Problem Correct procedure: Ghost and Sysrep on a domain machine.

Discussion in 'Software' started by Dubfire, Mar 15, 2012.

  1. Dubfire

    Dubfire Byte Poster

    144
    0
    26
    Alright lads,

    I’m going to image the XP machines at work; this is how I’ll go about doing it:

    1. Check all IDE drives are standard (if imaging to a different model)
    2. Copy the sysrep contents to the C drive
    3. Run Setup manager.
    4. Run through the wizard
    5. Click setup.exe
    6. Choose ‘factory’ and ‘mini-setup’
    7. Shutdown the PC
    8. Boot to a bootable disk/USB
    9. Image PC.
    10. Re-start
    11. Login locally (as the machine is now off the domain
    12. System preparation appears – choose ‘mini-setup and ‘reseal’.
    13. Add the machine back on to the domain

    Have I missed anything? Also, I take it the ‘reseal’ comes after the image takes place?
     
    Certifications: N+, 270.
    WIP: 291 then 284 for the MCSA.. ITIL...
  2. dales

    dales Terabyte Poster

    2,005
    51
    142
    If you have different models of pc in your organisation then your probably better off having an image for each different model otherwise it could cause the imaged pc to be a little unstable or you might find yourself in the middle of BSOD hell! How old are these pc's btw as you mention IDE drives and windows xp. Its probably a good idea to start planning a windows 7 roll out as XP is end of life and is only on extended support til 2014 (sounds a long way off but that'll whip round pretty quick).
     
    Certifications: vExpert 2014+2015+2016,VCP-DT,CCE-V, CCE-AD, CCP-AD, CCEE, CCAA XenApp, CCA Netscaler, XenApp 6.5, XenDesktop 5 & Xenserver 6,VCP3+5,VTSP,MCSA MCDST MCP A+ ITIL F
    WIP: Nothing
  3. Dubfire

    Dubfire Byte Poster

    144
    0
    26
    Alright Dales - cheers for the reply.

    Yeah the company I work for are tight as the proverbial with their cash, so an upgrade to 7 is wishful thinking mate....

    The main part I was toying with was the 're-seal' part, is this before or after an image has been taken?

    I'll prepare an image for each model of machine - good shout. I was attempting to boot from a ghost USB (after setting it in the BIOS) but the machine continued to to refuse and load Windows. Is their another setting within the BIOS on certain models that needs to be configured in order for it to be able to boot from USB. I've heard on the grape-vine that it's either at the stage of creating the bootable disk (Ghost can override the BIOS settings) or a BIOS setting on the machine that has to be turned off - something to do with legacy SATA???

    I need to install Ghost cast server in order to boot from the network and do away with the local USB sticks, etc. When I get the time!
     
    Certifications: N+, 270.
    WIP: 291 then 284 for the MCSA.. ITIL...
  4. dales

    dales Terabyte Poster

    2,005
    51
    142
    Shouldn't do I dont think, all the machine has to do is support booting from USB and then you'll need to specify the correct boot order. just do a quick google with the pc model number to see if it supports booting from usb, if not ghost should be able to kick off a network image install from a cd. The reseal option is probably best to do before the image (AFAIK) so that you'll run through the mini setup when the image is deployed onto each pc.
     
    Certifications: vExpert 2014+2015+2016,VCP-DT,CCE-V, CCE-AD, CCP-AD, CCEE, CCAA XenApp, CCA Netscaler, XenApp 6.5, XenDesktop 5 & Xenserver 6,VCP3+5,VTSP,MCSA MCDST MCP A+ ITIL F
    WIP: Nothing
  5. Dubfire

    Dubfire Byte Poster

    144
    0
    26
    Yeah I'll take a bootable CD as backup in case booting from USB is not supported. As I said these are older machines so this may be a possibility. Looks like a previous image was around 4.5GB so I'll have to re-format the USB stick with NTFS as I was having trouble with ghost asking to span the volume over numerous disks - then I realized the stick was formatted with FAT32 (max 4GB) - A gotcha, in other words!

