were included, particularly
from your original Windows directories.
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