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USB Automated Ghost Need Help (Read 109348 times)
Brian
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Re: USB Automated Ghost Need Help
Reply #45 - Jul 28th, 2011 at 6:16pm
 
That complication will apply to you too. Your clients will have an OS so their flash drives will not be C: drive either and copy.bat won't work.
 
 
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Re: USB Automated Ghost Need Help
Reply #46 - Jul 28th, 2011 at 6:18pm
 
The problem I just found is that the startnet.cmd checks existence first for c:\ghost\unattend.xml, if that exists it runs its function, thats how it should work and that would keep any problems from happening, however, the startnet.cmd does not find c:\ghost\unattend.xml, for some reason it does not see it at startup and instead goes to "else if exist x:\ghost\unattend.xml", which does come back true, I tested this by echoing inside each and the echo came back from the section stating xml was in X. Once that happens ghost launches with the parameters given in start.bat inside the X:\ghost\ folder, which because unattends.xml in C:\ was not found, was not replicated with the start.bat you edit in "C:\". In my case C:\ is not my OS because there is nothing installed on the hard drive, as I explained earlier, and if I go into the cmd and type "type C:\ghost\unattend.xml" myself manually it spits out the text found in it correctly, would it have found that at the right time then start.bat would have been replicated and the process would have happened as desired.

I have 2 fixes in mind... one would be to edit the start.bat in x: to also check for C:\ghost\unattend.xml which would make the process happen later which may find it, or simply have start.bat in x: just check existance of C:\ghost\start.bat and run it if it finds it.
 
 
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Brian
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Re: USB Automated Ghost Need Help
Reply #47 - Jul 28th, 2011 at 6:26pm
 
I think the easiest way is to have the correct command line when you are building the WinPE. No editing needed.
 
 
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Re: USB Automated Ghost Need Help
Reply #48 - Jul 28th, 2011 at 6:50pm
 
you can edit that command line, i was able to do it with gimagex which keeps only working for a few mount/dismounts, but after that you can use the A43 thing you suggested to edit it while in WinPE, I have fixed some last things in my start.bat on the c:\ and I think once it loads it should work. About the volume label issue, I think I know how to work around that, first option would be to mount the boot.wim and put the image files into it, however that would significantly increase the size and I know almost nothing about .wim but that would probably at the very least vastly increase the time it takes to load, or run "wpeinit" which is already significant. The other option would be to build a test into the start.bat that checks for existance of C:\ghost\xxx.gho, and put that into a for loop and check C:\ through H:\ or something, it could then set a variable named drive to the drive letter with it, then use that variable as a part of the path, like src=%DRIVE%\ghost\xxx.gho
 
 
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Re: USB Automated Ghost Need Help
Reply #49 - Jul 28th, 2011 at 6:56pm
 
snowdude wrote on Jul 28th, 2011 at 6:50pm:
like src=%DRIVE%\ghost\xxx.gho 


Interesting.
 
 
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Brian
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Re: USB Automated Ghost Need Help
Reply #50 - Jul 28th, 2011 at 9:45pm
 
Also interesting is you can delete the entire ghost folder from the flash drive and the auto restore still happens. No wonder editing start.bat caused confusion. It isn't necessary. This of course was my flash drive where I setup the correct command line during the WinPE build.

This is really strange because I can't find ghost32.exe on my flash drive and it's not in boot.wim yet it appears in X:\ghost when the flash drive boots and Ghost does run.
 
 
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Re: USB Automated Ghost Need Help
Reply #51 - Jul 29th, 2011 at 8:40pm
 
@
snowdude

In my WinPEs on the HD I don't like to use batch files in the X: drive (boot.wim) so these are the changes I've made to the Ghost flash drive. In the build stage I edited start.bat to

Code:
set path=%path%;x:\ghost

x:
cd \ghost
rem --- This will create primary OS drive configuration ---
ghost32.exe /setosdrives /blind >> x:\ghost\startlog.txt

if exist c:\backup\brian.cmd goto third
if exist d:\backup\brian.cmd goto fourth
if exist e:\backup\brian.cmd goto first
if exist f:\backup\brian.cmd goto second


:first
e:
cd backup
start e:\backup\brian.cmd
exit

:second
f:
cd backup
start f:\backup\brian.cmd
exit

:third
c:
cd backup
start c:\backup\brian.cmd
exit

:fourth
d:
cd backup
start d:\backup\brian.cmd
exit





The backup folder will contain

brian.cmd
A43 files (not essential)
bjk.gho


brian.cmd is

Code:
set path=x:\ghost
start ghost32.exe -clone,mode=load,src=bjk.gho,dst=1 -sure -rb


The auto restore works. It is easy to edit brian.cmd on the flash drive. My drive letter issue is fixed.
 
 
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Re: USB Automated Ghost Need Help
Reply #52 - Jul 30th, 2011 at 1:11am
 
@
Brian and
@
snowdude

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, .....etc.

The sounds of concepts going right over my head!

I have not worked with bare bones WinPE--I thought it had a GUI like the screen shots I've seen of BartPE or like when I boot to Ghost 9 or 10's recovery environment (I think those are *versions* of WinPE, aren't they?)--but, now I'm getting the sense it is a command line interface--a glorified DOS prompt!  And, unless someone puts a *shell* over  the top of it--it's a blinking cursor......is that correct?!

