I have updated that driver with the driver from the manufacturers website..more specifically, the test systems i am using are HP DC7800, 7900's...the .dos drivers for them are both the same D57.DOS...niether of these drivers allows the ghost cast session to be available when i boot up. I also still have the issue of the PXE service stopping on its own requiring a restart.

The 3COM solution appears to require a bit more configuration than should be necessary for such a simple setup. I should be able to just network boot to this image from any client machine w/out any prep. The ideal situation is to be able to boot up a brand new system, network boot to the ghostcast session and image.

if i have to prep the client machine by either installing client software first or adding the MAC address to a list [according to steps in the 3COM configuration], then that defeats the purpose of automated imaging, which i believe the symantec ghost software to be. i have worked with ghost plenty times and have never had this much trouble using it. I must admit however, that the majority of the times i used it, it was with a network boot disc which had the ghost client and i was able to join the ghost cast session.

In this case, i wish to perform the same events w/out the need for any boot media or system prepping. Now, let me ask a more granular question...i have also attempted to use the ghost console instead of PXE booting but the console requires the client machine to have the ghost client software installed before it will show in the console, again, this defeats the purpose if i have to first install software before i can image. In a large environment of systems that I may need to image simultaneously, it is unacceptable to have to walk around to each system and install software first before i can image them.

however, i thank you for the suggestions, any others?

If the drivers do not work, then we cannot access the network. It is the lack of network support provided by the driver that is causing the Ghostcast to be greyed out. Though the 3COM Boot Services does require a little more configuration in the beginning, it is a much better solution. It will work. If you want a boot image that any client will boot from, the Windows PE boot environment is going to be the solution you want to use.

This setup does not require installing a client on the machine, nor does it require adding each specific MAC address. It gives you the option of doing so, but everyone I have ever spoken to has only used wildcard characters (twelve question marks) for MAC addresses so that any machine on the network can PXE boot.

To address the Ghost Console, it is primarily a management utility. There is a PXE boot option that allows you to PXE boot a machine and have it appear in the console, though, so you could PXE boot machines and run predefined console tasks to them. This particular option does not require software to be installed on the machine. To be able to PXE boot a machine to appear in the console, 3COM Boot Services is the only PXE option. In the Ghost Boot Wizard, this boot package appears as the TCP/IP Network Ghost Client Boot Image.

Altogether, though the 3COM Boot Services option takes a little more time to set up, it is the best way to deliver a Windows PE boot environment without using boot media. Effectively, once set up it will be almost exactly like what you are currently using except the boot environment will be different (Windows PE instead of DOS).

Again, I want to point out that once this is configured, it will work exactly like your current setup.

Thank you,

Randy

Thank you for your input and suggestions...
I have no problem with using the 3COM PXE configuration even with its lengthy prep as long as it will function the way I need it to...I have attempted this setup and have encountered a few *snafoos*

The basic file configurations seem to have went well, and with ease, however when I boot up a client machine i'm getting the following errors:

PXE-T01 File Not Found
PXE-E3B TFTP Error - File Not Found

Then the system exits PXE mode

I'm sure this is something simple I am missing but cannot seem to locate this error. I have checked the MS forums and it points to 3 files in specific that need to be on the root of C:\\ but somehow this does not seem correct when all of the files needed should be present in the install of the 3COM software. It appears to be a problem with the NIC location the bootstrap.exe file although I created this file with no deviation from the instructions.

The only varied difference is [and this is for space constraints] i have installed all the base components and software on the D:\ partiton of my server rather than C:\ simply because there isnt enough space on that partition. However, i copied the folders exactly as the install - so for example...if the normal path would be "C:\program files\3com\boot service" - then my path would be the same just on the D:\ partition.

So far this is where i'm at, if you could point me in the direction of where I need to be if not a quick walk thru of the installation, it would be greatly appreciated. This project is weeks in the making and should be done by now.

Is the TFTPBOOT folder at the root of the C: drive? i believe that specifically needs to be there.

No, I have all the files saved located in their respective places on the D:\ partition, however, i'm assuming that the 3COM boot process only looks to the root of C:\ if that folder specifically has to be there....I will relocate it and try again. - Thanks

Ok, here we go....I have changed the location of the TFTPBOOT Folder to the local C:\ and attempted to boot and received the same error msgs as before. The following is the 3COM PXE log which shows an attempt to connect, the proxy checks the wild card file and gets the MAC address...but still fails to connect:

