How do I ghost a MAC

[mac_shinobi]

NetRestoe was written by Mike Bombich and he has since removed it from his website and now tells people to use DeployStudio (as he himself does).

 

I don't remember pronouncing it like that before lol

[HodgeHi]

NetRestoe was written by Mike Bombich and he has since removed it from his website and now tells people to use DeployStudio (as he himself does).

 

Yep but if you check out Apple's snow leopard server pages netrestore is listed. Its right at the bottom

[maxvre]

Sooooo either this is another product with the same name OR he discontinued it because they bought him out lol.

 

I've tried using ghost solution suite 2.5 to run post deployment ghost tasks on the xp partition on some duel boot intel macs. Unfortunately ghost SS 2.5 has a nasty bug where it loads the WINPE ram drive and then throws up an error saying it cant find the windows installation folder. This is apparently due to the fact that windows is installed in partiton 3 on the drive and not partition 1. Other people have posted on the symantec forum describing the same problem, not on a mac but on a duel booting windows PC set up with XP and Vista. Symantec replied saying they couldn't replicate the problem and so there was no fix for it. That was about a month ago...........haven't been back to th forum since.

 

Currently we use apple remote desktop to multicast a XP partition winclone file out to the macs or you can embed the winclone file inside your mac DMG image, deploy it via deploystudio multicast and then use ARD or DS to send a unix terminal command to all the clients to tell them to extract the file.

 

Anyone else using winclone in this way?

[HodgeHi]

No but i have been wanting to try and set up some sort of run once script on first start up to rename the client and then join it to the domain. This is perhaps the only thing that really needs to be done on the XP client side.

 

The only thing stopping m is A) knowledge and B) time. If i do get the time though i will post my findings.

 

PS. Does anyone know if pre-staging a mac would help in the client hostname being applied when it restarts, similar to RIS?

[maxvre]

Hi,

I'm not great with vb scripting but I know it can be done that way if you can program it.

 

Instead, as I only know batch commands I use a program called wsname.exe it has command line switches:

 

Workstation Name Changer

 

With this you can read mac addresses and corresponding computer names from a text file and if the current machines mac address matches one in the list, the wsname program renames the hostname to the corresponding name you put in the list.

 

You'll need to reboot the machine too for it to take effect. so you can use the shutdown command to do that in your batch file:

shutdown.exe /f /r /t: 5 /c "DONT PANIC! Restarting for auto config settings to take effect."

 

The other program I use to add the workstation to the ad domain is NETDOM.exe from microsoft.

It can be downloaded as part of the windows xp support tools pack:

 

WindowsXP-KB838079-SupportTools-ENU <-- that's what you're looking for. Use 7zip to extract the support.cab contents into a folder and you'll find netdom.exe in the list of files. Check its command line switches for usage.

 

I'm sure all of this stuff can be done these days with power shell but I haven't had time to learn it yet. I have however seen it in action and it is EXTREMELY powerful for active directory manipulation in the right hands from a command prompt.

 

Netdom requires that the workstation service is up and running before it will work correctly. This required me to run the sleep.exe program, also from Microsoft to pause the batch file for 15 seconds to ensure the workstation service was up and running before proceeding. Sleep can be downloaded as part of the windows resource kit tools pack rktools.exe its inside a cab file called Cabs.winrk.cab

 

Netdom will also fail if the machine already has an existing account on the domain, so they must be deleted from their OU's before running netdom in a batch file.

 

Look at wsname, netdom and sleep. This is all you need to rename the machine and add it to the domain automatically using 2x batch files in the startup folder (not runonce) and 1 or 2 reboots.

 

Hope that helps.

 

PS. Machine accounts sometimes take a while to appear in the ad users and computers browser. They don't all show up at once.

Edited August 8, 2009 by maxvre

[armadillo]

Hi, just bought 30 imacs and I am trying to find out about a way of ghosting them without using a server, as we haven/t got it yet. I looked into carboncopy and deploystudio and they both seem to work on a server. I have an imac all configured and set up to run win xp as well and all works fine on that side. Will the disk utility copy both OSs and restore them onto the rest of imacs, would that work or do I need anything else?

 

Any help and suggestions are welcome and thank you in advance.

[Boon72]

carbon copy cloner / winclone & an external hdd

 

on the imac that you've set up as you want it on both osx & windows, install ccc & winclone (both free mac apps), use winclone to clone the windows side (if you use the desktop as the save location it will be on the image)then use ccc to clone the mac to the external hdd.

