Alphabetical list of Ghost command line parameters
Article ID: 152308
Updated On:
Products
Deployment Solution
Ghost Solution Suite
IT Management Suite
Issue/Introduction
What command line parameters or options can be used with Ghost?
Environment
Ghost Solution Suite
Ghost Standard Tools
Deployment Solution
Client Management Suite
IT Management Suite
When using Ghost Standard Tools > GhostCast Server, the command line options are shown here:
Click More Options which turns to Less Options when clicked, and then enter any options desired.
Resolution
This document lists Ghost's command-line switches in alphabetical order.
Switches and hyphens
When a switch is both preceded by and followed by a hyphen, such as with -NTC-, the second hyphen means that the feature is disabled. Such switches are normally not used without the second hyphen. For instance, -NTC- forces Ghost to disable the allocation of NTFS contiguous cluster runs. -NTC is not used because Ghost enables the allocation of NTFS contiguous cluster runs by default.
Switches and versions
- The version information is not complete. Some switches are not available in all versions.
- Usually, a switch available in one version will also be available in later versions, but not always.
- Unless otherwise stated, most of the following switches are used on the Ghost command-line with Ghost32.exe, Ghost64.exe and ghost (for Linux PE)
| Switch | Description | Ghost Version | |
| @filename | Specifies a file that contains additional command-line switches that Symantec Ghost should read. Filename indicates the path and file name of the command-line switch file. The command-line switch file can include any Symantec Ghost command-line switch. The Symantec Ghost command-line switch file must be a text file with each switch on a separate line. This lets you exceed the DOS command-line limit of 150 characters. | ||
| @ | Connect to. See the document Switches: Cloning. | ||
| @MTx | Designates which tape device to use (0 through n). | ||
| -#ENV | Designates the filename of your ENV file for registration. | ||
| -afile=filename | Diagnostic | Replaces the default abort error log file name, .txt, with the directory and file given in . | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -auto | Image file | Automatically names spanned image files during creation. Using this switch avoids the user prompt that asks for confirmation of the next destination location for the of the image file that is being restored. This switch is the default behavior for Symantec Ghost. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -batch | User intervention | Prevents abort messages from waiting for user and removes user interaction prompts. The return value of .exe must to identify whether the operation was successful. Symantec Ghost returns 0 on success and 1 or higher on failure or error. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -bfc | Bad disk | Handles bad FAT clusters when writing to disk. If this switch, and the target partition is FAT, Symantec Ghost checks for and works around bad sectors and. This option may slow Symantec Ghost operation substantially. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -blind | Batch mode processing | Prevents any GUI display with switches that do not require any user input, for example, the clone switch. Using this switch lets you execute Ghost operations on a computer with no video adapter. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -bootcd | Clone / CD-R and CD-RW drives | When writing an image directly to a CD/DVD writer, this makes the CD/DVD bootable in drive A. If you use the -SURE switch with -, and a floppy disk is not in drive A, then a non-bootable CD/DVD. not useful unless booting from Dos boot floppies | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -buffersize=x | Network | Ghost creates an image file using a buffer of size = number of KB. The default size of the buffer by Symantec Ghost. The switch lets you override this size. You can set the buffer size value from 1 to 32. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -chkimg,filename | Image File | Checks the integrity of the image file that is indicated by the filename. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -CLONE | Clone | Ghost.exe operation switch. This switch allows automation of Ghost.exe operations and has a series of arguments that define the operation parameters. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -CNS | Image File | Reverts the naming of spanned files to the system used by versions of Symantec Ghost prior to Symantec Ghost 6.5. If this switch is not used, then the naming of spanned files conforms to Microsoft application guidelines. You do not need to use this switch when reading an existing file. Use this switch when the first five characters in a file name must be unique. For example: With -CNS: (Allows you to save in long file name format.) This is a long file name.gho This is a long file name.001 This is a long file name.002 Without -CNS: Filename.gho Filen001.ghs Filen002.ghs |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -CRC32 | CRC32 / Image verification | This switch creates an image file with CRC values and then verifies the list against the original or a copy. The purpose is to allow both quick listing of the contents of an image file and verification that a disk created by Symantec Ghost contains the same files as the original. