IcemanND

The version of UIU I was using that would do all of the HALs and SCSI was from March/April timeframe this year. Sounds like they have gone backwards since my testing earlier this year. Sad if they have, the version I had worked very well for what we wanted to do. I don't think that work will let me use ntldr from vista beta 1. And I suppose the detecthall switch is not in XP. So I guess I'll be stuck with the slightly more dificult methods.

I would like to see that. If you'd be so kind. Thanks.

You must have used thier last version not the new one, new one will do scsi, all HAL types, and at least for the machines I've done my testing on their driver database was more complete than BTS's. Yes, is still uses sysprep, but for most of my images I do also. If you want to edit the image make if fat32 and you can modify the image before deployment. At least to an extent, no you can't edit the registry. I have not tried symantec restore anywhere, I'm hoping to get a copy soon to play with. I personally did not like acronis' method, but I also did not want to change imaging software either. Not trying to argue. Just trying to get as much information out there for the poor souls who will stumble accross this thread. Finding some of this information has been a real pain in the but.

Is this different between BartPE and WinPE? In BartPE the ACPU Uniprocessor comes up as HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\ACPI_HAL\PNP0C08\0\HardwareID I don't currently have access to my WinPE install, it's in my other office.

actually there is a third comercial program that does this, the UIU (Universal Imaging Utility) from Binary Research the original makers of Ghost. It handles HAL, massstorage and includes a drivers database.

It must have had some protection then, I've had more than that in the length of time it takes to download sp2 if I leave the machine directly connected without any protection. At work I've removed more than 60000 virii from a single machine and my record for spyware on a single machine is over 40000.

works great if those are the only four HALs you are going to come up against. But I have seen the Standard HAL and ACPI Compatible HALs in my environment which are not addressed by this script. And I have not found a way to modify it for those machines. Though I would really like to just toss those machines in the dumpster, it's not an option.

Mind giving a few details.

I'd like to see that thread also. I've been using Ghost for 8 years and never had a problem caused by ghost.

I do this to a number of my users. Works great. Especially when they don't have admin rights. I haven't had a spyware/virus infection in the last 10 months, which is when I started this. Makes reloading quick also, just remember it will not reuse user profiles.

if only it were true. I'd be submitting those errors all the time.

check the fan and heat sink. the dell laptops of this design are notoriuos for getting plugged up with dust and lint.

@hwaqpo - nope. you can add files to a FAT32 ghost image but NTFS images are not editable. You have to deploy them, update them and then recapture them. I run scripts from my systems at first boot that looks at a csv file to see what post sp2 updates are available and compare that to the installed updates and install the difference.

Actually I hate to burst your bubble but you will probably find that the P2 and early P3 install as ACPI, later P3 and early P4 will install as ACPI Uni, and HT/muticore will be ACPI Multi. You will have the occasional P2 that has a Standard HAL and some that appear to be multipersonalities, the Dell GXa is that way depending upon the BIOS version it is either a Standard HAL or a ACPI HAL. If you are looking to cover that many different machines I'd take a look at the UIU or something equivalent. You can see the HAL compatitbilty chart at : http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServe...3.mspx?mfr=true

Those settings only really help if your systems are ACPI Uni or Multi processor HALs. The best bet if all your systems fall into that category is to create your image on a ACPI uniprocessor hal and let windows upgrade it automatically to the multi processor hal. The line to go backwards does not always work correctly. If you need to cover more than just those two hals and don't want to create more images the UIU from binary research is a consideration.

just password protect all your accounts and turn on the screen saver lock, and lock your machine when you walk away. Then no one has a chance to get anything from your machine.

@crahak - I agree I wouldn't want to see xp on a non-acpi box, but I have. And if I had a HT/Dual core processor I would want to be using what I paid for. You won't with a standard acpi hal. Also some drivers will not install correctly with the wrong HAL on the machine. As far as the massstoragedrivers section of sysprep, I have never had a problem with it, not to say that it does not fail but I have moved systems from PATA to SATA to SCSI and back without and issue accross multiple manufacturers. I've even uses the driverpack from bashrat to do it and not had problems. @ nois3 - ghost is not a "stupid way of deployment" if done correctly it can be a very effective way of deploying multiple machines, even accross multiple hardware platforms. Try installing 18gb of software along with the os and patches to 45 machines in an hour . You can't do it without a product like ghost. SMS and RIS won't even get it done that fast. If I was doing this particular deployment Iwould likely look at doing unattended installs. But it would all depend upon what the 11-14 system models are. I've setup and installed 50 machines in a week from scratch, it just depends upon the amount of work you want to do and when. And it also depends upon what you want when finished and you have to replace a failed hard drive in a system when it's in use by someone and how long you feel you can make them wait.

the HAL issues tend to come up if you build you image on a new machine and try deploying to the older machines. It can also crop up if you build it on a really old machine that has a non acpi hal and put it on saya dual core machine it will not use the dual core, only a single core. The mass storage drivers can be easily taken care of with sysprep, the incompatible HALs are the b iggest headache.

If your 11-14 models all have compatible HALs you could do a ghost image, but you would need to know what HAL is on each of the models you are deploying to. If you can convince the powers to be to spend some money you can get the Universal Image Utility from Binary Research and then the HAL issue is dead, and they provide a driver database with the program so you normally don't have to find all the drivers for the machine either.

I was referring to copying the i386 folder to the hard drive and running the install from there and not using the CD at all. Also take a look at Binary Research and their Universal Imaging Utility you can use it to have one image for almost any hardware. Another not cost option is if all of your machines have ACPI Uniprocessore or ACPI Multiprocessor HALs or the majority of them are you can create a single image for them and have sysprep add the mass storage drivers and add your own driver packs for the rest of the drivers. If you build the image on an ACPI Uniprocessor HAL system it will automatically get upgrade to the Multi processor HAL when you boot. If you build it on a mulit you have to add a line to sysprep to have it downgraded to a single if needed.

yes some stuff is left behind, like with usb storage devices, that's how it knows what drive letter to assign the next time you install it.

just do you install from the hard drive and deploy that via ghost

@oneless - that script just does it ordered by file name.

nope, you can't use the windows welcome screen on a domain member machine.

you should never make statementss like that. Let's see what you come up with for me.