How to perform an unattended Emergency Management Services installation of Windows Server 2003 (889717)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for Itanium-based Systems
  • Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Premium Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Standard Edition

SUMMARY

This article describes how to perform an unattended Emergency Management Services installation of Windows Server 2003. Emergency Management Services is a new feature in Windows Server 2003 that makes it possible for you to perform remote management and system recovery tasks if the server is not available. This is made possible by using the standard remote administration tools and mechanisms. Emergency Management Services provides alternative access to a server if the server is not available through the standard connection methods, typically a network.

IN THIS TASK

INTRODUCTION

This is a step-by-step guide that describes how to use Emergency Management Services to install Windows Server 2003 on a remotely-administered computer. This article contains information about how to install Windows Server 2003 on a computer that may not have a monitor, keyboard, mouse, or network adaptor installed. The "References" section provides links to Web sites that provide an in-depth discussion of Emergency Management Services.

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Enable Emergency Management Services in the BIOS

The BIOS of the computer where you want to install Windows Server 2003 must support Emergency Management Services, and Emergency Management Services must be enabled in the BIOS. Most 64-bit computers and some 32-bit computers are Emergency Management Services-capable. By default, Emergency Management Services is enabled in the computer BIOS on computers where Emergency Management Services is supported.

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Modify Unattend.txt

The Serial Port Console Redirection (SPCR) table provides information about how the system firmware and the service processor use the out-of-band management port. For example, if the out-of-band management port is a serial port, the SPCR table contains information such as serial port number, baud, terminal type, and other settings that are used for out-of-band communication.

The SPCR table is typically enabled automatically if you have a service processor that supports Emergency Management Services.

If your computer does not have an SPCR table, you must configure the Emergency Management Services settings to match the firmware settings. This procedure provides the operating system with the Emergency Management Services out-of-band port parameters.

To add software support for Emergency Management Services if the client computer is using the com1 port, add the following section to your Unattend.txt file:

[Data]
EMSPort=com1
EMSBaudrate=9600

To add software support for Emergency Management Services if the client computer is using the com2 port, add the following section to your Unattend.txt file:

[Data]
EMSPort=com2
EMSBaudrate=9600

EMSPort

Possible values = {com1|com2|UseBIOSSettings|off}

The EMSPort enables or disables Emergency Management Services during Setup and also after the server operating system has been installed.

Note The com1 and com2 values are applicable only for x86-based computers. These two values are not applicable for Itanium-based computers.

The UseBIOSSettings value is the default value, and uses the setting that is specified in the BIOS Serial Port Console Redirection (SPCR) table. If you specify UseBIOSSettings and there is no SPCR table, Emergency Management Services is not enabled. If you disable EMSs by specifying EMSPort:off, you can enable it later by modifying the boot settings.

EMSBaudrate

Possible values = {9600, 19200, 57600, or 115200}

The EMSBaudrate specifies the baud for Emergency Management Services. EMSBaudrate must be used with emsport:com1 or emsport:com2, or EMSBaudrate is ignored. The default baud is 9600.

EMSSkipUnattendProcessing

If not all the user settings are in the unattended installation file, an Emergency Management Services connection dialog box appears during an installation on a computer that is Emergency Management Services-enabled. This dialog box contains the following message:An Emergency Management Services connection has been detected on your system. You are being prompted for input over the unattended Setup channel on that connection. If you provide input over the EMS connection, this dialog will close and Setup will complete. If you prefer to configure Setup via this local connection, click OK and Setup will proceed, prompting you for input.This dialog box lets the user enter information by using the Emergency Management Services console session. If nothing is entered, the dialog box is closed after several seconds, and the unattended installation continues. In this case, Windows provides the required information.

If you configure this setting to 1, Windows does not answer any user prompts during Setup, and an Emergency Management Services connection dialog box does not appear.

Important When you configure this setting, Windows Setup may pause during the graphical user interface (GUI) mode part of the installation. This pause occurs so Windows Setup can wait for user input because it no longer uses the default settings.

For additional information about how to create an Unattend.txt file, see the "References" section.

