:)
I manage a computer lab in a after school care program for kids and am tired of having to re-install the entire operating system from scratch.  I have known about Ghost for years but have never tried it until now.  If I can get it figured out, Ghost will save me countless hours.  I then plan to use Deep Freeze to block out any changes to the computers.  I am very software literate and know hardware basics but could really use someone's  help!!

I have a few Questions:

1.  Scenario:  I have 12 notebook computers with the same exact hard drives and configurations.  I have created a "baseline" computer with everything installed just the way I want it.  I want to create an image from this computer and restore to the other 12.  All of the tutorials I have read say I need a bootable "floppy" disk.  Problem is, none of the computers have a floppy drive.   I do know that I can boot of off the Ghost CD.

Question:  With the Ghost Image stored on a USB external hard drive, what process do I undertake to restore that image to another computer?  I don't want to have to install Ghost 2003 on the other computers if I don't have to.

2.  Scenario:  I don't want Ghost be on the initial image that I will restore to the other computers.

Question:  How do I do that

3.  Will it be a problem having Norton Antivirus on the cloned image when I go to do my Live Updates on the cloned computers?? PS:  I do have licenses for all 12 computers for Norton and the other software to be cloned.

Thanks a bunch for your help---I will be happy, more importantly, the kids will be very happy when I can finally spend more time with them than on software problems.

Scott

ScottyBee


Quote:

1.  Scenario:  I have 12 notebook computers with the same exact hard drives and configurations.

You do not mention which OS you are using--but I will assume WinXP--although each computer may be outfitted in an *identical* fashion--each internal component has a unique ID--the HDD, the controller for the HDD, the NIC card, etc.--if you clone a single image of a *baseline* machine, you may find that the cloned image does not work properly because the internal ID's do not match--or you may have to *re-activate* the system each time you re-clone it because the ID's are used by WinXP to determine if it is still on the *same* licensed machine or not!

If that happens--the best work-around would be to have an image of each separate machine that you re-clone to that machine--now there will be no mismatched component ID's.


Quote:

All of the tutorials I have read say I need a bootable "floppy" disk.  Problem is, none of the computers have a floppy drive.   I do know that I can boot of off the Ghost CD.

Creating Bootable CD/DVD's Without A:\Floppy Drive


Quote:

Question:  With the Ghost Image stored on a USB external hard drive, what process do I undertake to restore that image to another computer?  I don't want to have to install Ghost 2003 on the other computers if I don't have to.

If you boot to DOS and run Ghost from the bootable CD--you do not have to install Ghost on any of the machines:

Adding USB to Ghost Boot CD


Quote:

3.  Will it be a problem having Norton Antivirus on the cloned image when I go to do my Live Updates on the cloned computers??

Not if you image each machine separately--if you are restoring the clone of a *base-line* single system--then the license could be a problem--all twelve machines will attempt to use the same license registration--could cause Symantec to wonder what's going on!

NightOwl:

Thanks for the info but I still had a few questions for you.  I talked to a friend of mine who is the Network Administrator at a mid-sized company a week back and he told me they regularly make a "baseline" clone and install it over the network to multiple machines saving them countless hours of having to configure and install the operating system(Windows XP) and all the software one by one.  All of the machines are the same model number and have the same password.  I asked him about licensing issues and he said they have licenses on all the computer software so if the "software police" come a knocking---they won't get in trouble.

Maybe he (and his assistants) have a way to deal with the NIC issues and other software licensing issues.

I am just hoping for an easier way to load all 12 computers from the same "baseline" image.

Thanks for your reply--any other feedback would be appreciated by you or anyone else on this matter.

Thanks,

Scott

Maybe he

I hope they all don't have the same password!!!  oops.  I'd be fired if they did.  I meant to say the same hard drive capacity.

Scott

ScottyBee


Quote:

I hope they all don't have the same password!!!  oops.

How will you control the password if using a single image?

I didn't mean to imply it could not be done--only that there may be issues!  You will have to try it out to find out what problems you run into!

The big IT departments use a program called *SysPrep* to prepare a base system to image and deploy to many similar units:  

I have no personal experience--but, some *sysprep* resources:

Google Search on *Sysprep*

SysPrep Guide

SysPrep Guide--The Video

Sysprep

How to use the Sysprep tool to automate successful deployment of Windows XP

Description of New Features in Sysprep for Windows XP

How to use Sysprep with Ghost

[Info] Ghost Sysprep

Using SYSPREP to Create XP Pro Images

Using Sysprep--Example of Steps

Creating a Sysprep Image Library for Virtual PC

Creating a networking bootable CD:

How to Create a Ghost 8.0 Network Boot CD

bootable cd ghost 7.5

ScottyBee wrote on Mar 29^th, 2007 at 11:02pm:

I hope they all don't have the same password!!!

Heh.

Actually, anytime you clone a system off a shared base image it will end up with the same passwords and accounts as set up in the base image; that's not necessarily a bad thing of course, since you as admin will set your own administrator-level password in the base image and not share it with anyone. What do you after setting up the machines to set up accounts for the end users (presumably, non-admin accounts) is another matter entirely.

I can't speak as to Deep Freeze, although I know it's popular in universities; I'm more familiar with the freeware Shared Computer Toolkit (originally created by the Gates Foundation, as part of their program to donate computers to public spaces such as libraries) somewhat better. Unfortunately, although I've been campaigning internally to get the SCT's technology fully supported in GSS, thus far management have said no. Still, the more people who ask for it, the better chance we have of providing better support for situations like yours.

For network drivers if you want to image over the network (which is a GSS thing rather than Ghost 2003) in the last two versions we've supported a system called UNDI which is a kind of "universal driver". Most machines that can network boot (using a system called PXE) can supply this standard interface to the network driver code used for the network boot to other code.

By the way, it sounds like what you are doing is the exact kind of thing that is covered by Symantec's corporate giving program. Unfortunately I don't see GSS on the list of Symantec products made available through Tech Soup any more (it used to be on there), but I'd be ecstatic to see it on there again. Even though our software is not on tech soup any more, perhaps you might be able to apply for a grant from the Symantec Foundation to cover the costs of your software.

By the way, another tool to consider is VMware player, since it's free. Deep Freeze and the SCT are good for truly public-access machines, but VMWare Player might be a good idea instead since they reset to snapshots just as easily. Virtualized hardware images also tend to be more easily moved around between physical machines. You'll need a full VMware Workstation license to set up the Player images, but one goes a long way with Player.

Thanks guys for all your help.  The information will prove really valuable as I start to manage more and more computers.

Scott