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 ?

[FCM]

so I just want to confirm I have the TS setup correctly

 

xcopy USMT I am using package for the x86 folder in USMT

xcopy runscanstate I am using the batch file package

run i am using the batch file package (maybe I am wrong here?)

Restore user files and settings I am using the complete USMT package (not just x86)

 

so it seemed to be working up until the run part of the TS then failed but when I reeboot and go into the image that was all ready on the pc (XP)

I can see it has created the folders but hasnt copied the usmt stuff or the batch file but has copied the entire dp smspkg folder...

am I being a dougnut??? what have I missed!! :-) please help .... thanks again in advance....

[anyweb]

does this help to clarify it ?

 

 

 

[FCM]

Thanks Niall really appreciate your help.... last one I promise my TS fails on the last step Restore user files and settings with error code 0x8007001c so for this step I used the x86 USMT package it failed also tried the complete USMT package and this still failed... although the win7 image is applied and everything else seems good.. USMT folder is there.... but just not completing the restore ....

[Dennis]

FCM: I think it don't work if you use "Access content directly from a distribution point when needed by the running task" I had exactly the same errors as you.

 

So I cant use this method because if i don't use Access content directly from a distribution point when needed by the running task the SCCM process is way to slow.

[FCM]

FCM: I think it don't work if you use "Access content directly from a distribution point when needed by the running task" I had exactly the same errors as you.

 

So I cant use this method because if i don't use Access content directly from a distribution point when needed by the running task the SCCM process is way to slow.

 

 

cheers I managed to get that in the end... what package did you use for the restore part of the task sequence ?? my fails..what have I missed?? thanks again...

[omnifred]

What i miss in al these steps is a wipe from the directorys that are not needed (windows,program files, users...etc)if you look at the logfiles in MDT 2010 with USMT hardlink scan, you see that the directorys get wiped from the disk instead of a format.

can somebody explain this to me, i would like to use Offline USMT in a XP deploymend (XP to XP) and got eveything working bud i doubt that the directorys get wiped

[anyweb]

you cant use offline mode for XP to XP, it's not supported, this is designed for XP to windows 7

 

cheers

niall

[Eswar Koneti]

Created a Media from the TS(off-line mode) and boot from DVD on a standalone machine to upgrade to win 7 but it fails at wiping the system Drive task.could not find any error messages form the smsts.log .Attached the screenshot as well Log file.(PAckage ID:C0100047 is runscan state and C0100049 is USMTx86) .anything wrong in the TS?

smsts.log

[anyweb]

hi Eswar,

 

if you press f8 before it gets this far can you browse to c:\ and do you see the folders we need to create like c:\usmtoffline etc ? remember when testing if you fail for whatever reason that you'll have to delete those two usmt folders as i havn't built in any checking into the TS to see if they are there already (in the create folder part...)

[Eswar Koneti]

Hi,

Yes,it created 2 folders and i am testing it on Virtual with option Undo Disk(which doesnt require to delete created folders)

Hmmmm.The interesting thing is ,i ran it once again on a Vitual to see if it works.It passed the wiping system drive without any error and now applying the image.There are no changes that has been done since this error occurd but it works greatly.I will let you know the result on this soon!