SBS 2000 Installation Tips

I’m about to install SBS 2000 on my network. Are there any special issues to take into consideration before I start the installation?
SBS 2000 is an easy installation. The installation phase can be divided into 2 distinctive sections: The simple-good-old Windows 2000 setup process, and the SBS Back-office components installation phase.
Installing the W2K phase is just like installing W2K. However, after running that part there are a few things you should be aware of BEFORE you begin the second phase.

Make sure to get hold of and install SBS Service Pack 1. That is basically Windows 2000 SP3, Exchange 2000 SP3 and ISA SP1. There are other parts to the actual Service Pack but if you cannot get it on time, the regular Service Packs will be fine. Read this for more: Small Business Server 2000 Patches.
Make sure to use the wizards! When setting up users, you will use a wizard. These are very good, but you must use them so you do not get into issues with security. Specifically, the wizard creates a client setup disk for use on each PC. During the installation (on the client) the setup disk sets up the local user rights etc.
Set up all users with Power User rights (done using the wizard). This will allow them to add software etc. However, you do not need to do this. Just a suggestion.
Unlike the previous versions of SBS, you can set the IP addressing as you wish without issue.
During the installation, make sure to set the Company Shared Folder and Users Shared Folder onto a drive with enough storage space for the future. These folders are automatically referenced on each users desktop after installation, so SBS wants the users to use them.
SBS will automatically set the users personal folder to map to the “Z” drive. No need for you do do manually. However, if you do not want passwords to expire, you will need to make this change using AD Users and Groups.
Also, SBS 2000 does not by default set-up profile paths if you want to use them you’ll have to do it manually.
If you have more than one network card make sure to disable the one that will NOT be used for the internal network. SBS hates that. If you are going to set-up a broadband or router on the other network card, only enable it after the installation of the main system.
After the initial installation, you will be presented with a “To do” list. It is VITAL that you set the “Configure Internet Information Services”. If you do not do this, everything fails after a while.
Make sure to use the “Internet Connection Wizard” under the “to do” list to configure your internet settings. This will set-up IIS, ISA, Exchange and Internet settings for you. It is very good, but you can make your own changes the good old manual way after. Remember, if you make your own changes, they would be reset by the wizard if you ran it again.
Oh, one last thing…. You HAVE to use NTFS format.
Original tip by Nick Whittome.
Also see http://www.smallbizserver.net/ for the SBS 2000 FAQ.

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