Ghost and unattended

[abesapien2]

Is it possible to create one ghost image with windows and software and use it on workstations with different hardware? From what I understand, it is possible but it requires an unattended install to finish the job by installing the drivers for the model specific hardware. Any help would be great.

[blinkdt]

Is it possible? Possibly. But I wouldn't try that tactic. One of the key reasons I perform unattended installs (and completely abandoned imaging via Ghost) is because I need to reinstall on a hodgepodge of equipment, mostly donations to our school. Imaging simply does not work. It's the only time I have ever seen XP blue screens. Try it. I think you will agree.

[IcemanND]

It all depends upon what hardware you want to target.

The biggest problem is the HAL (hardware abstraction layer) there are 7 default HALs installed by Windows XP. ACPI

ACPI Uniprocessor

ACPI Multiprocessor

Standard HAL

MPS Uniprocessor

MPS Multiprocessor

Compaq something or other

Using Sysprep you can change systems between Uniprocessor and multiprocessor. But you cannot change between ACPI and standard(or MPS). And without scripting you cannot automatically change from ACPI to its cousins or from Standard to its MPS cousins.

There are products out there like the Universal Imaging Utility by Binary Research which will let you create a single image for all ACPI systems, and another for all non-acpi systems.

check here for more information http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=78535&hl=

Or google hardware independent image for more information

[chiners_68]

Its easier to create A Flat image using ris & install the unit in 1 hour unattended. you can then take an image from this for other machines which are identical.

[nivlacckw]

Highly recommend reading. This should cover most (if not all) areas..

Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deploymenthttp://www.microsoft.com/technet/desktopdeployment/bddoverview.mspx

[abesapien2]

Thanks for the quick responses!

[Dragoncri]

Check out the Universal Imaging Utility. I've been using it for a couple of years with a wide variety of hardware including Intel/AMD based laptops and workstations.

http://www.binaryresearch.net/UIU/About.php