In the last few weeks (8 AUG 96) many administrators asked how they
   can copy Win95 to several machines at once. Well, they are trying to
   use XCOPY to copy the whole Win95 directory. Let me get one thing
   straight: THIS DOESN'T WORK!!!!!!!!!
   
   Why doesn't a straight XCOPY work?
     * Long filenames
     * 20 MB of hidden files
     * Registry
     * Unique IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS
     * Program Files directory
     * Different system device drivers for different motherboard
       chipsets!
       
   OK? Image-copying Win95 doesn't work. Get over it. Would you
   image-copy a NetWare server? An OS/2 client? An NT client? No. So
   don't try to image-copy a Win95 client. Make a server based
   installation using the steps below, and automate as much of the setup
   as you can. This way, you can run a Win95 setup from the server and it
   would take just a little longer than a straight XCOPY would, but be a
   lot cleaner.
   
   So, if you're building a Win95 network based on NetWare servers,
   here's my suggestions. These come from my NDS experiments, so you can
   omit any references to the NDS add-on if you aren't using a DS
   network. I based this scenario on workstations that have their own
   hard drives (minimum 200 MB) and copy all Win95 files to the station.
   The stations themselves had these components automatically added to
   them:
     * Client for NetWare Networks
     * IPX/SPX Protocol
     * Net card driver of your choice
     * File and Print Sharing for NetWare Networks
     * Microsoft Remote Registry
     * Microsoft Print Agent for NetWare
     * Services for NetWare Directory Services
       
   Believe me, don't waste time with minimal shared installs if you can
   avoid it. You can do shared installs of the apps themselves later. The
   stations featured full client functionality, Queue Server capability
   as needed, and Remote Admin access.
   
   Optionally, you can replace FPS for NetWare with Client for MS and FPS
   for MS networks. The key to making Remote Admin work is to have some
   kind of file sharing service and some kind of security provider. FPS
   for MS networks does work with NetWare servers acting as a security
   provider. If you do this, make sure you make the NetWare login the
   primary login, and make sure the machines have enough memory to handle
   both clients. If you're doing this on 8 MB machines or you're tight on
   memory, just stick with the single client and services.
    1. Download and install the base OS patch sets for all your NetWare
       servers, and download the Admin edition of Win95 Service Packs.
    2. Make an Administrative installation of Win95 using NETSETUP.EXE on
       one, or more, of your servers. You will need to prepare one Win95
       client to perform the Admin installation from, and this machine
       will probably become your admin workstation. Prepare this Admin
       machine just like you would any of the targets. You could also
       make up your policy file using POLEDIT.EXE, and copy it to the
       server.
    3. Use INFINST.EXE to apply the service pack to the Admin copy. Run
       INFINST, give it the Admin copy's UNC path
       (\\server\SYS\PUBLIC\WIN95 or whatever), give it the path to the
       Admin service pack, and let it install.
    4. Keep using INFINST to apply the needed additional components
       (Services for NDS, Remote Registry, MS Print Agent, etc) to the
       Admin copy. Remote Registry and Print Agent are on the CD-ROM in
       ADMIN\NETTOOLS\REMOTREG or \PRTAGENT. Don't forget to include the
       Group Policy support here too, if you have group policies.
    5. Exit INFINST and run BATCH.EXE (The new version that comes with
       the service pack) and make all the settings you need. In the list
       of Services, pay special attention to the ordering of services
       (NWREDIR4, NWSERVER, REMOTEREG, PSERVER) for those three, because
       MSPSRV (the PSERVER entry) will balk if you add PSERVER before
       NWREDIR4. I know it sucks. You can switch them around later if you
       need. Use BATCH.EXE to make any settings you want for the
       automated install, but be extra sure to keep "Immediately re-boot
       PnP and PCI machines" turned off to prevent Setup from exiting
       prematurely. COOL TRICK: Use BATCH.EXE's "Read settings from
       Registry" to copy the Admin machine's settings. Finally, save the
       settings with filename MSBATCH.INF to the Win95 Admin copy's
       directory.
    6. Make up a network boot disk so you can access the server, and boot
       up a target workstation so you can try installing Win95. Keep the
       Admin machine on and logged in so you can make quick fixes during
       this test.
    7. As Setup runs, you should be allowed to install the right net card
       driver. Also, when that network screen comes up, make sure you
       don't get any errors about "Print agent cannot be installed
       with...". If you do, change the ordering of services back in
       BATCH.EXE and try again. Cancel the Setup here and try again,
       until said message does not come up. PRTAGENT should be the LAST
       entry in the Services box back in BATCH.EXE.
    8. Pay attention to any error messages that occur during file
       copying. You will probably get an error that it couldn't find
       MSNDS.BAT or some such file. If so, go to your ADMIN machine and
       copy the needed files from the NDS client copy to the shared copy
       of Win95, then hit "Retry" on the test machine. You will only have
       to do this ONCE; since the file now exists it won't complain the
       next time you try.
    9. During the second part of Setup, if you get any messages saying it
       found new hardware and it wants you to re-start the computer, hit
       "NO" so Setup can finish. Wait until Setup finishes before
       allowing the system to re-boot.
   10. After Setup finalizes the settings, check to make sure everything
       works. Inspect the network properties so all your settings took as
       you specified. You can then do some final tuning, like setting the
       [vcache] entry in system.ini, and take whatever settings you did
       in your final tuning, and use INFGEN.EXE to have them install
       automatically next time.
   11. Once you're comfortable with your automatic setup, make a few
       copies of that boot disk and happily start making workstations.
       You can continue to add components to this server copy and install
       from them as needed (like the dial-up scripter, Ben Goetter's
       Widgets for Exchange, etc).
       
   NOTE: If you want to maintain more than one Admin copy of Win95, yes,
   you CAN image-copy this Admin installation to multiple SERVERS. Make
   up one good Admin copy, then spread it to all your servers in your WAN
   if you choose.
   
   90% of the NetWare networks out there have remote printers I'm quite
   sure people want to print to. There is no harm in installing MSPSRV on
   every machine (it only eats 64 KB of disk space, and it won't take up
   memory unless you invoke it), or Remote Registry, or File & Print
   Sharing if you disable file and print sharing controls via System
   Policies.
   
   If you add components to the server install AFTER you installed the
   workstations, you can usually copy said components from Add/Remove
   Programs/Windows Setup, then hitting "Have disk" and pointing to the
   server copy of Win95. Anything you can install using INFINST.EXE is
   installable from this control panel, and it will show in the list of
   components to choose from. Definitely see about including a [vcache]
   setting in a custom INF file you can create with INFGEN, and install
   it automatically for a maximum cache size (1024 KB) to make room for
   MSPSRV and Remote Registry.
   
   INFGEN.EXE is a very valuable tool for inserting custom settings. You
   can copy your computer's .INI or Registry settings to this .INF file,
   then install those settings to the server copy using INFINST. It's
   only available with the Win95 Service Pack's Admin edition.

--
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= I am Gordon of Winterpeg. Junk mail is futile.          Post MakeMoneyFast =
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= Windows 95 FAQ: http://www.orca.bc.ca/win95/             http://ga.to/mmf/ =
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