Ghost Solution Suite

I have what appears to be an issue with the upgrade from console version 8.3 to V11.
When restoring an image created with 8.3 I'm getting a 'client timed out' error in the 'to target OS' stage, and the client does not seem to complete mini-setup correctly. Mini-setup completes and restarts the machine but it is not joined to the domain, and something strange is happening to the sysprep.inf (or $winnt$.inf) file.
If I look in the sysprep.inf file located inside the image my command is present. However when I look at $winnt$.inf after the task completes the section is empty.

After updating the console client version and re-pulling the image with version 11, minisetup runs correctly on the clone machine (joins the machine to the domain, and succesfully runs the guirunonce command after the image create task). This is also the case when I use the ghost cast server to push the image (of course I need to hand enter the machine name in each of these cases).
Re-pushing this V11 image with the console results in the same broken sysprep behaviour.

This image, pulled with the same sysprep.inf below worked with the 8.3 version of the console.

System Info:
GSS 2.0 (Console version 11.0.0.1502, upgraded from Ghost Console 8.3) running on Server 2003
Clients are Windows XPSP2 (Dell GX270, GX280, or GX620) running either client V8.3.0.1331 or 11.0.0.1502

Image create Task Scenario:
Task steps :
Image Create

Number of client machines: 1

Machine names:
GAC-PBB-W151 - tgiluk

Network Information:
Data transfer mode: Not set
Data throughput limit: Not set

Image Create


(WARNING) Image file exists and will be overwritten when task is executed
Image definition: Images\ITC\Version 10\ITC V11.1
Image file location: D:\Images\ITC\Version_10\1_1.gho
Image file compression: High

Target drive: 1

Sysprep client:Yes
Sysprep Configuration: JeffITC
Sysprep SID change:Yes
Run MiniSetup Wizard: Yes
Resulting Sysprep command line: sysprep.exe -reboot -quiet -mini

Push Task Scenario:
Task steps :
Clone
Configuration
Config refresh
Client Inventory

Number of client machines: 1

Machine names:
GAC-PBB-W151 - tgiluk

Network Information:
Data transfer mode: Not set
Data throughput limit: Not set

Clone

Image definition: Images\ITC\Version 10\ITC V11.1
Image file location: D:\Images\ITC\Version_10\1_1.gho

Target drive: 1

Image info:
1 - NTFS - 76285.2 - 21519.0
Image file preserved: No
Files and directories preserved: 0

Configuration

Configuration change type: Custom
Configuration changes per machine:

GAC-PBB-W151 - tgiluk

Configuration definition: Configurations\Podiums\GAC-PBB-W151

Computer Name GAC-PBB-W151 (Custom)
NetBIOS computer name GAC-PBB-W151 (Custom)
User (No change)
Computer Description Pappajohn GAC Podium Workstation (Custom)
Member of (No change)
Add to Active Directory container (No change)
Move if currently in a container (No change)
IP Address DHCP (Custom)
Default Gateway (No change)
DNS Domain (No change)
DNS Server (No change)
WINS Server (No change)
Novell Netware Client (No change)

Sysprep.inf (passwords, and license key expunged):

;SetupMgrTag

OemSkipEula=Yes
InstallFilesPath=C:\sysprep\i386
OEMPnPDriversPath=drivers\Inf {truncated for readability}
DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore


"C:\Windows\runonce.cmd"


AdminPassword="***************"
AutoLogon=Yes
AutoLogon=1
AutoLogonCount=1
OEMSkipRegional=1
OEMDuplicatorstring="ITC V11.1"
TimeZone=20
OemSkipWelcome=1


ProductKey=*****-*****-*****-*****-*****
FullName="Tippie College of Business"
OrgName="The University of Iowa"
ComputerName=""


BitsPerPel=32
Xresolution=1024
YResolution=768
Vrefresh=75


JoinDomain=iowa.uiowa.edu
DomainAdmin=iowa\**********
DomainAdminPassword=**********


