Installing NetWare 5 without the GUI

Articles and Tips: tip

Dave Doering
President
TechVoice, Inc.

01 Feb 1999

Here is a basic rundown of how to install NetWare 5 without the graphical (Java) portion of the installation program. While this is definitely not the optimal way to install NetWare 5, I needed to do it because the GUI would not display properly on my server's screen. The dialogs appeared crunched up a the top of the screen, with information actually overlapping so it was impossible to view anything other than small pieces.

Note that these steps don't prevent the GUI from loading; they simply bypass its tasks and use the NWCONFIG utility instead to get the server up and running. I'd recommend this method only for experienced NetWare installers.

First I performed the regular steps of installation up to the loading of the GUI. This included specifying language, basic hardware, network interface card, and NetWare volume.
The system began to load the Java install wizard. I could tell this because the copying processing at the command prompt showed the names of various Java files and the loading of them.
At this point, the garbled GUI appeared on screen. I knew that the very first screen that appears asks you to name the server. Since I couldn't see this, I had to carefully type in the name using the keyboard. I also knew that to advance from the type-in box to the Next button requires two Tabs. So I tabbed once, then a second time, and I could just see the Next box highlighted in the garbled mess of the GUI. I pressed <Enter<.
The program did a bit of configuration action with the hard disk, then went quiet. At that point, I knew the GUI was asking me to do some kind of configuration, either network protocol or volume. Since I couldn't view this, I moved over to the command line by pressing <Alt+Tab<.
At the command line, I typed NWCONFIG<Enter< to load the NetWare 5 configuration tool that replaces the former INSTALL.NLM. (Remember that in NetWare 5 you don't need to type LOAD for NLMs any more.)
With the NWCONFIG main menu showing, I chose the Copy Files Option to copy the NetWare system files to the SYS volume. The program asked me to choose which set of files I wanted, which is pretty much everything there. This copying process took a while. When it completed, I selected the option to install NDS.
The NDS installation part asked me to name my tree, organization, and any OUs I wanted (as in any NDS install.) I also named my Admin user and provided a password.
At this point, NDS typically displays an error message that the volumes on the server could not be added to NDS. You can ignore this and go on, since NDS also says it otherwise loaded fine.
Next, I chose the NWCONFIG option to edit the AUTOEXEC.NCF file. (STARTUP.NCF was properly configured during the C-Worthy portion of the install.) Here I had to type in the server configuration information that normally would come from the Install Wizard. Since I couldn't use the Wizard, I had to manually type this in. The best way to do this is to have a previous NetWare 4.x or 5.0 server's AUTOEXEC.NCF file configuration available to copy (manually by typing in, not by an across-the-wire process or some similar means).
The first item in the NCF file is setting the time zone (which may already be present in the file. I had tried this process twice and it was different each time.) I used my NetWare 4.11 server's time zone configuration information and this worked fine.
I then set the default time server to Single, since I might want to incorporate another NetWare 5 server later on in the tree.
I used my tree planning sheet to fill in the Bindery Context and file server name.
Next, I loaded and bound the network protocols and boards. Since I had loaded the drivers during the C-Worthy portion of the install, I knew the name of the driver to include here.

I then added the volume mount command to finish the file. When all was said and done, my AUTOEXEC.NCF file looked like this:

SET TIME ZONE = MST7MDT
SET DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME OFFSET = 1:00:00
SET START OF DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME = (APRIL SUNDAY FIRST 2:00:00am)
SET END OF DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME = (OCTOBER SUNDAY LAST 2:00:00am)
SET DEFAULT TIME SERVER TYPE = SINGLE
SET BINDERY CONTEXT = O=Testing
File Server Name = HAWAII50
IPX internal net = 12345678
load SMC port=240 frame=Ethernet_802.2 name=smc_8022
bind ipx smc_8022 net=CC57D66AA
load IPXRTR Routing=NLSP
mount all

I saved and exited the edit option. I hopped out to the command line and typed SETUPNLS<Enter< to load the licensing NLM. This process was automatic, and returned me to the command line.
I then returned to the NWCONFIG main menu, where I chose the Install Licenses option. I followed the onscreen prompts to insert my license floppy into the drive to install my server licenses.
With this done, I exited the NWCONFIG utility. I then downed the server and exited to DOS.
From DOS, I went to the root of C: and edited the CONFIG .SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. Since NetWare removed the loading of my CD-ROM drivers from the CONFIG.SYS file, I put that back in, along with the settings for FILES and BUFFERS that NetWare created.
Next, I edited AUTOEXEC .BAT to also include the loading of my CD-ROM drivers (seen in the AUTOEXEC.000 backup file that NetWare renamed my original.) I then remarked out the auto-loading of NetWare so I had a chance to check the disk before NetWare loaded. I then saved that file and rebooted the system.
Back at the C: prompt, I went to the NWSERVER directory and typed SERVER <Enter< to load NetWare. I did not rerun the INSTALL program. That would simply start over and ignore everything I had done. (No, it did not restart at the point I left off in the install process. Sorry, I wish it did.)

At this point, NetWare ran fine. I could then add IP addressing and such if I wanted.

* Originally published in Novell AppNotes

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