You can perform an unattended installation of Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000, in which setup screen entries are made automatically using stored information. An unattended installation can be convenient if you want to perform several installations of SQL Server with identical configurations on different computers. An unattended installation requires a setup initialization file, which can be created in several different ways.
By default, each time you install SQL Server using the Setup screens, the options you select are recorded into the setup initialization file, Setup.iss. Setup.iss is placed in the system root directory (%windir%), and is available to provide installation settings at a later time.
Note You cannot perform an unattended installation to set up a failover cluster of Microsoft SQL Server 2000.
In Setup, when you select the Record Unattended .ISS file option in the Advanced Options screen, each subsequent choice you make in the setup screens is recorded in the Setup.iss file stored in the system root directory. SQL Server files are not installed in this process. The Setup.iss file can then be run as is, or revised in a text editor if necessary.
To record an unattended installation file
Several sample setup initialization files are included on the Microsoft SQL Server 2000 compact disc, along with batch files to run Setup with the appropriate initialization file.
Sample initialization files are included for client, typical, and custom installations. (A custom setup file includes all features.) The table shows the files used for an unattended installation. The files are located in the root directories on the compact discs of the SQL Server 2000 Standard, Personal, and Enterprise editions.
Type of unattended installation |
Sample batch file | Sample setup initialization file |
|---|---|---|
| Typical installation of SQL Server. | Sqlins.bat | Sqlins.iss |
| Client tool only: Includes management tools, client connectivity, and other tools (no server is included). | Sqlcli.bat | Sqlcli.iss |
| Custom installation of SQL Server: All components are included. |
Sqlcst.bat | Sqlcst.iss |
Note Batch files are also included on the compact disc for use with Smssql.pdf, a package definition format file for creating a SQL Server package in SMS. For more information, see Installing SQL Server Using SMS.
For installation options other than those included in the sample setup files, you must create a customized setup file using a text editor. For example:
To manually create a customized setup initialization file for these and other purposes, see Creating a Setup File Manually.
You can run an unattended installation using sample batch files and setup initialization files, or you can run SQL Server Setup directly from the command prompt, using setup files created by any method, and customized or not.
To run an unattended installation
Setup Type: Typical, Minimum, or Custom