using Offline Mode in Windows PE using USMT 4 via a task sequence in SCCM 2007 SP2

[anyweb]

hi all,

 

Note: This post has been reproduced in a webcast, so if you'd like to see a video of Offline Mode in WinPE then click here

 

 

 

well this feature in USMT 4 is handy, as it allows you to do a scanstate while in Windows PE in other words, not in the OS so no problems with services running or applications running meaning that you get to backup everything you want without any locked files stopping from doing so.

 

Offline mode does however have some restrictions, read this page on Technet for details of that. To get around these restrictions and to migrate wallpaper see here, to migrate your network printers see here.

 

 

Great, but how do I do Offline Mode in Windows PE using SCCM ?

 

according to Microsoft, we can use the /offlinewindir switch in USMT 4 with scanstate.

 

/offlinewindir: "path to a windows directory"

 

 

This option specifies the offline Windows directory that the ScanState command gathers user state from. The offline directory can be Windows.old when you run the ScanState command in Windows or a Windows directory when you run the ScanState command in Windows PE. This option is incompatible with the /offline option.

 

However, implementing it isn't so straigtforward as you've probably already discovered and documentation about getting it to work within SCCM is as far as I can see pretty much non-existant,

so here courtesy of windows-noob.com is one way of doing it, feel free to show us other ways.

 

The theory behind this:-

 

As the Capture User State Step in a standard task sequence can only run in Windows, we cannot use that step to do our scanstate while in Windows PE, therefore we will use some tricks to run scanstate from WinPE.

 

To do this we create two special packages, the first package contains a batch file which calls the scanstate.exe file and the second package is the entire USMT X86 scanstate files and folders, (note: in this example we are using scanstate from the X86 folder).

 

This means that we create a separate package to the normal USMT4 package and this is only because this example is a workaround or proof of concept to prove that Offline Mode in Windows PE can be done via a Task Sequence in SCCM.

 

Update: If you would like sample code to check for and use the correct USMT architecture in offline mode then see Peters post here

 

 

Get your lab ready

 

We need a Windows XP client machine to test scanstate on and you should enable the F8 command prompt option in your boot.wim (you'll need it).

 

 

The Task Sequence

 

You can use this Task Sequence in SCCM by importing it. Please note this task sequence only has the 4 groups in it, if you want the 4 groups plus OSD then use the other Task Sequence further down.

 

Offline Mode in Windows PE using USMT 4.xml

 

The task sequence depends on three packages, the X86 bits from your USMT 4 (ie: copy everything in the X86 folder from C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\USMT folder. There are two versions, one for 32bit (X86) and one for 64bit (amd64), we are only using the X86 bits in this guide), the Batchfile

 

 

 

I break up my task sequence into four distinct groups, Set, Create, xcopy and Run

 

SET

 

 

In the Set group I set SystemDrive to c: (otherwise it will try and do this on the windows PE x: drive)

 

 

Next we set the OSDStateStorePath Task Sequence Variable to %systemdrive%\USMToffline which translates to c:\USMToffline, this directory will store our migration data during scanstate operations and when the new os is being applied.

 

 

Finally we set the hardlink load parameters

 

 

 

CREATE

 

In the Create group we just create two folders, c:\USMToffline,

 

 

and c:\USMTbits\X86

 

 

 

the c:\USMTbits\X86 will store all our scanstate native files.

 

 

XCOPY

 

In the xcopy group we do the clever stuff, we copy the X86 USMT stuff to the newly created folder, and then we copy our batch file for later user.

 

 

The batch file itself has the following contents

 

 

@set USMT_WORKING_DIR=%~2%\USMTbits\x86

"%~2\USMTbits\x86\scanstate.exe" "%~1" /c /o /hardlink /efs:hardlink /nocompress /offlinewindir:c:\windows /v:5 /l:%~2\windows\TEMP\SMSTSLog\scanstate.log /progress:%~2\windows\TEMP\SMSTSLog\scanstateprogress.log /i:%~2\USMTbits\x86\miguser.xml /i:%~2\USMTbits\x86\migapp.xml

 

 

You can download the batchfile below however you must rename it back to .bat

 

runscanstate-offlinewindir.bat.txt

 

 

RUN

 

The Run group does the actual running of the batch file and passes two variables to the file.

 

 

 

 

Testing Offline Mode.

 

Create an optional advertisement to a Migrate XP to W7 X86 collection for the Task Sequence and PXE boot your XP client (press F12 first....), select the Task Sequence when the wizard appears,

 

 

at this point press F8 to bring up the command prompt, you are doing this to verify that your data is getting migrated in OFFLINE mode. So here we can see the command prompt is open.

