HOW TO: Create a Ghost Boot CD
Tagged with: boot cd • Ghost • ghost boot cd • how to • imaging • Symantec
Here is my solution on creating a Ghost Boot CD:
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Contents |
GHOST BOOT CD
Creating Floppy Disk
First things first, create a set of disks for each of the types of computers you will need to ghost (You will need only the drivers from each set). Then create a floppy from scratch to be used for the boot sector of the CD. Also prepare anything else you want to put on your boot CD and leave it aside (DO NOT PUT THESE FILES ON BOOT SECTOR FLOPPY). Since you are creating a ghost boot CD there should be plenty of room on the CD for any other programs you want. I would recommend putting all of the extra files in separate folders (AGAIN, NOT ON THE BOOT SECTOR FLOPPY). More on this later.
If you do not have the proper drivers for your NIC already listed in your Ghost Boot CD Wizard, then you will need to do some hunting and find a *.DOS driver for your NIC. Two ways to do this, go to the website of the manufacturer of your NIC, or computer (if you have a Dell, HP, Compaq, or any other company with good driver support). Or if you know the NIC model number you can try searching the Internet, but the first way will likely give you the best results.
Keep in mind the Ghost folder and other files you want on the CD do not need to go on the Boot Sector Floppy. The point of the Boot Sector Floppy is to create a CD-ROM boot image. So the only thing that goes on the floppy is what you see below in the picture, or the boot files and folders that contain the NIC drivers (Click for larger version).
This is what a finished floppy should like (Click for larger version):
What you need to do is take your Boot Sector Floppy and add folders for each computer that you need to ghost with this CD. Download my floppy to see exactly what files are needed in each folder or look below. Basically if you have a set of ghost disks for each computer you are just going to be copying and pasting files.
You only need to do the above steps if you are creating your Boot CD from scratch. Otherwise just use my zipped up floppy or 755 ISO. Unzip the zip file, and drop the files on a formatted floppy disk so the disk looks like mine from the picture above. Keep in mind your folder names may change to reflect your own naming convention.
The Boot Sector Floppy needs folders for each NIC which you can name anything you want, but you are going to need the name of each folder for the config.sys file. I went with model number of the machines that will be ghosted as the name for each folder. Also in each folder you will need three files: protman.dos, dis_pkt.dos, and the driver. These files should come from the other Ghost boot disks created for these computers, but you can manually edit the files if you don’t want to create a boot disk for each computer type. The net folder only needs netbind.com.
Below I have listed what needs to go in the two critical files config.sys and autoexec.bat. You need a separate folder for each NIC and you need to have the device lines that reflect this folder name. Also you need the three files: protman.dos, dis_pkt.dos, and the driver in each folder. If you change the folder names make sure you change them in config.sys file as well.
To add another NIC, just create a folder with the three files. Then add another menu item. The name used after “menuitem=” needs to be the same down below in the brackets []. Then copy the three device lines exactly, taking note that the name of the folder will need to change. For the GX270 menu item, you can see that the name of the folder is 270. There are four instances of this naming convention.
Don’t worry about the “Ghost” folder for now. That folder is going to go on the CD-ROM disc and not on the Boot Sector Floppy. The Boot Sector Floppy disk is only used for creating a boot image on the CD. And we don’t need the “Ghost” folder in the boot image. Also, it won’t fit on the floppy… so we will put it on the CD as data, along with anything else you want on your Boot CD.
Another trick, you may need the file that allows you to read from and write to SATA drives. This is the “GCDROM.sys” file. I found it on some forum while trying to get this Ghost Boot Disc working. It and other important files are listed below.
Editing Boot Files
config.sys:
[MENU]
submenu=IDE, Ghost an IDE Drive
submenu=SATA, Or Ghost a SATA Drive
submenu=NORMAL, Boot to Command Prompt
submenu=DWIPE, Use Disk Wipe Utility[IDE]
menuitem=GX270, Ghost an IDE GX270
menuitem=GX620, Ghost an IDE GX620 or a Latitude D620
menuitem=GX745, Ghost an IDE GX745
submenu=menu, Back to Main menu[GX270]
DEVICE=oakcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\270\protman.dos /I:\270
DEVICE=\270\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\270\e1000.dos[GX620]
DEVICE=oakcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\620\protman.dos /I:\620
DEVICE=\620\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\620\B57.dos[GX745]
DEVICE=oakcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\745\protman.dos /I:\745
DEVICE=\745\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\745\B57.dos[SATA]
menuitem=SATAGX270, Ghost a SATA Drive GX270
menuitem=SATAGX620, Ghost a SATA Drive GX620
menuitem=SATAGX745, Ghost a SATA Drive GX745
submenu=menu, Back to Main menu[SATAGX270]
DEVICE=gcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\270\protman.dos /I:\270
DEVICE=\270\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\270\e1000.dos[SATAGX620]
DEVICE=gcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\620\protman.dos /I:\620
DEVICE=\620\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\620\B57.dos[SATAGX745]
DEVICE=gcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\745\protman.dos /I:\745
DEVICE=\745\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\745\B57.dos[NORMAL]
menuitem=NORMALI, IDE Drive
menuitem=NORMALS, SATA Drive
submenu=menu, Back to Main menu[NORMALI]
DEVICE=oakcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z[NORMALS]
DEVICE=gcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = z[DWIPE]
menuitem=DWIPEI, IDE
menuitem=DWIPES, SATA
submenu=menu, Back to Main menu[DWIPEI]
DEVICE=oakcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z[DWIPES]
DEVICE=gcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = z
Not much should change for the autoexec file. Just keep to the same naming conventions you used for the folders on the disk. If you are not using gwipe, then you can take out those sections in this file pertaining to gwipe. I recommend leaving both the “Normal*” sections alone so you have a way to get to a command prompt.
autoexec.bat:
goto %config%
:GX270
@echo off
echo Loading…
SET TZ=GHO-06:00
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
\NET\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE
goto END:GX620
@echo off
echo Loading…
SET TZ=GHO-06:00
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
\NET\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE
goto END:GX745
@echo off
echo Loading…
SET TZ=GHO-06:00
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
\NET\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE
goto END:SATAGX270
@echo off
echo Loading…
SET TZ=GHO-06:00
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
\NET\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE
goto END:SATAGX620
@echo off
echo Loading…
SET TZ=GHO-06:00
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
\NET\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE
goto END:SATAGX745
@echo off
echo Loading…
SET TZ=GHO-06:00
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
\NET\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE
goto END:NORMALI
@echo off
echo Loading…
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
D:
goto end:NORMALS
@echo off
echo Loading…
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
D:
goto end:DWIPEI
@echo off
echo Loading…
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
D:
cd D:\GWipe
echo If you hit any key your drive will be erased.
echo Restart your system to spare any data…
pause
gdisk.exe 1 /diskwipe
goto end:DWIPES
@echo off
echo Loading…
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
D:
cd D:\GWipe
echo If you hit any key your drive will be erased.
echo Restart your system to spare any data…
pause
gdisk.exe 1 /diskwipe
goto end:END
Once the floppy is ready to go, you are ready to burn baby!!!
Burning the CD
Burning the CD is a rather simple process here are the steps I took using Nero Burning ROM:
- 1. First make sure your floppy disk in inserted as it is needed to make the boot image on the CD. What we are actually going to do is use floppy emulation to make this boot image, so if another burning program says something to that effect, you are at the right place.
