How do I install a service pack during a unattended installation?

A. There are various options, however all of them require for the service pack to be extracted to a directory, using

NT4SP3_I /x

and you then enter the directory where you want to extract to.

You could extract to a directory under the $OEM$ installation directory which would then be copied locally during the installation and you could add the line

".\UPDATE.EXE -U -Z"

to CMDLINES.TXT. This will increase the time of the text portion of the installation as the contents have to be copied over the network.

With Service Pack 4 you could just add and not need to expand the service pack first.

\[Commands\]
".\sp4\sp4i386.exe -z -u"

Simply create a folder called sp4 under $OEM$ and copy sp4i386.exe to it.

If using the above you should ensure you have the following in unattended.txt

\[Unattended\]
OemPreinstall=yes

An alternate method is to install from a network drive, this requires a bit more work:

1. Create a directory on a network server and copy the extracted service pack to this directory. Setup a share on this directory called SP
2. Create a batch file in the $OEM$ share of the installation area called SERVPACK.CMD with the following:
   net use z:\\<server>\SP /persistent:no /user:<domain name> \guest < password.txt
   z:\update.exe -u -z
3. You need to create the password.txt file that contains the guest account password (usually blank) therefore perform the following:
   - type copy con password.txt
   - press ENTER once
   - press CTRL+Z to save the file
   If the password is not blank enter the password then press ENTER
4. Copy the password.txt file to the $OEM$ directory
5. Edit CMDLINES.TXT and add ".\SERVPACK.CMD" to the end

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