Note:
This article was written when Windows Server 2008 was still
RC1.
Changes might occur later once the product is RTM'd
In a previous article,
The Active
Directory Domain Services Installation Wizardn the Summary page of the Active
Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard, you can click
Export settings to save the settings that you
specified in the wizard to an answer file. You can then use
the answer file to automate subsequent installations of
Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS).
The answer file is a plain text file with
a [DCInstall] header. The answer file provides answers to
the questions that are asked by the Active Directory Domain
Services Installation Wizard. Using the answer file
eliminates the need for an administrator to interact with
the wizard. The Active Directory Domain Services
Installation Wizard adds text to the answer file that
explains how to use it, such as how to invoke it with the
dcpromo command and which settings must be updated to
use it.
To use an answer file to install AD DS,
type the following command at a command prompt, and then
press ENTER:
dcpromo /answer [: filename
]
or dcpromo /unattend [: filename ]
Where filename is the name of your
answer file.
The answer file to set up a new forest
would look like this :
; DCPROMO unattended file
; Usage:
; dcpromo.exe /unattend:C:\answer_file.txt
; or dcpromo.exe /answer:\answer_file.txt
;
[DCInstall]
; New forest promotion
ReplicaOrNewDomain=Domain
NewDomain=Forest
NewDomainDNSName=elmajdal.net
ForestLevel=3
DomainNetbiosName=ELMAJDAL
DomainLevel=3
InstallDNS=Yes
ConfirmGc=Yes
CreateDNSDelegation=No
DatabasePath="C:\Windows\NTDS"
LogPath="C:\Windows\NTDS"
SYSVOLPath="C:\Windows\SYSVOL"
; Set SafeModeAdminPassword to the correct value prior to
using the unattend file
SafeModeAdminPassword=MyPassword23$
; Run-time flags (optional)
; RebootOnCompletion=Yes
Download it from
here ,
and make sure that you adjust it to the configurations that
you need.
for example:
-
NewDomainDNSName=elmajdal.net
, make sure that you replace elmajdal.net with
the domain name you want.
-
ForestLevel=3
, This mean the Forest Functional Level will be set to
Windows Server 2008, if you want to set it for Windows
Server 2003, then set it to 2, whereas Windows 2000
Serve level is = 1
-
DomainNetbiosName=ELMAJDAL
, this is the NETBIOS name of my domain elmajdal.net ,
replace it with your Domain name NETBIOS name
-
DomainLevel=3,
this means the Domain Functional Level will be set to
Windows Server 2008, if you want to set it for Windows
Server 2003, then set it to 2, whereas Windows 2000
Serve level is = 1
-
InstallDNS=Yes,
DNS Service will be installed on your DC, if you do not
wish to setup you DC as a DNS Server as well, then set
it to NO
-
DatabasePath="C:\Windows\NTDS"
LogPath="C:\Windows\NTDS"
SYSVOLPath="C:\Windows\SYSVOL"
Either change the path where each of the above will be
stored or keep them as they are by default.
-
SafeModeAdminPassword=MyPassword23$,
the
password meet the password complexity requirements of
the password policy, that is a password that contains a
combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers,
and symbols
Now that you have customized the answer
file, lets run it and enjoy a cop of coffee while the server
is being setup to be our first Domain Controller
- Run the answer file , I have saved
the answer file inside the C: drive, so i will run it
using : dcpromo.exe /unattend:C:\answer_file.txt

- The installation of AD DS will start
with first checking if Active Directory Domain
Services binaries are installed

-
The system will start checking if Active Directory
Domain Services (AD DS) binaries are installed, then
will start installing them. The binaries could be
installed if you had run the dcpromo command previously
and then canceled the operation
after the binaries were installed.

Validating environment and
parameters ..

DNS Installation will start as we have the
InstallDNS=Yes
in the answer
file

When the DNS Server service
installation is completed, the system will check if
Group Policy Management Console (GMPC) is installed or
not, then will start installing it if it was not found
to be installed previously

Creating the SYSVOL folder, configuring the local computer to host Active Directory
Domain Service by creating the directory partition


Then will start creating AD objects,
and then Completing AD installation

Few services will be configured, and
security configurations as well


Once the setup is completed, the
server will automatically reboot
(RebootOnCompletion=Yes )
Summary
Performing an unattended installation using an answer
file is easy and can be performed without any user
interaction, using the answer file eliminates the need for
an administrator to interact with the wizard, and can be
used to automate subsequent installations of Active
Directory Domain Services.
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