Need help to build network bootable disk withn ghost and auto NIC detection.

Go to device manager and go to the properties of the Network adapter.
click on the Details Tab
From the dropdown box Choose Hardware IDs
 In my example I'm using a Marvel Yukon 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet controller
My Hardware Id's look like this: PCI\VEN_11AB&DEV_4364&SUBSYS_81F81043&REV_12
The Important part is VEN_11AB   and    DEV_4364
Now navigate to your template folder, This is mine: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Symantec\Ghost\Template
 
Create a folder for you NIC if there is not one, copy your downloaded ndis driver into that folder and the protocol.ini file into it. Copy the mcassist.cfg file from any of the other Template NIC folders into your new folder.
 
Right Click the mcassist.cfg file uncheck "Read-Only" then click ok.
Open the mcassist.cfg file with notepad.
 
This is what mine looks like, the important part is Driver-Name and NDIS-Name to specify your NDIS driver, Now you delete out the PCI-Tags that do not match your VEN# from above (11AB) then add in your new NIC (using the DEV# from above) using the same format you see below, so my new line would be "PCI-TAG = 11AB 4364 : Marvell Yukon 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC$"


# This file is used by the Ghost Boot Wizard.
# You should not attempt to edit this file yourself
DRIVER-TYPE = NDIS
DRIVER-NAME = yuknd.dos
NDIS-NAME = yuknd$
RECEIVE-MODE = 0
TIMESTAMP = 1160098018
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4320 : Marvell Yukon 88E8001 PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller$
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4340 : Marvell Yukon 88E8021 PCI-X ASF Gigabit NIC$
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4341 : Marvell Yukon 88E8022 PCI-X ASF Gigabit NIC$
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4342 : Marvell Yukon 88E8061 PCI-E ASF Gigabit NIC$
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4343 : Marvell Yukon 88E8062 PCI-E ASF Gigabit NIC$
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4344 : Marvell Yukon 88E8021 PCI-X ASF Gigabit NIC$
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4345 : Marvell Yukon 88E8022 PCI-X ASF Gigabit NIC$
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4346 : Marvell Yukon 88E8061 PCI-E ASF Gigabit NIC$
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4347 : Marvell Yukon 88E8062 PCI-E ASF Gigabit NIC$
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4350 : Marvell Yukon 88E8035 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller$
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4351 : Marvell Yukon 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet$
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4352 : Marvell Yukon 88E8058 PCI-E Fast Ethernet$
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4360 : Marvell Yukon 88E8052 PCI-E ASF Gigabit Ethernet Controller$
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4361 : Marvell Yukon 88E8050 PCI-E ASF Gigabit Ethernet Controller$
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4362 : Marvell Yukon 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller$
PCI-TAG = 11AB 4363 : Marvell Yukon 88E8055 PCI-E Fast Ethernet$
 
 
 
Now create your new disk with ghost boot wizard.
BTW: I use Easyboot to make my boot disk plus I added alot of diagnostic utilities to it, just an alternative: http://www.ezbsystems.com/easyboot/index.html

thank for reply
how do i do manually create floppy disk?
i dont have ghost boot wizard installed. all i have is a ghost.exe

would it be possible to list the structure of files/folders on your disk?

nvm, i got ghost boot wizard now...........
but here is further question.

with ghost boot wizard, we can only create boot disk with only one NIC driver, how do we create multiple NICs support and how do we make it auto detect during boot??

I'll get back with you tomorrow, I'm off for the day, then I can post up some screenshots.
If it helps, I remember you need to choose multicard template.
I have a question for you in the meantime, are you using Norton Ghost or the Symantec Solution Suite and which version is it?

Will you post up your hardware ID as well, thanks.

Just to clarify on your questions:
1. The only OS which will fit to floppy is MS-DOS. MS-DOS cannot auto-detect your network card - the relevant driver should be included into CONFIG.SYS (which loads as the first upon a boot-up). You are still able to create sections in config.sys loading the different NIC drivers but you have to choose the proper section / driver MANUALY when computer boots up. GHOST.EXE is the version for MS-DOS. The only problem is that starting version 8 the file is too big to fit to a single floppy together with MS-DOS staff so Ghost Boot Wizard was creating a set of 2 floppies.

2. The instructions you mentioned are for BartPE, which is stripped-down version of MS Windows. BartPE loads from a bootable CD. Because it is Windows, it's able to autodetect your NIC. But you still might need to include the relevant NIC drivers to BartPE in order to get the cards function properly. The trade-off of NIC auto-detection is the bootup speed - it might take from 3 to 5 minutes to have everything loaded and functioning. GHOST32.EXE is the version for Windows.

If autodetection is your priority, and you have GHOST32.EXE at your disposition, suggest you go with BartPE or WindowsPE. The newest version of Ghost Suite 2.5
contains the Boot Wizard that able to build WindowsPE bootable media (CD or USB key). The trial version of Ghost Suite is available for download from Symantec web-site and is fully functional (with exception of Ghost Console, which you needn't anyway).