7/30/2009 2:32 PM - Proxy: [00248197CE55] (marwood)
7/30/2009 2:32 PM - Proxy: [00248197CE55] (marwood)
7/30/2009 2:32 PM - PXE: [00248197CE55] (marwood)
7/30/2009 2:34 PM - Data file: C:\TFTPBOOT\BOOTPTAB (7/30/2009 12:30 PM)
7/30/2009 2:34 PM - Data read: 6 hosts, 1 templates
7/30/2009 2:34 PM - Proxy: [00248197CE55] (marwood)
7/30/2009 2:34 PM - Proxy: [00248197CE55] (marwood)
7/30/2009 2:34 PM - Data file: D:\TFTPBOOT\BOOTPTAB (7/30/2009 12:26 PM)
7/30/2009 2:34 PM - Data read: 6 hosts, 1 templates
7/30/2009 2:35 PM - Proxy: [00248197CE55] (marwood)
7/30/2009 2:35 PM - Proxy: [00248197CE55] (marwood)
7/30/2009 2:37 PM - Data file: D:\TFTPBOOT\BOOTPTAB (7/30/2009 2:37 PM)
7/30/2009 2:37 PM - Data read: 6 hosts, 1 templates
7/30/2009 2:40 PM - Proxy: [00248197CE55] (marwood)
7/30/2009 2:40 PM - Proxy: [00248197CE55] (marwood)
7/30/2009 2:40 PM - PXE: [00248197CE55] (marwood)

I'm trying to figure out the breakdown in the process in the PXE boot...it says "file not found" what file is it looking for?

It's looking for the boot files. I think that uninstalling and reinstalling the 3COM and SolarWInds software directly to C:, then setting it up again would be best. Those instructions are pretty airtight, and if you were to start over it should work. The 3COM PXE setup is really rigid as far as file/folder locations.

Thank you...

I did as you suggested, completely uninstalling the 3COM PXE server software and reinstalling from scratch...
This appears to have done the trick....as the client machine successfully boots up to the PXE server and starts ghost with the proper access to the network image.

Now, i have a new task...how to use Ghost with sysprep and an unattended file for the mini-setup in windows...and what switches to use in the answer file for name scheming.....I need the names to increment by one...for example

computer name: test-001
computer name: test-002
computer name: test 003...

...and so forth, when creating the unattend file, theres a section to put in an automated naming convention or setup your own. I realize this may be beyond the scope of this forum, but most likely a common question that you may have answers to given the parameters of the ghost application.

I'm glad that is working! If you wouldn't mind marking that Seup post as a solution, that would be excellent.

In regards to the unattend  file, that is a little beyond the scope of what can be offered (at least by a Symantec employee), but I do know that in the machine name it will allow you to set part of the machine name as wildcards to name in that fashion.

Also, as far as what to do when you have that unattend file, all you need to do is copy those files to your source machine, execute the sysprep.exe, and then PXE boot the machine after Sysprep runs but before it is able to reboot to Windows Vista.

Thank you,

Randy

I will be more than happy to mark your post as a solution as this has definitely helped me out and i learned a few things as well. I figured the name scheming would be beyond the scope of this forum, however,  I was hoping maybe you knew the switch or parameters for that "wild card" naming field.

In any event, I'm pretty square on setting up the sysprep and how to configure that, I just needed a little direction on how to integrate those files within Ghost and the image. Essentially, I need to be able to PXE boot a new machine, pull down an image and when its complete, have that new system joined to the domain with a new name so that system is ready to go. Thats the basic aim.

With your help, I have half the battle won, just need to setup those minor configurations and i'll be set. Any input you have to offer or any direction you can point me to get the info I need would be greatly appreciated. Thanks once again.

Here is an article on making the unattend file:

Windows Vista Deployment Step-by-Step Guide
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc721929(WS.10).aspx

As i understand, the wilcards are just asterisks (*) where you want the number. So to use your example above, test-*** would do what you want if you specify that as the machine name, since only the three asterisks would be replaced by the numbering.

To address running that with Ghost when using Ghostcasting, just copy the unattend file to the Sysprep folder, execute sysprep.exe and let it run. Be at the machine when it tries to reboot to make sure you catch it before it reboots to Windows. And then take the image. That's it. The result is a  Sysprepped image that has no predefined Security Identifier (SID) or Hardware Abstartction Layer (HAL) that would prevent networking or deployment to different hardware platforms (in addition to what is defined by the unattend file, such as renaming and domain joining, etc).

I hope that helps!

Thank you much....appreciate all your help. Will address this on Monday. If the wildcards are only asterisks, then that should be simple enough to configure into the answer file. I already have an answer file setup so this should be done, any other issues that I come across i'm sure I can figure out. Thanks again!!

I loaded all my drivers, the most resent, and these options will not attear, they remain greyed out. i read the dos promtps line by line which tells me that the driver has loaded. What else can i do as I need to image multiple machines at once and using 3 com doesnt work well with trying to do that...