Hello All I have several Dell servers that I need to redo from scratch and I do not have, nor can I seem to find Dell OEM ISO's for my purposes. Since this is in a business environment, I need to do this utilizing the CORRECT version that is stated on the Dell OEM COA on each server. For example, some of the servers have Server 2003 Std, some have Server 2003 R2 Std. I've looked through the archives on how to create them from various builds, but cannot seem to get a working set of files to create them. I have done this with XP for every major manufacturer with nLite, so I understand the process, just can find the correct files and versions to do so. I have generic OEM CD's of both OEM Server 2003 & OEM Server 2003 R2 CD's as a source to start. I assume I need to create the $OEM$ directory in the CD hierarchy with the OEMINFO & OEMLOGO files, and also will need to place the proper versions of the following files in the i386 folder: DPCDLL.DL_ OEMBIOS.BI_ OEMBIOS.CA_ OEMBIOS.DA_ OEMBIOS.SI_ PIDGEN.DLL SETUPP.INI SETUPREG.HIV WINNT.SIF Can anyone confirm that having the proper files listed above, creating an ISO with nLite, and installing using the Dell Install & Management CD will result in a fully authenticated working server? Can anyone help find the correct files I need as well? Thank you for your help!
If what you have are generic OEM disks (not trial, VL etc) then all you need to change are the 4 oembios set files (exactly the same procedure as for XP, only sets are server specific) It does NOT matter which set you use (there are at least 2 known for Dell 2K3) - they are available in the stickies sebus
True, but generic OEM disk does NOT have winnt.sif at all (I know, as I have such disk) It is just like retail, but has OEM in pid line in setupp.ini sebus
Thank you to both Sebus & FreeStyler! I really appreciate the help and info. It did in fact install & authenticate, but it appears the winnt.sif didn't launch at all. For whatever reason, I had to manually enter all the info, including the key, in the Dell Server Installation routine. I changed the info *slightly* in the .sif file to see if it ran anywhere along the way, and it appears it didn't. Just as a matter of education, is there a way to setup the CD so that the entire install runs without intervention regarding the Owner, Org & key info? Again, thanks ever so much for the help....