2. Open Nero and navigate your way to the Burning Rom. This is all we need.
3. If the “New Compilation” wizard appears this can be used, if not click “New” or go to “File” then “New”
4. Next scroll down the left side till you get to “CD-ROM (Boot)” and click on that
5. Now we can start some emulating
6. Make sure you are pulling the image from the floppy; in Nero it should default to this
7. In Nero look for “Bootable logical drive” and make sure floppy is selected
8. NOTE: in Vista I could not do this, so I used “Roxio Creator Plus - Dell Edition” (For Roxio all you have to do is go to “Data Disc” and then choose “Make Bootable”
9. Now click New at the bottom. This will take you to a window where you can add files that will not be in the boot sector
10. First add the “Ghost” folder. Then add anything else you want to have on this CD. I recommend a partitioning program, fdisk, and scandisk. This way if you get a Ghost error about a bad drive, you can do some investigation right from the CD.
11. Once everything is added click the “Burn” icon, which looks like a red fire symbol of some sort
12. Now you get to select your burning options
13. Make sure you are finalizing the CD
14. I read a recommendation from somewhere to use “Track or Disk-at-once”, but usually I use “Disc-at-once/96″. I have found this to be the fastest and least-error prone burning method for all types of burning. I guess I am just not sure I care what the difference is as long as it burns.
15. Then go ahead and burn away
16. I recommend changing the number of CDs to burn and burning a butt load right off the bat
17. Also I recommend creating an ISO right away from the CD-ROM disc you have. This way you can just burn the ISO for more discs in the future.
Links to Files Needed:
Note these files are zipped into respective folders…
- 1. FloppyDisk.zip This is what I have, use for cases of laziness
or comparison but KEEP IN MIND your driver files for your NICs may be different from mine…2. Files from a Win98 Boot Disk: In case you need em
3. Files needed for GWipe Utility: This utility wipes a disk and can be customized to your liking
4. Ghost folder needed for CD-ROM: This is the folder you need once you added the floppy disk to the boot sector of the CD-ROM
Happy Ghosting!!
Feel Free to e-mail me with any questions, but I would prefer that comments be left so that others can see the dialog produced from an e-mail.
[UPDATES]:
I just updated “autoexec.bat” up above, and updated the .zip file to reflect the change. My boot disc seems to work fine.
10-24-07:
I updated some info up above in the beginning stages of this process. Also keep in mind… the CD/DVD Boot discs are only needed if you want to do this process from start to scratch, or are not using the zipped up files I have. The reason for this is that creating the CD/DVD boot discs allow you to grab the oakcdrom file. But if you use my zipped files I have above you don’t need to create these discs.
Sorry for the confusion, I should have made this more clear…
11-01-07:
I made some more changes to the directions, if you were having trouble please be sure to read through the directions one more time. I also updated the Floppy Zip file, so please use that from now on.
01-22-08:
Due to a request from some commentators I created an iso image of a Ghost Boot CD for use with Dell GX755s. This CD should work, but I do not own a GX755 nor do I have any at work. Please download and test and leave comments below as to what you have found. Thanks.
01-23-08:
A commentator below mentioned changing a BIOS setting on Dell 755s to get SATA drives to work with this Ghost CD:
I downloaded the trial version of ghost solution suite 2 and it is having the same issues with the dell 755 model. They are shipping them with AHCI on by default, which they did not in the past. In the BIOS change them to ATA. If you use the iso for the 755 posted here, choose option Sata, then SataGX755, and it should come up.
02-10-08:
I updated the language of this post and did some minor editing to make things a little more clear. Also I have been too busy to test commentator Marshall Bailey’s USB Boot Disk. Sorry Marshall, but I haven’t forgotten, just been super busy.
04-30-08
A user comments that if you have 2 SATA drives connected you might have to disconnect one of them to be able to ghost the drive needed.
Thanks and Enjoy
October 18th, 2007 at 7:33 am
I’ll try your procedure; looks interesting.
I’ve made some Ghost boot disks but had to use 2.88MB floppy image emulation in order to get most of the files on the boot floppy media.
October 18th, 2007 at 8:40 am
That would be sweet to have someone try it out and give me some feedback. Let me know what works and what doesn’t from my procedure, I would really appreciate it!
October 22nd, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Please help. I REALLY need to create this cd for I have serveral laptops without floppy drives (Who wants them). After creating the disk I am prompted for cd 2. I am using disk created with Ghost 8.0. Your help will be GREATLY appreciated.
October 22nd, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Glory, I need more info from you…
Where are you in the process? You have already created the 2 floppies and the CD? Did you create all the necessary folders and drop in the correct drivers for the NICs? Did you edit the config.sys and autoexec.bat files?
If I had to guess at what your problem is, you need to edit your Config.sys and autoexec.bat files. To do that, you might need to enable “hidden” as well as “protected operating system files”. To do both of those open up “Folder Options” under my computer and click on the second tab, should be “View”.
October 22nd, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Hi again,
Yes I had completed all the editing. The problem was with the boot info. I resolved that by creating the disk with ghost 2003 (Which only requires ONE disk), everything look great with the bootup until I chose my option and selected sata. I was then told my cd device could not be found, however if I select IDE option it finds it. I am using a SATA drive with a Phoenix bios (Limitations sometimes). How can I reslove…..thanks
October 22nd, 2007 at 2:18 pm
I am also having problems I just noticed with the CD Device Driver. I am currently trying to fix and will update this post and leave a comment when I have it resolved. Hopefully 30 mins tops.
Once I post updates, please try and then let me know what happens. My updates should work for the versions of Ghost using 2 Floppies…
October 22nd, 2007 at 2:28 pm
I am using Nero 6.6 to create the disk.
If I select the IDE option the it hangs. I am going to test on a machine with both IDE AND SATA drives installed with different nic. The laptop is new HPdv6500Z and maybe there is something wrong with the packet drivers. If you have any advice on how to proceed further I would be happy to listen.
October 22nd, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Yes, I would give me about 30 minutes or so, I think I know what the problem is stemming from, a bad mscdex file. Un momento por favor… I think I can fix this one.
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Okay, if you follow the autoexec.bat file example I have above, things should work fine. If you still can’t get it to work, email me your files and I will see what things look like…
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I will give it a shot…thanks
October 22nd, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Houston, I am searching for my sanity . We do not have a take off. Any advice? I am getting error message “No CDROM DRIVE TO USE; GCDROM NOT LOADED.”
October 22nd, 2007 at 5:38 pm
It sounds like you don’t have the gcdrom file in the boot sector of the CD, or you don’t have something in the config.sys file or the autoexec.bat file, or something is mis-typed in either file. E-mail me your files, and I will look at them tonight.
October 24th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Just put in some more updates. Thanks to Glory for being so patient with me, he Rocks for sure!!
Glory, give it another go and let me know what happens, sorry for the confusion.
October 25th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
I used the ghost floppy disk to creat an image on a SATA DVD RW. I made the DVD bootable as ghost asks when creating the image. Everything works well from the floppy.
However, when I boot from the DVD PC-Dos loads fine etc. Then when the symantic grey screen appears the system freezes with the hourglass.
I also tried making a bootable ghost CD as above. Still got the same problem when booting from CD. Only the the ghost created floppy works….any ideas why?
October 25th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Have you loaded the Ghost folder on the CD you created as just plain old data. You also need the ghost file in that folder. Assuming you did you may want to try to create a brand new boot floppy from scratch and drop the ghost folder and ghost program from the floppy to the CD to make sure a working version is there.
If none of this helps, zip up your floppy disc you are using as the boot image and send it to me.
October 26th, 2007 at 3:23 am
Ok,
I did copy the GHOST.EXE to a ghost folder on the CD before burning.
Where do I send the zip fill to you?
October 26th, 2007 at 7:16 am
My e-mail address is located on my about page, but it’s basically: webs05admin [@] gmail [.] com
October 26th, 2007 at 10:32 am
Well I discovered the boot CD works on other machines. Just not the one I need it for.
It seems when I boot from the PC-DOS floppy boot disk all is well. Whenever the DVD RW drive is used for booting PC-Dos from the DVD it freezes.
