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dirtycarpetFlag for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

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Using nlite .iso to instal server 2003 on a poweredge 2850

hi all,
This is a follow up question from
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/26914728/Setting-up-Raid-on-a-Dell-PowerEdge-2850.html 
im currently experimenting with using nlite to install server 2003 on a poweredge 2850 - ive followed the above link - i think - to the letter.
Ive copied the files from a genuine server 2003 microsoft hologramed disc, added sp2 and a perc drive to folder and using nlite made an iso file which ive burnt to a dvd.
when i boot the server it doesnt recogise the disc probably because its an iso image, like ive said im a beginner so this maybe obvious to you, but not to me :(
when i change discs and boot using the windows server disc it goes to set up with no problems
questions is can i / how do i use this nlite burnt dvd with slipstreamed sp2 and perc driver to install server 2003.
thanks again in advance guys
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TimBare
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When you burn the ISO to disc, are you simply copying the .iso to the DVD, or did you create a dvd from the iso?

I would recommend using imgburn to create your bootable DVD from the iso.
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As Tim said, you have most likely simply copied the file to the disk.  If you browse the disk, do you see an ISO file?  If so, then you didn't burn it correctly.  Browsing, you should see the actual Windows files/folders on the disk.  You need special software to create a disk using an ISO file ... like imgburn, ISORecorder, and CDBurnerXP.
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ASKER

hi,
i burnt the original using nlite and then another copy using image burn, both i cant boot to during set up. the original microsoft disc is still fine. ive addes a screenshot of the contents of the disc, i cant see an iso file so possibly i didnt copy it?
thanks again User generated image
Chances are the nlite image created didn't do something just right. Try making a minimal iso (from the original files) only adding the serial or the like), and burn it, trying to boot from it... And go from there. I've always had good luck with nlite, granted, I've only used it for XP images...
I've used it extensively for 2003 as well and have never had a problem either.

That's a good idea ... simply copy the files from the CD and create an unaltered image with nLite ... just to make sure it's working ok.  If it can't make an unaltered image that you can boot to, then something must be wrong with nLite ... or possibly the burner.  You might try this from another computer, if that is an option.

You do have some other alternatives for installing, so I don't know how much longer you want to try and mess with nLite ... if it is not working.
the good news is, DVDs are cheap now :)
Yeah no kidding :)
no it looks like the cost of dvds are gonna prevent me from following this route :(.. i made the unaltered image using imageburn and no it didnt recognise it..
id be obliged if you could recommend other alternatives to adding my os to this server..
What service pack is on your good 2003 CD?
Are you installing 32-bit or 64-bit?
Where did you get your 2003 CD (downloaded from MS/VL, Retail, OEM)?\
What BIOS version is your system at?
Do you have a working floppy drive in your server and access to a working floppy disk(s)?
just to make sure -- you did click the "bootable iso" button on the "task selection" screen, right?

and is there a reason that you can't simply use the original software? i know the perks of using nlite, but if it's not working for ya... :-/
never mind on the "why" -- perc driver and SP2. -- just looking for PowerEdgeTech's answers now, too.. (good questions, btw) :)
there is no service pack on the good 2003 cd and its a 32bit installation, its an oem cd and ive a slight feeling now youve mentioned the bios version thats its a good 6yrs old..i used image burn version 2.5.0.0 to burn the iso made from nlite
ive tried to use a floppy by trying to instal the perc driver at f6 but it didnt read it came up with an error..
when i instal from the original cd i cant enter the perc driver via floppy plus i get other errors relating to cmprops.dll
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PowerEdgeTech
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Hi sorry for the delayed reply.
No its a microsoft system builders oem pack. it comes with a pre-install environment cd.. i bought this oem pack the same time as the server (from the same person). im now worried the 2 arnt compatible?

i have however got the o/s onto the server, it looks like the raid 1 i set up is still ok - it just needs the drivers added, i think.
can you tell me please are the oem cd and the server compatible? do you think this is why ive had problems?
thanks
No, I don't think that is the problem.  

Are you getting ONLY as far as loading the driver at F6, or are you getting as far Windows telling you it can't find any hard drives?

I would give the Dell installation utility (in my previous post) a try.

If you have a USB floppy drive, you could also try that - your floppy errors are either from a bad floppy drive, bad floppy disk, or bad floppy drive used to write the files to floppy.
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sorry gents for the length of time that has passed since my last reply. ive been working out of the country for the past few weeks. il get back to this as soon as i can. thank you for all your help so far, really appreciated..
Good luck.
Hi Guys,
Apologies, im going to have to close this question and award points as i seem to have run into a few more problems with adding the o/s to the server. The main one being time. Il repost when i have some time..
Thanks again for all your valuable help..