Switches: Alphabetical list of switches @filename Use this switch when you want to use more than 150 characters on the Ghost command line. This switch specifies the path and file name of a text file that has each switch on a separate line. The text file can include any Symantec Ghost command-line switch except -afile and -dfile. Not available in Norton Ghost 2001. @MCsessionname Connect to Multicast sessionname. See the document Switches: Cloning. @MTx Designates which tape device to use (0 through n). -#E=filename.ENV Designates the filename of your ENV file for registration purposes. -AFILE=path Diagnostics Override default abort log file with path. -AUTO Image file Automatically names spanned dump files. -BATCH User intervention Prevents abort messages that wait for user acknowledgement. Prior to Ghost version 4.0a, "batch mode" refers to running Ghost as a command-line entry within a batch file. Not available in Norton Ghost 2001, 2002, or 2003. -BFC=x Bad disk Specifies the number of bad sectors (blocks) on the destination disk that will cause Ghost to stop the cloning operation. The default value is 500. That is, when you do not use this switch, Ghost ignores up to 499 bad sectors that it encounters while writing an image to a disk or partition. If Ghost detects 500 bad sectors, Ghost stops the cloning operation. In Ghost 6.0 and later versions, this switch also creates a log file of the bad sectors found. -BLIND Batch mode processing Disables the UI while performing a command line specified clone operation. Symantec Ghost 8.0 -BLKSZE=x Image file Sets the block size to x K for writing to image files. Removed from Symantec Ghost 8.0. -BOOTCD CD-R and CD-RW drives When using Ghost to save an image file directly to a CD writer, this switch makes the CD bootable. For this switch to work, put a bootable floppy disk in drive A before running Ghost. If this switch is untitled and the switch -SURE is used, Ghost creates a nonbootable CD instead. -BUFFERSIZE=x Network This switch sets the size of the buffer for read and write operations. The switch is useful only when connecting to a network drive by means of Ghost Multicast, Ghost Console, or a mapped network drive. Because these features are not available in the consumer versions of Ghost, such as Norton Ghost 2002, these switches will have no effect when used with Ghostpe.exe. See the document Switches: -SLOWFILE and -BUFFERSIZE. -CHKIMG,filename Image verification Checks the integrity of the image file that is indicated by the filename. -CNS Image file When spanning an image over more than one file, this switch forces Ghost to use the older naming convention for the image files. -CRC32 Image verification Extract and compare file lists from images. -CRCIGNORE Image verification Allows you to restore dump files that contain some corrupted files. -CVTAREA FAT partitions When you use Ghost to create an image file of a FAT32 partition or write an image of a FAT32 partition to a disk or partition, this switch creates a cvtarea file. This file is used as a placeholder for the File Allocation Table (FAT) as a means of preventing fragmentation of the FAT. The switch operates in a similar manner to the cvtarea program that Microsoft provides in Deploy.cab on the Windows XP installation CD. For more information, see http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/storage/ ntfs-preinstall.htm The file is created in the root directory of the partition when writing a partition image or disk image to the disk drive. It is saved in a single contiguous space on the disk. The maximum size is 4 gigabytes (GB). If the file is larger than 4 GB, Ghost truncates the file to 4 GB. Consult your Symantec Ghost Implementation Guide for information on the syntax and default settings. Symantec Ghost 7.5 and later. Norton Ghost 2003 -DD Diagnostics Dump disk metrics to GHSTSTAT.DMP. -DFILE=path Diagnostics Override default dump log file with path (see -DD). -DI Diagnostics Display diagnostics. -DL=x Drive detection Specifies the highest slot for fixed disk detection. Use this switch in the following circumstances: * When Ghost does not detect a fixed disk. Use the -DL switch to force Ghost to detect fixed disks that are on higher numbered slots. To search all slots, use ghost -DL=255 * When Ghost stops responding immediately after starting Ghost. This might be due to problems with higher slot numbers. Use -DL with values less then 146. The lowest usable value would be 127 plus the number of physical drives on the computer. For instance, if the computer has 2 drives, the command would be: ghost -DL=129. -DLIST=drives Drive detection 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. -FATLIMIT FAT partitions Prevents Ghost from resizing FAT partitions to larger than 2 GB. -F32 FAT partitions Converts a partition from FAT 16 to FAT 32. -F64 FAT partitions Allow 64 KB cluster size. -FCR 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. -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 Windows 2000 Force Disk Signature Preserve. Use to resolve bootup failures after cloning a disk on a Windows 2000 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 prevents Ghost from automatically forcing a disk initialization, which Ghost does by default when imaging a Windows 2000 disk. -FDSZ Windows 2000 Force Disk Signature to zero. Use to resolve bootup failures after cloning a partition on a Windows 2000 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. -FEMAX When Ghost creates an extended partition during a Disk-to-Disk or Image-to-Disk operation, the extended partition takes up all remaining free space. Symantec Ghost 7.5 and later. Norton Ghost 2002 and later. -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 7.5 and later. Norton Ghost 2003 -FFI Drive detection Causes Norton Ghost to prefer the use of direct IDE access. May be faster for IDE drives. -FFS Drive detection Causes Norton Ghost to prefer the use of direct ASPI/SCSI disk access. -FFX Drive detection Causes