I think it has to do with the motherboard initializing the SATA drives.
I’ll send you a copy of my boot floppy.
October 26th, 2007 at 10:46 am
Hmm, this sounds like a hardware issue, especially since your boot CD works on other systems and not that particular one. You can send me your boot floppy if you want but I highly doubt the problem lies with it.
Try this for troubleshooting:
- Go to any one of the systems your Boot CD works on
- Pull out the CD/DVD-ROM drive and put it in the system that doesn’t work, or just leave the CD-ROM drive out of the system and plug the necessary cables in
- Now try booting using the CD/DVD-ROM drive you just hooked up
- What happened? Did it work?
- If it worked, then you have an issue with the CD/DVD-ROM drive and need to update the firmware of the drive, use a different MSDOS device driver (would need to get from manufacturer), or if neither of those things work you will need a new drive all together.
- If using the other CD/DVD-ROM drive did not work, then the problem lies in another piece of hardware, maybe the memory or hard drive. In which case, see if you can replace them with known working parts and try booting again.
I hope something in that list helps you. Sorry I don’t have an easy button for this issue
October 26th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Occasionally, on some SATA systems, there is a BIOS setting (SATA operation) to place the drive into ATA mode. It might be worth investigating the setting in your problem machine. As I recall, in the past I’ve had trouble seeing the disk when installing/initializing software, but after changing to ATA mode all went smoothly.
I don’t know what the SATA/ATA change may do to data already on the disk, so I don’t know how safe it is, but like I said, it’s worth looking at that parameter.
October 26th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Thanks for that info Ted, I haven’t heard of that before.
Where you able to get a Ghost Boot CD created? Also, how do the links look now?
October 29th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
I have followed your instructions and by the way thanks for writing these up. I am confused by your instructions at one location however, “What you need to do is take floppy disc 1 of the series that you created for the computer (this should be from the regular boot discs AND NOT THE CD/DVD boot discs). and add the files to it shown from the CD/DVD boot disc.” I was confused at to whether I was supposed to move the contents of the floppy boot disk to the CD/DVD boot disc or vice versa. I ended up moving the contects from the floppy to the CD/DVD boot disc and it seems to work well. I do have 2 questions though, I hope you can help.
1. When booting to a SATA DVD drive from the CD, I get the following message, “Boot to CD 1. FD 1.44MB System Type-(06)”. The floppy works fine.
2. Multicasting is not available when I get it booted to the Ghost console, any suggestions?
October 29th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
You do not need to copy the contents from the floppy disc to the CD/DVD disc, in fact I don’t recommend this. I will rewrite these instructions when I get a chance, but for now all you really need to do is download my floppy zip file and use that to create your boot image on the CD/DVD disc.
You will need show me the contents of your config.sys file and autoexec.bat file. for your 1. issue.
Multicasting is only used when you are ghosting multiple computers. If you are just ghosting one system you will only be unicasting.
October 31st, 2007 at 9:57 am
Thanks for the reply.
I will remake the disk with your floppy and see what happens. Here are my config.sys and autoexec.bat.
Config.sys
[MENU]
submenu=IDE, Ghost an IDE Drive
submenu=SATA, Ghost a SATA Drive
submenu=NORMAL, Boot to Command Prompt
submenu=DWIPE, Use Disk Wipe Utility
[IDE]
menuitem=1, GX1,GX110,GX150,GX240,GX260 - 3C90X
menuitem=2, GX260,GX270 - E1000
menuitem=3, GX280,GX520,GX620,745 - B57xx
menuitem=4, 630m,6400,9300 - B440x
submenu=menu, Back to Main menu
[1]
DEVICE=OAKCDROM.SYS /D:mscd001
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\Ghost\protman.dos /I:\el90X
DEVICE=\Ghost\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\el90X\el90X.dos
[2]
DEVICE=OAKCDROM.SYS /D:mscd001
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\Ghost\protman.dos /I:\e1000
DEVICE=\Ghost\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\e1000\e1000.dos
[3]
DEVICE=OAKCDROM.SYS /D:mscd001
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\Ghost\protman.dos /I:\b57
DEVICE=\Ghost\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\b57\B57.dos
[4]
DEVICE=OAKCDROM.SYS /D:mscd001
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\Ghost\protman.dos /I:\b44
DEVICE=\Ghost\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\b44\B57.dos
[SATA]
menuitem=11, 740 - B57xx
submenu=menu, Back to Main menu
[11]
DEVICE=GCDROM.SYS /D:mscd001
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\Ghost\protman.dos /I:\b57
DEVICE=\Ghost\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\b57\B57.dos
[NORMAL]
menuitem=NORMALI, IDE Drive
menuitem=NORMALS, SATA Drive
submenu=menu, Back to Main menu
[NORMALI]
DEVICE=OAKCDROM.SYS /D:mscd001
LASTDRIVE = Z
[NORMALS]
DEVICE=GCDROM.SYS /D:mscd001
LASTDRIVE = z
[DWIPE]
menuitem=DWIPEI, IDE
menuitem=DWIPES, SATA
submenu=menu, Back to Main menu
[DWIPEI]
DEVICE=OAKCDROM.SYS /D:mscd001
LASTDRIVE = Z
[DWIPES]
DEVICE=GCDROM.SYS /D:mscd001
LASTDRIVE = z
Autoexec.bat
goto %config%
:1
@echo off
echo Loading…
SET TZ=GMT-05:00
LH \MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001
prompt $p$g
\Ghost\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE
goto END
:2
@echo off
echo Loading…
SET TZ=GMT-05:00
LH \MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001
prompt $p$g
\Ghost\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE
goto END
:3
@echo off
echo Loading…
SET TZ=GMT-05:00
LH \MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001
prompt $p$g
\Ghost\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE
goto END
:4
@echo off
echo Loading…
SET TZ=GMT-05:00
LH \MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001
prompt $p$g
\Ghost\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE
goto END
:11
@echo off
echo Loading
SET TZ=GMT-05:00
LH \MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001
prompt $p$g
\Ghost\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE
goto END
:NORMALI
@echo off
echo Loading…
LH \MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001
prompt $p$g
D:
goto end
:NORMALS
@echo off
echo Loading…
LH \MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001
prompt $p$g
D:
goto end
:DWIPEI
@echo off
echo Loading…
LH \MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001
prompt $p$g
D:
cd D:\GWipe
echo If you hit any key your drive will be erased.
echo Restart your system to spare any data…
pause
gdisk.exe 1 /diskwipe
goto end
:DWIPES
@echo off
echo Loading…
LH \MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001
prompt $p$g
D:
cd D:\GWipe
echo If you hit any key your drive will be erased.
echo Restart your system to spare any data…
pause
gdisk.exe 1 /diskwipe
goto end
:END
October 31st, 2007 at 10:36 am
You Autoexec.bat and config.sys files look fine. Post back again if you are still having issues.
November 1st, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Okay, more changes are on the way. For those of you having trouble, hang tight I am working on an update for the files on the floppy disc used to create the boot image.
November 1st, 2007 at 12:30 pm
I am also getting “Boot to CD 1. FD 1.44MB System Type-(06)”.
I copied the files from the zip onto a floppy and then created a Bootable CD using the floppy image.
November 1st, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Yes, that is because the files you are using are the wrong ones. I will post back in about 20 minutes or so when I have the correct files up.
November 1st, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Okay, so it looks like the MSCDEX statement was wrong. I fixed that, and I also updated this post to reflect the appropriate changes to autoexec.bat. Also I updated the procedures to reflect how the floppy disc is used.
For those of you having trouble, take the following actions:
- Download the new floppy I have zipped up (download zip, unpackage the zip file, and then drop the contents onto a floppy so your floppy looks the same as mine does in the picture).