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -CRCIGNORE | CRC32 / Image verification | CRC errors indicate data corruption. This switch overrides CRC error detection and may allow a corrupted image file to be used. Using this switch leaves the corrupted files in an unknown state. You can use this switch to help you extract files from a corrupted image file. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -CVTAREA | FAT partitions | Creates a file, Cvtarea.tmp, that is the location of the MFT when the FAT32 partition is converted to NTFS. This switch operates in a similar manner to the cvtarea program that Microsoft provides in Deploy.cab on the Windows XP installation CD. The file is created in the root directory of the partition during a partition or disk restore and is created as a contiguous space on the disk. The largest size allowed is 4 GB. If the file is larger than this, it is truncated to 4 GB. Consult the Symantec Ghost Reference Guide for information on the syntax and default settings. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -DD | Diagnostic | Dumps disk metrics information to the dump log file, Ghststat.txt. The file location can be altered using the -dfile=filename switch. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -DFILE=filename | Diagnostic | Changes the path and file name of the dump log file created using the -dd switch. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -DI | Diagnostic | Display diagnostics. | |
| -DL=number | Disk Access | Specifies the number of hard disks present. Valid numbers are between 1 and 8. This may help when the BIOS does not report the number of drives correctly. Use this switch in the following circumstances:
|
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -DLIST=drives | Disk Access | Specifies a list of drives to search for span files. If a span file cannot be found, then the drive letters in dlist are substituted one by one to look for the file on other drives. For example, the command ghost -dlist=CDEFG instructs Norton Ghost to look for files on C, D, E, F, and G drives. The path remains the same. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| DST | Clone | Used as a parameter with the -CLONE switch. Defines the location of the destination partition, disk, or image file. See the document Switches: Cloning. | |
| -F32 | FAT partitions | Lets Symantec Ghost convert all FAT16 volumes to FAT32 volumes when the destination partition to convert is larger than 256 MB in size. Ensure that the installed operating systems can access the volumes that will be converted to support FAT32. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -F64 | FAT partitions | Lets Symantec Ghost resize FAT16 partitions to be larger than 2047 MB using 64 KB clusters. This is only supported by Windows NT and Windows 2000. Do not use on computers with other operating systems. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FATLIMIT | FAT partitions | Limits the size of FAT16 partitions to 2047 MB. Useful when Windows NT FAT16 partitions are present on the disk and 64 KB clusters are not wanted. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FCR | CRC32 / Image verification | Creates a CRC file, Ghost.crc, while making an image file. This is the same CRC file that is created when using one of the create actions on the -CRC32 switch. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FDC | Forces Ghost to check for a dongle. In Ghost versions prior to 2.09, Ghost automatically checked for a dongle. | Removed from Symantec Ghost 8.0 | |
| -FDSP | Clone | Force Disk Signature Preserve. Use to resolve bootup failures after cloning a disk on a Windows 2000/XP computer, especially when the disk and controller are the same in the source and destination computers, but the partition sizes or layout are different. This switch preserves the signature bytes on the destination disk when performing a disk-to-disk or image-to-disk cloning operation. This switch prevents Ghost from automatically forcing a disk initialization, which Ghost does by default when imaging a Windows 2000/XP disk. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FDSZ | Clone | Force Disk Signature to Zero. Use to resolve bootup failures after cloning a partition on a Windows 2000/XP computer, especially when the disk and controller are the same in the source and destination computers, but the partition sizes or layout are different. This switch configures Ghost to force a disk initialization. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FEMAX | Clone | When Ghost creates an extended partition during a Disk-to-Disk or Image-to-Disk operation, the FEMAX switch ensures that the extended partition takes up all free space. Limitation: The extended partition needs to be at the end of the disk to keep the remaining Unallocated Space within the extended partition. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 up to and including Ghost 11.5.x Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FFATID | Partition ID | Changes the partition ID of the FAT partition to the recommended partition ID for the FAT partition. The partition ID is stored in the partition table. This switch only works when Ghost creates and saves an image file or when Ghost clones dynamically (such as with a Disk-to-Disk or Partition-to-Partition operation). This switch has no effect when Ghost restores an image file to a disk or partition. For example, if you clone a partition of type 0xA0 (which is an unknown partition ID), and Ghost sees the partition as a valid FAT partition (that is, FAT12, FAT16, or FAT32), then Ghost changes the partition ID from 0xA0 to an ID that is valid for FAT12, FAT16, or FAT32. This was default Symantec Ghost behavior before Symantec Ghost 7.5. This switch allows for backward compatibility. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FFI | Disk Access | Prefers the use of direct IDE access for IDE hard disk operations. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FFS | Disk Access | Prefers the use of direct ASPI/SCSI disk access for SCSI hard disk operations. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FFX | Disk Access | Prefers the use of Extended Interrupt 13h disk access for hard disk operations. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FINGER | Information | Shows the fingerprint details written on a hard disk created by Symantec Ghost. The fingerprint details include the process used to create the disk or partition and the time, date, and disk on which the operation was performed. See the document How to determine whether Ghost wrote to a disk or partition. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FIS | Disk Access | Uses all available disk space when creating partitions. By default, Symantec Ghost often leaves a small amount of free space at the end of the disk. Because partitions must be aligned to cylinder boundaries, Symantec Ghost may leave up to 8 MB free even when -fis is specified. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FNA | Disk Access | Turns off asynchronous Input/Output. When -FNI solves a disk access problem, -FNA and -FNU can be used to help diagnose the disk access problem. | |
| -FNI | Disk Access | Disables direct IDE access support for IDE hard disk operations. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FNS | Disk Access | Disables direct ASPI/SCSI access support for SCSI hard disk operations. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FNU | Disk Access | This switch prevents Ghost from accessing the IDE drive by means of Ultra DMA and forces Ghost to access the drive by means of PIO instead. When -FNI solves a disk access problem, -FNA and -FNU can be used to help diagnose the disk access problem. |
|
| -FNX | Disk Access | Disables extended INT13 support for hard disk operations. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FORCE1394 | Disk Access | Forces FireWire support to start, even when the FireWire controller is being run by something else. -FORCE1394 attempts to take over the FireWire Host Controller. To enable native BIOS support you must restart the computer. Note the following:
|
Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -FORCEUSB | Disk Access | Forces USB support to start, even when the USB controller is being run by something else. -FORCEUSB attempts to take over the USB Host Controller and then attempts to return it to the previous state once the Ghost operation is complete. This works for controllers as follows:
Note the following:
|
Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -FRO | Bad disk | Forces Ghost to continue cloning even if the source contains bad clusters. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -FX | User intervention | Causes Ghost to exit to DOS after an operation is complete. By default, Ghost prompts the user to restart or exit when the operation has finished. If Ghost is run as part of a batch file, it is sometimes useful to exit back to the DOS prompt after completion so that further batch commands are processed. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -GHOSTONCD | Clone | Includes Ghost.exe on a CD/DVD when writing an image to a CD/DVD. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -H or -? or -HELP | Information | Shows the Ghost command-line switch Help page. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -IA | Clone | The Image All switch forces Ghost to perform a sector-by-sector copy of all partitions. By default, when copying a partition from a disk to an image file or to another disk, Ghost examines the source partition and decides whether to copy just the files and directory structure, or to do a sector-by-sector copy. If it understands the internal format of the partition, it defaults to copying the files and directory structure. Generally this is the best option. However, if a disk has been set up with special hidden security files that are in specific positions on the partition, the only way to reproduce them accurately on the target partition is through a sector-by-sector copy. If you use this switch to create an image of a dynamic disk, then the image must be restored to a disk with identical geometry. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -IAL | Clone / Linux | Forces a sector-by-sector copy of Linux partitions. Other partitions are copied normally. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -IB | Clone | When creating an image or copying disk to disk, the -IB switch (Image Boot) forces a copy of the entire boot track; not just the boot sector. Use this switch when applications, such as some boot-time utilities, use the boot track to store information.
|
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -ID | Clone | When creating an image or copying disk to disk, the -ID switch (Image Disk) forces a sector-by-sector copy, and copies the entire boot track, extended partition tables, and unpartitioned space on the disk.
