Sometimes you don’t have the time to sit in front of your monitor and click the Next button. Using an answer file to do new installs saves time, and we love saving a little time. The answer file is just a simple text file, so you can create your own or edit a previous answer file. If you are installing a new Forest at the Server 2008 Functional Level, then the settings below would be correct for you. If you need any different settings, you’ll want to change some of the entries. Right click on the Command Prompt and choose the Run as administrator option.

This is the syntax we use to do a Forest install with the settings from our answer file. Remember to include the correct location and filename.

The install goes pretty much the same as it would it you were clicking through all the Next buttons, without the clicking, of course. When it’s finished, it will restart your machine with no warning, so make sure you aren’t doing anything else important.

When the server finishes the reboot, it will be the first Domain Controller in the new Forest.