Hardware Universal Ghost Image (Page 1 of 2)

As far as I know, if you clone your image to a different PC with a different motherboard, XP usually will not boot (BSOD). If the M/B is the same, and the other hardware is different, it might work. I've seen clones boot up on different M/B's, but they usually have problems. Haven't done it alot, so you may get better results. Who can say? Anyway, good luck.

Dave

if the platforms both use the the same controller for the HDD it will work
if not you wont even get to safemode youll get the "7B" bsod error
(incorrect HDD driver)

Last edited by OverFlow (2007-05-02 16:14:19)

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I'm using "MySysprep" to change the HAL's and sysprep is taking care of building the mass storage driver section.  But yea I'm having strange issues like some Dell laptops hanging as if they are having MSD or HAL issues, or newer Dell OptiPlex systems getting stuck in reboot looks and trying to load UK drivers over English ones.

I guess I can't figure out why if this works during install using DriverPacks or nLite (every model I have used it on is flawless), why there isn't a way to make this work with an image.

I trialled Binary Research's UIU (Universal Image Utility) a couple of years ago, and it seemed to be bloated driver database and an extensive sysprep process.  Altiris is also accomplishing universal image ability.  So I can't imagine that the opensorce / freeware community has not accomplished the same thing.

Yes, that is the same method we use at work.  But the 'universal' image question is an intriguing one. 
I have more reading to do apparently.

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I've got a fairly universal RIPREP image I use through SMS OSD. As long as you've got an ACPI (old or new version) HAL, then I can handle it.

I have created images using this process on a Dell Optiplex GX745, and a GX620.   These images load and go through the initial configuration (computer name, domain join) but after reboot, they lockup booting on a Dell Latitude C610 and D600.

Has anyone gotten images created on new desktops to work on these laptops?

I very well may not have this problem solved by then! haha.

Ok well I did actually get it to work from a GX745 to a C610 this afternoon... but that presents a problem of it's own.

I have been building on the latest model and, and modifying the PC to work on all older models.  When we began buying dual core machines this introduced machines that would not longer work on the ACPI HAL.

My process has been to build on the GX745 with a Core 2 Duo, when complete change the HAL driver to "Advanced Computer and Power Interface (ACPI)" prior to syspreping.

In my Sysprep.inf I included the line " UpdateUPHAL = "ACPIAPIC_UP,%WINDIR%\Inf\Hal.inf" ", in order to change the HAL back to a Multiprocessor HAL when it was detected by SYSPREP.  This was working on all of my Desktop PC's, but not on my laptops.

Deleting the " UpdateUPHAL = "ACPIAPIC_UP,%WINDIR%\Inf\Hal.inf" ", line in Sysprep corrected the issue on my single core laptops, but has now broke the image for my multi-core machines.

So I need to find a better way to reliably correct the HALs.

I am about to try another method from here, called "My Sysprep".
http://jimtsay.googlepages.com/mysysprep

It has two methods for changing the HAL.  The first I am going to try uses CPUID to detect the processor type, and change the HAL accordingly.  I tried this process a couple of days ago, but I had mistakenly left the " UpdateUPHAL = "ACPIAPIC_UP,%WINDIR%\Inf\Hal.inf" ", line in SYSPREP when I ran it, and it failed.

The other method is scripting specific HAL's for each PC model, which will take more work, but if it works correctly it will be worth it.

Anyone have any other suggestions?

Build a reference image using the older ACPI HAL (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC HAL) even though the host system uses the newer ACPI HAL. During the set-up I use the UpdateUPHAL command in sysprep to update it to the latest UP HAL (which will automatically swap to MP HAL if Windows detects multiple CPUs) - but I have a WMI detect for the motherboard so if it is a certain model then I do not add the UpdateUPHAL command so it remains on the older ACPI HAL.

That make sense?

I do it during the post-install phase in the SMS OSD - so in a WinPE environment basically. GHOST can run in WinPE, so this should be possible there also.

Why not eh? The script is based on something I found online anyway.

Also, I modified it to do a search for a mac address in a file. This was done due to some machines being so old that they didn't report their motherboard model using WMI at all. For any new machines, it is redundant.

SMS OSD is just a method of deploying a sysprep'd image - pretty similar to ghost really.

Option Explicit

' Declare the variables
Dim objWMI, objResults, objInstance, strModel, objFS
Dim strUP, strMP
Dim env             ' OSD environment object
Dim syspreppath
Dim intCompare

' Initialize objects

Set objWMI = GetObject("winmgmts:")
set objFS = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
set env     = CreateObject("OSD.Environment")

' Detect hardware using WMI

Set objResults = objWMI.InstancesOf("Win32_ComputerSystemProduct")

For each objInstance in objResults
If not IsNull(objInstance.Name) then
strModel = lcase(Trim(objInstance.Name))
End if
Next

intCompare=strcomp(strModel, "")

if intCompare=0 then
  strModel="Unknown"
end if 

' Find out sysprep values and update sysprep.inf

strUP = "ACPIAPIC_UP,%windir%\inf\hal.inf"
strMP = "ACPIAPIC_MP,%windir%\inf\hal.inf"

syspreppath = env("OSDTARGETDRIVE") & "sysprep\sysprep.inf"
'syspreppath = "c:\sysprep\sysprep.inf"

Select Case strModel

Case "optiplex gx1 450s+"
wscript.echo "No Update needed"