|
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -IGB | Boot partition | Ignore Ghost Boot partition. When creating an image file, the -IGB switch tells Ghost to exclude the Ghost boot partition. That is, when the source disk includes a Ghost boot partition and you use the -IGB switch, the resulting image file does not include the Ghost boot partition. When writing an image file to a disk, the -IGB switch tells Ghost to ignore the boot partition that is on the destination disk. That is, when the destination disk includes a Ghost boot partition and you use the -IGB switch, Ghost does not write over the existing Ghost boot partition. The Ghost Enterprise Console in Ghost 6.0 and later use the -IGB switch by default. Related information:
|
|
| -IMGDESC | Adds a single-line image file description to the image file. This has the following restrictions:
|
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
|
| -IMGDESCFILE = filename | Specifies a text file that contains an image file description to be added to the image file. This has the following restrictions:
|
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
|
| -INT41 | Drive detection | Use DOS drive table for determining drive geometry. | Removed from Ghost 8.0 |
| -IR | Clone | The Image Raw switch copies the entire disk, ignoring the partition table. This is useful when a disk does not contain a partition table in the standard PC format, or you do not want partitions to be realigned to track boundaries on the destination disk. Some operating systems may not be able to access unaligned partitions. Partitions cannot be resized during restore and you need an identical or larger disk. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -ISR | Enables Smart Raw Imaging for use with XFS filesystems. Only sectors that by along with their locations on disk rather than capturing full disk sectors | Ghost 12.0.0.10618 and later | |
| -JA=sessionname | GhostCast | Connects to the GhostCast Server using the specified session name. Set the disk and possibly partition to be cloned on the GhostCast Server. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -JADDR= | GhostCast | Use this switch to specify the IP address of the computer that runs the GhostCast Server or Ghost Console. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -JL:x=filename | GhostCast | Creates a log file to assist in diagnosing GhostCasting and TCP/IP peer-to-peer problems. The amount of information logged is set by the log level x. The log level x can be E (errors), S (statistics), W (warnings), I (information), or A (all) in increasing order of logging detail. The file name indicates the path and file name of the log to be created. In general, the error and statistic levels do not affect session performance. All other levels may reduce performance and should be used for diagnostic purposes only. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -JM=[U|D|M] | GhostCast | Use unicasting, direct broadcast, or multicasting. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -JS=n | GhostCast | Specifies the maximum number of router hops between the client computer and Ghost server. In older Ghost versions, the maximum allowed is 10 hops. Used to increase the number of hops required to contact the Ghost Multicast Server. For instance, when Ghost is set for a -JS value of 1, the packet will make it through 1 router only, and be stopped at a second router. Ghost's ability to successfully clone over many hops is dependent on timing issues and router and switch restrictions. The fewer hops, the greater likelihood of a successful GHOST connection. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -LOCKINFO | BIOS Lock | Shows the type code and information stored in the BIOS or the Pentium III Processor ID. See also the -LOCKTYPE switch. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -LOCKTYPE=Type | BIOS Lock | Lets you lock an image file for use with a specific set of computers defined by the type chosen and the source computer. For example, ghost -locktype=P creates an image that can be used only on systems that have the same product name type as the source computer. On computers with multiple processors the processorID bios lock option does not work as intended when running Ghost32.exe. In this situation do not create or restore images with the -locktype parameter set to I. Other -locktype values work as intended. See also the -LOCKINFO switch. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -LPM | Peer to peer | The LPT master mode switch causes Ghost to automatically go into LPT master mode, and is the equivalent of selecting LPT Master from the main menu. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -LPS | Peer to peer | The LPT slave mode switch causes Ghost to automatically go into LPT slave mode, and is the equivalent of selecting LPT Slave from the main menu. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -MEMCHECK | Diagnostic | Displays a diagnostic memory dump for technical support issues. | Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -MODE | Clone | Used as a parameter with the -CLONE switch. Takes the values COPY, LOAD, DUMP, PCOPY, PLOAD, PDUMP. See the document Switches: Cloning. | |
| -NBM | Launch Ghost as NetBIOS Master. | Removed from Symantec Ghost 8.0. | |
| -NBS | Launch Ghost as NetBIOS Slave. | Removed from Symantec Ghost 8.0. | |
| -NO1394 | Disk Access | Disables Firewire 1394 support. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -NOAUTO | Image File | Disables the automatic naming of spanned image files during creation. The user is prompted for confirmation of the next destination location for the remainder of the image file that is being restored. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -NOAUTOSKIP | Image File | Includes the hibernation and skip files in the image file. These files are excluded by default. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -NOFILE | User intervention | Disables the Image File Selection dialog box. Useful when opening directories with large numbers of files and slow links. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -NOIDE | Disables access to IDE devices. This is equivalent to -fni for IDE disks, but noide also affects ATAPI CD writers, tape drives and other IDE devices. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