    So, 're-seal' the master PC, re-boot then run through the mini set-up, then image. Superb - cheers Dales.
     
    Certifications: N+, 270.
    WIP: 291 then 284 for the MCSA.. ITIL...
  6. Dubfire

    Dubfire Byte Poster

    144
    0
    26
    A couple of issues regarding re-sealing before taking an image.



    1. You have to re-boot and run through the mini-setup on the master PC. This seems like a waste of time as the master PC is already on the domain with all the settings configured.

    2. If the PC is resealed before the image does that not mean that when the new image is deployed to a new PC the mini-setup will not run?

    Any thoughts lads?
     
    Certifications: N+, 270.
    WIP: 291 then 284 for the MCSA.. ITIL...
  7. BB88

    BB88 Kilobyte Poster Gold Member

    383
    13
    76
    1. Yes, slight annoyance, but take an image of the master after you have resealed.

    2. No, if you take the image after you have resealed, and not run the mini-setup then you should be fine. Just ghost your image after the machine restarts - before it gets to the mini-setup.

    We use Sysprep and Acronis for our XP Builds in our workplace.
     
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2012
    Certifications: CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, MCSA: Office 365,, 70-410, 70-680
    WIP: CompTIA: Security+
  8. SimonD
    Honorary Member

    SimonD Terabyte Poster

    3,681
    440
    199
    I would also ask whether the USB key you generated actually can boot up rather than just contains the Ghost files.

    You may also want to consider Acronis or even MDT and WDS for images (saves you having to have multiple images for every machine type you own, instead you just keep a drivers folder up to date with the required drivers).
     
    Certifications: CNA | CNE | CCNA | MCP | MCP+I | MCSE NT4 | MCSA 2003 | Security+ | MCSA:S 2003 | MCSE:S 2003 | MCTS:SCCM 2007 | MCTS:Win 7 | MCITP:EDA7 | MCITP:SA | MCITP:EA | MCTS:Hyper-V | VCP 4 | ITIL v3 Foundation | VCP 5 DCV | VCP 5 Cloud | VCP6 NV | VCP6 DCV | VCAP 5.5 DCA
  9. alexdc12

    alexdc12 Kilobyte Poster

    391
    3
    39
    this is how i do it.
    I install the OS, add any software/drivers thats needed. copy sysprep folder to c:\ I also use an answer file, when im ready i run sysprep click reseal (this auto incldes to run mini setup after boot) and shutdown. Boot from ghost CD and image HDD to the network, Then reboot master PC and it will run through the setup and re add to the network, add the image to any other machines and follow same process.
     
    Certifications: GNVQ Advanced IT, CompTIA A+, CompTIA N+, 70-680
    WIP: 70-685, ITIL v3 Foundation
  10. Dubfire

    Dubfire Byte Poster

    144
    0
    26
    Cheers for all the replys - the posts answered my query to a tee

    Nice one lads.
     
    Certifications: N+, 270.
    WIP: 291 then 284 for the MCSA.. ITIL...
  11. alexdc12

    alexdc12 Kilobyte Poster

    391
    3
    39
    no probs! i was just as confused at first!
     
    Certifications: GNVQ Advanced IT, CompTIA A+, CompTIA N+, 70-680
    WIP: 70-685, ITIL v3 Foundation
  12. Dubfire

    Dubfire Byte Poster

    144
    0
    26
    Right, I've imaged a machine (identical model - Optiplex 780) and cloned another 780.... Problem is, when the machine boots for the first time the windows screen appears for a split second then boots again... As I said it's an identical machine so I can't foresee any issues with hardware compatibility.

    I managed to clone a different machine (Thinkpad) with success, so why this is not playing ball I have no idea!

    Anyone had this issue before?
     
