How Can I Enable Users to Set the Administrator Password During an RIS Installation?

When you use the Microsoft Remote Installation Services (RIS), bydefault, the Administrator password is set to null (blank) during theinstallation. You can, however, let the user set a password during thefinal GUI portion of installation. To do so, perform the followingsteps:

1. On the RIS server, open the .sif file of the installation you want tomodify. By default, this file is in theRemoteInstallSetup\[language]Images\[folder name]I386Templatesfolder with a name of Ristndrd.sif.
2. Go to the [GuiUnattended] section of the .sif file, and find the linethat says: AdminPassword = *.
3. Change this line to: AdminPassword = "".
4. Save the change.

During installation, the system will prompt the user to type anAdministrator password. Test the change to ensure that it workscorrectly.

As a side note, instead of "" you could type a password (e.g.,AdminPassword = "fred"), which sets the Administrator password to thepassword you specify and doesn't prompt the user. However, this passwordtravels as clear text, so I don't recommend this approach.The Windows 2000 Resource Kit describes another option (although notwell). You can use a Custom Installation Wizard (CIW), and let the usertype in a password, but this approach is quite complex.

This tip contributed by Windows 2000 FAQ