 

 

Ok switch back to the TS and start the task sequence. You will see it starts creating the folders, copying the USMT stuff and our batch file(s) and then actually running the scanstate command.

 

 

 

Once it is completed your migrated data will now be stored in C:\USMToffline\USMT

 

browse it and verify

 

 

If you want to see a working SMSTS.log file from the above test see below

 

smsts.log

 

 

Ok now what ?

[emmathews83]

Hello,

 

Just wondering if anyone had an other suggestions to my issue:

 

"look for the loadstate.log file in this location, it's listed clearly in your smsts-.... log file (did you look at the contents of that log file?)

 

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\CCM\Logs\SMSTSLog\loadstate.log

 

post that loadstate.log file here and we'll help you."

 

 

When I go to C:\Windows\SysWOW64\CCM\Logs there is not another folder called SMSTSLog.

 

I even ran a search on the entire C: drive for loadstate.log and it didn't find it.

 

 

Just incase i messed up on the Task Sequence I have attached a copy of it.

Attached Files

• offlineUSMT.xml 45.64K 0 downloads
  

[SpinnZ]

I saw this up before, thanks for the tip. Can this be used offline in PE though? I thought the Request, Capture, Release had to be done online

 

I have the same question...

Is it possible to do an Offline - In-place upgrade using SMP?

All i get are errors saying it cant find hte SMP..

 

Alternatively if i do it live on the machine...with 2012 you need to copy all packages refering to teh TS locally...essentially doubling the storage requirements.

 

Any help would be great. Cheers

[cgbolton1]

I actually have a strange issue going on. I am using the XP to W7 Demo TS as my template for hardlink USMT however during the process the XCOPY command seems to be trying to copy the entire contents of my distribution point to the client. The command I am executing is as follows:

 

xcopy * %systemdrive%\USMTbits\X86 /herciy

 

I am also including a package that includes the x86 folder of the USMT folder in the "Run Command Line". What I was expecting to happen was that the contents of the package should be copied to the %systemdrive%\USMTbits\X86 folder, not the entire contents of my DP. The result is that the TS takes a huge amount of time and fills the drive of the client workstation. I am going to poke around and see if I can use a batch file to copy the USMT files and the runscanstate batchfile. If anyone has any ideas on how to fix my xcopy problem and to limit what xcopy is copying I would appreciate it.

[Peter van der Woude]

That's caused by the download settings of your advertisement.. see here for and explanation: http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/2758-how-can-i-copy-files-from-a-package/

[james.mcdonald2899]

I am getting a slight problem when i run the offline hardlink TS. When it runs my runscanstate.bat file, it comes up with a "Settings store argument specified is invalid 0x00000091. I have been at it for a while and i need a second, third, and maybe even fourth eye on this. I have included the TS (xml) and the runscanstate syntax (txt). Please tell me what i am missing. Im starting to see double.

runscanstate.txt

USMT-HARDLINK-TEST(Offline).xml

[jedi2804]

I would say this is very impressive solution! Before I adopt it for my deployment, I'd like to know if I am able to achieve similar result by just adding an additional "Restart Computer" as the very first task in with my traditional MDT Task Sequence? I have no offend but seeking a simpler and safer solution.

 

Thanks a lot.

[anyweb]

try it and see what happens

[Seph]

Hello

I am new in SCCM, so sorry about possible silly questions. I have
build up a base image (wim file) that has all the apps and basic
configurations. For the final deploy for my users i have a TS that apply
that base wim with a few other step, namely driver packages and a
registry change that redirects the folder “users” for the D: drive.
Everything works fine, Now what i need to do is to build a new TS for
refresh scenarios, following the above explanation everything seems to
work fines, except for the fact the my profiles are located on d:\users,
and when the TS finishes one of the two scenarios happens:

a) if i use the step to redirect the users profile do drive D:, when i
logon to the machine it creates a second profile in the D: drive. For
example if the user is John, a have a john profile (the old one
containing the real data) and a new one DOMAIN\john, which of course is
empty without the migrated data.

if i simply just disable this redirection step, when i logon it
creates a new profile named john in drive c:\users and it just ignores
the old profile in D:\users\john

I need to maintain the D:\users\john profile and that after the
refresh when the user logon it assumes the old profile. Can anyone help
me in this situation? what on hell am i doing wrong ….

Thanks on advanced

[jedi2804]

Added "Restart Computer" as the very first task and the profile capture/restore looks ok. Can advise what's the differences that we are expecting...

[johnburke]

I'm guessing that we could use teh same USMT package we use for our standard zero touch deploys? As long as we call the commands via bat files?