InstallDefaultComponents=No


Adapter1=params.Adapter1


INFID=*


MS_MSClient = params.MS_MSClient


MS_TCPIP=params.MS_TCPIP


AdapterSections=params.MS_TCPIP.Adapter1


Specificto=Adapter1
DHCP=Yes
WINS=Yes
WINSServerList=128.255.40.130


Primary_IDE_Channel=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
Secondary_IDE_Channel=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
*PNP0600=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
*AZT0502=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\CC_0101=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_10B9&DEV_5215=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_10B9&DEV_5219=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_10B9&DEV_5229=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1222=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1230=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_7010=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_7111=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2411=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2421=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2441=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_244A=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_244B=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_24CA=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_24CB=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27DF=c:\Drivers\System\Onboard\Ich7ide.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C0=c:\Drivers\System\Onboard\Ich7ide.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_7199=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_0601=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_5513=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_10AD&DEV_0001=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_10AD&DEV_0150=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_105A&DEV_4D33=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_0571=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_105A&DEV_4D33=%systemroot%\inf\mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_105A&DEV_4D38=%systemroot%\inf\scsi.inf

Service=atapi
Service=pciide
Service=aliide
Service=intelide
Service=viaide

A little more info to add.

I stopped the push from the console before rebooting into the mini-setup and took a look at the sysprep.inf file. Here are the relevant (changed) sections:


=


DomainAdmin = iowa\**********
DomainAdminPassword = **********
JoinWorkgroup = WORKGROUP


The original file (which is present in the image file) looked like this:


"C:\Windows\runonce.cmd"


JoinDomain=iowa.uiowa.edu
DomainAdmin=iowa\**********
DomainAdminPassword=**********


When we previously executed a push task I always needed to ensure that the 'Use default settings' tab was unchecked on the configuration page for the machine to be joined to the domain using sysprep rather than ghost.
In my custom config file I leave the 'Apply Member of' checkbox blank, but the workgroup radio button is selected (and workgroup is the default value for the workgroup name). Is ther something here that might be causing problems?

I'll also include the GHREGUPD.REG file for kicks:
CONFIG_COMMANDS COMPUTERDESCRIPTION = "Pappajohn GAC Podium Workstation" "Pappajohn GAC Podium Workstation" COMPUTERNAME = "GAC-PBB-W151" "GAC-PBB-W151" DNSHOST = "GAC-PBB-W151" "GAC-PBB-W151" IPADDRESS = "0.0.0.0" "0.0.0.0" SUBNETMASK = "0.0.0.0" "0.0.0.0" NICMACADDRESS = "0x000d569e9840" "0x000d569e9840" END_CONFIG_COMMANDS

What is happening here is that in GSS2, all the configuration of systems is done by a DOS-level tool called ghconfig.exe; because of the problems Sysprep had caused us in GSS1.1 and earlier (because it would undo the configuration changes we applied), what happens in GSS2 is that the ghconfig tool looks inside the system to see if Sysprep is scheduled to run, and if so it reads in the sysprep.inf (or .xml, for Vista) and edits it to make the same changes that the config tool makes.

However, this one setting isn't in the same syntax as the rest of the .ini file at all, and that code that reads the sysprep.inf and regenerates it with new settings is being confused by this fact.

We're going to change the code to be more tolerant of items like this in the .inf file that don't match the normal syntax rules and make sure they are preserved properly when we edit the file. If you drop me a line at nigel dot bree at gmail dot com I will be able to send you a download link to a development build of ghconfig.exe that should help with this.

Hi Brian,

thanks for the info - you have just uncovered a defect in our sysprep.inf parsing code. I'm going to fix it and if you'd like to be the first to get your hands on the fixed version of post-configuration application, email me at gssforummoderator1 at symantec dot com

We have changed the behaviour of Ghost Post-Clone Configuration with relation to Sysprep - now it will try to get Sysprep to do as much of the post-configuration as Sysprep can handle. However, it will not allow joining a domain using Sysprep - you must now use Ghost Configuration for that. The reason is that we wanted to avoid storing sensitive information in text files, including sysprep unattend files.

Hope this helps explain the behaviour
Aggie