blog.hishamrana.com— Clear instructions on how to use Ghost and Sysprep to create a universal disk image of Windows XP that will restore onto any computer. No more reinstalling necessary after making this.
Feb 24, 2006View in Crawl 4
agilethumbs don't you think you are over reacting just a bit? i'm sure the webmaster did it for entertainment purposes oh he isn't a "moron web programmer." his about page is password protected now but it said he is in medical school and will be a surgeoni dont mean any hero worship here but a tech savvy blogger who is a surgeon makes you stupid compared to him.
FYI - for those curious about ghosting to entirely different hardware.. Another pretty simple solution (perhaps a little unorthodox).. Put the image onto the new (different hardware) system. Of course if you just load it up you will get a BSOD. Here's the solution. Boot to your OS install disk and have whatever drivers you need for the new hardware on a floppy disk (it will prompt you to hit F6 to install the drivers), then do a repair (not a console repair) - It will basically copy your new drivers, rewrite the main system files, but keep the registry/users/applications, etc.. I just did this last week imaging an IDE win2k server to a SCSI raid 5 system.. Worked like a champ..
mandantory profile + strong security = why pay more for a 3rd party software to do what Windows can do for you?+ SUS updates and you only have to re-ghost when someone cracks the system, or when it just breaks.
Well, to avoid the BSOD on different hardware, you simply have to setup sysprep to run mini setup after the DOS portion of the image is done copying. After the first reboot, Windows GUI setup will start as if you just installed a fresh copy of Windows form the CD.We use it on hundreds of different types, manufacturers and models of computers and I have not found one yet that it gave the BSOD. Some of the newer Dells do not have PS/2 ports, only USB, and once the mini-setup starts, it does not pickup the USB keyboard or mouse.To work around this problem, you must force the mouse and keyboard to be reinitialized during mini-Setup. To do so, add the following lines to the [SysprepMassStorage] section of the Sysprep.inf file before the unattended installation begins: [SysprepMassStorage] *pnp0303=C:windowsinfkeyboard.inf *pnp0f03=C:windowsinfmsmouse.inf *pnp0f0b=C:windowsinfmsmouse.inf *pnp0f0e=C:windowsinfmsmouse.inf *pnp0f12=C:windowsinfmsmouse.inf *pnp0f13=C:windowsinfmsmouse.infOther than that, works like a chram.
I think most of you missed the point.They aren't advocating IT level image distribution.They are showing you how to use imaging software to make common re-installation of your home system easier. This means, instead of a generic installation like most of you are talking about with Ghost, you have a fully customized installation MADE for your PC.That's the way to use imaging software.As far as IT, terminal server is really the superior solution to distributed images. WHY bother with all the added hardware and management when you can centralize and consolidate. Of course you've been using ghost for years. That's because your out of the loop and imaging is not longer the tried and true solution of IT.Ghost is all but dead in quality IT circles and imaging in general is on the decline as the terminal model make a come back. No more hardware troubleshooting, you just pop a new terminal in place, the user logs on and has all his data. No need for all that local data, which is a MAJOR security weak point.Few common apps don't run in a terminal setup and even if you don't use Windows... Linux can handle it THAT MUCH better. Terminals are the best cost of operation solution. Hdd images are nice... for 15 years ago or for high end workstations and such that can't run on a terminal server. User backups is where disk imaging technology should be focuses.It already knows about imaging. It's the home user that doesn't seem to grasp the concept of backing up OR if they do, they never evolve beyond floppies and CDRs. System restore was a decent idea, and with today's INSANE drive capacity I can see System Restore becoming a full imaging solution.NOW, if they can just make a way to safely run it OUTSIDE of the OS. All too often Windows repairs don't work or AREN'T worth the time, hence why imaging is so popular. I like how Mac's allow you to firewire to their drives. The entire PC world as a whole needs to embrace smarter maintenance designs like that and perhaps default raid setups, since drive prices are so low. Home Media PCs should become terminal servers so you can buy one kick ass PC and move a dirt cheap terminal server around to get multiple log ins.Great for most common, non gaming uses.
tempsterFeb 26, 2006Submitter
agilethumbs don't you think you are over reacting just a bit? i'm sure the webmaster did it for entertainment purposes oh he isn't a "moron web programmer." his about page is password protected now but it said he is in medical school and will be a surgeoni dont mean any hero worship here but a tech savvy blogger who is a surgeon makes you stupid compared to him.
