Ghost Solution Suite

Problem Statement:

In the previous version of Ghost Solution Suite 2.0, the Unattend.XML files created with Windows System Image Manager (WSIM) were working perfectly during the “Sysprep” process.  The reason was because when we imported them into the Ghost Console, the format of the entire XML file imported into the Ghost Console would stay the same as its source.

In Ghost Solution Suite 2.5.1, when I am creating a Sysprep file and use the import button to import it to the Ghost Console, the format changes and the order of the lines get reversed!!  Pay attention to the last 2 lines where the order of the lines reverses and that causes Windows Setup not to know what to do when Domain name it not present and it produces the error "

Error message: "Windows could not parse or process unattend answer file."

Please see below for explanation:

Correct XML code from a file that was created with (WSIM) :

<settings pass="specialize">

        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

            <Identification>

                <Credentials>

                    <Domain>MyDomain</Domain>

                    <Password>Mypassword</Password>

                    <Username>UserName</Username>

                </Credentials>

                <JoinDomain>Example.Domain.com</JoinDomain>

                <MachineObjectOU>OU=My, OU=Test, OU=PCs, DC=My, DC=Company, DC=com</MachineObjectOU>

Incorrect XML code, after being imported, using the Sysprep import function from GSS 2.5.1. The order of the last 2 lines are reversed and that causes Windows setup not to know what to do when it is expecting the domain name and it is provided with the OU names:

<settings pass="specialize">

        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

            <Identification>

                <Credentials>

                    <Domain>MyDomain</Domain>

                    <Password>Mypassword</Password>

                    <Username>UserName</Username>

                </Credentials>

                <MachineObjectOU>OU=My, OU=Test, OU=PCs, DC=My, DC=Company, DC=com</MachineObjectOU>

                <JoinDomain>Example.Domain.com</JoinDomain>

Developer can fix this issue by redesigning the GUI for handling the XML Answer files.  The import function for importing an unattend.XML file, MUST allow the follwing 2 options to be chosen by the USER:

1. To import a previously created unattend.xml file directly into the Ghost Console without any modifications
2. Allow a new XML file to be built using the built-in GUI for crating and unattand.xml file from scratch.
3. The design of the import function MUST NOT alter the order of code lines in the XML file.

The workaround for users of the Ghost Solution Suite 2.5.1, are the following steps:

1. After you have used the GUI tool to import your existing XML file,you must located it at (on your Ghost server):
2. Windows Root\ProgramData\Symantec\Ghost\Sysprep\Config\Date formated folder containing the XML file\*.XML file
3. Open it for Edit
4. Delete the content of the file
5. Open the correct XML answer file that you had created using WSIM and paste the contents into file in step b above.
6. Save the file in Step (b) and close all open windows
7. Now the image of the template machine can be created using an XML file that does not fail to join the machine to the domain