 

when you use the clone on a new imac from osx you ca use winclone to drop windows back on it

[armadillo]

carbon copy cloner / winclone & an external hdd

 

on the imac that you've set up as you want it on both osx & windows, install ccc & winclone (both free mac apps), use winclone to clone the windows side (if you use the desktop as the save location it will be on the image)then use ccc to clone the mac to the external hdd.

 

when you use the clone on a new imac from osx you ca use winclone to drop windows back on it

 

Thanks Boon72- I will give it a go and will let you know how I get on. Thanks for your help, especially on a Saturday!

[Rozzer]

Deploy studio is a fantastic imaging solution. Once setup it is so easy to use.

 

Ross

[armadillo]

Deploy studio is a fantastic imaging solution. Once setup it is so easy to use.

 

Ross

 

Hi, thanks for your input. Does Deploystudio only work with a mac server?

Edited November 2, 2009 by armadillo

[armadillo]

carbon copy cloner / winclone & an external hdd

 

on the imac that you've set up as you want it on both osx & windows, install ccc & winclone (both free mac apps), use winclone to clone the windows side (if you use the desktop as the save location it will be on the image)then use ccc to clone the mac to the external hdd.

 

when you use the clone on a new imac from osx you ca use winclone to drop windows back on it

 

Hi again, do I need to partition the disk before imaging? Also sometimes the restore options are greyed and I am logged in with admin rights user, could you please suggest anything for this?

 

Thanks

[Boon72]

only once youve imaged the mac side. bootcamp it then winclone it

[armadillo]

only once youve imaged the mac side. bootcamp it then winclone it

 

 

Thanks again for your answers; how do I go about imaging the mac disk? as there are restore and image options and after reading through the manuals I am confused as the message is conflicting.

 

Thanks.

[nicklec]

You can image an entire disk (with partitions etc) with 'clonezilla' its not exactly easy to use but its really powerful - i've never used it for Macs (just for imaging EeePCs) as we have a leopard server with netrestore (soon to be deploystudio) - clonezilla may help with the windows side atleast if your dual booting/setting up partitions.

[steventaylor]

I have around a 100 dual boot Macs (imacs and laptops) after many trial and errors uing other products I use Deploy Studio with a customizable boot picker called Refit and it works a treat!

 

Deploy Studio will make your life easier, with the new version you can edit the build after you have sent it out like adding new apps (not tried this yet though).

 

Collection of your images is really simple you build your images as you would (not forgetting to sysprep your windows installation as normal if it's going on a domain).You boot from netboot or a usb stick, and you get a few options of create a master from a volume or deploy. if your deploiying you select if it's a triple or dual boot, the size of the partitions you want for each os. It then works it's magic resizing the partitions and formating them in ntfs for windows and hfs for the mac and you select. Then you simply select which image you want on which partitions.

Edited November 4, 2009 by steventaylor

[armadillo]

I have around a 100 dual boot Macs (imacs and laptops) after many trial and errors uing other products I use Deploy Studio with a customizable boot picker called Refit and it works a treat!

 

Deploy Studio will make your life easier, with the new version you can edit the build after you have sent it out like adding new apps (not tried this yet though).

 

Collection of your images is really simple you build your images as you would (not forgetting to sysprep your windows installation as normal if it's going on a domain).You boot from netboot or a usb stick, and you get a few options of create a master from a volume or deploy. if your deploiying you select if it's a triple or dual boot, the size of the partitions you want for each os. It then works it's magic resizing the partitions and formating them in ntfs for windows and hfs for the mac and you select. Then you simply select which image you want on which partitions.

 

I installed deploystudio on the macs and tried to take an image and clone the 2nd mac but I had luck and it didn't work. I am under the impression that deploystudio only works properly using a mac server. Is that true?

 

Thanks in advance.

[steventaylor]

You have a few options, set it up on a mac desktop with plenty of disk space or even set the share where the created images are stored to a firewire drive.

 

Another solution which worked well for me before I set the server up (and is great if you do some rebuilds off site or want to minimize network traffic) is to clone your desktop mac onto a firewire drive, once cloned boot from this firewire drive and install deploy studio on it. It will need to be a decent size to store your created images on, I used 250gb Lacie rugged drive which was less than £60 from dabs.

