I use Microsoft Remote Installation Services (RIS) on my Windows 2000 network, and I'm attempting to use a customized installation procedure with some of my RIS images. I want RIS to copy additional files from the $OEM$ folder during installation, but RIS ignores the files. I was under the impression that RIS supported the $OEM$ feature. Is this information incorrect, or am I doing something wrong?

RIS does support the use of the special $OEM$ distribution subfolder. However, documentation about how to set up the folder on a RIS server is notably lacking. You've probably made the common mistake of placing the $OEM$ folder in the wrong location.

Each image on a RIS server's image volume has its own folder, which has the pathname \remoteinstall\setup\english\images\risimagename (where risimagename is the name you assigned the folder during the image-creation process). An \i386 subfolder exists under that folder. In a customized non-RIS Win2K installation, you place the $OEM$ folder under this \i386 folder. However, with RIS, you must place the folder at the same level as the \i386 folder. For example, a customized RIS image's base installation folder that resides at D:\remoteinstall\setup\english\images\win2k.pro would contain two subfolders: \i386, containing the x86 installation source files for the RIS image; and \$OEM$, containing the additional files to copy during setup.

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Reader Comments

Has anyone found information on possibly using this ability to install Windows 2000 hotfixes into a slipstreamed 2000/SP1 CD-based RIS image? In the MS Windows 2000 Service Pack Installation and Deployment Guide, instructions are given for adding the hotfix files to the $OEM$ subfolder for unattended installations. But this involves adding commands to run the hotfix files. No options are given for adding the hotfixes to a CD-based RIS image. So I wasn't sure where to possibly add the commands in the SIF files. <br><br> With SP2 now delayed due to the recent 2000 server/IIS loophole, I would like to update my current RIS images with some of the recent critical security update hotfixes. <br><br> Has anyone else tried this?

Matt Horn- May 03, 2001

Hi, I have small query regarding RIS. I have added CD based and RIPrep images to RIS server. But during the installation from client only CD Based image is automatically selected, no other images are displayed in Client installation wizard. I have also setup the group policy to remove automatic setup.

Thanks much,

Janardhan- October 28, 2003