Most servers today comes without a floppy drive.
If you want to install Windows Server 2003 on one of these servers and you have a hard drive controller that is not supported by default in W2K3 server, like most RAID controllers, the only way to install the driver through the standard setup program is from a floppy drive.
I have a floppyless server (HP Proliant DL140 G3) with the "HP 8 Internal Port SAS Host Bus Adapter with RAID" and I did not want to buy an USB floppy drive only to install the OS, especially after I read this post which says that you must use a HP branded USB floppy drive.
A HP forum search gave a link to this web site, where you can download a program called nLite, a "Deployment Tool for the Bootable Unattended Windows". Definitively recommended.
With this program you can make a bootable CD with you Windows setup files, integrate service packs and add your RAID drivers in advance so the controller is detected by Windows Server 2003 at setup time, without using the F6 option.
------
Edit on 2007/04/24:
I used nLite to install Windows XP on a floppyless ThinkPad T60 with a 120GB SATA drive and it worked like a charm.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
How to resize the desktop icons in Vista
If, as I do, you find the Vista desktop icons too big, click anywhere on the desktop and hold CTRL while you move the mouse wheel backwards.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Latest Exchange 2003 IMF update causes problem with scan to e-mail
Since the latest Exchange 2003 IMF update (January 23rd 2007), some users were unable to send to their Exchange inbox the pdf files created with a scan-to-email multifunction printer.
The printer uses SMTP (port 25) to send the file to the Exchange server.
When I disabled the IMF from the SMTP virtual server the problem was solved, but I didn't want to keep it disabled.
So I added a second port in the SMTP virtual server (port 26), enabled IMF on it, and I configured the firewall to forward traffic to this port instead of standard port 25.
This way, internal e-mail goes to port 25 and is not filtered, but messages from external systems are forwarded to port 26 and filtered by IMF.
------
Edit on 2007/04/24:
Finally I found a "cleaner" solution. Connection filter has an "IP accept" list. If you add the IP of the printer in this list and enable Connection Filtering on the SMTP virtual server, it will bypass IMF.
The printer uses SMTP (port 25) to send the file to the Exchange server.
When I disabled the IMF from the SMTP virtual server the problem was solved, but I didn't want to keep it disabled.
So I added a second port in the SMTP virtual server (port 26), enabled IMF on it, and I configured the firewall to forward traffic to this port instead of standard port 25.
This way, internal e-mail goes to port 25 and is not filtered, but messages from external systems are forwarded to port 26 and filtered by IMF.
------
Edit on 2007/04/24:
Finally I found a "cleaner" solution. Connection filter has an "IP accept" list. If you add the IP of the printer in this list and enable Connection Filtering on the SMTP virtual server, it will bypass IMF.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
How to install XP in DOS mode on a large SATA drive
Since Windows NT4, I always installed NT the same way: create a FAT32 partition on the C: drive, format it, copy the \i386 folder from the NT installation CD and start winnt.exe from C:\i386. It always worked for me that way until today, with NT4, 2000, XP and Server 2003.
I have a brand new HP Compaq dx2200 desktop with a 80 GB SATA drive. I create a 80 GB FAT32 partition with Smart FDISK (from the very nice Hiren's boot CD) and copy the \i386 folder from a XP with SP2 CD (from HP) and start the winnt.exe. It goes through the first part of the setup OK, but at the first reboot, "operating system not found".
I format the FAT32 partition again and "sys c:" from a Windows 98 boot CD and same thing, "operating system not found" even though I can access the partition and I see that command.com is there.
The solution:
I create a 5 GB partition, format it as FAT32, "sys c:" from my trusted Windows 98SE boot CD, copy the \i386 from the HP Windows XP CD, start winnt.exe and all the setup goes well. No need for the F6 part. I have a fully functionnal XP Pro, on a 5 GB partition.
I resize the partition with Partition Magic 8, again from Hiren's Boot CD, to 80 GB. It warns me that the partiton will go over 1024 cylinders, so that it may be unbootable, but it works with XP. I **think** that it is the reason why I cannot do as usual, DOS (and the DOS part of XP setup) can't "see" the 80 GB partition because of the 1024 cylinder limit.
I have a brand new HP Compaq dx2200 desktop with a 80 GB SATA drive. I create a 80 GB FAT32 partition with Smart FDISK (from the very nice Hiren's boot CD) and copy the \i386 folder from a XP with SP2 CD (from HP) and start the winnt.exe. It goes through the first part of the setup OK, but at the first reboot, "operating system not found".
I format the FAT32 partition again and "sys c:" from a Windows 98 boot CD and same thing, "operating system not found" even though I can access the partition and I see that command.com is there.
The solution:
I create a 5 GB partition, format it as FAT32, "sys c:" from my trusted Windows 98SE boot CD, copy the \i386 from the HP Windows XP CD, start winnt.exe and all the setup goes well. No need for the F6 part. I have a fully functionnal XP Pro, on a 5 GB partition.
I resize the partition with Partition Magic 8, again from Hiren's Boot CD, to 80 GB. It warns me that the partiton will go over 1024 cylinders, so that it may be unbootable, but it works with XP. I **think** that it is the reason why I cannot do as usual, DOS (and the DOS part of XP setup) can't "see" the 80 GB partition because of the 1024 cylinder limit.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)