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| -NOINDEX | Prevents Ghost from creating an index when creating an image file. This slightly reduces the size of the image file and saves memory but Ghost Explorer is much slower in reading the image file. This switch is useful if you are saving an image file from a large disk with very little memory. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
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| -NOLILO | Clone / Linux | Does not attempt to patch the LILO or GRUB boot loader after a clone. If you use the -NOLILO switch, you can restart your computer from a floppy disk or CD after a clone and then run /sbin/lilo or the GRUB install script as the root user to reinstall the boot loader. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -NOUSB | Disk Access | Disables USB support. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -NOSCSI | Disk Access | Disables access to SCSI devices using ASPI. This is equivalent to -fns for SCSI disks, but noscsi also affects SCSI CD writers, tape drives, and other SCSI devices. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -NOTRIM | Disk Access |
Ghost 12.0.0.x tries to TRIM the SSD drive during the restore process. A Trim command (commonly typeset as TRIM) allows an operating system to inform a solid-state drive (SSD) which blocks of data are no longer considered in use and can be wiped internally. |
Ghost solution suite 3.0 |
| -NTC- | NTFS partitions | Disables NTFS contiguous run allocation. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -NTCHKDSK | NTFS partitions | Force CHKDSK to run when restarting a computer that uses NTFS on the boot partition. Ghost prevents CHKDSK from running on the client computer after cloning a Windows NT/2000 computer. To force CHKDSK to run, use the -NTCHKDSK switch. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -NTD | NTFS partitions | Enable NTFS internal diagnostic checking. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -NTEXACT | NTFS partitions | Enable an exact restore of the NTFS source volume layout. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -NTIC | NTFS partitions | Ignore the NTFS volume CHKDSK bit. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -NTIID | NTFS partitions | Ignores the partition's System ID and clones based on the underlying file system, instead of defaulting to a sector-by-sector Image All cloning. The -NTIID switch enables the Windows NT volume set partitions to be intelligently cloned file by file, which allows resizing. However, using the -NTIID switch with volume and Stripe sets is not recommended. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -NTIL | NTFS partitions | Ignore non-empty NTFS Log File check (Inconsistent volume). | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -NTN | NTFS partitions | Inhibit CHKDSK on NTFS volume boot. In Ghost 6.5 and later, Ghost does this automatically. | Removed from Ghost 8.0 |
| -NTX:x | NTFS partitions | Set the size of Ghost's NTFS volume memory cache to x KB. The default is 8000. | Removed from Ghost 8.0 |
| -OR | Clone | The override switch allows the override of internal space and integrity checks and lets you put a very big image into a small partition. The operation fails if it is unable to write to the limited partition size. This switch lets you override spanning, which fails if there is limited space. Avoid using this switch. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -PFILE= | Clone / File Preservation | Saves the File Preservation Metadata File that holds the location of preserved files to a specified location. By default, it is saved to the current directory. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -PMBR | Image File | Specifies that the master boot record of the destination disk be preserved when performing a Disk-to-Disk or Image-to-Disk operation. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -PREFGHST | File System | Attempts to use internal Ghost file system access as opposed to using the operating system for file system access. This switch is intended for use under instruction from Symantec Technical Support when troubleshooting. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -PREFOS | File System | If Symantec Ghost has a choice, it attempts to use the operating system for file system access as opposed to using the internal Ghost file system access. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -PRESERVE=filepath[=newpath][,filepath[=newpath]...] | File Preservation | List of files/directories to preserve during a clone. An error will be generated if the files/directories do not exist. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -PRESERVEIFEXISTS=filepath[=newpath][,filepath[=newpath]...] | File Preservation | List of files/directories to preserve during a clone. No error will be generated if the files/directories do not exist. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -PRESERVEDEST=n | File Preservation | Specify the partition on the destination disk that preserved files/directories will be preserved in. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -PRESERVEDIMAGEDELETEAFTERCLONE | File Preservation | If image file is being preserved, delete it after the clone has completed. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -PWD | Image file | Prompt for a password when creating an image file.
