Overview of how Ghost works with virtual machines.

Article:TECH110194

Created: 2008-01-18

Updated: 2009-01-01

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Technical Solution

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Does Ghost work with virtual machines?

Ghost versions 11.0 and earlier were not designed to work with virtual machines and are not supported.

Only Ghost versions 11.5 and newer are tested and known to work with virtual machines.
VMWare (VMDK) virtual hardware versions (generations) 4.x and up are supported, however it is recommended to use the latest version of VMWare.
A VMDK from a specific version (generation) is only supported when restored back into that version. In other words VMDK 5.5 into 5.5.
The following limitation exists: A Ghost created VMDK will only open in VMWare v6 and up.
Other virtual environments and versions older than 4 are unsupported.
GSS 2.5 and lower does not support ESX server edition. ESX server edition has not been tested and verified through development.
Any ".gho" images created from VM will not be viewable with GhostExplorer.
Integrity checks done on a ".gho" file of a VM machine may or may not fail even if the image is sound.
Only "Ghost32.exe" can read a .VMDK.
Ghost can load more than 1 VMDK as a disk but no more that 1 snapshot at a time.
You can use "gdisk32.exe" on a VMDK.
"ghconfig" can change the computer name, but not join the machine to a domain.
"Ghostwalker" and "ghregedit" work normally.

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Article URL http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH110194

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