WinPE

[Sisko]

Hi guys, is there somewhere within SCCM that specifies what WinPE boot image is used in the imaging process??

 

We've just bought in some new PC's, and they're not booting into SCCM correctly. The machine boots over PXE, I get the SCCM 2007 Splash screen, but then instead of being able to select which OS to install and crack on, it stays on the SCCM Splash screen saying "preparing Windows settings" I think it says, that then disappears, and the machine reboots itself automatically after 30 secs or so.

 

I'm thinking the WinPE boot image needs updating as the version on Dell's website for an OptiPlex 7020 is WinPE Version 3 and according to our SCCM system, its a customised version 1 that's being used, although I'm wondering how accurate that really is. :S.

 

My question is, and I've never done this bit before so its all new, if I add in the new WinPE......how can I tell SCCM to use that in future deployments? Am I even looking in the right direction?

 

Cheers guys!

Sisko

 

EDIT: I've just been reading up about WinPE on TechNet, and it says Configuration Manager 2007 requires WinPE Version 2.0, yet I just checked our system and I don't think we have any service packs for our SCCM. Under "Help, About" it simply says "System Centre Configuration Manager Version 4.00.6487.2000"......I suspect our SCCM is hideously out of date if I'm reading up about Service Packs 1 & 2 for SCCM 2007......so, does that mean that even if I download WinPE Version 3 from Dell's website, our System won't take it?

[Jorgen Nilsson]

Hi,

You can add drivers to the Boot Image using the admin console, here is a guide that can be used, http://windowsmasher.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/sccm-2012-importing-and-managing-drivers-for-osd/

The WinPE image used is the one associated to the Task Sequence that the client is to install. If many task sequences are target to the same collection where the client is a member the last deployed boot image is used.

Regards,
Jörgen

[Sisko]

Hi,

You can add drivers to the Boot Image using the admin console, here is a guide that can be used, http://windowsmasher.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/sccm-2012-importing-and-managing-drivers-for-osd/

The WinPE image used is the one associated to the Task Sequence that the client is to install. If many task sequences are target to the same collection where the client is a member the last deployed boot image is used.

Regards,

Jörgen

Hi Jorgen, thanks for replying. I notice that guide is for SCCM 2012, and I'm using 2007.

 

When I right click on a driver package, I don't have a "show members" option that the guide specifies. How would I get around this?

 

Thanks

[Jorgen Nilsson]

Hi,

Ah, didn't see that you were running 2007 sorry, You must import the driver to be able to add it to the Boot Image. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680705.aspx

Regards,
Jörgen

[Sisko]

Hi,

Ah, didn't see that you were running 2007 sorry, You must import the driver to be able to add it to the Boot Image. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680705.aspx

Regards,

Jörgen

 

Not having much luck. I've added in all the drivers to the boot image for this model machine, a Dell OptiPlex 7020. Tried booting to the NIC, but I get the same problem. It boots, gets to "preparing network settings" then the dialog box disappears, it stays on the SCCM splash screen about 30 secs and then reboots.

 

And these are the drivers from Dell's own SCCM Cab file on their website!

 

EDIT: I figured out where I was going wrong, a very rookie mistake. It helps to update the distribution point whenever you add driver(s) to a boot image. I hadn't updated the distribution point after adding in the driver so the system wasn't able to see the correct drivers.

[Sisko]

I do have an additional problem though. I created a new task sequence for installing the relevant drivers for a Dell OptiPlex PC. It completes the image process through WinPE, but then when the machine is trying to apply settings for first use, it fails with a message saying "windows could not configure one or more system components"........so it looks like at this rate, I'll need to remove the TS for installing the drivers, and just image the machine and install the drivers manually.

[Jorgen Nilsson]

Hi,

Then there is msot likely somethng wrong with the driver package, not much to do but to start troubleshooting and remove a driver and try again..

 

/Jörgen

[Sisko]

Are the logs during an image deployment kept on the SCCM server somewhere?

 

I have re-created the driver package, populated the drivers back into the driver store on the server and also used the import wizard to populate the corresponding driver package with the drivers.

 

I have added the driver for the machine's model (OptiPlex 7020) to the boot image and updated the distribution point so it knows to use the right driver for this machine.

 

I have tried to deploy an image to the machine, and it appears to be failing, I think, at the tail end of the deployment. The machine tries to boot up, but I get an error message "Task Sequence: Windows 7 Target deployment has failed with the error code (0x80070002)". When I click close, the machine boots up fine, but it is then not on my domain. Would this still be a driver issue?

 

Can I find the logs for the failed deployment on the server or are they only kept on the machine during an image job?

[Sisko]

smsts-20140829-114621.logMorning guys its me again

 

I'm still having difficulty trying to get one of our new model PC's imaging correctly with our SCCM system. The machine APPEARS on the surface to image ok, but then at the very end of the image process I get the (0x80070002) error mentioned above where the system fails at running part of the task sequence.

 

I just re-imaged one of our older model PC's, and it images perfectly fine. In my eyes, this proves there is nothing wrong with the image/packages we have been using in the past.

 

I pulled off the error logs for the PC I'm having trouble with, and it seems to be having difficulty accessing the MDT Files package that we have.

 

There are a number of persistent occurrences in the log, with different second counts where it says the following:

 

"Failed to connect to "\\SERVERNAME\SMSPKGD$\ABZ00005" (1231). Retry in 13 seconds. InstallSoftware 29/08/2014 11:43:01 2452 (0x0994)"

 

Failed to connect to "\\SERVERNAME\SMSPKGD$\ABZ00005" (1231). Retry in 14 seconds. InstallSoftware 29/08/2014 11:43:14 2452 (0x0994)

 

Another bit of the log then says the following:

 

 

Failed to connect to the share \\SERVERNAME\SMSPKGD$\ABZ00005\ with default account InstallSoftware 29/08/2014 11:43:53 2452 (0x0994)
Creating a connection to the share \\SERVERNAME\SMSPKGD$\ABZ00005\ with network access account InstallSoftware 29/08/2014 11:43:53 2452 (0x0994)

 

What the logs don't really make clear is, WHY would the system have difficulty in accessing this particular package? The older model machines we have don't have any problems and image fine, so I'm rather stumped. I've attached the full log-file if anyone would like to have a look at it with SMS Trace or something and would like to look for the error code (0x80070002).

 

Its interesting to note: When I image with an older PC, it also joins the PC to the network domain without any issues. With this Dell OptiPlex 7020, it doesn't put it on the domain, and the process finishes as a standalone machine without any of the drivers installed

 

Can anyone offer any additional input please?

[Sisko]

Hi guys, I think I am a bit further forward with this, but its a head scratcher.

 

I believe the machine is losing its IP address settings near the very end of the imaging process. I pressed F8 when the error popped up on screen and did an ipconfig, the IP settings were blank/not present.

 

When I did this ipconfig check at the beginning of the imaging process, the machine had a working IP address and was communicating fine.

 

The only thing I can't figure out now is: Why would it be losing its IP settings? Surely when it installs the drivers in the Task Sequence, it should keep its settings? Especially if its using the NIC Driver that I put into the WinPE Boot Image?

 

Has anyone ever experienced this before?

 

Thanks for any and all input guys!!