Dual boot XP Pro and Norton Ghost 1

[cjcoyle]

Ok, hope you can follow my logic ...
I have 8 testbed PC's I've configured for my company to test patches and GPO's before approving them for production. I have ghost images on each PC in a seperate partition that I use to restore the system once testing has completed. I'd like to figure out how to boot to the ghost partition and auto execute the re-imaging process.
My ultimate goal is to automate the re-imaging as much as possible. I may be going about this COMPLETELY the wrong way and that's why I'm here. Maybe I could VBscript this and attack from a different philosophy.

Thanks!

 

[ArizonaGeek]

Sounds like you are going about this the long way. What you should do is set up one machine on your network to store your images then use network boot disk (

http://www.netbootdisk.com)

to boot to the network and pull the files across the network. I can reimage a machine in about 10 to 15 minutes across my network or with a bootable 8gb USB key in about 2 minutes if you choose to go that route.

What you have to do exactly is;
Create a folder on a network share that is perminate
Share it out
Move all images to that directory
Move a copy of ghost.exe to that directory
Make a bootable floppy or CD that boots to the network share
Start Ghost from the EXE and select the image you want

Pretty easy to do. Less complicated and if a drive fails you still have an image when you install a new drive.

Cheers
Rob

 

[Rick998]

Whilst I agree with some of ArizonaGeek's comments, there's no denying that imaging over a network is often slow and bandwidth intensive.

We have a similar setup to your own and, with 40Gb hard disks, I can re-image a partition automatically in 2 mins. or less.

If you DO decide to do a local partition re-image then:

1) Make sure the partition where the partition image is stored is formatted as FAT32.

2) Copy the Ghost executable to the partition where the partition image is stored, e.g. D: ('cos the executable is now too big for a floppy and initialises faster on hard disk than from USB or CD).

3) Boot the PC from USB stick, CD or floppy (all formatted with DOS).

4) Amend the AUTOEXEC.BAT file of the boot media to point to the FAT32 partition.

5) Create a batch file in the same partition, something like:

ghost -clone,mode=pload,src=c:\fixdrive.gho:1,dst=1:1 -rb -sure

Save it as something like 'fixme.bat'.

The Ghost switches above just mean 'carry out a partition re-image using the source file and make the destination the first partition of the first hard disk then reboot automatically (-rb) without any need for manual confirmation (-sure).

You'll have to play with AUTOEXEC.BAT depending on the boot media. For example, if you boot from a USB stick then, depending on the USB chipset used, it may see itself as a floppy disk or as a hard disk (or even a CD, like the new U3 USB sticks).

My Novatech USB stick uses a chipset that sees itself as a hard disk and becomes C: when it is used to boot from and the FAT32 partition on the PC's hard disk becomes D: ('cos DOS can't see NTFS). As a result I have to change AUTOEXEC.BAT on the USB stick to point to the batch file stored on D:.

D:
fixme.bat

As the PC's hard disk is seen temporarily as the second hard disk then I also have to modify the switches to:

ghost -clone,mode=pload,src=c:\fixdrive.gho:1,dst=[COLOR=red]2[/color]:1 -rb -sure

Notes:
1) Remove the boot media as soon as Ghost starts (to stop endless looping).

2) We use the corporate version of Ghost, i.e. Symantec Ghost, not the retail Norton Ghost. I don't know whether the retail version supports calling it from DOS and passing parameters.

 

[rjhodder]

Look into Master Booter to select the boot partition on startup. You could then create a startup menu that defaults to Windows in a predeterminied time. the user can boot to windows or to the ghost partition and run a seperate menu for ghosting.

 

[TheLad]

I wouldn't go for a boot CD myself as Ghost needs to write a temp file which has stumped me in the past (and required a RAMdrive to get around this). I would sticl with the antiquated floppy disk or if your PC supports it a bootable USB stick.

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"Insert funny comment in here!"
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[cjcoyle]

First of all, thank you all very much for taking the time to help me out. Rick I really think you have a great setup there and I will implement that as much as I can. I've built a universal ghost boot CD and I use the menuitem option in the config.sys to select the proper network card when ghosting via the network. The testbed pc's are going to be ghosted from the second partition, so I will store and execute the images from the HDD.
The only issue now is, how do I automate the reboot and force ghost to execute?

Thanks guys!
-Chris

 

[Rick998]

Make sure the Ghost executable is stored in the same partition as the source image file then add a menuitem to the CD's boot menu to change to the partition.

Remember that if the first partition has been formatted as NTFS then any DOS boot CD won't recognise the partition. As a result the CD menuitem will have to change to C:.

If, however, both partitions have been formatted as FAT32 then the CD menuitem will need to change to D: then run the Ghost executable with the following switches:

ghost -clone,mode=pload,src=d:\fixdrive.gho:1,dst=1:1 -rb -sure

This will avoid you having to include this in a 'fixme.bat' file. Alternatively, include a 'fixme.bat' file in the second partition and change the CD menuitem to point to the second partition and run the batch file.

The Ghost switches mean:
-clone,mode=pload = load partition from image file
src=d:\fixdrive.gho:1 = use first partition in an image file called 'fixdrive.gho' stored in root of D: as the source image file
dst=1:1 = use partition 1 of disk 1 as the destination
-rb = reboot automatically afterwards
-sure = don't ask for confirmation, just do it.

Again, you will have to adjust the 'src=' switch for the location of the source file from D: to C: depending on whether the DOS boot CD recognises the partition.

Note that you will can eject the CD as soon as Ghost starts, otherwise when you come back the PC may be sat waiting at the CD boot menu again.

Hope this helps...