- Open up your burning program and use the floppy to create the boot image. DO NOT just copy all the files from the floppy to the CD. And do not drop the files that only belong on the CD on the floppy.
- Burn away and let me know what happens.
November 3rd, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Okay, I know the comments was broke for a little bit there. Please, for those of you with problems, let me know if it works or if you need more help.
November 4th, 2007 at 2:11 am
Cool! It works now! Thanks for fixing it!
November 4th, 2007 at 6:13 am
Cool! I hope the other people didn’t run away because my comments were broken. Thanks for finding that Paul, you rock!
November 18th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Hello Group,
I just joined today, 11-18-07. I saw this link and it has “gwipe” mentioned. A student in my computer hardware repair class gave me a copy. So I took a look at the files on the disc.
My apology if this isn’t the correct way to post a possible new topic: but I have accidentally left the “Gwipe” disc in my cd-rom drive the other night. And when I turned my computer back on, it began the process of wiping? I quickly turned off the machine before 5% was reached.
I can not get my data back because the hard drive is not reachable.
I have tried connecting with a master/slave config, but it is still not reachable. Is there another way to get my data/ pictures/documents back?
I had no intentions of “G-wipe” my hard drive. I was just looking at the files on the G-wipe disc, which were only three.
Any advice will be such a relief, even if it is no way to get my data back.
Thanks
November 18th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
eel:
. Unfortunately it’s one of the downsides of using a GWipe CD, is that it starts running right away when configured to do so.
I am so sorry to hear about that
To get back any data you will have to use a file recovery program. Try searching Google for so key words like “File recovery” and “recover files” (you can be more original than me on searches, ALSO DON’T USE THE QUOTES). Also search http://sourceforge.net
If you cannot find any suitable solutions you will have to find software that can recover damaged partition tables. But you may have just as much luck with the above solutions.
If you absolutely have to recover some files and you are going to spend some money, feel free to post back again with some software you came across, and I can make some recommendations.
Good luck!
November 19th, 2007 at 1:24 am
Wow! Thanks for responding. Sometimes in cyber-space, I am not sure if anyone is really there and kind enough to help someone with their technology problems. I am glad I posted here, and glad u responded. That has restored my confidence in this new technological arena. Tomorrow, in the school lab, I will do your recommended software research. I am too despondent tonight.
But happy to have received a random act of kindness.
November 19th, 2007 at 7:56 am
Well here at my blog I like to write at least a couple posts every other week that I think might help someone. And if people wish to comment I am always more than happy to help. I am not very speedy at returning comments at times, but I do what I can.
Good luck eel, and I look forward to your reply.
December 3rd, 2007 at 1:51 pm
I can’t get the bootable disk to load, I’ve tried floppy, cd and dvd but none of them will boot in my HP 6710b laptop, I want to clone the entire HD with ghost and then put the backups on dvd. I’ve seen the Hiren BootCD boot fine and load ghost, but I want a direct option, it must be possible if it works with that setup =/
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:18 pm
If you want help I need more information. Where in the process did this fail? How far did you get? Did the the system load to CD? Did the NIC drivers load? Did Ghost load? What failed, what error messages, if any, did you get? Etc…
Part of the reason I posted this information up is to help people, so please let me know what I can do to help.
December 14th, 2007 at 8:40 am
Do you have the settings for Dell Optiplex 755 yet? Tried the drivers E1000 and it fails to give the Ghostcast option to either clone or push image… Need help desperately…
December 14th, 2007 at 8:56 am
No, because we do not have any 755s. I can help though, but you need to give me more info.
You need to go to support.dell.com and enter your service tag to find out what NIC card you have in the system, the Broadcom or Intel. Then you need to go to the website for that company and grab the DOS drivers for you NIC. Then create a ghost disk using those drivers.
Then all you do is follow my directions above and add your 755 NIC drivers to what I have and create a line for it in autoexec.bat and config.sys.
December 14th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Thanks for your help. I downloaded the Intel drivers (e1000.dos) from the dell site… Copied them into relative folder, adjusted the lines….
Still the Ghostcast option is greyed out. It does say ‘unable to find Protman$’ during the boot process…
December 14th, 2007 at 11:25 am
Are you sure the 755 uses e1000.dos, I thought the new Intel NICs used a different driver? If not cool.
I think what you need to do is open up the Ghost Boot CD Wizard, add your new driver to the list, create a set of boot disks for that driver and then copy the folder for that NIC from the floppy you just created and add it to the floppy I have zipped up on my site.
Do you know what I’m talking about? If you need to be more specific let me know?
I think once you’ve done that you should be good to go.
December 14th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Thanks again… e1000.dos is the driver for sure. Download from Intel….still didnt work. Can’t find the get same msg - protman$ and then Ghostcast is greyed out.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Did you read the 2nd paragraph of what I wrote?
January 19th, 2008 at 11:39 am
There is a known issue with the 755 NICs. I have been working on it and cannot find an answer. In fact, no one has to my knowledge. Only a couple people I saw online said they had but I tried to replicate and failed. The tool they were using was netbookdisk.com.
Don’t feel badly if you can’t get it to work, and try what the others say. But if they haven’t made a disk that works, then they can’t flame you for not getting it to work. Dell really screwed this one up and like I said, I have been researching this and no one can provide a definite way to get it to work.
January 19th, 2008 at 11:40 am
I mean if they haven’t made a 755 BD. A cookie-cutter approach does not work with this NIC.
January 19th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Ben or anyone, send the me 755 drivers to my email and I will try making a Ghost Boot Disk with it. I need the “.dos” file only. I will then package up the ISO file and link it here in a comment from my website.
January 19th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Will do.
January 21st, 2008 at 7:08 am
I have same problem too, we have about 20 PC Dell Optiplex 755, now I cant get to Ghost interface itself. I reached to the point where it read the MAC address after that it says, No driver found for the device. It seems its referring to the DVD-Rom. And so it wont bind.
Need a help.
January 21st, 2008 at 11:58 am
Well tonight I am going to take a look at what I can do and I will respond back when I have the ISO.
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:55 am
Okay, I have completed an ISO for the GX755s. I will have a link above as another update, but the link is also at the bottom of my comment. Please try it out and let me know what happens. As an FYI, I am assuming you all are using the onboard Intel NIC on the 755. I can’t help you much if you put in something else.
GX755 Ghost Boot CD ISO
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:20 am
Sweet! Thanks I will give this a go and comment back shortly.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:05 am
WORKING BOOT DISKS
Greetings,
I have working disks for this.
1) First you have to Disable SATA
Put E1000$ in that field
There are only 2 possible options in the BIOS for this
2) Network Boot disk
3) Add NDIS2 Driver
4) Click Setup
5) Browse to C:\dell\drivers\R162323\Dos\NDIS2
6) You get an error…maybe
“Automatic setup was unable to be performed because no suitable oemsetup.inf file could be found in the spedified directory.
JUST CLICK OK
This is where I got to … sooo … just browse for it.
7)After you brose for e1000.dos you will notice there is only a $ in the Driver Name field
9)OK
Your good at this point.
Also, here is the symantec KB or Support Doc on this.
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/on-technology.nsf/docid/2000011211551725
This is the problem with using old Ghost,
1) Not being able to make a master disk
2) Not supporting SATA and having hardware issues bla bla bla
If anyone else is involved in imaging or enterprise IT let me know so we can network.
Best Regards,
Marshall Bailey
Senior Specialist
National Naval Medical Center
January 22nd, 2008 at 3:39 pm
755 ghost boot iso works great! I chose sata drive and it came right up. How did you get it to recognize the DVD rom?
I have burned up two weeks trying to get ghost to work right with the 755 models, ASF and vPro models and a lot of time conversing with Dell third level techs to no avail.
