Error message when you use an RIS server to deploy a CD-ROM-based image or a WinPE flat image on an RIS client computer

Consider the following scenario:

• You have a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based or a Windows 2000-based Remote Installation Services (RIS) server.
• You have a RIS client computer that uses an Intel PRO/1000 PL or Intel PRO/1000 MT network adapter.
• You use the RIS server to deploy CD-ROM-based or WinPE flat images on the RIS client computer.

In this scenario, the installation may fail during the text-mode phase of Setup. Additionally, you may receive an error message that resembles the following:Error message when you use an RIS server to deploy a CD-ROM-based image or a WinPE flat image on an RIS client computer

This issue occurs if the data section of the .inf file is larger than 4 kilobytes (KB). The .inf file is included in the network connection request (NCR) packet that the RIS server sends to the client computer.

Note This issue may occur even if you use the latest drivers (E1e5132.sys, E1e5132.inf, e1000325.sys, and e1000325.inf) for the Intel PRO/1000 PL and Intel PRO/1000 MT network adapters in the flat image setup. This issue can occur on all RIS client language versions when the data section is larger than 4 KB. The issue occurs in Intel driver version 9.6.31.0 (10/31/2006), Intel driver version 8.7.9.0 (10/24/2006), and in newer versions for the PRO/1000 PL and PRO/1000 MT network adapters. On the Intel driver download site, this is labeled "Network Adapter Driver for Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003." The affected scenarios also include deployment using Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2.5. BDD 2.5 does not use the flat file (RISSETUP) agent.

To work around this issue, comment out the descriptions of the "MiniHelp" parameters in the .inf file. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Use Notepad to open the *.inf file that is contained in the flat image.
2. Locate the section where the MiniHelp parameters appear. The MiniHelp parameters are located under the following section:
   [Strings.StringNo] ; Language (Country)
   For example, the MiniHelp parameters for the French language appear under [Strings.040C];French(France).
3. Replace the description for the Help text that is enclosed in quotation marks with the letter "h". The following example displays the MiniHelp parameters after you replace the description with the letter "h":

   ; MiniHelp
   FlowControlMiniHelp        ="h"
   AutoNegMiniHelp            ="h"
   AutoNegAdvertisedMiniHelp  ="h"
   ChecksumTxTcpMiniHelp      ="h"    
   ChecksumRxTcpMiniHelp      ="h"
   ChecksumTxIpMiniHelp       ="h"
   ChecksumRxIpMiniHelp       ="h"
   TcpSegmentationMiniHelp    ="h"
   NumCoalesceBuffersMiniHelp ="h"
   NumRxDescriptorsMiniHelp   ="h"
   NumTxDescriptorsMiniHelp   ="h"
   JumboFramesMiniHelp        ="h"
   TaggingModeMiniHelp        ="h"
   LAAMiniHelp                ="h"
   EnablePMEHelp              ="h"
   WakeOnHelp                 ="h"  
   WakeOnLinkHelp             ="h"
   LogLinkStateMiniHelp       ="h"
   SmartPowerDownMiniHelp     ="h"
   ITRMiniHelp                ="h"
   MasterSlaveModeMiniHelp    ="h"
   WaitAutoNegCompleteMiniHelp ="h"
   

   Note The letter "h" acts as a placeholder for the text and does not affect the functionality of the driver.
4. Save the *.inf file.

These steps help reduce the size of the *.inf file so that the file size is less than 4 KB.

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