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Connect to the computer

To perform an Emergency Management Services installation of Windows Server 2003, you must connect a computer to the server that you want to install with a NULL modem serial cable, and then use a terminal emulation program such as HyperTerminal. The default serial connection to the computer requires the following attributes:
  • 9600 baud
  • 8 data bits
  • No parity
  • 1 stop bit
  • Hardware flow control
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Emergency Management Services prompt during the text part of Setup

When you start a computer that is Emergency Management Services enabled, and you have connected another computer that is running a terminal emulation program, you may receive a message that is similar to the following in the terminal emulation program:Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition Setup

Windows can automatically configure most aspects of your installation, requiring little to no input from you.

If you are configuring a computer with no local monitor or keyboard, you must use this feature or setup will not complete.

If you would like to use this feature, please press ENTER now.

If you would like to proceed with a manual installation, please press the C key now.

ENTER=Express Setup C=Custom Setup F3=Quit
  1. Press C to select Custom Setup. You receive the following message:Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition Setup

    Please Enter the password that will be used for the Administrator Account on this machine.

    This password must not be empty.

    Administrator Password:
  2. Type a password for the Administrator password, press ENTER, and then re-type the Administrator password when you are prompted to do this.

    Note Although you can type a blank password for the Administrator account, we recommend that you do not type a blank password. If you configure the Administrator account to use a blank password, you may not be able to connect to the computer after the Setup program is finished.
  3. When you receive the End User License Agreement (EULA), read it, and then press F8.

    Note In HyperTerminal, press the ESCAPE key, and then within 2 seconds, press 8.

    Setup continues unattended and uses the configuration information from the Unattend.txt file in the Windows Server 2003 source files.
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Emergency Management Services prompt during the GUI part of Setup

When you perform the text part of Setup on the local computer at the start of the graphical user interface (GUI) part of Windows Setup, you may receive the following prompt if the computer. You receive this prompt if your computer is Emergency Management Services-capable and if Emergency Management Services is enabled in the computer BIOS: An Emergency Management Services connection has been detected on your system. You are being prompted for input over the unattended Setup channel on that connection. If you provide input over the EMS connection, this dialog will close and Setup will complete. If you prefer to configure Setup via this local connection, click OK and Setup will proceed, prompting you for input.If you click OK, or click Close to quit the dialog box, Setup continues as a typical attended Windows Setup.

While Setup waits for your response, the terminal client where you want to run the remote Setup program displays the Special Administration Console (SAC) text-mode management console.
  1. In the terminal, type ch -?, and then press ENTER to display unattended channels. The term "unattended channels" is used to describe the channel that is used to manage the unattended Windows installation. The following information is displayed: EVENT: A new channel has been created. Use "ch -?" for channel help.
    Channel: Unattended Setup Channel SAC>
    EVENT: The CMD command is now available.Note The HyperTerminal program may be configured with the echo on setting enabled. This causes duplicate characters to appear in the terminal window when you type. To turn off this setting, follow these steps:
    1. On the File menu, click Properties.
    2. Click the Settings tab, and then click ASCII Setup.
    3. Click to clear the Echo typed characters locally check box, and then click OK.
  2. Type ch -?, and then press ENTER to display the channel management commands. The following information is displayed: Channel management commands:

    ch List all channels.

    Status Legend: (AB)
    A: Channel operational status
    'A' = Channel is active.
    'I' = Channel is inactive.

    B: Channel Type
    'V' = VT-UTF8 emulation.
    'R' = Raw - no emulation.

    ch -si <#> Switch to a channel by its number.
    ch -sn <name> Switch to a channel by its name.
    ch -ci <#> Close a channel by its number.
    ch -cn <name> Close a channel by its name.

    Press <esc><tab> to select a channel.
    Press <esc><tab>0 to return to the SAC channel.

    End Display:
  3. Press ESC+TAB to scroll through the available channels and to locate the unattended channel. When you select this channel, you are prompted to read the EULA for your product.
  4. Press the PAGE DOWN key to read the EULA, and then press F8 to agree.