|
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -PWD=password | Image file | Use this password on the Ghost command line when you have Ghost create the image file.
|
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -QUIET | User intervention | Disables status updates and user intervention. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -RB | User intervention | Forces an automatic reboot after completion. After completing a restore or copy operation, the target computer must be restarted so that the operating system can restore the new disk/partition information. Normally, Ghost prompts the user to restart or exit. -RB tells Ghost to restart automatically after it completes the restore or copy. This is useful when automating Symantec Ghost in a batch command file. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -RECOVER | Clone / File Preservation | Sets the default to recover preserved files if a previous restore has failed and the File Preservation Metadata File still exists. If this switch is not used the default is set to abort. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -SCRIPT=filename | User Intervention | Instructs Ghost to execute the Ghost command lines that are listed in the file specified. Ghost executes the commands in the order that they are listed in the text file. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -SGB | Boot partition | Tells Ghost Multicast Server to ignore the Ghost boot partition. That is, when you write an image to a disk and use the -SGB switch, Ghost Multicast Server will not write over the existing Ghost boot partition. See the related switch, -IGB. | |
| -SKIP=filename | Image File | This switch causes Ghost to skip the indicated files during a create or restore operation. A skip entry can specify a single file, a directory, or multiple files using the * wildcard. File names must be given in short file name format and all path names are absolute. Only FAT system files can be skipped. It is not possible to skip files on NTFS or other file systems. The skip switch may only be included in the command line once. To specify multiple skip entries, they must be included in a text file indicated using -skip=@skipfile. The format of the skip text file, skipfile, matches the format used with the CRC32 vexcept option. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -SLEEP | Slows down the execution of Ghost. | ||
| -SLOWFILE | This switch causes Ghost to use different functions for image file Input/Output. This resolves problems with some network interface cards. This switch has no effect when used with Ghostpe.exe. | ||
| -SPAN | Image file | Enables spanning of image files across volumes. Do not use this switch if you are running Ghost.exe to write an image file directly to a CDR/RW. Ghost.exe automatically spans CD-R/RW disks if required. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -SPLIT=x | Image file |
Splits image file into x MB spans. Use this switch to create a forced-size volume set. For example, if you want to force smaller image files from a 1024 MB drive, you could specify 200 MB segments. The maximum value for the -SPLIT switch is 2048 MB. Note the following:
|
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -SRC | Clone | Used as a parameter with the -CLONE switch. Defines the location of the source partition, disk, or image file. See the document Switches: Cloning. | |
| -SURE | User intervention | Used with the -CLONE switch to avoid the prompts "Partition size correct?" and "Proceed with disk load?"