Found out, even though it is the e1000.dos file, it is a different driver than the older Intel 1000 (e1000.dos) files, have to extract it from the Dell resource cd that came with it. I got that part to work, then it wouldn’t recognize the cd rom. Dell was not much help.
Good Work!
January 22nd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
@Marshall: As long as you change the code in “config.sys” and “autoexec.bat” to use “gcdrom.sys” you should be able to use SATA with older versions of Ghost and with any SATA drive.
I am involved in imaging here at work and would be happy to network. If you have a wiki or something you use for imaging please share it with others here. And feel free to leave comments here, or any other tips.
@fxsti01: I think the reason you had CD-ROM issues was because the CD-ROMs in the 745+ models is a SATA CD-ROM. When I first started this project nearly a year ago I did some searching and found the “oakcdrom.sys” only works for IDE. As DOS is a dying OS few were building a DOS driver that support SATA. I got lucky and found a forum where someone got a hold of the “gcdrom.sys” file used for SATA drives.
Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate it.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:38 am
55 Web is right, though I have not tried to change autoexec.bat and config.sys to use “gcdrom.sys”, I found an alternative solution.
In Optiplex 755, update the bios, which can be download from dell website. It will then gave you an option for Drive Operation to be in legacy mode in CMOS setup. Then everything works fine. However, I cant use this technique if I will have a more machines to ghost.
55 Web, where can I download gcdrom.sys? Thanks
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:58 am
It’s listed above all these comments in the file section. Also you can download my ISO for the 755 that should work fine so you don’t need the individual file. The link for that is listed just below the download section of this post in the “Updates” and is also listed above in the 51st comment.
Let me know how it works for you!
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:47 am
I can get the iso for the 755 to work fine.
I am trying to create a master boot cd for our other images. Not getting the boot floppy to work right. I am using the zipped floppy you have, says to replace the cd, etc. Not working right. I copied over a bunch of dos files from the 98 boot floppy and got it working past the point of the nic drivers, then gives error command.com is missing or invalid???
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:50 am
Thanks for getting this out to us.
OK, it looks like it’s loading the NIC driver. This is good. But it bombs out loading other devices. Here’s what I could catch (I’m emailing you a video of the screen as it goes by in case this would help).
”
A:\>goto GX755
Loading…
Device driver not found: ‘CD1′.
No valid CDROM device drivers selected
MS-DOS LAN Manager v2.1 Netbind
IBM Netbind Version 2.1
Microsoft (R) Mouse Driver Version 8.20
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp. 1983-1992
Copyright (C) IBM Corp. 1992-1993
Mouse driver installed
Loading…
Invalid drive specification
Invalid drive specification
Loading…
Bad command or file name
A:\>
”
At this point I can browse the contents of the CD EXCEPT for the 620 folder (I was digging around looking for the Ghost exe because it sure looked like I would have TCP/IP and if so I could make it work with the exe.
So here’s where this leaves me. I have done ghosting using network shares before. Obviously you would need to be able to read the NTFS drive. Also you would need the “net” command so that you can map a drive to a network share. Anyway, I’m not sure what all is involved with this so I’m not asking you to do it. I really appreciate your work on it and if you want to leave it here that’s fine. If you want to mod it some more to get around this that’s great too. It’s totally up to you.
I will add that I’m checking with netbootdisk.com. THis is the other boot disk I have used (via mapping drives to network shares). The person I heard got it to work was on their forum I think.
One last question. Does anyone know if this issue exists on the newer versions of Ghost? Since this is a work project I have talked with our admin about getting a newer version which natively supports SATA drives and burns boot CDs without any modification involved. Anyone have experience with this?
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:57 am
I downloaded the trial version of ghost solution suite 2 and it is having the same issues with the dell 755 model. They are shipping them with AHCI on by default, which they did not in the past. In the BIOS change them to ATA. If you use the iso for the 755 posted here, choose option Sata, then SataGX755, and it should come up.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:27 am
Got it to work now. Downloaded the zipped floppy from here. Put that on a floppy. Then copied over various files for the boot 98 floppy until I got it working, here is a listing of my current boot floppy,
Volume in drive A is BOOTDISK
Volume Serial Number is AE30-D926
Directory of A:\
04/23/1999 10:22 PM 222,390 IO.SYS
07/27/2000 12:41 AM 19,927 KEYB.COM
04/23/1999 10:22 PM 33,191 HIMEM.SYS
04/23/1999 10:22 PM 64,425 FLASHPT.SYS
07/27/2000 12:41 AM 34,566 KEYBOARD.SYS
07/27/2000 12:41 AM 29,271 MODE.COM
04/23/1999 10:22 PM 18,967 SYS.COM
05/05/1999 10:22 PM 58,870 EGA.CPI
07/27/2000 12:41 AM 17,175 DISPLAY.SYS
07/27/2000 12:41 AM 30,742 COUNTRY.SYS
04/23/1999 10:22 PM 9,324 LABEL.EXE
04/23/1999 10:22 PM 15,252 ATTRIB.EXE
04/23/1999 10:22 PM 15,495 DOSKEY.COM
04/23/1999 10:22 PM 69,902 EDIT.COM
07/21/2000 01:05 PM 35,600 storprop.dll
01/23/2008 09:13 AM 37,681 MOUSE.COM
01/23/2008 09:13 AM 24 MOUSE.INI
01/23/2008 09:13 AM 21,180 MSCDEX.EXE
01/23/2008 09:13 AM 41,302 oakcdrom.sys
01/23/2008 10:08 AM 270
01/23/2008 10:08 AM 620
01/23/2008 10:08 AM 745
01/23/2008 10:08 AM NET
01/23/2008 09:13 AM 1,803 AUTOEXEC.BAT
01/23/2008 09:13 AM 1,724 CONFIG.SYS
01/23/2008 09:13 AM 3,868 gcdrom.sys
01/23/2008 09:13 AM 44,672 IBMBIO.COM
01/23/2008 09:13 AM 42,566 IBMDOS.COM
07/26/2000 06:13 PM 6 MSDOS.SYS
11/15/2004 10:32 AM 43,528 USBASPI.SYS
04/23/1999 10:22 PM 30,955 BTDOSM.SYS
03/08/2000 03:00 PM 8,013 DETECTCD.EXE
04/23/1999 10:22 PM 3,878 XCOPY.EXE
04/23/1999 10:22 PM 49,575 FORMAT.COM
04/23/1999 10:22 PM 93,890 COMMAND.COM
Sorry for the long post, working now.
Not sure which dos files were needed.
Thank you very much for this!!
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:31 am
Ben, try what fxsti01 just suggested and let me know what happens. I can help you with the Ghost Boot CD, but I do not have the time to support people here with the Ghost Boot CD and a different project like pulling the image from a network share. I apologize, but I have to choose to spend my time in specific areas since I am really busy this semester.
If the tips that fxsti01 suggested do not work let me know where it fails. If it is the same spot as before just mention that. If it’s different, let me know where it fails for you.
@fxsti01: are you still trying to create a master CD for your systems? If so, what I do is use the Ghost Boot Wizard software to create a boot floppy for each individual system. Then create another separate master floppy disk. On the master create the Net Folder and a folder named for each type of computer. I recommend something easy like what I used.
Then take the Boot floppies you created and copy what’s in the NET folder into the corresponding folder on the master. So take the boot floppy you created for system “X” and put it into the folder named “X” on the master. Then download my zipped floppy and copy the net folder from it into your Master floppy.
Finally open your burning software and put in a blank CD. Create a data disk and place on it what ever files you want. Don’t forget the “Ghost” folder with ghost.exe in it. Then tell the burning software to create a boot image using the floppy disk. Put in your master floppy you created and burn away.
