Remote Installation Services
Remote Installation Services (RIS) enables you to perform a clean installation of Windows XP Professional, any current version of Windows Server, or any version of Windows 2000 (except Windows 2000 Datacenter Server), on supported computers throughout your organization. You can simultaneously deploy the operating system on multiple client computers from one or more remote locations.
How it works
RIS works by enabling your computer to boot from a network card. System administrators can use RIS to create and store one or more images of a supported operating system on a server running RIS (RIS Server). A RIS image can then be downloaded over a network connection by a client computer that supports the Pre-Boot eXecution Environment (PXE). The installation of the downloaded RIS image can either be completely automated, or the user can be required to provide input, such as a computer name or an administrator password.
RIS is a feature introduced in Windows 2000 Server. To use this feature, the Active Directory service must be configured. Then, you can deploy the supported operations systems using the Pre-Boot eXecution Environment (PXE) technology that allows computers to boot from their network adapters. Administrators working with a RIS server can install a pre-configured image of a supported operating system on a client computer's hard disk.
For computers that do not contain a PXE-based remote boot ROM, Remote Installation Services includes a tool called Remote Boot Floppy Generator (Rbfg.exe) to create a remote boot disk for use with RIS. The RIS remote boot disk can be used with a variety of supported PCI-based network adapters.
When to use Remote Installation Services
Use Remote Installation Services on new desktop computers that are added to a network, or on desktop computers on which you want to perform a clean installation of the operating system. Use Remote Installation Services when you want to standardize a Windows XP Professional configuration on new desktop computers or on computers with an existing operating system that you want to replace with Windows XP Professional. With RIS, you can create two types of media: CD-ROMs or RIPrep images. The remote source (the RIS server) contains the operating system image, to be installed on a CD-ROM or in the RIPrep image format. The CD-based option is similar to setting up a client directly from the Windows XP Professional CD-ROM, except that the source files reside on an available RIS server. You can only use RIS for clean installations.
Advantages of Remote Installation Services
Remote Installation Services offers a simple way to replace the operating system on a computer. RIS uses the Single Instance Store (SIS) method to eliminate duplicate files and reduce the overall storage required on the server for system files. You can use the RIPrep option to install and configure a client computer to comply with specific corporate desktop standards.
The most important advantages of RIS are:
It enables you to standardize your Windows XP Professional installation.
It enables you to customize and control the end-user installation. You can configure the end-user Setup wizard with specific choices that can be controlled by using Group Policy.
It does not require you to distribute physical media, and image size is not constrained by the capacity of distributed physical media.
Disadvantages of Remote Installation Services
Remote Installation Services can only be used for client computers that are connected to a network running any current version of Windows Server with Active Directory configured. It can only be used on computers that are equipped with PCI network adapters that are enabled for PXE technology. RIS will only work with images that have been created from the C: drive, and it will not use images of other partitions on a hard disk. You cannot use RIS to upgrade the operating system on a client computer. You can only use RIS for clean installations of an operating system.
Where to Find Remote Installation Services
RIS is included in Windows 2000 Server under Administrative Tools.
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