I am running win2k pro. I have one harddisk with two NTFS partitions. OS and programs reside on C Drive and my data files (+Win2kCDfiles) reside on D Drive. My partition works like this: C-5GB, D rest of the disk. My question is this: How can i format C Drive, and do an unattended installation of win2kpro without using a CDROM and a floppy. I would think there's a way to install win2k from D Drive, just like how win98 is able to do. My NIC does not support RIS. This is for use in an office environment, with no floppy and CDROM on the machines. Thanks!!

In all honesty your best bet might be to put a CDROM onto the machine for the time it takes to do the install and then just pull it off again. That's how we do it in my office with the machines w/o CDROMs.

how can i include an unattended file in a bootable win2k cd and have it run the installation automatically? If i can do that, i won't need to hook up a floppy (with the unattended file) at the same time.

You may find this link informative: http://www.bink.nu/bootcd/

First make yourself an E:\ partition on your disk. Format this partition using FAT. Get a copy of norton Ghost and make a ghost boot disk. (ghost will allow you to make a boot disk with the ghosting files on it) when you boot to your ghost boot disk from the floppy drive you will need to tell it to make an image of the first partition and put it on drive c:\ ( you ghost boot disk will only see the fat partition and will allocate it as the C:\ drive) then name that image OS, then do the same thing with the Data drive and name that image Data. once this is done all you will ever have to do to reinstall windows is boot to a ghost boot disk and run your image. (takes 10 min to completely set up windows 2k this way) Also by running the data image you can always revert back to your latest image by doing the same. I know this is scatchy if you have any question let me know. Good luck,

I dont think you have many options if your computer doesnt have a floppy and cd-rom. Unless ofcourse your NIC cards have PXE and you have a RIS server of some sort. In all honesty I think some companies need to bite the bullet and just leave the CD-ROM/Floppy in the computer. Otherwise, it causes quite a headache for, well, us.

thanks guys! you've been really helpful there! Thanks to Mark! your link is a lifesaver!! Cheers! sean