hakujinFeb 26, 2006
and... if you prefer to get your hands slightly dirtier (than nlite)<a class="user" href="http://www.petri.co.il/windows_2000_xp_sp_slipstreaming.htm">http://www.petri.co.il/windows_2000_xp_sp_slipstreaming.htm</a>
hagfish16Feb 27, 2006
FYI - for those curious about ghosting to entirely different hardware.. Another pretty simple solution (perhaps a little unorthodox).. Put the image onto the new (different hardware) system. Of course if you just load it up you will get a BSOD. Here's the solution. Boot to your OS install disk and have whatever drivers you need for the new hardware on a floppy disk (it will prompt you to hit F6 to install the drivers), then do a repair (not a console repair) - It will basically copy your new drivers, rewrite the main system files, but keep the registry/users/applications, etc.. I just did this last week imaging an IDE win2k server to a SCSI raid 5 system.. Worked like a champ..
xalorousMar 9, 2006
mandantory profile + strong security = why pay more for a 3rd party software to do what Windows can do for you?+ SUS updates and you only have to re-ghost when someone cracks the system, or when it just breaks.
xalorousMar 9, 2006
Ghost is pretty straight forward.What I want to see is a HOWTO on creating a PXE image.
jusedawgApr 26, 2007
Well, to avoid the BSOD on different hardware, you simply have to setup sysprep to run mini setup after the DOS portion of the image is done copying. After the first reboot, Windows GUI setup will start as if you just installed a fresh copy of Windows form the CD.We use it on hundreds of different types, manufacturers and models of computers and I have not found one yet that it gave the BSOD. Some of the newer Dells do not have PS/2 ports, only USB, and once the mini-setup starts, it does not pickup the USB keyboard or mouse.To work around this problem, you must force the mouse and keyboard to be reinitialized during mini-Setup. To do so, add the following lines to the [SysprepMassStorage] section of the Sysprep.inf file before the unattended installation begins: [SysprepMassStorage] *pnp0303=C:windowsinfkeyboard.inf *pnp0f03=C:windowsinfmsmouse.inf *pnp0f0b=C:windowsinfmsmouse.inf *pnp0f0e=C:windowsinfmsmouse.inf *pnp0f12=C:windowsinfmsmouse.inf *pnp0f13=C:windowsinfmsmouse.infOther than that, works like a chram.
joeanonApr 7, 2008
I think most of you missed the point.They aren't advocating IT level image distribution.They are showing you how to use imaging software to make common re-installation of your home system easier. This means, instead of a generic installation like most of you are talking about with Ghost, you have a fully customized installation MADE for your PC.That's the way to use imaging software.As far as IT, terminal server is really the superior solution to distributed images. WHY bother with all the added hardware and management when you can centralize and consolidate. Of course you've been using ghost for years. That's because your out of the loop and imaging is not longer the tried and true solution of IT.Ghost is all but dead in quality IT circles and imaging in general is on the decline as the terminal model make a come back. No more hardware troubleshooting, you just pop a new terminal in place, the user logs on and has all his data. No need for all that local data, which is a MAJOR security weak point.Few common apps don't run in a terminal setup and even if you don't use Windows... Linux can handle it THAT MUCH better. Terminals are the best cost of operation solution. Hdd images are nice... for 15 years ago or for high end workstations and such that can't run on a terminal server. User backups is where disk imaging technology should be focuses.It already knows about imaging. It's the home user that doesn't seem to grasp the concept of backing up OR if they do, they never evolve beyond floppies and CDRs. System restore was a decent idea, and with today's INSANE drive capacity I can see System Restore becoming a full imaging solution.NOW, if they can just make a way to safely run it OUTSIDE of the OS. All too often Windows repairs don't work or AREN'T worth the time, hence why imaging is so popular. I like how Mac's allow you to firewire to their drives. The entire PC world as a whole needs to embrace smarter maintenance designs like that and perhaps default raid setups, since drive prices are so low. Home Media PCs should become terminal servers so you can buy one kick ass PC and move a dirt cheap terminal server around to get multiple log ins.Great for most common, non gaming uses.