Norton Ghost to prefer the use of Extended Interrupt 13h disk access for hard disk drive operations. -FINGER Information Displays Fingerprint information. See the document How to determine whether Ghost wrote to a disk or partition. -FIS Drive detection During a disk to disk or image file to disk operation, Norton Ghost calculates the positioning of partitions on the destination hard disk drive. Some PC BIOSes tend not to report the last cylinder of a hard disk drive. During disk detection, Norton Ghost detects this inaccuracy and uses the safer disk geometry size to avoid any possible integrity issues on such systems. Using the safer disk geometry value on such systems may leave several megabytes unused in the destination disk's partitions and cause small differences between the source and destination disks' available free space. -FIS allows this integrity feature to be disabled. -FNA Drive detection 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. Symantec Ghost 7.0 and later. Norton Ghost 2002 and later. -FNF Information Turns off Fingerprint creation. -FNI Drive detection Disables direct IDE access support. Use the NOIDE switch if you want to turn off all IDE access with Norton Ghost 2003. -FNS Drive detection Disables direct ASPI/SCSI access support (an ASPI driver is necessary for direct SCSI access). -FNU Drive detection 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. For information on Ghost's drive access methods, see the document Description of Ghost Diagnostic Error File. When -FNI solves a disk access problem, -FNA and -FNU can be used to help diagnose the disk access problem. Symantec Ghost 7.0 and later. Norton Ghost 2002 and later. -FNX Drive detection Force disabling of Extended INT13 calls if present. -FORCE1394 Disk Forces the ghost 1394 controller to start. Symantec Ghost 8.0 -FORCEUSB Disk Forces the ghost USB controller to start. Symantec Ghost 8.0 -FRO Bad disk Continue cloning even when source disk or partition contains bad blocks. -FX User intervention Exit program when finished cloning. -GHOSTONCD Information Includes Ghost.exe on a CD/DVD when writing an image to a CD/DVD. Symantec Ghost 8.0Norton Ghost 2003 -H or -? or -HELP Information Shows the Ghost command-line switch Help page. The switch also works in Ghost Walker. Use as Ghost.exe -h -IA Sector copy When creating an image or copying disk to disk, the -IA switch (Image All) forces a sector-by-sector copy, and copies every sector, including blank sectors and the boot sector, from one drive to another or to an image. * This switch filters out extraneous or erroneous boot track information. * Does not copy unpartitioned space on the drive. * Partition sizes cannot be altered when using the -IA switch. * For similar functionality, see the switches -IB, -ID, and -IR. -IAL Linux Force a sector-by-sector copy of Linux partitions. Clone other partitions as usual (natively). -IB Sector copy When creating an image or copying disk to disk, the -IB switch (Image Boot) forces a sector-by-sector copy, and copies 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. * You cannot perform partition-to-partition or partition-to-image operations with the -IB switch. * Partition sizes cannot be altered when using the -IB switch. -ID Sector copy 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. * Partition sizes cannot be altered when using the -ID switch. -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: * The switch -SGB. * The document Will Ghost Console overwrite the Ghost boot partition or create two Ghost boot partitions? -IMGDESC Adds a single-line image file description to the image file. This has the following restrictions: * Cannot include any new lines * Cannot be used with -imgdescfile * Must be used with the clone switch * Clone switch mode must be create, dump, prcreate, or pdump Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 -IMGDESCFILE Specifies a text file that contains an image file description to be added to the image file. This has the following restrictions: * Cannot be used with -imgdesc * Must be used with the clone switch * Clone switch mode must be create, dump, prcreate, or pdump Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 -INT41 Drive detection Use DOS drive table for determining drive geometry. Removed from Ghost 8.0 -IR Sector copy When creating an image or copying disk to disk, the -IR switch (Image Raw) forces a sector-by-sector copy and tells Ghost to restore the boot track information as is without attempting to repair minor boot track problems. That is, Ghost creates an image file that is an exact copy of the source disk, including extraneous or erroneous boot track information. This switch copies everything that the -ID switch does but does not filter out extraneous or erroneous boot track information. * Partition sizes cannot be altered when using the -ID switch. Symantec Ghost 7.0 and later. Norton Ghost 2002 and later. -JA=sessionname Has the Ghost connect to the Multicast Server or GhostCast Server by using the specified session name. When using this switch, use Ghost Multicast Server or GhostCast server to define the disk and partition that you want cloned, rather than defining the disk or partition at the computer at which you run Ghost.exe. Not available in Norton Ghost 2001, 2002, or 2003. -JADDR= Use this switch to specify the IP address of the computer that runs the GhostCast Server or Ghost Console. Ghost 7.5 and later. Not available in Norton Ghost 2001, 2002, or 2003. -JL:x=path Diagnostics Create multicast diagnostic file. See document Switches: Cloning Not available in Norton Ghost 2001, 2002, or 2003. -JS=n Network Specifies the maximum number of 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. Not available in Norton Ghost 2001, 2002, or 2003. -LOCKINFO Information Displays information from the computer's BIOS such as the computer's manufacturer. See also the -LOCKTYPE switch. -LOCKTYPE Protects the image file so that it can be written only to computers whose BIOS information matches the specified BIOS parameters of the source computer. See also the -LOCKINFO switch. -LPM Launch Ghost as LPT Master. Useful in batch mode. -LPS Launch Ghost as LPT Slave. Useful in batch mode. -MEMCHECK Diagnostics Displays a diagnostic memory dump for technical support issues. 