hello everybody,

at work, we use norton ghost to make our images.

Recently, we've been getting a lot of problems since we now have quite a few models of PCs with different hardware and most images are always missing drivers etc.

I've thought of basically including all the different models drivers into the Windows\Inf folder and running a sysprep afterwards, I imagine that Windows will auto-detect the new hardware and look for the .inf file in the mentionned directory that'll lead to the driver installation.

What I am a little worried about is the IDE to SATA problem. Most images are on IDE HDD and images are made of the partitions. When I ghost an IDE image to a SATA hdd, Windows won't boot up. I am wondering if putting the chipset SATA drivers will fix everything or not..

The reason I'm asking is that doing all of the above testing is possible, but would take a lot of time. If any of you guys have a faster route it'd be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

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Originally posted by albert
If any of you guys have a faster router it'd be highly appreciated.

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Originally posted by John Anderton

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Originally posted by albert
If any of you guys have a faster router it'd be highly appreciated.

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router? You mean route, right?

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You are correct that it won't work without a subsequent repair install or as Microsoft calls it, "in-place upgrade".  The best solution for mixed hardware environments is a different process than simple ghosting.

First, integrate all the drivers you might need, as well as patches and Windows customizations into a custom unattended installation CD.  You can do that using nLite or the official Microsoft methods (nLite is easier).  All you need to do then is boot from the CD and in a short while you will have a clean baseline Windows installation with the right drivers and settings.

That leaves applications, for which you will want to create unattended installation packages.  Details will vary depending on each application, but nearly all can be installed unattended with some effort.  appdeploy.com is a great resource.  If you use Active Directory, you can then deploy the packages using Group Policy, if you don't you can run a script that goes through and installs everything you need. 

Preparing a machine this way takes longer than ghosting, but if you set your environment up well initially, it doesn't take any more of your time.  You just start it and let it run.  Learning unattended deployment is a worthwhile time investment.  It will also save you time on application upgrades and deployment between re-imaging.

If you have Active Directory, you may also want to look into SCCM and WSUS.

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Originally posted by Adeptus
You are correct that it won't work without a subsequent repair install or as Microsoft calls it, "in-place upgrade".  The best solution for mixed hardware environments is a different process than simple ghosting.

First, integrate all the drivers you might need, as well as patches and Windows customizations into a custom unattended installation CD.  You can do that using nLite or the official Microsoft methods (nLite is easier).  All you need to do then is boot from the CD and in a short while you will have a clean baseline Windows installation with the right drivers and settings.

That leaves applications, for which you will want to create unattended installation packages.  Details will vary depending on each application, but nearly all can be installed unattended with some effort.  appdeploy.com is a great resource.  If you use Active Directory, you can then deploy the packages using Group Policy, if you don't you can run a script that goes through and installs everything you need. 

Preparing a machine this way takes longer than ghosting, but if you set your environment up well initially, it doesn't take any more of your time.  You just start it and let it run.  Learning unattended deployment is a worthwhile time investment.  It will also save you time on application upgrades and deployment between re-imaging.

If you have Active Directory, you may also want to look into SCCM and WSUS.

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