Fellow computer guys...Help a brother out!

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striker_29

Senior Member
Joined
May 31, 2001
Ok heres the deal guys. I have a PC rollout in three different locations about 150 miles from here. This will entail three different Domains, three Windows 2003 servers and about 20 XP Pro workstations on each server/domain. There is lots of software to be installed and configured, service packs, printer configuration, etc, that has to be done on each workstation. We typically use Symantec ghost to create a master image that is completely configured, then use multicast server to replicate the data across the network to each node. However these Gateway pc's came with an integrated network adapter (Intel pro100 ve) that I cannot find the appropriate drivers for. I have contacted both Gateway and Intel, in an effort to locate the appropriate ndis2 driver, and the general consensus seems to be that there is not one:rolleyes: :mad: So, any suggestions on making ghost work on these systems would be great, but also any other ideas in terms of how we can image these things out in groups of at least 20 at a time. I am NOT going to do each one individually, as its just not feasible. I have heard of Snapshot, but dont know anything really about it, or how it works. Any ideas guys? TIA...Mark
 
What about installing a different network card. May cost 30 bucks per system but save you the headaches in the future? One reason I do not buy Gateway. I have had these types of hardware incompatibility in the past. Also with network cards. The only other idea I have is a bootable cd with the image. A little more work but some one with minor PC abilities can run it. I do most of mine this way as I do not have the server space to house the images.
 
Hey machinegun thanks for the reply. The network card idea, was what I was thinking as well (cuz I've got dozens of 3coms laying around), but these gateways are the little e series standup bracket desktops, and they have the little half sized pci outlets that take a special card. I would have to special order 20 cards, and that will probably be a hard sell to my boss:rolleyes: I was wondering about the cd idea as well, but this image will be so big by the time I'm through, it would have to span multiple cd's, so I dont know if that will really be feasible/ efficient either. Thanks again for the reply, hopefully theres a silver bullet out there somewhere...Mark
 
Ok, I found the silver bullet I needed. I got the ndis driver to work...finally. I had to use the existing template that Symantec has for the regular Intel pro100, then I had to replace the e100b driver file in protocol.ini with the one I downloaded from the net. Still dont know why it wouldnt work by adding it from scratch. Anyway, thanks machinegun for your reply, I know I will sleep better tonight!
 
If you have a later version of Ghost you can use the Multicast option to image them all at the same time. It WILL eat bandwidth though so do it during non-production hours. Plus, remember you need to run GhostWalk on each machine after it is imaged so that it will have a unique SID.
 
Originally posted by Bandit
If you have a later version of Ghost you can use the Multicast option to image them all at the same time. It WILL eat bandwidth though so do it during non-production hours. Plus, remember you need to run GhostWalk on each machine after it is imaged so that it will have a unique SID.
Click to expand...

Hey Bandit, I'm not sure what you mean, I have always multicasted them all at the same time:confused: And if you run sysprep first, you dont have to ghostwalk them!:)
 
Oh and yes, a multicast will eat bandwidth across even vlans, and if you are using an atm corebuilder with lake s, forget about it, the guys on the bottom are gone. Its totally different than unicast traffic, but man does it work great for its intended purpose!

From the Symantec Website:

How to use Sysprep with Ghost

Situation:
You want to use Microsoft's System Preparation tool (Sysprep) on a Windows 2000 computer to change the computer's configuration.

Solution:
Sysprep prepares a computer for cloning (imaging) and customization. When you restart a computer after using Sysprep, Windows 2000 detects the attached devices such as the hard disk and CD-ROM. That is, Sysprep indicates to Windows that Windows must rebuild its Plug-and-Play driver database the next time Windows is started.

NOTES:

Windows NT: Because Windows NT does not support Plug-and-Play, do not use Sysprep with Ghost to create an image of a Windows NT installation.
Windows XP: If creating an image of a Windows XP installation, use the Windows XP version of Sysprep (found on the Windows XP CD), rather than the Windows 2000 version. There are two versions of Sysprep for Windows XP:
Windows XP without Service Pack 1 installed: Version 5.1.2600
Windows XP with Service Pack 1: Version 5.1.2600.1106. Click here to download a copy of version 5.1.2600.1106 from Microsoft.
Differing hardware:The operating system affects how well a cloning operation will work when cloning between computers that have different hardware. For more information about these hardware differences and about using Ghost to rollout Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP installations, see the documents Introduction to cloning a Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP computer, How to clone a Windows NT or Windows 2000 workstation and How to change the SID on a Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows NT computer.

Ghost Walker and the SID Change option in the Task in Ghost Console can also change the computer configuration, but they do not prompt Windows to rebuild the Plug-and-Play driver database. For an image of a Windows 2000 or Windows XP installation, use Microsoft's Sysprep instead of Ghost to change the computer's configuration.


I can provide the link for the entire text, if anyone needs it:)
 
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