Let me know how this works for you.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:33 am
No problem, I see you beat me to my answer LOL! Please let me know if there is anything else.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:36 am
Greeings,
I am using a USB Floopy Drive for this as I spent to much time modifing files on other models. That get’s the job done, they are $20 or so, and your up and running.
From what all the posts look like this is just for the 745 and 755.
I’ll Post both if anyone can’t get through my previous post #53
I was digging into this for a master boot disk solution.
If you have 3 model’s or less I might recommend using the USB solution.
Ghost 10 I’ll be able to give an update on hopefully in a day or so.
Ghost 10 I understand has this ability which was our reason for the upgrade.
fxsti01
I’ve sent Webs the boot floppys for posting.
carlos
Once your booted into ghost (one the machine your reimaging) you can then remove the disk and it will still work.
After that you will do a multicast from your ghostcast server.
How I approached this was disabling SATA in the Bios.
Creating the image.
Using a boot floopy and uploaded the image.
Use GhostCast (Multicast)
Boot up one PC with my disks.
Boot up another…etc
Send to all.
Best Regards,
Marshall Bailey
Senior Specialist
National Naval Medical Center
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:14 am
@fxsti01
I changed to ATA mode instead of AHCI and it worked like a charm. Thanks for pointing this out! This is our first batch of 755s (our last batch was IBM M55s, and before that it was GX620s). Thanks to Webs and fxsti01 for the help.
@ webs
I understand the school thing - I’m working full time in IT and going to school full time, with a new baby at home. Actually, I like the busy schedule. But I don’t blame you for focusing your time; I’ve had to turn down things lately that I never would have before I got back in school.
@ marshallbailey:
Thanks for your input - let’s trade ‘business cards.’ Email me at ‘benjamin d0t power at kci1 dt c0m.’ I’m in-house tech support for a large DME provider. The bulk of my experience at this point has been end-user support of Win 2000/XP, Dell Optiplex systems hardware support, Alchemy client support, some Alchemy server/upgrade experience, and Office 2003. I also have some experience with transforms and enterprise deployment (.mst).
Once again, thanks Webs for getting this rolling and everyone who is contributing. It has been an extremely helpful post and discussion.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I agree with Ben thanks to everyone! I had no idea that this post would grow like it did.
I have updated the instructions above for 755s to note about the BIOS change. Thanks to fxsti01 for pointing that out.
Thanks to Marshall for getting the Ghost USB stick to work. I haven’t tested it yet, but once I have I will post the necessary files for it and update this post to reflect those additions.
February 5th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Hi there,
I have a problem. I keep getting the following message on both the 745 and 755 PCs when I boot from the CD I created.
“Remove Disks or other Media”
“Press any key to restart”
I am not sure if I copied your floppy properly, what I did was just do a copy and paste of all the files on your floppy zip and pasted it in the floppy.
Then I followed your nero instructions and added the Ghost folder as mentioned. Just won’t work.
I thought it was my edit to the config.sys and autoexec.bat which caused the issue but it wasn’t. As I tried it with your disk too.
Here are my autoexec.bat files and configs.sys files.
(Autoexec.bat)
goto %config%
:DC7100
@echo off
echo Loading…
SET TZ=GHO-06:00
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
\NET\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE -clone,mode=restore,src=@mcimage,dst=2 -sure -rb
goto END
:DC7600
@echo off
echo Loading…
SET TZ=GHO-06:00
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
\NET\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE -clone,mode=restore,src=@mcimage,dst=2 -sure -rb
goto END
:GX745
@echo off
echo Loading…
SET TZ=GHO-06:00
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
\NET\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE -clone,mode=restore,src=@mcimage,dst=2 -sure -rb
goto END
:SATAGX745
@echo off
echo Loading…
SET TZ=GHO-06:00
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
\NET\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE -clone,mode=restore,src=@mcimage,dst=2 -sure -rb
goto END
:NORMALI
@echo off
echo Loading…
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
D:
goto end
:NORMALS
@echo off
echo Loading…
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
D:
goto end
:END
—————I tried it without the -clone,mode=restore,src=@mcimage,dst=2 -sure -rb - custom line as well but still same issue
(config.sys)
[MENU]
submenu=IDE, Ghost an IDE Drive
submenu=SATA, Or Ghost a SATA Drive
submenu=NORMAL, Boot to Command Prompt
[IDE]
menuitem=DC7100, Ghost an IDE DC7100
menuitem=DC7600, Ghost an IDE DC7600
menuitem=GX745, Ghost an IDE GX745
submenu=menu, Back to Main menu
[DC7100]
DEVICE=oakcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\7100\protman.dos /I:\7100
DEVICE=\7100\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\7100\B57.dos
[DC7600]
DEVICE=oakcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\7600\protman.dos /I:\7600
DEVICE=\7600\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\7600\B57.dos
[GX745]
DEVICE=oakcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\745\protman.dos /I:\745
DEVICE=\745\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\745\B57.dos
[SATA]
menuitem=SATAGX745, Ghost a SATA Drive GX745
menuitem=SATAGX755, Ghost a SATA Drive GX755
submenu=menu, Back to Main menu
[SATAGX745]
DEVICE=gcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\745\protman.dos /I:\745
DEVICE=\745\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\745\B57.dos
[SATAGX755]
DEVICE=gcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\755\protman.dos /I:\745
DEVICE=\755\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\755\oemsetup.inf
[NORMAL]
menuitem=NORMALI, IDE Drive
menuitem=NORMALS, SATA Drive
submenu=menu, Back to Main menu
[NORMALI]
DEVICE=oakcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z
[NORMALS]
DEVICE=gcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = z
Please help…
Thank you.
February 6th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Whenever you receive this:
One of two things is going on. 1) you have a floppy disk still in the floppy drive (most likely to cause this issue). 2) Windows can’t find the boot sector on your hard drive. This last one is unlikely, but I have seen it give that error.
I suspect nothing is wrong with either CD. Hope this helps
February 6th, 2008 at 8:25 am
I am in love with your 755 ISO. It works nothing but wonders with the lot of 755’s that I have. I am currently working on my own boot CD with our own local software running. Is there any way you could post or e-mail me your config.sys and autoexec.bat for the 755 ISO. I am getting a disk error everytime I run it. Thank you for all your help.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:48 am
config.sys and autoexec.bat files are on the CD. Put the Cd into any CD-ROM drive of any computer and pull the files off it. Those files are what I used.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Hi Again,
Thanks for the reply but there are no floppy drives in the unit. Only thing in the unit is the CD.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Then the only other possibility is that you haven’t created a boot sector on the CD you are using. Once you have the floppy set up as needed, you need to create a boot sector on the CD-R disc using the floppy.
If that doesn’t work, try downloading the 755 ISO I have above and see if it works for you. If it does try following it as an example.
Also look at comment #62, specifically what I said to “fxsti01″. See if that helps.
This won’t fix your current problem, but I did notice the config.sys has an issue. Under SATA drives and the 755 you list the file “oemsetup.inf” as the driver. This will not work, DOS will not recognize this driver. Grab the driver I have on my 755 ISO and use it, it’s the exact same one. Your autoexec looks fine.
Let me know what happens.
February 7th, 2008 at 2:46 am
ok, I have managed to test out your “win98 boot disk” floppy and it works. Created a bootable image with that disk all works fine.
Now, tried creating a bootable CD with the other floppy, “Floppy Disk” (this is the disk with the Net, 270, 620, 745 folders in it). This did not work, trying to boot the actual floppy also does not work.
This leads me to believe that to make it bootable, it requires a combination of files from the win98 boot disk. Which was mentioned by fxsti01.
Only problem now is that those files on the win98 boot disk will not fit on a floppy with the files from the “floppy disk”
How do I get them to fit all together? I need a 2.88MB floppy disk? I tried to create a .ima file of the win98 boot disk with all the files from the “floppy disk” but this did not work, the disk would not boot.
something must have gone wrong during 2.88MB emulation.