    Note In some terminal programs, function keys do not work. In this case, press ESCAPE, and then press 8 within two seconds.
  5. When you are prompted for the product key, type it in the XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX format.
  6. Type the administrator password when you are prompted, and then retype it when you are prompted.
When you type and confirm the administrator password, the unattended Setup continues by using the information from the Unattend.txt file.

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The "EMSGeneratedAnswers" setting

The "EMSGeneratedAnswers" setting that is used in an Emergency Management Services unattended installation indicates that certain activities are performed by Setup during an installation of Windows Server 2003 on Emergency Management Services. By default, the $Winnt$.inf file is located in the C:\Windows\System32 folder. When you view the $Winnt$.inf file, you may see the following entry in the [data] section of the file:

[data]
EMSGeneratedAnswers=1

This entry indicates that one of the following two occurred during Setup:
  • Windows generated some of the default answers when the user was prompted for information during Setup.
  • When the user was prompted during Setup, he or she used the Emergency Management Services console session to enter information. For example, the user used a terminal program that was connected over the Emergency Management Services port.
If not all the user settings are in the unattended installation file, an Emergency Management Services connection dialog box appears during an installation on a computer that is Emergency Management Services-enabled. This dialog box contains the following message: An EMS connection has been detected on your system. You are being prompted for input over the unattended Setup channel on that connection. If you provide input over the EMS connection, this dialog will close and Setup will complete. If you prefer to configure Setup via this local connection, click OK and Setup will proceed, prompting you for input. This dialog box lets the user enter information by using the Emergency Management Services console session. If nothing is entered, the dialog box is closed after several seconds, and the unattended installation continues. In this case, Windows provides the required information.

To turn off this behavior, include the following entry in the [Unattended] section of the unattended installation file (Unattend.txt or Sysprep.inf):

[Unattended]
EMSSkipUnattendProcessing=1

When you configure this setting to 1, Windows does not answer any user prompts during Setup, and an Emergency Management Services connection dialog box does not appear.

Important When you configure this setting, Windows Setup may pause during the GUI mode part of the installation to wait for user input because it no longer uses the default settings.

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Administrator's account password

During the text mode of the unattended Setup of Windows Server 2003, you may receive the following message: Please enter the password that will be used for the administrators account on this machine. This password must not be empty.
Administrator password:You may receive this message even if you have adminpassword=* in your answer file. This message occurs because during the installation, Windows Server 2003 looks for a SPCR table in the BIOS to determine if the computer is remotely administered. If you use a blank password for administrator, you would not be able to connect to a remotely administered computer after Setup was complete. This issue occurs because a blank password cannot be used for networking.

To resolve this issue, a new Unattend.txt parameter was created for cases where the computer has a SPCR table but is not being set up as a remotely administered computer. The new Unattend.txt parameter is as follows:
MSBlankPassword
Enables the use of a blank administrator password in unattended installations to 
Emergency Management Services servers.

Syntax EMSBlankPassword = Yes | No 
Values Yes 
Enables the use of "*" with AdminPassword when preinstalling to Emergency Management Services servers.

No 
Disables the use of "*" with AdminPassword when preinstalling to Emergency Management Services servers.
 
Default Value No 
Example EMSBlankPassword = Yes
This new parameter can only be used with Windows Server 2003-based computers.. By default, a blank administrator password (AdminPassword = "*") is not allowed in unattended installations of any member of the Windows Server 2003 family to Emergency Management Services servers.

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REFERENCES

For additional information about Emergency Management Services, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/default.mspx

For additional information about the Emergency Management Services Technical Reference, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/ED1F3D57-E3A3-4EF6-857A-ADBFF20302701033.mspx

For additional information about how to design unattended installations, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/0930DDBF-3636-4B77-81FF-C1A073F38CBB1033.mspx

For additional information about how to create an answer file (Unattend.Txt), click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

323438 How to use setup manager to create an answer file in Windows Server 2003

For additional informationabout how to perform an unattended Emergency Management Services installation, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

815273 How to perform an Unattended Emergency Management Services installation of Windows Server 2003

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Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:6/20/2006
Keywords:kbHOWTOmaster kbMgmtServices kbUnattended kbhowto KB889717 kbAudITPRO
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