How to create a network installation point for Visual Studio .NET or Visual Studio 2005 setup (307372)

SUMMARY

You can put an installation image of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET or of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 on a local area network (LAN) hard disk drive to provide better control to those users who have permission to install the product. This can reduce the time that is required to install, and can reduce the occurrence of any problems associated with the handling of CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs.

Note When you put the installation image on a shared LAN resource, such as a file server, you do not install the product on the server. You must install the product on individual client computers.

You can copy the contents of the installation media to the hard disk drive by using drag-and-drop in the Windows Explorer. However, the XCopy command has an advantage over the drag-and-drop method in that XCopy permits verification.

Requirements

The following list outlines the recommended hardware, software, network infrastructure, and service packs that are required:

• One or more of the following operating systems:
• • Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP6 Server or Workstation
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional or Server
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Microsoft Windows Server 2003
• Peer-to-Peer or Domain Network

This article assumes that you are familiar with the following topics:

• Best Practice installation methods
• Networking related to connectivity, shares, and share permissions
• Running DOS commands in the Command Prompt window

Drag and drop for DVD-ROMs

1. Create a directory such as C:\Vsdotnet\.
2. Use Windows Explorer to view the contents of the DVD-ROM.
3. In the right pane of Windows Explorer, click to select one item on the DVD-ROM, and then press CTRL+A to select the entire contents of the DVD-ROM.
4. Right-click the selected contents, and then click Copy to copy the contents of the DVD-ROM to the Clipboard.
5. In Windows Explorer, open the directory that you created in step 1.
6. Click in the right pane, and then press CTRL+V to paste the contents of the DVD-ROM from the Clipboard to the new directory.

XCopy for DVD-ROMs

1. Create a directory close to the target root directory. The name of this directory must have a maximum of 8 characters and cannot contain spaces or special characters. A directory name such as C:\Vsdotnet\ is appropriate.
2. On the Start menu, click Run, type Cmd, and then click OK.
3. Type the drive letter of the source drive. For example, if the DVD-ROM drive is drive R, type R:. Press ENTER.
4. Type the following command.
   
   Note The target directory in the sample command is C:\Vsdotnet\. Modify the command to use the target directory that you created in step 1.

   XCopy *.* c:\VSDOTNET\ /h /v /s

5. Press ENTER. The flags are /h for hidden, /v for verify, and /s for subdirectories.

Drag and drop for CD-ROMs

1. Create a directory such as C:\Vsdotnet\.
2. Create a child directory (or folder) for the Windows Component Upgrade (WCU), such as C:\Vsdotnet\Wcu\.
3. Create a folder for the remaining numbered disks, such as C:\Vsdotnet\Vs\.
4. Use Windows Explorer to view the contents of the WCU CD-ROM.
5. In the right pane of Windows Explorer, click to select one item on the CD-ROM, and then press CTRL+A to select the entire contents of the CD-ROM.
6. Right-click the selected contents, and then click Copy to copy the contents of the WCU CD-ROM to the Clipboard.
7. In Windows Explorer, open the folder that you created in step 2.
8. Click in the right pane, and then press CTRL+V to paste the contents of the WCU CD-ROM from the Clipboard to the new folder.
9. Repeat steps 4 through 8 for each of the numbered CD-ROMs to copy the entire contents of each of the numbered CD-ROMs to the folder that you created in step 3. If you receive a Confirm File Replace dialog box, click Yes to all.

XCopy for CD-ROMs

1. Create a directory close to the target root directory. The name of this directory must have a maximum of 8 characters and cannot contain spaces or special characters. A directory name such as C:\Vsdotnet\ is appropriate.
2. Create a child directory (or folder) for the Windows Component Upgrade (WCU), such as C:\Vsdotnet\Wcu\.
3. Create a folder for the remaining numbered disks, such as C:\Vsdotnet\Vs\.
4. On the Start menu, click Run, type Cmd, and then click OK.
5. Type the drive letter of the source drive. For example, if the DVD-ROM drive is drive R, type R:. Press ENTER.
6. With the WCU CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive, type the following command.
   
   Note The target folder in the following command is C:\Vsdotnet\Wcu. Modify the command to use the folder that you created in step 2.

   XCopy *.* c:\VSDOTNET\WCU\ /h /v /s

7. Press ENTER. The flags are /h for hidden, /v for verify, and /s for subdirectories.
8. With CD-ROM Disk #1 in the CD-ROM drive, type the following command.
   
   Note Modify the command to use the target folder that you created in step 3.

   XCopy *.* c:\VSDOTNET\VS\ /h /v /s

9. Press ENTER.
10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 for the remaining numbered CD-ROMs. If you receive a Confirm File Replace dialog box, click Yes to all.

Modify the Setup.ini file

1. Right-click C:\Vsdotnet\Vs\Setup.ini, click Properties, and then make sure that the Read Only check box is not selected.
2. Open C:\Vsdotnet\Vs\Setup.ini with a text editor such as Notepad.
3. Make sure that the line under the [Baseline] section that starts with Dir= reads as follows:
   • For a DVD-ROM image

     Dir=.\

   • For a CD-ROM image

     Dir=..\

   The installation image for Visual Studio .NET or Visual Studio 2005 can then be launched from \\ServerName\Vsdotnet\Setup.exe for the DVD-ROM or from \\ServerName\Vsdotnet\Vs\Setup.exe for the CD-ROM.
   
   Note You must establish the share and the proper permissions for users to have access to these installation images.