Technology Services

Restoring a Lab Computer Using a Ghost Image

• Using a Ghost Boot Floppy - Windows 98 or Windows 2000 Server

• Using the Ghost Console - Windows 2000 Pro or Windows XP

Creating a Ghost Image for Restoring a Lab Computer

Restoring a Lab Computer with a Ghost Image Using the Ghost Console- Windows 2000 Pro or Windows XP

• Determine the current state of the computer (unbootable, bootable with problems, or bootable with no problems).  If there are multiple machines needing to be ghosted, use the current state of the “worst” computer.

a.       If the machine is unbootable, proceed to Using a Ghost Boot Floppy

b.      If the machine is bootable with problems, have the technician determine whether it is visible to the Ghost server.  Computers must be on the lab network to be visible to the Ghost server

                                                               i.      If it is visible to the Ghost server, proceed with the next step

                                                             ii.      If it is not visible to the Ghost server, proceed to Using a Ghost Boot Floppy

c.       If the machine is bootable with no problems, proceed with the next step

d.      When in doubt, proceed to Using a Ghost Boot Floppy

• Provide the inventory numbers of the computers needing ghosted to the technician handling the Ghosting.  The Ghost technician can be reached by calling extension 6000.

• The technician will remotely start the computers that have been instructed to Ghost. 

• Each computer will display a pop-up that reads “This computer has been selected to participate in a task,” with buttons labeled “Execute” and “Continue working.”  If you select “Execute” the task will proceed immediately.  If you select “Continue working” the machine will be removed from the task and not restored. 

• The computer will reboot into PC-DOS, and begin the Ghosting process.  The Ghost process will take anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours.  Typically, it takes about 30 minutes.

• When the Ghosting has finished, the computers will restart.  After restarting, the computers will begin a Mini-Setup of Windows.  They will produce an error about having an illegal character in their computer name.

• When you press “OK”, the computer will give you a chance to change the name.  The name will consist of an abbreviation of the building, room number, hyphen, part of the inventory number, and an asterisk.  Replace the asterisk with the correct digits to complete the inventory number.  For example, if the machine name is given as “J101-110*”, and the computer’s inventory number is “751-110110”, then you would rename the machine to be “J101-110110”. 

NEVER rename the machine by just deleting the *.  Many problems will occur, and the machine will usually have to be restored again.  If an error comes up “Unable to join a domain at the current time”, then contact the Ghost technician to resolve this. The computer will proceed to join the domain and reboot. 

• After the machine has rebooted, you are finished, and the machine should be as good as new.

Restoring a Lab Computer with a Ghost Image Using the Ghost Boot Floppy - Windows 98 or Windows 2000 Server
 

Windows 98 and Windows 2000 Server require special consideration.  Ghost does not officially support any Server operating system, and Windows 98 does not properly handle Ghost’s remote control features.

• Insert the Ghost boot floppy disk into each computer you plan to restore.   After booting from the floppy, you may remove it and use it in another machine at any time after Ghost client has finished started. 

• Contact Technology Services  if you do not have a Ghost boot floppy.  The Ghost boot floppy should contain NDIS drivers for the network card.   Some common network cards include:

Intel Pro/100 VE, found in many kinds of computers.

3Com 3c905/920, found in some older Dells

SMC 1211, found in some older Gateways

DM9102, also known as CNet Pro200WL

RTL8029, found in the Acecom computers

RTL8139, found in many computers that have had network cards replaced.

If you use a boot floppy with incorrect network card driver, the computer will not be able to connect to the Ghost server.  There are other network cards, and there are boot floppies for each of them, as well as several “universal” boot floppies.  Contact Technology Services for assistance with connectivity problems.

• Provide the total number of computers being restored Ghost technician. The Ghost technician can be reached at extension 6000.  

• After the Ghost client has loaded, press “OK” to bypass the splash screen.  Next, select “Ghostcast” and then “Multicast”.  The Ghost technician will provide the name of the session. The session name is generally an abbreviated form of the building and room number of the lab, such as “SCI117”, “J103”, etc. 

• The Ghost process will take anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours depending on the size of the image, the speed of the computer, and the network speed.

• When the session completes the restore, you will be prompted to “Continue” or “Restart.”  Select “Restart”.  The computer will reboot.  Ensure that the floppy disk is ejected.

• After restarting the computer, it may attempt to load drivers.  In most cases, the correct drivers should already be installed.  If there are issues with the drivers, please contact Technology Services so the problem can be addressed.

