Create Ghost Bootup CD from 2 Floppies

This trick shows you how create a Ghost bootup CD from two floppy disks. The instructions based on Ghost 8, but similar procedures can be done on different versions of Ghost.

Why?

Symantec Ghost is an utility to backup/restore hard drives and partitions. The backup feature requires a "fresh" bootup that is done by using bootup disk(s). This way, no Windows programs are executed providing the backup process a full access to all files and folders, including system files. Because of this, Symantec Ghost normally comes with a bootup wizard which allows users to create the bootup disks; however, the wizard only allow you to create bootup floppy disks, and in many situations, you would have a tough time using the floppies. The reasons can be the speed, bad performance, or the lifetime concern of the floppy disks... Would it be cool if you can create a CD out of those floppies and worry free? This page does not provide instructions how to create Ghost boot disk, it only helps you how to create a bootup CD out of the two floppies. For instructions how to create Symantec Ghost Boot Disk, click Here. Use this trick at your own risk. Here's how Create the two Ghost bootup floppy disks. (Click Here for details). Let's call the first bootup floppy is "Disk #1" and the second disk is "Disk #2". With "Disk #1", Create (if not already exists) a file called "mouse.ini". With "Disk #1", open the file "mouse.ini" with Notepad, and add the following lines: [mouse] MouseType = PS2 To enable the CD-ROM driver (so that the CD-ROM can be accessible), search for the files "OAKCDROM.SYS" and "MSCDEX.EXE" from your computer and copy them to "Disk #1". If you cannot find these files, you can download them here, then extract them to "Disk #1". With "Disk #1", open the file "CONFIG.SYS", then edit this file so that it looks like follows. (Note! If you created the the bootup floopy disks WITHOUT a network driver, use only the first and the last line from below, remove all the lines which start with "DEVICE=\net\") DEVICE=OAKCDROM.SYS /D:mscd001 DEVICE=\net\protman.dos /I:\net DEVICE=\net\dis_pkt.dos DEVICE=\net\EL90x.dos LASTDRIVE=Z: Still with the same file, edit the line "DEVICE=\NET\EL90x.dos" above to the appropriate driver file. (Note! "EL90x.dos" is a driver file for 3COM 90x NIC. Look under the "net" folder of your first floppy to find out the right name of this driver file. This file only exists in the first disk if the floppy set has been created with Network option). With "Disk #1", open the file "AUTOEXEC.BAT" with notepad. Edit the file to have it loads the CD-ROM driver, mouse driver, and launch GHOST.EXE as example below. (Note! If the bootup is not Network enable, remove the line "\net\netbind.com"). Sample AUTOEXEC.BAT file: @echo off SET TZ=GHO+08:00 mscdex /L:D /d:mscd001 MOUSE.COM \net\netbind.com echo Loading Ghost... D: cd \ghost GHOST.EXE -nousb Create the CD with bootable option. This can be done with any recording software (i.e. Nero). Use "Disk #1" as boot image. Create a new folder on the CD contents, called "ghost", then add the executable file "Ghost.exe" into the folder from "Disk #2" ("Ghost.exe" must be in the "ghost" folder since we have created the "AUTOEXEC.BAT" script to look for this file there.) Congratulation! the CD you have created is a Symantec Ghost bootable CD. As long as you have CD-ROM bootup enable, you can use this CD to bootup your computer and use the Ghost tools.

Command Prompt on Right-Click

Many computer users, specially the programmers, need to launch a command prompt window every once in a while to execute some dos/shell commands. The problem is, when a command prompt window launched, the default path is normally the system path or the user profile's path. The users will then have to do all the "cd" commands to change the directories to the path he/she wants.

This trick shows you how to add an option called "Command Prompt" when you right-click on a folder in Windows. With this option, a Command Prompt Window will launch and its current directory will be the path to the folder you've selected.

Use this trick at your own risk.

Here's what you'll get:

The Solution
You can either edit your registry OR download the registry file and apply it on your computer.

Method I. Manually edit the registry:

1. Start > Run
2. Enter "regedit" and hit Enter
3. Expand to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shell"
4. Right-click on "shell" and select New > Key
5. Make sure a new key is created under "shell". Change the name of this key to "Command Prompt"
6. Right-click on this new key "Command Prompt" and select New > Key
7. Change the name of this key to "command"
   
8. 
   
   
9. Double-click on the "(Default)" text on the right window to bring up the edit box
10. Enter this text into the Value Data field:
    cmd.exe "%1"
11. Click OK and close the registry.

Method II. Download and apply the registry file:

1. Download this registry file Here
2. Unzip it to a temp folder, then double-click on the .reg file to add the registry data.

Any Folder as a Photo Folder

This trick shows you how to setup any folder to display its contents as a photo folder. In many cases, you save your images/photos in a folder different than "My Pictures" (under "My Documents"). Since this folder you choose is just like any other normal folders, its contents displayed as a listing of files. You can temporary change it by just right-click and select "View" >> "Thumbnails". But if you want to change the folder so that everytime you come back, the folder itself, as well as all its subfolders, display the contents as photo thumbnails.

Here's How

Right-click on the folder you choose and select "Properties"






Select "Customize" Tab. Then under "Use this folder type as a template", select "Pictures (best for many files)"

Check on "Also apply this template to all subfolders" to apply the setting to subfoders as well

Click OK to exit