Installing Windows Server 2003

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willr

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Oct 20, 2003
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I am trying to install Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition on my other computer. I boot from CD into DOS and type "cd i386" then "winnt" to start the installation. It tells me that I should start SmartDrive to improve performance but I just press Enter to continue without it. It copies some files to the hard drive and then appears to freeze. There is no CD-ROM activity however the hard drive is spinning and there is the same message on the screen, something like "Please wait while Setup copies files to your hard drive." I have left it like this for about an hour and nothing else happens. I have tried using 2 different CD-ROM drives as well as 2 different freshly formated hard drives. Any input would be appreciated.

-Thanks
Will
 
The server cd is bootable and has an automated setup, just use it.
 
Either put the DVD or CD disk #1 in the drive and turn it on. It starts by itself.
 
You would put the CD in the drive and boot up the PC, it should run off the CD.
If it doesn, the BIOS isnt set to boot off CD, or the PC is too old to boot off CD.
 
It installs the exact same way as any other fairly recent Microsoft OS.
 
The PC is about 5 years old, if that gives you any idea. Dual Celeron 366Mhz, Abit BP6 mobo, 256 RAM. Also, I downloaded the OS via the academic alliance that my university has with Microsoft. When I unzipped and burned the files to CD it would not boot however after creating a bootable CD in Nero and then adding the OS files it would boot to a DOS prompt. That’s when I would run "E:\i386\winnt" to begin the installer. Is there another way? I suppose I could contact my university but I thought you guys would probably be more knowledgeable.
 
For the BP6, are you using the Higpoint 66 drives from a floppy dduring the install?
That mobo may not be up to running 2003
 
Assuming your software is legal (because I've never seen enterprise software available for academic alliances) you can find some software called Autostreamer. Point it to the downloaded files (that are extracted) and Autostreamer will make a bootable ISO for you. You can slipstream some security patches in there while your at it. The whole process takes about 5 mins.
 
dbwillis said:
For the BP6, are you using the Higpoint 66 drives from a floppy dduring the install?
That mobo may not be up to running 2003
Click to expand...


Win2003 will run fine on that system, and he's not even getting to the point of worrying about RAID drivers yet. He needs to make his CD bootable first.
 
I'd be surprised if 2003 didnt have a base driver supporting that RAID chipset automatically (making F6 unnecessary). And if you are having trouble booting from your CD-ROM, here's a few pointers:

Is it a legit cd image, or a burned one? Sometimes people make a copy, but do so by dragging the files over. Therefore you don't actually get the boot file which makes the CD bootable. Check here for an example of where to get that specific one. I don't know if any one made in Nero works, or if it has to be the one from the actual original CD: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp (near the bottom).

Do you have more then one CD-ROM drive in there? I could get detailed here, but just unplug one of them and leave the other and try it. If you are set to boot from the CD-ROM before the hard drive in the BIOS and If it still doesn't work, then try the other drive by itself.

Watch for where it says "hit a key to boot from CD." Maybe you aren't aware of that part and that it does require you to hit a key to boot from it. Maybe its flashing by while you aren't watching.

Good luck.
 
Thank you very much for the pointers guys, I'll try this stuff as soon as I get home today. The file that I downloaded was in .rar format I believe so I don't know if it should have had the bootable files or not. This is a legal copy, just to confirm, MIS/CS students at the University of Iowa have access to free copies of lots of Microsoft professional software to download.
 
willr said:
Thank you very much for the pointers guys, I'll try this stuff as soon as I get home today. The file that I downloaded was in .rar format I believe so I don't know if it should have had the bootable files or not. This is a legal copy, just to confirm, MIS/CS students at the University of Iowa have access to free copies of lots of Microsoft professional software to download.
Click to expand...

Heh, did the man that told you that look liks this? You might want to make sure you/they read the licensing fine print. Distributing via .rar files?

sugarcreekgaraway.jpg
 
Now I feel like an idiot, your right now that I check. It is an .iso, WinRAR is just my default program to handle .iso files so it opened it when I double clicked. Well I guess the first thing i'll try is to burn the .iso with nero and try the install again.

-Thanks
 
willr said:
Now I feel like an idiot, your right now that I check. It is an .iso, WinRAR is just my default program to handle .iso files so it opened it when I double clicked. Well I guess the first thing i'll try is to burn the .iso with nero and try the install again.

-Thanks
Click to expand...

No prob, man I've done that. That will probably contain the boot image you need. Good luck.
 
hey guys, give him a break, I'm a MIS student at Univ of MO - Rolla. Our dept does this as well....as well as the EE Dept that I work for. through the MIS dept, we can get just about everything except Office products...same for the EE dept, but I do not go that route.

the images that I get have been bootable.
 
Fark_Maniac said:
hey guys, give him a break, I'm a MIS student at Univ of MO - Rolla. Our dept does this as well....as well as the EE Dept that I work for. through the MIS dept, we can get just about everything except Office products...same for the EE dept, but I do not go that route.

the images that I get have been bootable.
Click to expand...

Its not that we are giving him a hard time, but I'm working my second job in IT in an academic environment (first university now k-12), and for some reason Academic IT people just don't tend to read the fine print or license things properly. Now I realize that thats a broad and general statement, but I can honestly tell you that the IT heads over the majority of the departments at the university really didn't have a clue in regards to MS licensing. We are talking about multiple fully independent IT admins getting it wrong. I've seen many people think they are okay only to find out that they are out of compliance and need to fork out several thousand bucks to be compliant, all because the guy who did the original research just didnt go the distance and recommended the wrong licensing plan, etc.

I mean I don't guarantee that I'm up to speed on all the latest academic offerings, but offering server operating systems for free to students doesn't quite seem to fit MS licensing. Client operating systems, office, sure. Under campus agreements this is the norm. Server os's are also available via campus agreements, but I don't think the student check-out system allows for them. I of course can be wrong and have no problem with it if I am. Just FYI'ing. :)
 
Phoenix86 said:
heh...

.raaar she blows.

:D
Click to expand...

Heh, I spent about 5 minutes trying to work that in somehow. Best I came up with was "Avast me .rarties!" (hearties). I think you see why I left it off... :p
 
Fark_Maniac said:
hey guys, give him a break, I'm a MIS student at Univ of MO - Rolla. Our dept does this as well....as well as the EE Dept that I work for. through the MIS dept, we can get just about everything except Office products...same for the EE dept, but I do not go that route.

the images that I get have been bootable.
Click to expand...

Considering the amount of warez talk on here that's not so well hidden.....you can't blame us for suspecting....especially when it seems to voilate licensing agreements.
 
Well after burning the image it boots from CD and begins the install but right at the beginning it says "Setup cannot find the End User License Agreement, press F3 to exit". So I guess I will have to contact my university IT dept. after all. Thanks for all the help in getting to this point.
 
funny....I had a download of XP do that. They simply reenabled my quota for it and I downloaded the ISO again. That copy worked.
 
ok, deleted the primary partition, created a new one and now the install seems to be working.
 
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