Ghost Solution Suite

Hi All,

 I've been trying for weeks to no avail.  I can connect to Ghostcast serve 2.5x and restore an image using winpe 3.1 without issues using the GUI from client side.

When I try to do it via command line from the client side it will connect to the ghostcast 2.5x server showing the IP address, Mac address but will not restore form the ghostcast 2.5x server. It just hangs with 1 client connected . I tried every possible switches and it will not work. If I use the GUI from the client side we can preform a restore of the image but not from the command line.

Strangely, if I call ghost32.exe from the GUI and start the restore process from the server and then cancel while the restore is in process. I can use the below command line and it will work. If I reboot winpe 3.1 and execute the below command line, it will not work.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

ghost32.exe -clone,mode=restore,src=@mcTEST,dst=1,sze1=v  -sure -rb"

Thanks,

UCPocoAPoco

Which exact build of Ghost are you using?

As you are using WinPE 3.1, which is not supplied with Ghost, how have you configured it, and have you checked that the machine has a valid IP address after is has booted and that the NIC driver and SATA drivers are the correct Windows 7 drivers for your hardware?  If you are booting WinPE 3.1 64 bit then you need 64 bit drivers, and if booting WinPE 3.1 32 bit, then you need 32 bit drivers. There are also different Ghost executables for running on 32 bit and 64 bit machines when hot imaging, so for best consistency with the WinPE setup used natively in Ghost, you should stick with the 32 bit version of WinPE 3.1 and use the correct 32 bit drivers.

Also, what operating system are you trying to image, and what is your networking hardware setup?

Are you trying unicast or multicast?  If multicast, do you have IGMP snooping enabled on your switches?

Hi EdT,

Thanks for the response, I get an ip address from the winpe 3.1 client
machine by typing ipconfig/all as I did added the necessary drivers.
I can image via GUI but not command line. that is the challenge. I am
using winpe 32bit and ghost32 respectively. I'm not sure if its IGMP
as I can multicast via launching ghost32 from within winpe 32bit
environment and connect to the ghostcast server and restore an image
successfully.
We just can't do it via command line. What step do we need to take to
have the command line behave like launching form GUI mode(that is
typing ghost32.exe and select multicast and give session name) ?

This is the command we are using:

ghost32.exe -clone,mode=restore,src=@mcTEST,dst=1,sze1=v -sure -rb"

May I recommend that you run LiveUpdate to bring your version up to the latest 11.5.1.2266 as this incorporates a number of bug fixes. You will need to upgrade the clients as well as the Ghost server.

Once you have done that, please retest and then let us know if you still have a problem.

I ran into this exact same situation as well.  We are using a Windows PE 3.1 USB boot disk also.  We found that the Windows PE firewall is causing the problem.  (Yes, Windows PE has a firewall and it's enabled by default)  For some reason it will allow multicast when you use the Ghost GUI, but not when you try to automate the process using the command line.  Before running Ghost, run "wpeutil disablefirewall".  This turns off the firewall and allows multicast to work from the commandline.  I added the line

WPEutil Disablefirewall

to the startnet.cmd file in the Windows PE system 32 folder, right after the WPEInit line.  This turns off the firewall when Windows PE is booted.  My guess is that this will fix your issue, as it did mine.

Very useful input - I was also unaware that WinPE 3.x had a firewall.