Case "Unknown"
if mac_check <> 1 then
  wscript.echo "Update needed"
  WriteIni syspreppath,"Unattended","UpdateUPHAL",strUP
else
  wscript.echo "No Update needed"
end if  

Case Else
WriteIni syspreppath,"Unattended","UpdateUPHAL",strUP

End Select

Function mac_check()

  Dim unk_acpi, f, text, FSO, objWMI
  Dim objNetworkAdapters, ObjAdapter, re, colMatches, strSFN

  set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
  Set objWMI = GetObject("winmgmts://")

  strSFN = WScript.ScriptFullName
  strSFN = Left(strSFN,InStrRev(strSFN,"\"))
  
  unk_acpi = "unk_acpi.txt"

  set f = FSO.OpenTextFile(strSFN & unk_acpi, 1, false)
  text = f.ReadAll()
  f.Close

  Set objNetworkAdapters = objWMI.ExecQuery("select * from Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration where IPEnabled = 1")

  mac_check=0

  For Each objAdapter In objNetworkAdapters
'    wscript.echo "Network adapter: " & objAdapter.Caption & " has MAC address " & objAdapter.MacAddress
    set re = new RegExp
    re.Pattern = objAdapter.MacAddress
    re.Global = true
    re.Multiline = true
    re.IgnoreCase = true
    set colMatches=re.Execute(text)
    if colMatches.Count <> 0 then
      wscript.echo "Non-zero quit."
      mac_check=1
    end if  
  Next
End Function


Function ReadIni(file, section, item)

Dim line, equalpos, leftstring, ini

ReadIni = ""
file = Trim(file)
item = Trim(item)
Set ini = objFS.OpenTextFile( file, 1, False)

Do While ini.AtEndOfStream = False
line = ini.ReadLine
line = Trim(line)
If LCase(line) = "[" & LCase(section) & "]" Then
line = ini.ReadLine
line = Trim(line)
Do While Left( line, 1) <> "["
'If InStr( 1, line, item & "=", 1) = 1 Then
equalpos = InStr(1, line, "=", 1 )
If equalpos > 0 Then
leftstring = Left(line, equalpos - 1 )
leftstring = Trim(leftstring)
If LCase(leftstring) = LCase(item) Then
set env     = CreateObject("OSD.Environment")
ReadIni = Mid( line, equalpos + 1 )
ReadIni = Trim(ReadIni)
Exit Do
End If
End If

If ini.AtEndOfStream Then Exit Do
line = ini.ReadLine
line = Trim(line)
Loop
Exit Do
End If
Loop
ini.Close

End Function

Sub WriteIni( file, section, item, myvalue )

Dim in_section, section_exists, item_exists, wrote
Dim itemtrimmed, read_ini, write_ini, temp_ini
Dim linetrimmed, line, equalpos, leftstring

in_section = False
section_exists = False
item_exists = ( ReadIni( file, section, item ) <> "" )
wrote = False
file = Trim(file)
itemtrimmed = Trim(item)
myvalue = Trim(myvalue)

temp_ini = objFS.GetParentFolderName(file) & "\" & objFS.GetTempName

Set read_ini = objFS.OpenTextFile( file, 1, True, False )
Set write_ini = objFS.CreateTextFile( temp_ini, False)

While read_ini.AtEndOfStream = False
line = read_ini.ReadLine
linetrimmed = Trim(line)
If wrote = False Then
If LCase(line) = "[" & LCase(section) & "]" Then
section_exists = True
in_section = True
ElseIf InStr( line, "[" ) = 1 Then
in_section = False
End If
End If

If in_section Then
If itemtrimmed = "" then
' Do nothing: we want to wipe the section
ElseIf item_exists = False Then
write_ini.WriteLine line
If myvalue <> "" then
write_ini.WriteLine item & "=" & myvalue
End if
wrote = True
in_section = False
Else
equalpos = InStr(1, line, "=", 1 )
If equalpos > 0 Then
leftstring = Left(line, equalpos - 1 )
leftstring = Trim(leftstring)
If LCase(leftstring) = LCase(item) Then
If myvalue <> "" then
write_ini.WriteLine itemtrimmed & "=" & myvalue
End if
wrote = True
in_section = False
End If
End If
If Not wrote Then
write_ini.WriteLine line
End If
End If
Else
write_ini.WriteLine line
End If
Wend

If section_exists = False and itemtrimmed <> "" Then
' section doesn't exist
write_ini.WriteLine
write_ini.WriteLine "[" & section & "]"
If myvalue <> "" then
write_ini.WriteLine itemtrimmed & "=" & myvalue
End if
End If

read_ini.Close
write_ini.Close
If objFS.FileExists(file) then
objFS.DeleteFile file, True
End if
objFS.CopyFile temp_ini, file, true
objFS.DeleteFile temp_ini, True

End Sub

i still never realy understould,  why al the complicated scipts... 
because if i just run a lowlevel sysprep (and remove all the driver-stuff... )

there shouldn't be any thing wrong with setting pnp driverpath to   %windir%\driverpacks  -  the only things i DO have to worry about is that ALL userdata  stored in a profile  like   documents and settings\THIS USER\aplication data\   should be moved to the  %alluserprofiles%,   to prevent users from having to  'register' and stuff like that..

setting the hall is supposed to be done but the native windows installer -
after any sysprep action...

Last edited by -I- (2007-05-15 08:30:48)