    Certifications: N+, 270.
    WIP: 291 then 284 for the MCSA.. ITIL...
  13. Dubfire

    Dubfire Byte Poster

    144
    0
    26
    Added to that... When F8 is pressed at boot, the following appears:

    Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt

    \windows\system32\config\system

    Any ideas guys?
     
    Certifications: N+, 270.
    WIP: 291 then 284 for the MCSA.. ITIL...
  14. Dubfire

    Dubfire Byte Poster

    144
    0
    26
    Update:

    There was a BIOS setting to allow legacy support for SATA; I enabled that and the image was deployed.

    Cheers.
     
    Certifications: N+, 270.
    WIP: 291 then 284 for the MCSA.. ITIL...
  15. SimonV
    Honorary Member

    SimonV Petabyte Poster Gold Member

    6,651
    180
    258
    Glad you got it sorted and thanks for sharing the fix. :)

    Oh and cute dog BTW.
     
    Certifications: MOS Master 2003, CompTIA A+, MCSA:M, MCSE
    WIP: Keeping CF Alive...
  16. alexdc12

    alexdc12 Kilobyte Poster

    391
    3
    39
    that one happens quite a lot! its bad when you build a hdd to send overseas and it doesnt work! its always that setting that prevents it!
     
    Certifications: GNVQ Advanced IT, CompTIA A+, CompTIA N+, 70-680
    WIP: 70-685, ITIL v3 Foundation
  17. Dubfire

    Dubfire Byte Poster

    144
    0
    26
    I thought I would 'resurrect' this thread after encountering an issue with Sysprep.

    Basically, I went through the sysprep process: creating an answer file, running setup manager, etc but upon clicking’re-seal' and shutdown in preparation to image the disk I received the following error message(s):

    setup was unable to change the password for the user account administrator because of the following error

    SAM CHANGE PASSWORD USER RETURNED STATUS C0000076A

    WARNING SETUP WAS UNABLE TO CHANGE THE PASSWORD FOR USER ACCOUNT ADMINISTRATOR BECASUSE OF THE FOLLOWING ERROR
    SAM change password user returned status C00000a

    Warning setup was unable to change the password for the user account administrator using the encrypted password specified because of the following error set localuserencryptedpassword(administrator) returned error 86 (56)

    Windows is unable to start because the registry could not be updated. To address the problem, please contact your computer manufacturer. Windows must now shut down

    At this stage I was attempting to boot to Ghost then carry out the imaging process but all that happened was the Windows splash screen would appear then these errors would appear (no BSOD, just an option to check out a log).

    One thing to note, I was using Sysprep SP2 on a XP SP 3 machine. I know of differences in how SP3 Sysprep copies over the default user profiles, etc but did not foresee this would ultimately cause such a critical fault! I would re-boot the machine but this warning would appear in an endless cycle.

    Anyone had any issues using Sysprep SP 2 on SP3 XP? Or is this a red herring.

    One more thing, do you guys take an un-syspreped version of the master PC before running sysprep, so if the machine does go belly up (as stated above) you can just wack that image on to the machine. Do I have to take into any considerations bearing in mind it's a domain machine with a unique SID?

    Cheers,

    Mark
     
    Certifications: N+, 270.
    WIP: 291 then 284 for the MCSA.. ITIL...
  18. Dubfire

    Dubfire Byte Poster

    144
    0
    26
    Any thoughts guys? :D
     
    Certifications: N+, 270.
    WIP: 291 then 284 for the MCSA.. ITIL...
  19. Nyx

    Nyx Byte Poster

    189
    24
    15
  20. alexdc12

    alexdc12 Kilobyte Poster

    391
    3
    39
    We had this problem at work, we use an answerfile with an unencrypted password because i was told it wouldnt work encrypted, never really asked why! try it without and just make sure your answer file is safe :)
     
    Certifications: GNVQ Advanced IT, CompTIA A+, CompTIA N+, 70-680
    WIP: 70-685, ITIL v3 Foundation

Share This Page

Loading...
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.