PXE not picking up with new Boot WIM

[Arcuss88]

Hey all, I'm at my wits end here.

I'm trying to add support for a new generation of laptops to my SCCM 2012 R2 TS. I have already gone through the trouble of gathering all the required drivers for the new models and created new Driver Packages only to find that the new models all use a newer\different NIC driver than the previous generation. No big deal I think, I'll just create a new boot WIM for testing, get the appropriate drivers for WinPE and I'm good! Well, not so fast. For some reason when I add the new boot WIM to my testing Task Sequence and try to PXE, the machine is unable to pick up the OSD deployment. If a revert back to the original boot WIM in the same TS it picks up, but there are no NIC drivers. I've pretty much narrowed it down to being some sort of issue with my new boot WIM but can't seem to figure out what.

 

I'll be upfront and say that I have not had to create a new boot WIM before so it's possible I FUBAR'd something during this process. I just used the "Add new Boot WIM" function and pointed the wizard at the Win ADK supplied boot WIM. If that's not right, maybe someone can point me in the right direction.

 

I've confirmed the new boot WIM is at my local DP

the new boot WIM is the same version as the working one, WinPE 5.0 (6.3 \ Win 8.1)

I've confirmed my drivers are the appropriate version and architecture and the correct model

 

I can't even get any logs because when I use the new boot WIM it doesn't get past PXE. Below are the last few lines of the PXE before the machine reboots:

 

Message from Administrator:

Configuration Manager is looking for policy

 

Contacting Server: [local DP IP].......

TFTP Download: smsboot\x64\abortpxe.com

 

PXE Boot aborted. Botting to next device...

PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel Boot Agent

 

[Adam Bise]

Did you install the optional components?

 

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn387582.aspx

 

http://www.niallbrady.com/2013/10/09/how-can-i-manually-add-winpe-5-boot-images-to-system-center-2012-configuration-manager-sp1-cu3/

[Arcuss88]

WOW, hadn't seen this TechNet article, This addesses a lot of the confusion I've been having! I'll read up on this and make sure I'm using the correct WinPE version for the SCCM version I have. I'll report back once I get it worked out, thanks a bunch!

[Arcuss88]

Did you install the optional components?

 

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn387582.aspx

 

http://www.niallbrady.com/2013/10/09/how-can-i-manually-add-winpe-5-boot-images-to-system-center-2012-configuration-manager-sp1-cu3/

Thanks for the help, the TechNet article helped a lot and answered some confusion I was also having as well. I am using SCCM 2012 R2 SP1 so WinPE 5.0 is natively supported for customizations. I was trying to take a shortcut and copy the existing boot WIMs and just modify them but that didn't seem to do the trick (and after thinking about it some more I probably shouldn't trust it anyway since the guy I took over the environment from had left me some land mines elsewhere).

 

Solution Summary:

I was able to add the WinPE 5.0 from Windows ADK for 8.1 using the "Add Boot Image" wizard. I then updated it to one of my DPs without making any changes. Once it was successfully at the DP I added the driver I needed, Optional Components, and background. The final piece I was missing was to check the box on the Data Source tab to "Deploy this boot image from the PXE-enabled distribution point" and update the Distribution Points again.

Thanks for the help and I hope my little sna-foo saves someone else some time.