TABLE OF CONTENTS This chapter covers how to install Setup Manager and how use it to create or modify SIFs. Setup Manager is a powerful tool that can help create good and correctly formatted SIFs in minutes. Setup Manager is a graphical user interface (GUI) tool that is easy to install and use. The only way to encrypt the local admin password in the SIF is using the Setup Manager; otherwise the local admin password will be on the network in clear text. The Setup Manager has changed from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003 server, and some additional features have been implemented in Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2. By using the latest version of the Setup Manager, some common tasks are easier to manage.
Highlights:
Installing Setup Manager
Inside Setup Manager
Changes in the SIF
Microsoft has provided a fully functional Setup Manager to help deploy unattended installations, Sysprep installations, and RIS images. The Setup Manager has a GUI interface in which most parameters in the SIF are set by using a wizard. SIFs are used by RIS to determine how the client should be installed. The SIF is a basic text file in which all parameters in an RIS installation can be specified.
The Setup Manager is not installed by default, but can be extracted from the CD-ROM media containing Windows 2003 Standard or Enterprise edition. (An old version of the Setup Manager is on the Windows 2000 or Windows XP CD-ROM.) To use the Setup...
