GHOSTING COMPUTERS

USING SYMANTEC GHOST 11.5.1

(WIN7 COMPATIBLE)
New York University
Stern School of Business

Information Technology
Version 1.0 (September, 2010)

Ghosting Computers Using Symantec Ghost v11.5.1

This document details the steps involved in ghosting a computer taking an image or rolling
one out - using Norton/Symantec Ghost v11.51. This version of ghost supersedes the
versions we previously used with BartPE, as it supports Windows 7 systems. This version of
ghost can be run from a bootable CD or USB pen drive.

What is Ghost?
Symantec Ghost is an application that allows you to take a
complete image of your hard disk, and store it in a large image
file (*.GHO extension). The image is an exact snapshot of your
PC, and you can open the image file and browse its contents
using a windows explorer-style application called Ghost Explorer.
Taking a Ghost image of a PC allows you to restore that same PC
to the exact state it was in when you originally took the ghost
image.

Creating PC images is a very useful time saving tool. For

instance, you can create one standard ghost image from a
specific PC model which you can then use to rollout to any
identical PC type. Simply install the ghost image with no fuss,
and there is little else that will need to be done.
Indeed, here at Stern we have a Universal image that will work on almost all Dell PCs
irrespective of their model type. This saves a lot of set-up time and is invaluable to us in the
day to day running of our group. The Universal image is updated every month or so, so it is
always ready to be deployed with the minimum of updates needed.
It is options like these that offer us additional functionality for troubleshooting if required.
Previous Versions of Ghost
This is the latest version of Ghost that we use on a daily basis. There is no longer any need
to use previous versions of Ghost (with or without BartPE) although you still can choose to
when ghosting Windows XP computers. Please refer to the Ghosting Computers Using the
BartPE boot disk for full details.

SECTION 1: HOW TO TAKE/CREATE A GHOST IMAGE

1
Requirements
Ghost v11.5.1 boot CD or USB drive
2

External Hard drive with enough free space to host the image file

The PC that you wish to take an image of!

Note: Some of the screenshots in this guide are from an earlier version of Ghost, prior to
v11.5.1. These screenshots were kept as they are identical to how it looks in v11.5.1.
Instructions

1. With the PC powered off, connect the external hard drive to the PC you wish to

backup. Note: Image sizes can vary from anything between 5 and 150GB depending
on the amount of data involved so make sure you have enough free space.

2. Boot the PC with the bootable Ghost CD/USB drive. The boot process can be
between 2-5 minutes depending on the age/speed of the PC involved, so please be
patient. At one point you will see a DOS/Command window appear and it will remain
for a minute or so before continuing. This is normal.

3. When the boot process has completed, ghost v11.5.1 will be automatically launched.
Click OK at the screen below.

4. From the menu, click on Local -> Disk -> To Image as shown below.

5. You will see a list of the drives available for ghosting. Choose the drive you wish

to back up (known as the Source drive) and click OK. It is useful if you know in
advance the sizes of the drives you are backing up/imaging to, as the disk size is the
quickest and easiest way to identify which drive you want to select for backup
(assuming they are not identical sizes). As a rule of thumb, the first drive in the list
is normally the local C: drive of the PC.

6. Now you have selected the source drive to backup, you must select the

destination drive for the ghost image file that you are going to create. Click on
the appropriate destination drive from the pull down menu at the top, and - once you
have selected a suitable location on this destination drive - give a suitable filename
for the image. Normally this is the PC owners Stern username followed by the model
of the PC you are ghosting (e.g. jsmithgx760).

Click Save when you are ready to proceed to the ghosting.

7. You will now be asked if you wish to compress the image file. The majority of

the time we will choose Fast or High to save on time/disk space depending on the
circumstances. If storage space is not an issue, choose Fast. If it is, choose High.

8. You will be prompted to confirm that you wish to proceed with the image file
creation. Choose Yes.

The imaging process will now begin. The time it takes for a PC image to complete
ghosting depends on factors such as the size of the disk you are backing up, how
much data there is on the disk, and the speed of the PC itself. Anything from 20-90
minutes is common (sometimes longer in extreme circumstances).

9. The progress indicator (below) lets you know the percentage of the imaging process
already completed, and the current speed of the transfer (in MB/min).

10. When

the image has finished ghosting, you should see the Image Creation
Completed Successfully message as shown in the screenshot below. Click

Continue.

11. Now that you have successfully ghosted a backup image of the drive, you should
check the integrity of the image. An Image integrity check ascertains whether
the image file is intact and without corruption. So, still in Ghost, click on:
Local -> Check -> Image file as shown below.

When prompted, browse to the image file that you just ghosted to the external hard
disk. Confirm you would like to check the integrity. This process doesnt take too
long (2-5 minutes normally). If the integrity check passes successfully you are done
and can quit the application. If there are any errors or if the integrity check fails, you
should re-ghost the image using these same instructions again.

12. When you are finished, Close Ghost, and type Exit in the command window and
press enter. After a few seconds the PC will reboot. Remove any boot disks and
external drives you have attached to the computer.

Now that you have learned how to take an image/snapshot of a PC, we will now
examine how to deploy a ghost image onto a PC.
SECTION 2: DEPLOYING A GHOST IMAGE

1
Pre-requisites
Ghost v11.5.1 boot CD or USB drive
2

External Hard drive hosting the Ghost image you wish to deploy

PC that you wish to ghost the image to!

Instructions

1. With the PC powered off, connect the external hard drive to the PC you wish to

backup. Note: Image sizes can vary from anything between 5 and 150GB depending
on the amount of data involved so make sure you have enough free space.

2. Boot the PC with the bootable Ghost CD/USB drive. The boot process can be
between 2-5 minutes depending on the age/speed of the PC involved, so please be
patient. At one point you will see a DOS/Command window appear and it will remain
for a minute or so before continuing. This is normal.

3. When the boot process has completed, ghost v11.5.1 will be automatically launched.
Click OK at the screen below.

4. From the menu, click on Local -> Disk -> From Image as shown below.

5. You will see a list of the available drives. Choose the external drive that hosts
the image you wish to deploy from the drive drop-down menu.

6. Now you have selected the drive that you wish to restore from, select the ghost

image file on that drive that you wish to deploy. In the example below, the image
is called UNIVERSAL64.GHO.

Click Open when you have selected the image file.

7. Now choose the local destination drive that you wish to image. The drives

available will be shown in a list, similar to that below. The source drive (the drive
that hosts the image) will be shown in red to indicate that this drive cannot be
selected.

Click OK once you have chosen the correct destination drive.

8. You will be prompted to confirm the Destination drive details. Choose OK.

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9. You will be prompted to confirm that you wish to proceed with deploying the image
file. Choose Yes.

The image will now be installed on the destination drive, wiping everything that was
previously there. The time it takes to deploy an image depends on factors such as
the size of the image the speed of the PC you are imaging.

10. When the ghosting has finished, you should see the Image Completed
Successfully message. Click Restart Computer.

Remove the USB boot cd/flash drive and external hard disk and let
the computer boot normally.

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