 

You then simply connect the firewire drive to the machine you wish to build and boot from the firewire drive, launch deploy studio and send your images to that machines hard drive. (it's a good way to get familiar with deploy studio and cloning).

 

The deploy studio documentation tells you how to do it, just print it out (there isn't much info on it so so two pages to one sheet in B&W is best).

[armadillo]

Thanks again for your help; I got the master mac image where deploystudio is instelled, I will boot from and try to add the win xp iamge to it. I will try that and will let you know.

[armadillo]

It uses partimage

 

Main Page - Partimage

 

I am new to Macs and would like to know how to transfer a dual OS master image to the rest of the mcas, I have a master Mac with OSX and Win XP, used bootpicker to have the option of both OSs at logon. I tried to tansfer the image from that master Mac onto another mac, evrything transfered fine but when I click to logon to windows xp, it restarts to try to do just that and it stops at flashing cursar and black screen and hangs there. Could you please let me know how to make the win xp image bootable?

 

Thanks a lot

[steventaylor]

Does your master computer boot into XP or are you talking about your deployed machine? if you master will not boot into XP it sounds like you didn't format the partion when you created the bootcamp install and you selected leave the current file system at the standard blue XP install screen.

[armadillo]

Does your master computer boot into XP or are you talking about your deployed machine? if you master will not boot into XP it sounds like you didn't format the partion when you created the bootcamp install and you selected leave the current file system at the standard blue XP install screen.

 

Hi, yes the master Mac all works fine including booting up to Win XP.

Thanks

[steventaylor]

Are you sending the image to the same model of Mac etc?

[armadillo]

Are you sending the image to the same model of Mac etc?

 

Yes they are identical, at the moment I would like to use a USB Drive to image the rest of Macs, on whic I want to run win xo too.

Thanks

[steventaylor]

The process is as follows:

 

Boot up a mac, do your updates and install carbon copy cloner and deploy studio etc. Set up Deploy Studio.

 

Use Carbon Copy to copy this install onto a usb hdd

 

-

 

Build ur master mac and do all apple updates etc, restart ur machine.

 

once restarted install Refit this is a bootpicker, just copy the efi folder into the root of the machintosh HDD.

 

Launch bootcamp in utilities, set ur hdd partitions (I tend to have my hdd 3/4 mac 1/4 windows of the overall size) put in your windows xp disk and the utility will resart ur machine and launch the set up.

 

You will see the standard windows xp install screen (blue), accept the licence etc. Highlight the bootcamp drive then format as ntfs and xp will install etc. DO NOT SELECT LEAVE SYSTEM

 

once restarted install bootcam off ur os x disk, reboot the machine and configure xp as you like it with ur updates and apps etc, run sysprep and shut down.

 

-

 

attached the USB HDD and boot from this then collect the two images (mac and xp) using deploy studio, the image will be saved to the USB HDD.

 

-

 

Attached the USB HDD to one of the other macs you need to build and boot from it, select the option to restore multiple os and select your two images.

 

 

If you follow this you should have no probs.

[armadillo]

The process is as follows:

 

Boot up a mac, do your updates and install carbon copy cloner and deploy studio etc. Set up Deploy Studio.

 

Use Carbon Copy to copy this install onto a usb hdd

 

-

 

Build ur master mac and do all apple updates etc, restart ur machine.

 

once restarted install Refit this is a bootpicker, just copy the efi folder into the root of the machintosh HDD.

 

Launch bootcamp in utilities, set ur hdd partitions (I tend to have my hdd 3/4 mac 1/4 windows of the overall size) put in your windows xp disk and the utility will resart ur machine and launch the set up.

 

You will see the standard windows xp install screen (blue), accept the licence etc. Highlight the bootcamp drive then format as ntfs and xp will install etc. DO NOT SELECT LEAVE SYSTEM

 

once restarted install bootcam off ur os x disk, reboot the machine and configure xp as you like it with ur updates and apps etc, run sysprep and shut down.

 

-

 

attached the USB HDD and boot from this then collect the two images (mac and xp) using deploy studio, the image will be saved to the USB HDD.

 

-

 

Attached the USB HDD to one of the other macs you need to build and boot from it, select the option to restore multiple os and select your two images.

 

 

If you follow this you should have no probs.

 

Hi, Thanks for your replies.

You mentioned carbon copy and deploystudio- which app you want me to use to first copy the master image and restore it to the new macs?

Edited February 16, 2010 by armadillo