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 ?

[Terry]

Yes I would like to emulate this on MDT 2010 Update 1. I do not want to run this as a second Task Sequence and I would like to be prompts to be like during an Online scanstate. I've tried to setup this sequence but I'm left scratching my head. By default when you the C: drive is mounted as X: and the Deployment Share is mounted as drive Z: so I don't think there is a reason to copy the USMT files when they are accessed on the Z: drive. This is where the problems for come from.

 

Terry

[ia2s]

I try do to the same things but refresh windows 7(Windows 7 to Windows 7 using Offline mode in Windows PE) but it's doesn't work and i don't have errors in log. The system cannot delete a file (c:\windows\system32\config\SOFTWARE° are not delete and after i have an error.Can you help me please. (Sorry for my English).

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Best Regards

 

Jo

[Rudi]

Hi there,

 

i have imported the complete script again for the offline mode. But i have the same problems.

I think i have some errors in my script, because when the sccm copies the files on the client, it copies about 18 GB of data on the client. It seems that the whole content of the SMSPKG$ folder will be copied on the client.

The second thing is, that the USMT tool works in parts. That means, on the Win XP client, the whole profiles will be copied in the folder named "USMTOffline". The profiles are in stored in the path "USMT\File\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\", but the profiles are not restored on the new Win 7 client.

Are there any ideas what could be the problem on my machine?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Best Regards

 

Rudi

[anyweb]

hi rudi, can you confirm if the advertisement properties of the your task sequence are set to run from dp or access content directly ?

[Rudi]

hi rudi, can you confirm if the advertisement properties of the your task sequence are set to run from dp or access content directly ?

 

 

 

Hi,

 

i think you mean with dp the deployment point, right? Sorry but i am a beginner in SCCM.

I have attached the screenshot, it is in german but i think the properties are at the same location in all lanuages.

 

Best regards.

 

Rudi

 

[anyweb]

select the third option instead of the first, does it work then ?

[ia2s]

Hi there,

 

I try to reinstall a Windows 7 computer using hardlink(Windows 7 to Windows 7 using Offline mode in Windows PE). The system cannot delete a file (c:\windows\system32\config\SOFTWARE° are not delete and after i have an error.Can you help me please. (Sorry for my English).

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Best Regards

 

Jo

[anyweb]

hi Jo

 

see the reply here

 

http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/2499-reinstall-windows-7-using-sccm-and-hardlink/page__view__getnewpost__fromsearch__1

[agrau]

This Task Sequence is all well and good but what if I wanna use MDT 2010 Update 1 ? The TS are different than the ones in SCCM. We are eventually looking at moving to SCCM but at the moment our solution is to use MDT. I can get the ScanState to work when logged in as a domain user but it doesn't accept the arguments from the CustomSettings.ini. Have any suggestions? In the meantime, I will try to modify your TS for MDT and see if it works.

 

thanks,

Terry

 

I am in the same boat have you been able to edit the TS to make it work in MDT 2010 with hardlinks, offline and install OS then loadstate?

[Rudi]

select the third option instead of the first, does it work then ?

 

Hi there,

 

i set the option like you said (see the picture below)

 

The sequence crashes with the error "The order "runscanstat-offlinewindir.bat" could not be found or is written wrong.

Also all the packages in the "SMSPKGC$" share is copied on the client again.

 

If i set the previous setting the sequence runs but don´t copy the profiels back.

 

Do you have an idea what i made wrong?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Best regards.

 

Rudi

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