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Tech Tips / Windows 2000 Server / Installation and Configuration

Answer file entries

Most of the time, you'll use the Windows 2000 Setup Manager Wizard to create unattended setup files. But this tool isn't perfect, and sometimes you'll still have to rely on your editing skills with Notepad or some other text editor. For example, the Windows 2000 Setup Manager Wizard doesn't prompt you for the Product Key, which is required during installation. If you don't manually add this key to the answer file, you'll have to type it on every machine during setup. The wizard also doesn't allow you to specify which optional components to install or not.

If you want to specify the Product Key in the answer file, you have to add the following line under the [UserData] section:

  ProductID = XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Replace the X's with the Product Key that's located on the orange label on the back of your CD case.

If you want to prevent installation of some Windows 2000 components that you don't need on the server (e.g., games, sound schemes, etc.), you can add the following lines to the [Components] section in your answer file:

  cdplayer = off
  charmap = off
  chat = off
  dialer = off
  freecell = off
  hypertrm = off
  media_clips = off
  media_utopia = off
  minesweeper = off
  mousepoint = off
  mplay = off
  pinball = off
  rec = off
  solitaire = off

If the [Components] section doesn't exist, you must create it. For more possible entries in the answer file, refer to the Unattend.doc file in the Deploy.cab archive in support\tools directory on your Windows 2000 CD-ROM.