The Installation of an Operating System - Essay Example

Unattended installation is an automated technology in the installation of an operating system. It reduces human intervention during installation. The technique is employed mostly in the installation of Microsoft Windows Server and other operating systems above it. It is mainly used in large-scale rollouts when the installation process would be considered slow and costly for the administrator or technician.

During installation, the administrator or technician is required to have at least an operating system and answer file. The operating system setup to be run includes winnt.exe for the 16-bit setup program and winnt32.exe for the 32-bit setup program (Azad, Wilson & Wright, 2008). It should be noted that the 64-bit operating system exists. The administrator then creates the answer file before embarking on the installation process.

The process has two tools for a built-in mechanism which have different uses in different processes. The tools include System Preparation, denoted as Sysprep, and Remote Installation Service, denoted as RIS. The tools are mainly utilized during image-based installation. Using the Sysprep tool requires the technician to create a master installation and then create a disk image (Azad, Wilson & Wright, 2008). During the creation of the answer file, it is recommendable that the technician uses the setup manager tool since it is like a wizard; it prompts the user for a series of parameters in configuring the system and then writes to the answer file. The technician is, thus, not required to identify the syntax of writing the answer file. Read More