Ghost Solution Suite

I have the latest version of GSS, 11.5.1.2266 the trial version. I'm evaluating the product to make sure it works correctly with our sytems.

Currently, I'm having an issue on a Dell XPS 630i desktop where I get:
    To Virtual Partition: Failed to update unattend.xml

The system is running Windows 7 Enterprise x64.

Ghosting works fine with the PCDOS virtual os but I need to have it working with WinPE for hot imaging. This is requirement that I was told to meet.

I ran into this problem with our Dell Optiplex 755 and fixed it by adding 2 drivers to the WinPE:
1. Intel 82466DM
2. Intel ICH9 SATA AHCI Controller

From what I've come across I think that there's an issue related to the NVIDIA nForce Ethernet driver which I have not found a solution for. I could be wrong on this.

Please let me know what other information is needed.

Thanks,
Mitka

Hot imaging is done with the operating system on the machine running, and not from WinPE.

If you are adding drivers to WinPE, they need to be Vista 32 bit drivers regardless of the operating system on the target hosts.

Ok, I understand.

I attempted to do two types of imaging, the normal one and the Hot imaging.

For normal imaging:
I updated the WinPE with the suggested drivers but I am still getting:
   To Virtual Partition: Failed to update unattend.xml

For Hot imaging I get the following error:
 Cloning via Volume Snapshot failed. use ghost error file to determine cause.

I can't find this file anywhere. Is it ghosterr?

I still don't know if this affecting anything but I'm posting it anyway.
For the client, under Network Settings when using Virtual Partition:
 Use Suggested Template: NVIDIA nForce Ethernet.

There is no other template availiable.

Mitka

On Win 7, some of the filesystem is hidden unless you turn on viewing in Explorer,  I think it is Ghosterr.txt.

It does indeed sound like your WinPE boot lacks some drivers. You normally need to ensure that both a NIC driver and a SATA driver are present especially with the newer chipsets found in current hardware. The version of WinPE used in Ghost is V2 which is based on the Vista kernel and therefore needs you to provide Vista 32 bit drivers.

Also, unless you have the correct version of SATA driver, you may find WinPE unable to access the hard disk (you can always check from a command prompt) after it has booted.

For the moment, forget hot imaging and lets just work on the WinPE aspects so that we avoid confusion.

Incidentally, PCDOS is not good with modern hardware due to lack of support for SATA and inability to image big partitions (a user reported that PCDOS would not create more than 27Gb worth of image). Some bioses provide a compatibility mode that you can switch into from AHCI, which allows PCDOS to "see" SATA hard disks but this is by no means universal.  Disk size can also cause problems under PCDOS.

Thanks for the information. It has helped me more in my understanding.

I tried adding the drivers Vista x86 drivers from dell.com to the WinPE but I'm still getting the error.
There was an unchecked SATA driver in the WinPE which I also added but to no avail.

Here's the link to dell.com drivers download. I don't if it'll be of any help:
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?os=WLH&catid=-1&dateid=-1&impid=-1&osl=EN&typeid=-1&formatid=-1&servicetag=DXVTHH1&SystemID=XPS_630i&hidos=WW1&hidlang=en&TabIndex=&scanSupported=True&scanConsent=False

Thanks,
Mitka
 

As I don't know the Dell hardware in any details, does your machine have more than one network connection available?  If it does, you either need to provide both drivers (especially if the NICs are different chipsets) or you need to focus on one NIC chipset and make sure you are plugged into the correct NIC socket.

since it failed on "unattend.xml" are you trying to have Ghost sysprep Windows 7 after it comes down with the console?  I have sysprep run from inside the image after the fact, and it works great for me on Win7 Enterprise x64.

Also dont forget to check the box for the driver you added after it inserts.  It is unchecked by default when you add a new driver

I haven't had much time to get around to it due to some school work and assignments.
When I do I'll respond.

The computer only has one NIC.

Terry BU, I didn't try to sysprep.

Thanks,
Mitka

I got back to it today.

The computer doesn't have more than one NIC.

The motherboard is the nVidia nForce 650i.
I downloaded the Vista x86 drivers from nVidia's website. I also tried Windows 7.

I came across this post by BOR_IT in the following thread:
https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/ghost-80-and-nvidia-nforce-template
 

I am having this issue still with my NVIDIA Drivers. I have20 ECS NF650iSLIT-A (V1.0) Core 2 Quad Socket 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI Chipset 1333FSB DDR2-800 PCI.e Motherboars. I have found that I am having this same issue with every PE environment I have tried as well. The only thing I can figure is that it requires the chipset drivers to be loaded before the NIC drivers can be loaded. I have the drivers for the chipset but I can not figure out how to load them with the NIC drivers. can you please help me with this?

But noting ever came of it in the last post.

Mitka 

The simplest way to check if you have correct drivers without continually rebuilding your WinPE boot, is to try loading the drivers at the WinPE command line. So collect the drivers you need (INF CAT SYS and any DLLs required) and put them in separate folders on a USB key. Boot to WinPE, go to a command prompt, locate the path of the first driver you wish to try loading, and type the following:

DRVLOAD <full path and filename of driver INF file>

WinPE will then tell you if the driver loaded successfully.

Load the drivers that you believe are required using this method, then check if the device(s) you need to access are now working.  Once you have identified which drivers are required, you can then add the drivers to the WinPE boot builder (make sure you select the drivers you have added otherwise they won't be included) and burn a new WinPE boot.  Since WinPE supports plug and play, the necessary device drivers will be loaded as WinPE boots.