Alternatively, if auto-detection could be sacrificed, and you have a finite number of computers models then in might be interesting option to create a multi-boot USB key. It's base on syslinux loader which will prompt you to select a proper Image of MS-DOS floppy. Ghost.exe is located on the USB key (but not included into floppy image). Everything loads very quickly and also certain models of computers might be using the same drivers (hereby you will need less images than HW models). For example with one image you could load the same NIC driver for Dell D400, D410, GX620, GX745. You will need the separate drivers for GX755 and E4x00.

Here is my instructions how to build this multi-boot USB key: https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/24701626/Ghost-Disk-with-multiple-IP-addresses.html?cid=1131&anchorAnswerId=25249054#a25249054

Hope it helps

One option is to use universal drivers and make sure PXE boot is enabled in the bios, I'm going to try and attach my IMG files. I'm not sure they will work for you as I load my IMG files through EasyBoot on a CD: http://www.ezbsystems.com/easyboot/index.html, and my Universal Disk Image is 2.88 MB opposed to a traditional 1.44 MB.
Also removing my Ghost.exe from my universal IMG, hopefully it attaches.
For the Auto Detect Image file, I have it coded it to load ghost from the cd after it loads the cd drivers as I couldn't fit both the DOS Drivers and the Ghost.exe even with a 2.88 MB IMG file. My autodetect img detects 172 NIC's that our organization uses.
 
You can use MagicISO or similar to open the IMG files. I'll post some screenshoots for building your boot disk next.

IMG-files.zip

For your Image type choose network boot package.
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If your computer supports PXE Boot in the BIOS then you can choose Universal Packet Driver from this screen. Even if it does you can still create a custom autodetec disk by choosing Multicard Template.
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If your performed the steps from my very first post in this thread your new NIC will show on this screen. All you have to do is Ctrl + click on the drivers you want your card to work with.
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You can click next on this screen or specify any ghost switches you want from this screen then click next.
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This screen is preference based, decide if you want these features, I have noticed if you Override BIOS usb control that your USB mouse or Keyboard may not work so I tend to leave everything unchecked.
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From here specify if you want DHCP or a Static IP, make sure you set your router Hops based on your network, Default is 16. the lower the number the less amount of latency you will see I set ours 2 above the most amount of router hops our network will ever see.
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From this screen you choose how you want to save your set, based on what your saying you want Floppy Disk Set. Alternatively, and if the computer supports it, you can have everything copy onto a USB Pen Drive.
 
And that's pretty much it!

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Now if your screens don't look like mine it's because I'm using the Symantec Solution Suite and not Norton Ghost. I can't imagine it would be to much different.

igor-1965:
actually i do need both speed and auto NIC detection.
because i need to deploy floppy image over PXE, which means it has to be floppy image(because of size)
the speed is relevant to how many NIC drivers DOS has to go through, fortunately i dont have too many different NICs, so this is not really a big problem.
then issue lies on autodetection.

mmarx82,
thank so much for your detailed advice.
my ghost boot wizard is similar as yours, but a few functions are missing. (ie. no USB disk or VMware disk),
I have actually tried to build mult-NIC following your screen shots, but because my version only support floppy drive disk, so i had to create multiple floppy disks. Here is the problem, it works fine with 2 or even 5 NIC drivers, but with floppy disk set, my ghost boot wizard seems only can use the first disk to store drivers and second one for ghost.exe.This means the the size of drivers is over 1M (or closer as i tested), it will fail to create a disk set.

Also, I tested manual creating a disk as I copied structure from a already finished disk, but I replaced NIC driver inside disk. it does not work for me.
it seems when ghost boot wizard creates disk, it hard-coded dis_pkt.dos file or maybe another file with some sort of index of NIC drivers on disk.

beside above issue, everything else looks fine though...I think we are heading correct direction, and very close to complete it. any idea how to fix this ?

Well, it's quite sad you didn't mention from the beggining you need to use PXE.
Every PXE server I've seen comes up with the Boot Wizard which will help you to create a floppy image. Everything you need to do - configure with Wizard this image to connect to / map a network share where ghost.exe is located and launch ghost (with the desired parameters) from the mapped drive.

That's where I had to use Easyboot to make a bootable CD with my Floppy image files (attached earlier in the thread) of the ghost disks.
The best way to help keep speed is to keep your NDIS dos drivers current. The comp.dat file contains your master list of nics for autodetection, if you add directly to here make sure you change the "HEX" value for the "Number of devices" your disk supports or it will drop off whatever is at the end of the file.
Attached is a couple screenshots from my Easyboot CD, as you can see I built in alot of functionality. It will take alot of trial and error, alternatively you can update to the Symantec Solution Suite 2.5 to gain more functionality.
 

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igor said: Well, it's quite sad you didn't mention from the beggining you need to use PXE.

That's true so you need to use the universal drivers, I attached my img file that uses the latest universal drivers earlier. use MagicISO or similar to edit it, you will need to put your Ghost.exe file in the Ghost folder and your disk image should be ready other than specify any switches you want to use in the autoexec.bat file.

i'm sorry i was not being so clear about this. it's first time i deploy PXE never used it before.
so universal network driver works for boot up with PXE regardless types of NIC cards?

PXE uses it's own universal driver.

if the computer has pxe boot enabled in the bios universal drivers should have no problem working with it.

It works with universal driver and also, I figured out how to manually modify floppy disk that ghost boot wizard created. that compact.dat is the index of all device IDs

thank you very much for the help guys !