Scripting parameters, confused

[HighDarkTemplar]

Hi!

I'm currently installing a 2008 server from scratch, and a first timer as well. The thing is that the answer file confuses me to no end. There is this article on microsoft.com that "explain" the answer file, but it don't help me at all.

Could anyone explain with a small example and three or four words on each? Ex:

NewDomain=forest, would be msfn.org but if it was a child it would look like unattended.msfn.org (just typing unattended though)

Thanks in advance!

-HighDarkTemplar

(Copy from the above-mentioned page):

For new forest installations, the following options apply:

[DCINSTALL]

InstallDNS=yes

NewDomain=forest

NewDomainDNSName=<The fully qualified Domain Name System (DNS) name>

DomainNetBiosName=<By default, the first label of the fully qualified DNS name>

SiteName=<Default-First-Site-Name>

ReplicaOrNewDomain=domain

ForestLevel=<The forest functional level number>

DomainLevel=<The domain functional level number>

DatabasePath="<The path of a folder on a local volume>"

LogPath="<The path of a folder on a local volume>"

RebootOnCompletion=yes

SYSVOLPath="<The path of a folder on a local volume>"

SafeModeAdminPassword=<The password for an offline administrator account>

[JasonShaw9745]

First question would be, why use the answer file? Just curious....really not needed unless you are setting up a multi-dc install or something along those lines....

Hi!

I'm currently installing a 2008 server from scratch, and a first timer as well. The thing is that the answer file confuses me to no end. There is this article on microsoft.com that "explain" the answer file, but it don't help me at all.

Could anyone explain with a small example and three or four words on each? Ex:

NewDomain=forest, would be msfn.org but if it was a child it would look like unattended.msfn.org (just typing unattended though)

Thanks in advance!

-HighDarkTemplar

(Copy from the above-mentioned page):

For new forest installations, the following options apply:

[DCINSTALL]

InstallDNS=yes

NewDomain=forest

NewDomainDNSName=<The fully qualified Domain Name System (DNS) name>

DomainNetBiosName=<By default, the first label of the fully qualified DNS name>

SiteName=<Default-First-Site-Name>

ReplicaOrNewDomain=domain

ForestLevel=<The forest functional level number>

DomainLevel=<The domain functional level number>

DatabasePath="<The path of a folder on a local volume>"

LogPath="<The path of a folder on a local volume>"

RebootOnCompletion=yes

SYSVOLPath="<The path of a folder on a local volume>"

SafeModeAdminPassword=<The password for an offline administrator account>

[Tripredacus]

If you manually go through the dcpromo wizard, at the end you will be able to export this file. Here is an example that I have from a 2008 R2 server.

; DCPROMO unattend file (automatically generated by dcpromo)
; Usage:
;   dcpromo.exe /unattend:C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\ad_setup.txt
;
[DCInstall]
; New forest promotion
ReplicaOrNewDomain=Domain
NewDomain=Forest
NewDomainDNSName=NAME.FQDN
ForestLevel=3
DomainNetbiosName=NAME
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=
; Run-time flags (optional)
; RebootOnCompletion=Yes