|
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -SZE | Clone | Specifies the desired size of the destination partition for a disk load or disk copy operation. See the documentsHow To Keep Ghost From Automatically Resizing Partitions and Switches: Cloning. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -SZEE | Clone | Forces Norton Ghost to keep the sizes of all destination partitions the same as in the source partition (no resizing). This switch can be used with or without the -clone switch. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -SZEF | Clone | Forces Norton Ghost to keep the sizes of all destination partitions, except for the first one, the same as in the source partition. The first partition uses the remaining disk space. This switch can be used with or without the -clone switch. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -SZEL | Clone | Forces Norton Ghost to keep the sizes of all destination partitions, except for the last one, the same as in the source partition. The last partition uses the remaining disk space. This switch can be used with or without the -clone switch. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -TAPEBSIZE | Tape | Sets the block size on the tape you are writing an image to. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -TAPEBUFFERED | Tape | Use on old DAT drives with unreliable tapes. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -TAPEEJECT | Tape | By default, Ghost rewinds the tape after a tape operation and then exits to DOS. This switch forces Ghost to eject the tape following a tape operation. If the tape drive does not support remote ejection you must eject the tape manually. Ghost versions prior to Ghost 2001 and 6.5 ejected the tape by default. |
Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -TAPESAFE | Tape | Use on old DAT drives with unreliable tapes. | Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -TAPESIZE=x | Tape | Not a valid switch. Ghost manuals that refer to this switch are in error. Instead, use the -TAPEBSIZE switch. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -TAPESPEED=x | Tape | X is the speed in hexadecimal, ranging from 0 to F, where 0 is the default speed, and F is the maximum speed. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -TAPEUNBUFFERED | Tape | Use on old DAT drives with unreliable tapes. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -TCPM[:slave IP address] | Peer to peer | This switch sets Ghost to the TCP/IP master mode. The switch causes Ghost to automatically use a TCP/IP peer-to-peer connection, with this computer set in master mode, and is equivalent to selecting TCP/IP Master from the Ghost.exe or Ghostpe.exe main menu. Specifying the IP address of the slave computer on the command line is optional. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -TCPS | Peer to peer | This switch sets Ghost to the TCP/IP slave mode. This switch causes Ghost to automatically use a TCP/IP peer-to-peer connection, with this computer set in slave mode, and is equivalent to selecting TCP/IP Slave from the Ghost.exe or Ghostpe.exe main menu. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -U[u|d|m] | Sets the Data Transfer mode to unicasting, direct broadcast, or multicasting. Use the switch at a DOS command prompt in the Advanced options on the Clone tab in a Task in the Ghost Console or in the "Command line" box in GhostCast Server. For instance, the following command line runs GhostCast Server in Directed Broadcast Mode to write the image W2K.gho to all computers on a single subnet in a GhostCast Session that is called Sales. Ghostsrv.exe C:\images\w2k.gho sales -ud |
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| -UNPRESERVEIMAGE | File Preservation | After a failed restore, do not preserve the image file that was used on the failed restore. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 |
| -USBM | Peer to peer | This switch sets Ghost to the USB master mode. This switch causes Ghost to automatically use a USB connection, with this computer set in master mode, and is equivalent to selecting USB Master from the Ghost.exe or Ghostpe.exe main menu. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -USBS | Peer to peer | This switch sets Ghost to the USB slave mode. This switch causes Ghost to automatically use a USB connection, with this computer set in slave mode, and is equivalent to selecting USB Slave from the Ghost.exe or Ghostpe.exe main menu. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -VDW | Bad disk | Verifies disk writes. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -VER | Diagnostic | Displays Ghost version number. | Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
| -VER=value | Diagnostic | Tests the version of Ghost. If Ghost is older than the specified version, Ghost aborts and exits, otherwise Ghost proceeds as normal. The value is a three digit number and should be specified without the period. For example, Symantec Ghost 7.0 is specified as -ver=700, and Norton Ghost 2001, which is version 6.5, is specified as -ver=650. In Symantec Ghost, this switch is designed for use in batch files. | |
| -WD | Turns off Disk Write caching. | SGSS 2.5 | |
| -WS | Turns off Disk Read caching. | SGSS 2.5 | |
| -WD- | Turns off Disk Write caching. | ||
| -WS- | Turns off Disk Read caching. | ||
| -Zx | Image file | When saving an image as a file, Ghost compresses the file. Ghost uses the following compression levels:
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Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 |
References
The -CLONE switch
This is used to specify a cloning operation. The arguments that are used with it, MODE, SRC, DST, are SZE. See the document Switches: Cloning.
For other function-specific switches, see the following documents
Technical Information
Use of the term "disk geometry"
Ghost documentation often uses the terms "disk geometry," "drive detection," and "disk access method" interchangeably. Normally, you can determine the appropriate term by the context. Generally, when Ghost documentation discusses the drive detection switches, the correct term to use is "drive detection" or "disk access method." When Ghost documentation discusses the size of the drive or partitions, or the cylinder, head, and sector values (CHS values), the correct term to use is "disk geometry." For more information on this terminology, see the document Switches: Drive detection.
Why switches may not be present in later versions
A switch that first became available in one Ghost version might not be necessary one or more versions later because the functionality of some switches are sometimes incorporated into the Ghost program (Ghost.exe, Ghostpe.exe, or Ghostwks.exe).
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