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 Disables Firewire 1394 support. Symantec Ghost 8.0 -NOAUTO 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 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 Prevents display of the dump file dialog box. -NOIDE Disables access to IDE devices. Symantec Ghost 8.0 Norton Ghost 2003 -NOINDEX Prevents Norton 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 -NOLILO Linux Do not allow Ghost to attempt to patch the LILO boot loader after cloning. -NOUSB Disk Disables USB support. Symantec Ghost 8.0 -NOSCSI Drive detection Disables access to SCSI devices via ASPI. -NTC- NTFS partitions Disable NTFS contiguous cluster run allocation. -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. -NTD NTFS partitions Enable NTFS internal diagnostic checking. -NTIC NTFS partitions Ignore the NTFS volume CHKDSK bit. -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. -NTIL NTFS partitions Ignore non-empty NTFS Log File check (Inconsistent volume). -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 Override destination drive space limitations. Useful for batch mode. -PFILE= Clone Specify an alternate directory to hold the File Preservation Metadata File Symantec Ghost 8.0 -PMBR Specifies that the master boot record of the destination disk be preserved when performing a Disk-to-Disk or Image-to-Disk operation. -PREFGHST General Prefer internal ghost file access. Symantec Ghost 8.0 -PREFOS General Prefer operating system file access. Symantec Ghost 8.0 -PRESERVE=filepath[=newpath][,filepath[=newpath]...] Clone 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]...] Clone 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 Clone Specify the partition on the destination disk that preserved files/directories will be preserved in. Symantec Ghost 8.0 -PRESERVEDIMAGEDELETEAFTERCLONE Clone 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. * When you restore the image file (that is, you have Ghost write the image file over a disk or partition), Ghost will require that you enter this password. * The password can be up to 10 characters long. * Using a password longer than 10 characters might prevent Ghost from restoring the file. -PWD=password Image file Use this password on the Ghost command line when you have Ghost create the image file. * When you restore the image file (that is, you have Ghost write the image file over a disk or partition), Ghost will require that you enter this password. * The password can be up to 10 characters long. * Using a password longer than 10 characters might prevent Ghost from restoring the file. -QUIET User intervention User intervention is at two prompts: "Proceed with disk load?" and "Reset computer or continue?" -RB User intervention In batch mode, this forces automatic reboot after completion. -RECOVER Clone Use a detected File Preservation Metadata File and preserve the files/directories it describes. Symantec Ghost 8.0 -SCRIPT=filename 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. -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 Skip this filename during image creation. -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. See the document Switches: -SLOWFILE and -BUFFERSIZE. -SPAN Image file Turn on spanning. -SPLIT=x Image file By default in most cases, Ghost will save an image as a single file. This switch forces Ghost to save the image file as one or more files, in which each file is x MB in size. The last file is usually smaller than x. The maximum value for the -SPLIT switch is 2048 MB. 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?" * If -SURE is run from a DOS command line, Ghost finishes the operation, bypasses the prompt "Reset computer or continue?" and returns to a DOS prompt. * If -SURE is run from the Ghost.exe graphical user interface (GUI), Ghost finishes the operation and displays the prompt "Reset computer or continue?" Not available in Norton Ghost 2001, 2002, or 2003. -SZE 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. -SZEE 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. -SZEF 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 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 Sets the block size on the tape you are writing an image to. -TAPEBUFFERED Use on old DAT drives with unreliable tapes. -TAPEEJECT 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. -TAPESAFE Use on old DAT drives with unreliable tapes. -TAPESIZE Not a valid switch. Ghost manuals that refer to this switch are in error. Instead, use the -TAPEBSIZE switch. See the document Switch -TAPESIZE does not appear to work -TAPESPEED=x X is the speed in hexadecimal, ranging from 0 to F, where 0 is the default speed, and F is the maximum speed. -TAPEUNBUFFERED Use on old DAT drives with unreliable tapes. -TCPM[:slave IP address] 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. -TCPS 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. -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 Symantec Ghost 7.5 and later. Not available in Norton Ghost 2001, 2002, or 2003. -USBM 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. -USBS 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. -VDW Bad disk Verifies disk writes. -VER Information Displays Ghost version number. -VER=value 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. For a list of version numbers, see the document How to determine your version of Ghost. -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: * -Z defaults to level 1. * 1 = Fast. This is lowest compression level, and the fastest transfer rate (apart from no compression). * 2 = High compression. * 3 to 9 = Highest compression level and slowest transfer rate.