Imagine this scenario; you're installing Windows Server 2003 onto a Dell R310 server with a RAID 1 array. That means pressing "F6" at the start of the OS installation process so a 'mass storage device driver' can be provided. Without it, Windows can't see the hard drives connected via the RAID card and installation cannot proceed.
Simple enough, except most new servers don't have floppy drives. Adding one isn't physically possible with the Dell R310. So when it came time to 'Press S' and specify the disk with the mass storage device drivers, all there is to work with are USB ports.
Unfortunately, loading the device drivers onto a USB thumb drive won't work either. Windows Server 2003 can't access USB storage devices at this stage. Inevitably, Windows spits back "Setup could not find a floppy drive on your machine to load OEM drivers from floppy disk" and installation stops dead. As modern servers almost always LACK a legacy floppy drive, how the heck do you install this OS? It's a Catch-22, but there is a way around it.
The solution is to "Slipstream" the mass storage device drivers directly into the Windows Server 2003 installation disk. It's not hard to do and the skill you're about to learn is incredibly useful for many, many other situations beyond the scope of this TechTip. (READ: save time by installing the OS + service packs + drivers in one go.)
Put plainly, Slipstreaming is like to tearing part the OS installation disk, integrating specific drivers or patches or other tweaks you want into it, then rebuilding the installation files back into a regular bootable OS disk. It's incredibly useful to know how to do this and much easier than it sounds.
Here's how PCSTATS solved the problem in their Dell R310/RAID card/Windows Server 2K3 example:
Step 1: Using another computer with a CD burner, first save the RAID card's mass storage driver to the Desktop. Next, install a program called nLite v1.4.9.1 from nliteos.com. Launch nLite and insert the Windows Server 2K3 OS install disk into the CDROM. Nlite will ask you to locate the main OS install disk, do that and click OK. Next it will ask where to store a copy of these files; any New Folder on the Desktop will do (space required is ~700MB). Nlite will proceed to copy the complete contents of the OS install disk over to this temporary folder.
Step 2: While still in Nlite, ignore the 'Presets' window and click Next. In the 'Task Selection' window select the 'Drivers' and 'Bootable ISO' tabs > Next > Insert > select the device driver for the mass storage RAID device from where it's saved on the Desktop > under 'Textmode integration options' highlight the device driver name > click Ok > Next. Nlite will ask "Do you want to start the process" to apply the changes to the OS install image, click OK.
Step 3: Once on the 'Bootable ISO' page, click 'Make ISO' and save the ~700MB .iso file to the Desktop. This .iso file contains the original bootable Windows Server 2K3 OS install disk plus the mass storage device driver integrated into it. Lastly, close nLite and load up your favourite CD-burning software, burn the .iso file to a blank CD-R.
With the modified OS install disk we've just created, in this scenario it's now possible to install Windows Server 2K3 onto the Dell R310 server. Windows now has the necessary mass storage device drivers it needs integrated in, so there's no need to 'Press F6'. The server installation will simply proceed as smooth as silk - welcome to the world of Slipstreaming!
from PCSTATS TechTip.
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