Windows 2003 SP2 breaks RIS help for fresh install?

[Kyle]

I seem to remember there being a issue with the way RIS works when SP2 was installed. Next week i need to go on site to a school who has had another server delivered. I plan to install 2003 with SP2 but i need advice on RIS. THey want to use this server as a RIS server ( amongst other things) and i am unsure as the implications i need to know.

 

Do i install 2003 first, then set up RIS, then install SP2 or just Install 2003 then SP2 then RIS?

 

What happens for example with a server that already has RIS installed but has never had SP2 applied yet?

 

Bit nervous about doing this.

 

[maniac]

As you probably know RIS has officially been replaced by WDS in windows Server 2003 SP2, but WDS does still support RIS if it was already installed! We upgraded our RIS server to SP2 in my last school, and it carried on working with no problems at all I seem to remember.

 

To get RIS support under SP2, you must first install Windows 2k3 with SP1, then setup RIS, then upgrade the server to SP2. You will find it installs WDS, but still keeps RIS support under it. If you install SP2 first, I'm pretty sure you can't then install RIS as Microsoft really want you to use WDS, so the RIS option disappears under SP2 unless it was already installed first!

 

Mike.

[cookie_monster]

You need to install WDS in mixed mode, you also need to make sure that \Oschooser\i386\Startrom.com is set as the x86 boot loader. I'll double check these settings on monday, it defaults to a different boot loader and you get tftp errors if you don't set the old RIS OSChooser.

 

http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/9e197135-6711-4c20-bfad-fc80fc2151301033.mspx?mfr=true

Edited July 5, 2008 by cookie_monster

[gshaw]

Or if mixed mode still causes grief you can drop it down to legacy mode only, which is basically RIS under a different name...

 

Type

 

wdsutil /uninitialize-server

 

Then check the mode with

 

wdsutil /get-server /show:config

 

Should now show up as Legacy mode. At that point then only run the Windows Deployment Services Legacy shortcut to set up the basic RIS flat XP image and start the legacy service. After that all seems back to normal and I managed to get 2 machines imaging at once for the first time in ages

 

Also seems binlsvc no longer controls the RIS \ WDS Legacy anymore, the service I now have running is

 

Windows Deployment Services (WDSSERVER)

 

Which is odd as BINLSVC works in legacy mode Maybe that proves the problem, a different service running for legacy with mixed mode compared to legacy in Legacy only mode...