• You will need to rename the machine.  After Windows has finished loading, you may get an error message about another computer on the network having the same name.  To fix this, right-click on “Network Neighborhood”, go to “Properties”, and “Identification”, and change the computer name to match the pattern of building abbreviation, room number, and inventory number, such as “EDS122-106026”.  The computer will want to restart after renaming.

• After the computer has rebooted, the restore is complete.

Procedures for Creating a New Ghost Image

1. Do a clean install or update the old image.
   1. If you are updating an old image to include new software, select a machine to use as your “Ghosting master”, and load the existing image onto it.  This ensures that the new image does not have any artifacts that have been left behind from usage.
   2. If you are installing a brand-new lab, begin by reformatting and reinstalling Windows.  The primary reason for this is that the OEM Windows key does not work after running sysprep and Ghosting the machines.  If you don’t reinstall Windows the first time, you will the second time.

                                                               i.      Install all the drivers.  Dell is particularly notorious for putting their drivers inside 2 or 3 levels of compressed executables.  Make sure that Windows can see the network.

                                                             ii.      Always install Microsoft Office.  We have a campus agreement, and sooner or later it will be used.  You will usually want to install Frontpage as well.  It is far easier to ignore an installed application than to go back and install it again later on.

                                                            iii.      Install the Internet Toolkit.  This includes the programs Mozilla Firefox, Sun Java, Quicktime, Flash Player, Cagle Telnet, Irfanview, Acrobat Reader and Filezilla.  In a lab used by faculty, you will probably want to install Hummingbird as well.  (Eudora and Firebird are also available to use as email clients, but you don’t want those in a lab.)

                                                           iv.      Install the latest version of F-secure and update it.  The version of F-secure we’re using in Jan 2005 still has the virus definitions of Dec 2002 until you update it.

                                                             v.      If the lab is using a Pharos printer, install the Pharos software and point it to the correct printer. 

                                                           vi.      Install Symantec Ghost.  We’re still using version 7.5, but version 8 will be tested when time permits.

                                                          vii.      Install John’s “SECXP.REG” fix.  If this is integrated into AD, then this will be unnecessary, but it doesn’t hurt to do it anyway.

                                                        viii.      Open the group policy editor, gpedit.msc, and activate automatic updates by using Local Computer Policy\Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update.  The update server is http://intranetsus.tamu-commerce.edu/ Also, Local Computer Policy\Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\System Restore allows you to disable system restore.

2. Review the list of previous problems with the image.  Usually these will be minor installs that need to be redone.  It is better to redo the updates on this one “master image” than to have to visit each machine manually--again.
3. Install updates for all software.  You will want to make sure that you run “Windows Update”, “Office Update”, and updated the virus definitions.
4. Verify that all the new software requested by the lab director is installed.  Also, make sure all the software operates under the “Student” account (or other lab-specific account).  Some programs are more difficult than others to get working.  Usually these can be fixed with either registry changes or permissions changes.
5. To minimize the size of the image, delete all temporary files (under Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temp) and all temporary internet files and cookies.  Also check under C:\Temp and C:\Windows\Temp.  Some installers leave garbage behind that can be cleaned up.
6. On the Ghost console, locate your machine.  Double-click it, and on the “Client” tab, the correct network card driver is selected.  Ghost can select many of the network card drivers automatically.  If not, hit the “browse” button to find the correct driver.  If the driver is not listed, but you have it on a disk, consult the Ghost documentation for information on how to add it.
7. On the Ghost console, select the “Get labname Image” task, and double-click it.  Make sure the source machine is the one you are working on.  It will do no good to run the Get task if it is going to get the image from the wrong computer.
8. Ghost is capable of running sysprep automatically.  On the Sysprep tab, verify that all three checkboxes are checked, and you can hit “Edit Sysprep.inf” to verify that the sysprep.inf file looks correct.  The primary things to check for are that the Administrator password is correct, that the computer name has the correct pattern, and that the Join Domain option is correct.
9. If you are satisfied with your image, and your sysprep file, then press OK on the Properties dialog.  Right-click the task and choose “Execute”.  It will take from 5 minutes to 2 hours to pull the image from your master machine.  Typically it takes about 40 minutes.
10. After the image has been pulled up, the screen will turn black and be running PC-DOS.  The easiest fix for this is to simply reghost the machine with your new image.
11. If you are satisfied that this new image is suitable for the lab, then you can ghost the rest of the lab at any appropriate time, as determined by the lab director, employees, and usage patterns.