Ghost Solution Suite

I am trying to use Symantec Ghost Solution Suite v1.1 to deploy Windows XP Pro SP2 to several machines. I want to make the installation automatic (eliminate any user input during the restore process). I also want the image file and the ghost.exe file to reside on a single DVD.

I used the Microsoft Sysprep tool to remove the SID from the system prior to creating the image. I am also using an answer file (.inf) file to prevent the user from needing to answer questions during the Microsoft Mini-setup.

I want to create a boot floppy that contains a standard boot floppy disk and the ghost.exe executable. I noticed that the Ghost Solution Suite v1.1 ghost.exe file is about 1.37MB. Since the ghost.exe file is so large I can not fit this file on a Windows boot floppy. I noticed that this was not the case when using Ghost 2003. In Ghost 2003 the ghost.exe file was about 0.98MB. Using the Ghost 2003 executable I am able to create a boot disk and then copy the Ghost 2003 ghost.exe file on the same floppy. I then use this floppy when the Ghost program prompts me to insert a floppy when creating a bootable DVD. So I can achieve my goal of a single bootable DVD goal using Ghost 2003 but not with Ghost Solution Suite v1.1. I need to get this to work with Ghost Solution Suite since this will be used in a corporate environment.

My question is:
1.Does anyone know a way that I can create a single bootable DVD with two bootable floppy disks (the first with MS or PC DOS and the second with the ghost.exe)?

> My question is:
> 1.Does anyone know a way that I can create a single
> bootable DVD with two bootable floppy disks (the
> first with MS or PC DOS and the second with the
> ghost.exe)?

You should be able to, using the Ghost Boot Wizard. For example, when creating a "Standard Ghost Boot Package", the final page of the wizard gives you some target options, and one of them is an ISO image (along with the usual "Floppy Disk Set", and a new "Format Disk" option).

The ISO image is bootable. This gives you the combined contents of the two floppies on one bootable CD/DVD image; you just need to burn the image onto a CD or DVD.

I should also add that the "Format Disk" target on the final page of the Ghost Boot Wizard can write the files to a USB mass storage device.

If your machines are newer, you may be able to configure the BIOS settings to boot from these devices. This will also save you carrying around 2 floppies.

There's a knowledge base article here -
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ghost.nsf/docid/2000030611414425
which describes how to create what you want - a bootable CD (or DVD) which contains a ghost image, and the code to restore that image automatically.

Thanks for the help. I read and reread the Symantec Knowledge Base article and was able to make a bootable DVD using Ghost v8.3 and Roxio CD & DVD Creator v6.