I am getting so confused. Trying to use Magic ISO to create a possible 2.88MB bootable floppy image for Nero to read but have no idea how to do it.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:13 am
That’s not how I create my Ghost discs. Check out the picture at the very top. That is all you need on the floppy you are using to create the boot sector on the CD.
Do not concern yourself with the 2.88MB emulation. What burner are you using? I need model and version.
Also, try the 755 ISO and see if that works. If it does than we know that the problem exists with the CD you are trying to create.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Hi there,
The 755 iso works just fine. I am using Pioneer DVD burner DVR-215/BK.
I managed to get it working last night but that is with the emulation of 2.88MB floppy. I used winimage to read your win 98 disk and then saved it as a .ima file then changed the .ima to a 2.88mb disk and injected the “floppy disk” files. The combination of the files made it work. But I have yet to test it on the Dell PCs yet. Will try it on Monday.
In regards to just using the floppy disk file with the image above, problem is that I can’t get the “floppy disk” to even boot as a disk let alone on the CD.
Not sure what I am doing wrong there. I will give it another go.
February 7th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Well having the files from a Win98 start disk on your floppy may help because the boot files on the startup disk work, whereas on the floppy they don’t. But I can tell you that you don’t want the programs like “fdisk” and such in the boot sector on the CD, because they won’t be readily available once you boot up with the CD. Those files should be on the CD just as plain ol’ data.
What burning software are you using, and what version number? Also I am home right now, but tomorrow I will be in the office and I will check to see what my floppy looks like.
Another thing you might want to try using is just the 755 ISO files. Just copy them from the CD and change the relevant information. Keep the Win98 startup files off the Floppy. Then in the burning software, add a boot image to your data CD. Then add the startup disk files and anything else needed.
Let me know what happens!
February 8th, 2008 at 12:13 am
I am using version 8.1.1.4 of Nero.
Ok I will try and use your floppy, but you mention that it won’t boot?
So if I use your “floppy disk” files, what else do I need to add from the win98 boot disk to it to make it boot? but yet make it fit on a 1.44mb floppy?
Sorry about all the questions, I am not too familiar with DOS.
February 8th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Here’s what I recommend trying:
Create a floppy with the folders needed for each NIC driver and the NET folder. Make sure you have the right drivers in each folder (all drivers need to be *.dos). Take the 755 CD you made from the 755 ISO and look at the files on it. Copy only the ones you need. Look at the picture in the beginning of this post to see what files you need on the floppy.
Now that you got all the files on the floppy, open up config.sys and autoexec.bat. Configure them to reflect your folders and relevant changes.
Next open Nero Burning ROM. The “New Compilation” wizard will open up. On the left side scroll down and select “CD-ROM (Boot)”. Make sure your source is the floppy, I also checked the check box below for Advanced, but made no changes. Click new and then add the files you need, like Win98 startup files and what not.
ALSO!!! Make sure you add the Ghost folder here and make sure “Ghost.exe” is in it.
Then click “Burn” and make sure “Write” and “Finalize disc” are checked. Use “Track-at-once” for write method. Then click “Burn” at the bottom and see what happens.
February 8th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Step by step, how I got it to work for me.
Downloaded all the zipped files here and the 755 iso. Used MagicISO to extract the files and use and look at them.
I found if I work off of a folder on my desktop then copy and replace the files as needed to the floppy it worked better for me, rather than working directly off of the floppy.
Listing of 755 boot floppy:
(when making floppy, format it first long way, uncheck quick format and no label)
_________________________
Folder - 755 > DIS_PKT.DOS | E1000.DOS | NETBIND.COM | PROTMAN.DOS | PROTMAN.EXE | PROTOCOL.INI
Folder - NET > | NETBIND.COM
ATTRIB.EXE
AUTOEXEC.BAT
BTDOSM.SYS
COMMAND.COM
CONFIG.SYS
COUNTRY.SYS
DETECTCD.EXE
DISPLAY.SYS
DOSKEY.COM
EDIT.COM
EGA.CPI
FLASHPT.SYS
FORMAT.COM
gcdrom.sys
HIMEM.SYS - this is needed**
IBMBIO.COM
IBMDOS.COM
IO.SYS - attributes = hidden and system, needed**
KEYB.COM
KEYBOARD.SYS
LABEL.EXE
MODE.COM
MOUSE.COM
MOUSE.INI
MSCDEX.EXE
MSDOS.SYS - attributes = hidden and system, needed**
(to make these files hidden and system files, open command prompt, cd to the folder with the file, then type in there, attrib +s +h io.sys, and same thing for msdos.sys file, attrib +s +h msdos.sys, do this only if they are not hidden or set as system files)
oakcdrom.sys - probably not needed, 755 uses the gcdrom.sys file
storprop.dll
SYS.COM
USBASPI.SYS
XCOPY.EXE
________________
Autoexc.bat file:
__________________
goto %config%
:SATAGX755
@echo off
echo Loading…
SET TZ=GHO-06:00
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
\NET\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading…
D:
cd D:\GHOST
echo Loading…
GHOST.EXE
goto END
:NORMALI
@echo off
echo Loading…
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
D:
goto end
:NORMALS
@echo off
echo Loading…
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
D:
goto end
:DWIPEI
@echo off
echo Loading…
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
D:
cd D:\GWipe
echo If you hit any key your drive will be erased.
echo Restart your system to spare any data…
pause
gdisk.exe 1 /diskwipe
goto end
:DWIPES
@echo off
echo Loading…
mscdex /L:D /D:cd1
prompt $p$g
D:
cd D:\GWipe
echo If you hit any key your drive will be erased.
echo Restart your system to spare any data…
pause
gdisk.exe 1 /diskwipe
goto end
:END
__________________
Config.sys file:
(the “10” listed here after SATAGX755 menu below creates a count down timer, so you do not have to hit enter when booting up, this is fine since this is the only model on this boot disk)
__________________
[MENU]
menuitem=SATAGX755, Ghost a SATA Drive GX755
menudefault=SATAGX755,10
menucolor=7,0
[SATAGX755]
DEVICE=gcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z
DEVICE=\755\protman.dos /I:\755
DEVICE=\755\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\755\e1000.dos
[NORMAL]
menuitem=NORMALI, IDE Drive
menuitem=NORMALS, SATA Drive
submenu=menu, Back to Main menu
[NORMALI]
DEVICE=oakcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z
[NORMALS]
DEVICE=gcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = z
[DWIPE]
menuitem=DWIPEI, IDE
menuitem=DWIPES, SATA
submenu=menu, Back to Main menu
[DWIPEI]
DEVICE=oakcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = Z
[DWIPES]
DEVICE=gcdrom.sys /D:cd1
LASTDRIVE = z
__________________
With most versions of Roxio it has the option to make bootable first, select the floppy or boot image then add the ghost folder with ghost.exe in it, also add ghost.env to the cd, then burn away.
In some versions of Nero you have to chose Nero Express. Add the ghost folder with ghost.exe and the ghost.env first then choose to make it bootable, then it gives the option for the floppy, then burn away.
I also changed the Sata setting in the Bios from AHCI to ATA.
Good Luck and happy ghosting.
February 8th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Oh crap, I forgot about making that BIOS change… Thanks for your comment fxsti01!
February 9th, 2008 at 1:16 am
Thanks for your help guys. I will try it at work on Monday. However I must note that changing the option in BIOS from AHCI to ATA is not an option because we store our PCs with an external Vendor who loads our image for us. We want to simplify the process.
February 9th, 2008 at 8:47 am
That may be a problem for your 755s then… If you have to can you use Dell Open Manage? That would allow you to remotely change the BIOS of your 755s.