Anyway, is the *X:* drive the *Ram drive* created by WinPE during boot?  I thought WinPE loaded itself into RAM--is that what the *X:* drive is?--the RAM Drive where WinPE is loaded?

Started wondering around looking at how to make a WinPE disc, and ran across this reference:  How to create a bootable Windows PE 3.0 USB drive--Part 1 .  Then wondered onto How to create a bootable Windows PE 3.0 USB drive--Part 2 .  Not sure, but in part two, the coding to ID which drive is the USB drive might be of some use if I understood some of the issue(s) discussed previously as you switch to other systems that may have a different drive letter assigned to the USB flash drive.


 

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Brian
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Re: USB Automated Ghost Need Help
Reply #53 - Jul 30th, 2011 at 3:11am
 
@
NightOwl

Here is a WinPE you are licensed for. It runs the GUI of IFW.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/howto/tbwinpe_tutorial.htm

The final lines of its startnet.cmd are....

Code:
echo To exit WinPE and reboot the computer, remove the WinPE boot media and close
echo this Command Prompt window.
echo.
echo To exit WinPE and shutdown the computer, type 'shutdown' (without the quotes)
echo at the prompt and press ENTER.
echo.
echo To restart Image for Windows, type 'imagew' (without the quotes) at the
echo prompt and press ENTER.
echo.

:: Launch Image for Windows
cd \program files\ifw
start imagew



With all the WinPEs you can add your own portable apps. I like A43 to browse My Computer and to run apps.

http://www.alterion.us/a43/

In every WinPE there is boot.wim which can be edited using DISM, gimagex, etc. This is loaded as X: drive, the RAM drive. I prefer having my batch files outside of boot.wim as they are easier to edit than having to use DISM.

I'm studying your PStart at present.
 
 
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Re: USB Automated Ghost Need Help
Reply #54 - Jul 30th, 2011 at 6:16am
 
@
NightOwl

Thanks for that information. It led to another start.bat which works.

Code:
set path=%path%;x:\ghost

x:
cd \ghost
rem --- This will create primary OS drive configuration ---
ghost32.exe /setosdrives /blind >> x:\ghost\startlog.txt

for %%p in (c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z) do if exist %%p:\backup\ set w=%%p
%w%:
cd backup
brian.cmd
 
 
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Re: USB Automated Ghost Need Help
Reply #55 - Jul 31st, 2011 at 7:35pm
 
The advantage of this type of start.bat is you only need one WinPE. All clients get the "same" WinPE, only differing by the .gho and the .cmd. Both of which can be changed at any time using Windows Explorer.
 
 
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Re: USB Automated Ghost Need Help
Reply #56 - Aug 1st, 2011 at 2:06am
 
@
Brian

Thanks for that TeraByte reference.

I have one too many projects around the house for the moment--and I'm out of town for most of this next week--so my *free* time for computing is limited.

But, I really want to get this WinPE thing mastered.

So, I'll be back at this in about a week--then the questions will begin  Wink !



 

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Re: USB Automated Ghost Need Help
Reply #57 - Aug 1st, 2011 at 5:35am
 
@
NightOwl

Start with the stock standard TeraByte one. It is the easiest but can be adapted to be quite complex.
 
 
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Re: USB Automated Ghost Need Help
Reply #58 - Aug 2nd, 2011 at 9:49am
 
@
Brian

Quote:
Start with the stock standard TeraByte one. It is the easiest but can be adapted to be quite complex.

Thanks for that suggestion.  It's the *how to adapt* the WinPE that appears to be the challenge!

I was Google searching Master Boot Utilities (MBR) for another project I'm working on, and one of my old favorites was near the top of the list--MBRWizard.  I started using it back when it was in the v1.5x days--and it was free.  v2.xx was still free, but now the v3.xx you have to pay for it before you can even try it:   MBRWizard Suite 3.0

But, what caught my eye was this:  MBRWizard Suite 3.0 and Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) .  Part of the Suite is the MBRWizard Boot Builder .

But, these two pieces of software are *free*--and they might be usable with any ISO of WinPE:  KAPE WinPE Builder, and Bootsage Flash Builder

Still no time to actually play with this stuff until next week--but what do you think of these programs--any good or useful?

 

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Re: USB Automated Ghost Need Help
Reply #59 - Aug 2nd, 2011 at 4:23pm
 
@
NightOwl

NightOwl wrote on Aug 2nd, 2011 at 9:49am:
It's the *how to adapt* the WinPE that appears to be the challenge!


I don't have experience with the apps you mentioned. I wasted a lot of time with an app called "WinBuilder". It always failed in the last few minutes of the build and I'm reluctant to try building further WinPEs now that I have a few that work.

As you are interested in adapting the WinPE, start with the "best of the best", Active@ Boot Disk that I've already mentioned. Install the software and build a USB flash drive or CD. I prefer USB as you can edit it later. Active@ includes many Windows apps. A file/folder Explorer, Networking, Registry Editor, Command Prompt, Check Disk, Internet Browser, AntiVirus Setup, Email, Load Driver, Notepad, Paint, Calculator, Disk Defragmenter, etc. (you will never use most of these)

I don't use plugins anymore. I just copy my portable apps to the User_Files folder and run the exe from Explorer. If you are interested in auto-running an app we can talk about it later.

MBRWiz and MBRWhisky both run in the User_Files folder.
 
 
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