RickC

I think the answer is *Yes*--but have not actually done it--I can give you an outline of possibly how to do it--.  Only Ghost that runs in DOS will be able to do this--has to run from a DOS command line, and Ghost 9.x and 10.x, and Norton Save and Restore do not have this option.

If you are starting from an existing install of Windows--I'm not sure how to add a multi-boot to an existing *boot.ini* file--I've seen reference to doing so--but have no experience.

If starting from a clean install, create a small (maybe 50 MB bigger than the size of the Ghost image file for the OS) DOS primary partition, FAT32, active with a partitioning tool--PartitionMagic would probably be best--but others work too.  Use an emergency boot disk for Win98se to boot to DOS and make that partition bootable with the command line at the A:\ prompt:  *sys.com c:\*

Now install WinXP (?) using that primary partition for the boot files, but tell the install program to place the OS on the second partition, which I think the WinXP installation program will create for you if you tell it to use the *unallocated* space that will be seen (or you could have already created the partition with PartitionMagic, or other tool--and just point the installation that direction).

Presumably, the installation program will have now created a *boot.ini* that give you the option to boot to the OS partition, or to the FAT32 partition.  Now you will have to create DOS *config.sys* and *autoexec.bat* files on that FAT32 partition that boot DOS, load Ghost, and run a command line that tells Ghost what you want it to do *automatically* for you.  You will need to create the Ghost image of the OS partition and save it to that FAT32 partition, and then have Ghost restore it to that 2nd OS partition.

I'm not a fan of *automatic* Ghost procedures that an *uninformed* user can select to use (especially if it is a *restore* procedure that can overwrite and/or destroy something--creating a backup image file is much less worrisome as that will not destroy other data)--the above will give the laptop user the visible choice each boot to restore the image of the OS--and maybe that's what you want--but if there was any user information from previous use--all will be loss to that user unless other data backup arrangements have been made!

The other down side--the laptop user will be able to *see* that primary boot partition when using the OS--and could muck around and screw things up with that partition and/or your boot files or image file, so your setup could be made non-functional by the user!

Using a boot floppy or CD with partition tools to hide and unhide a primary partition that runs the Ghost program would probably be a better choice, rather than the *boot.ini* multi-boot option--if you want to keep a user from *seeing* the options--and being able to *play* with your setup!

Yes i had done something similar yesterday but put DOS on the 2nd partiton doh!
Trying it the right way round now
Thanks for your ideas  
Cheers
Rick

RickC

Quote:

For what you are attempting, I see two potential *syntax* issues:

1.  Your *load* command is telling Ghost to use the image to be restored to a *whole disk*, i.e. *Local > Disk > From Image*.  I think you need to use *pload* which is telling Ghost you are only restoring a partition on the HDD and not restoring the whole drive, i.e. *Local > Partition > From Image*.

2.  And, when using *pload*, even if your image only contains a single partition, proper syntax, according to Symantec, requires that you specify that single partition in the *src=* switch.  So like this *src=C\imagefile.gho

:1

*.

Quoting from

Switches: Cloning

Quote:

So, try this:

ghost.exe -clone,mode=,src=C:\

imagefile.gho:1

,dst=1:2 -sure

Report back with the results of your efforts.

thanks for your help peeps i think am getting there
if i run via ghost.exe create image file from partition 2 it goes all the way thorough, but if i run

ghost.exe -clone,mode=pdump,src=1:2,dst=F:\IMAGE.GHO -sure -quiet

then it stops and askes for new file half way through the image file creation, i click ok then at the end it asks for the first file? i click ok and it finishes. why does it doe this an not run all way through on its own?

yes that worked thanks!! thank you all for all your advice.
I now have a self imaging laptop. If anyone wants to know how to do it heres how it works.
I created 4 partions on the disk
1. dos
2. winxp
3. mydocuments
4. image

i changed my documents to point at the 3rd partition so it can be wiped easliy when the laptops have been on loan to primary schools. This allows the laptops to be easily sent out to another with out the need to connect them to my ghost server. The 4th holds the ghost image. Here is the boot menu i constructed. each option is password protected in dos by using pw.exe to stop the kids messing with it when they are loaned out to primary schools. Pw.exe can be downloaded from here(http://www.ciac.org/ciac/ToolsDOSSystem.html#Pw.exe)

boot.ini

config.sys

Then once the whole image including all partitions has been ghosted to the new laptop i log into windows and change the computer name (as all the laptops connect to a wireless access point with a printer connected to it), boot it back into dos and ghost the 2nd partition to the 4th by image to keep the setting for when it needs to be re-imaged.
thanks again for your help guys

NightOwl

Thanks for your comments  
Yes all the laptops do, what it is we loan lapsafes out to local primary schools.
which look like this

They each hold 40 laptops and when they come back they have to be re-imaged and it was a hassle to get them all out and connect them to our ghost server so hence the solution above. We have 2 other lapsafes which have different network cards in them but the same size hard drives. I ghosted them with the "self repair system" image. Naturally I got the blue screen of death! on windows boot up.
So did a repair from the windows xp cd. Got windows running then changed the driver for ghost in the dos partition and we had a new image!
Yeah had major problems with that card I found that if you put "0x60" in your autoexec.bat file after where it calls your network driver it works. It should look like this

@echo off
prompt $p$g
\net\LNE100TX.COM 0x60
MOUSE.COM
cd \ghost
echo Loading...
GHOST.EXE

If that does not work let me know and I will .zip the disk up and upload it to my web server.

Yes they can connect directly to each other; I did this when I was trying to fix an Acer laptop for a member of staff. It would not ghost over the nework for some reson maybe due to their anoying recovery partition thats shite, just kept failing (did not want to recover the laptop by using this as it had had so many programs installed on the top of it from the factory spec). I got a another laptop  with all the programs the member of staff needed on it and connected from laptop 2 laptop, all that you need for this to work is a DHCP server (most home ADSL routers them built in now) and they can connect.

As for hiding the drives in windows, not that easy as they are FAT and not NTFS first I thought about removing the drive letters via disk management, but can¡¦t do that as it¡¦s a boot partition. So then I opted to do it via GPO (start > run > mmc.exe then add local users and groups)
The problem I had that the GPO setting (Under User Configuration > Administrative Template > Windows Components > Windows Explorer: Hide these specified drives in My Computer) was only allowing the following options
Restrict A and B drives only
Restrict C drive only
Restrict D drive only
Restrict A, B, and C drives only
Restrict A, B, C and D drives only
Restrict all drives
Do not restrict drives

The drives I need to hide are C: and F:  Yes we could cheat and change all the drive letters around! ha ha! But i did it by creating a custom GPO template.  I used this to do it with
http://www.petri.co.il/software/gpdrivesoptions.zip
it allows you to select what you want to hide and then creates a template for you

heres the how 2
http://www.petri.co.il/gpdrivesoptions.htm
Before you do this tho make sure you have another user on the system incase you need to access the drives, i have 'IT Admin' and 'Student' when you log on to windows. Make sure you only apply the GPO to the student user.

Now my next task is to try and ghost over wireless, any ideas? Got an Intel pro 3945ABG, the company who I bought the laptops off, Ergo computers (basically ASUS re-branded) are very interested in this idea. A good start would be to get dos drivers I guess.......

Cheers
Rick

no problem a pleasure!
heres the working ghost disk, i uploded to my server.

http://www.dubhosting.com/radified/linksys.zip

Yes when i cant get an ndis2 driver to work i just get the packet and pop that switch in the autoexec.bat

let me know how you get on

cheers

Rick