Ghost Solution Suite

When I run the Create Image job, my images are created as one large file instead of multiple 2Gb files.  The 'Media Spanning' section located in Create Image > Advanced Settings is greyed out.

Is there a way to enable this section or add a switch to the parameters section?

Thank you.

Off the top of my head you may need to change the imaging technology or use command line options; possibly for ImageX.

I read about the -SPLIT switch.  If I wanted my images to be created the way they've always been created - one .gho file and multiple .ghs files - would I enter the command as such:  -SPLIT=2048 ?

If the above works, I can move on.  It's just unusual that my images are now one large file and the Media Spanning section is greyed out when it never was before.

I did recently update the program to Maintenance Package 3.

**I just tried the -SPLIT switch and the image creation failed.  So I'm back to the actual problem - why isn't GSS 3.1 automatically spanning my images, and why is the section greyed out?

The reason why image spanning was the default is that Ghost could not remotely determine the operating system at the server end and therefore had to default to 2Gb image files as this was the limit of FAT file systems.

However, if you image to a local NTFS drive, Ghost is able to determine that the file system can store files > 2Gb and therefore defaults to a single large file.

So it all depends on where you are imaging to (not mentioned) and what EXACT command line you are using (not mentioned).

If you really need the files spilt, simplest way is to format a USB drive or USB key as FAT32 and image to that.

Hello EdT,

To answer your questions:  I am imaging to a network share.  I don't have the exact command line since I'm using GSS 3.1 to create the image, but the additional parameters are:  -CLONE,MODE=CREATE,SRC=1,DST=%IMAGE_FILENAME% -SURE -Z3.    This is what showed up by default.

As for imaging to a USB drive, this defeats the purpose of using GSS to automate the creation and distribution of images.

The question still remains - When I first installed GSS 3.1, the image I created through the program was split into multiple 2Gb files.  It no longer does this, and the Media Spanning options are greyed out.  Why?

Eddythorn,

You should be able to add the -SPLIT=2048 to the end of your additional parameters.

-CLONE,MODE=CREATE,SRC=1,DST=%IMAGE_FILENAME% -SURE -Z3 -SPLIT=2048

This should split the file appropriately when imaging to your network share.

Hello Brycen,

I recall speaking to you on the phone regarding my setup and were extremely helpful - maybe a month or so ago.

At any rate, I used the split switch as referenced above but receive the following error:

"Cannot create image file \.

Win32 error: (0x00000003)

Message description: The system cannot find the path specified

(662)"

It would appear that the error is happening when the first .GHS file is being created.  I'm making this assumption because I have a .GHO file that is 2,094,784Kb in size.

I'm not sure what path can't be found since a file was created there.

Thoughts?

~Anthony

Have you checked whether the server antivirus might be blocking the GHS file creation?  I have seen similar issues with .INF files not being allowed to be copied to a server share, and it's worth checking in case it's something as stupid as that.

Also - have you tried the same operation to a local USB hard disk to establish if it works to that?

Eddy,

What is your current version of GSS 3.1? 

Please navigate to Help->about on your ghost console and post the screenshot

Also navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Altiris\eXpress\Deployment Server\Ghost\ghost64.exe, right click and select properties and then details. Please post a screenshot of this as well.

Eddy,

I suspect the problem you are having is related to having the 8050 binaries (12.0.0.8050). These binaries were known to have issues, visit file connect and download the latest for Ghost Solution Suite  "Ghost Solution Suite 3.1 MP3 V2.exe" the V2 contains the "8051 binaries" that were patched to fix these issues.

Run this update and your binaries should be updated to 8051

File Connect

https://symantec.flexnetoperations.com/control/symc/registeranonymouslicensetoken

You will need to rebuild your PXE/Automation environment after the update.

Please let me know if this resolves your issue.

Thank you Brycen, the update corrected the problem.

Eddy,

I am glad to hear this fixed the issue.

Below is the KB for anyone whom stumbles upon this in the future.

Ghost 3.1 MP3 images are not created or deployed properly

https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.TECH235624.html

Have the trial downloads also been modified?

Yes all binaries have been updated, including the free trials,

Symantec_Ghost_Solution_Suite_3.1_MP3_V2.exe has the updated binaries (This is the MP update you would first have to install the Symantec_Ghost_Solution_Suite_3.1_v1.exe)

Symantec_Ghost_Standard_Tools_3.1_MP3_v2.msi also has the latest binaries.