But regardless of that, you should still have a working bootable CD. Please let us know what happens.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Hi guys,
I haven;t had a chance to work on this, as we are pretty crunched for deadliine to release the images. So I just had to create a completely new boot disk for the Optiplex 755 using a NDIS driver.
It works fine in AHCI mode. However when i get some time, i would like to get the options working and that way having a single boot disk for all PCs.
If people are having problems getting the NIC to be recognise as many people are on the 755s, here is what needs to be done when creating the disk from Ghost Boot Disk Wizard. Found this on the symantec Forum.
1. I went to Dell’s support site (support.dell.com) and downloaded the Intel drivers (about 5MB). Or you can download them here; ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R162323.EXE
2. Extracted the contents to a new folder
3. Located the DOS\NDIS2 directory. Within there there should be 2 files (e1000.dos and protocol.ini).
4. Created a new file called oemsetup.inf
5. Edit the oemsetup.inf file and copy/paste the following into it.
; OEMSETUP.INF for Broadcom Ethernet Adapter
[netcard]
E1000$=”Intel Ethernet”, 0, NDIS, Ethernet, REAL, E1000$_ini, E1000$_ini
[E1000$_ini]
DriverName=E1000$
device=E1000.dos, @INST\E1000$.dos
NETDIR=5:E1000$.dos
6. Save the file
7. Run the Symantec Ghost Boot Wizard Creator.
8. When asked to Select the Network Driver choose Add
9. Click the Setup Button and point to the NDIS folder you just created.
10. Everything else is default until the end.
February 11th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
If the 755 ISO works for you, then don’t do all that junk from the forum, just grab the driver from the ISO.
February 13th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Hi
Need help to create cd boot for compaq 7700 cmt, boot cd for 755 working until the step choose sata…., I do not know how to found the sata drivers for that computer.
thanks in advance!
Peter
February 13th, 2008 at 8:32 am
The 755 ISO only has NIC drivers on it for Dell computer systems. I imagine the NIC driver for your Compaq is different from any of the Dell drivers I have on the 755 ISO. So you are going to have to make a boot CD that has the driver on it for your system.
February 14th, 2008 at 11:12 am
I’m confused with the optiplex 755 iso, how come I can only see the folders that I can see are gwipe and ghost. I have hidden system files set to show up. Why can’t I see them? I burned a copy and it worked fine, so I’m puzzled how that is possible.
By the way what steps did you have to take to edit(if you did) the files for the e1000 for this particular model.(I can probably figure it out by hacking but if someone else did this already I’d appreciate that.
February 14th, 2008 at 11:31 am
In the directions I have above, we are creating a floppy to be used to emulate a boot sector on the CD. If you look at the first picture I have above, all those files are essentially going to end up in the boot sector of the CD-ROM disc. So unless you have a way of looking at the boot sector on the CD, you shouldn’t see any of the other files. But if you want, you can open up the ISO with a program called MagicISO.
As far as your last question, I am not sure what you mean? If you are referring to getting the driver for the Dell 755 to work, I downloaded the driver from their site I think. I didn’t really have to edit anything at all to it.
February 14th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
For the Second Question, I was seeing some of the posts that seemed to be doing somethings with changing files. Earlier so may have gotten confused. I’ve been fooling with this cd for far too long lolz.
March 17th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
In response to Dell 755 issue where the E1000 driver isn’t working with Ghost. To produce a working boot image, first I had to get over a few things like having no floppy. Then Ghost produced a bootable DOS image that would not boot the Dell 755. Once I got by those two, then it took a while to find out Ghost missed adding the driver name for E1000$ in protocol.ini. Here are the tweaks to the procedure I found for Ghost to work on the 755 for going across the network when there is no floppy. If you already have something reasonably close for a bootable image, you might simply try first fixing up protocol.ini. Else sorry for showing so many steps, yet someone needs to show a recipe that actually worked.
Note I am using Ghost 8.0. Objective is to create a CDROM boot image for Ghosting across the network on Dell’s Optilplex 755 (with no floppy):
1. Because the DOS image created by Ghost does not work with the Optiplex 755, I downloaded DOS 6.22 boot image from:
DOS 6.22 Image, click here…
2. Then edited the bootable image using winimage.exe (http://winimage.com) and change 1.44 MB to larger 2.88 MB (1.44 MB is just too small).
3. Test this boot image by burning to CDROM before you go any further. Point is to ensure a good bootable image on CDROM. Then set aside. Will come back to this 2.88 MB image after some forthcoming ghost work. Basically, the DOS boot image that Ghost created was no good for me. So what I ended up doing was use Ghost to take help incorporate e1000 driver and create network config and USB config files. Then merge those config files into the image from steps 1 and 2 above. That worked well for me.
4. So like the guy on Feb 11 above said before: I went to Dell’s support site (support.dell.com) and downloaded the Intel drivers (about 5MB). Or you can download them here; ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R162323.EXE
5. Extracted the contents to a new folder
6. Located the DOS\NDIS2 directory. Within there there should be 2 files (e1000.dos and protocol.ini).
7. Created a new file called oemsetup.inf
8. Edit the oemsetup.inf file and copy/paste the following into it.
; OEMSETUP.INF for Broadcom Ethernet Adapter
[netcard]
E1000$=”Intel Ethernet”, 0, NDIS, Ethernet, REAL, E1000$_ini, E1000$_ini
[E1000$_ini]
DriverName=E1000$
device=E1000.dos, @INST\E1000$.dos
NETDIR=5:E1000$.dos
9. Save the file
10. Because I had no floppy disk, I used a Compact Flash and renamed drive letter to A: to fake out Ghost just so I could get the generated fiels from ghost in the next steps.
11. Run the Symantec Ghost Boot Wizard Creator.
12. When asked to Select the Network Driver choose Add
13. Click the Setup Button and point to the NDIS folder you just created.
14. Everything else is default until the end… ensure taking MSDOS route. I wrote the files to my compact flash (I had to cleverly rename the drive letter of comapct flash to A: to fake out ghost since I had no floppy)
15. Then in the NET subdirectory edit protocol.ini that ghost created. Ghost somehow leaves off “E1000$” on the drivername statement (this could be the problem everyone else is having). Find [nic] section and add the driver name as follows:
[nic]
drivername = E1000$
16. Now let’s merge the files into our working boot image from steps 1 and 2. I had to remove some files to make some more room on the 2.88 MB image. I deleted the help files, qbasic.ese, restore.exe, and some other nonessentials.
19. Inject subdirectories from the Ghost steps above (that are on A: drive). This includes subdirectories:
NET
USB
GHOST
20. Edit boot image’s config.sys to ensure the [Common] section contains:
[COMMON]
DEVICE=\usb\uhci.exe
DEVICE=\usb\ohci.exe
DEVICE=\net\protman.dos /I:\net
DEVICE=\net\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\net\e1000.dos
LASTDRIVE = Z
Note: USB entries are not necessary.
21. That pretty much does it. Note I used Roxio to copy image as bootable and burn my image to CDROM.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Thanks for the comments Don, but I’m not sure how you came to this conclusion. The problem with the 755 has already been solved. I have a working ISO for anyone to download. I will make sure I have language above for the 755 by double checking, but reading through these comments shows that issues have been solved.
Also, just so you know, step 8 isn’t really necessary. All the adding of NDIS drivers in the boot wizard does is create the files that go in the “NET” folder, like “protocol.ini”. So all you really have to do is copy the NET folder from a working boot floppy, drop in your new driver, in this case the e1000, then edit “protocol.ini” with the lines reflecting the name of your driver. This is what I did to get the first version of my boot disc working.
But for those wanting that e1000 driver in the boot disc menu your quick fix for the oemsetup file rocks! Never knew about that… I will have to add that to my boot disk menu.
March 24th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
What version of Ghost is needed in order for the 755 ISO to work? THanks