Image Capture "Nightmares"

[Zeus_at_Work]

Ok I am new to SCCM but understand the basic concepts. I have recently taken over a position that utilizes SCCM to deploy OS's and software packages, and it works fairly well in that regard. It is running on Server 2008 and I am assured it is SP2 (however help/about makes no mention of SP2)?.

 

Being more accustomed to the way Ghost works, I am used to doing things slightly differently. So the scenario here is that I have 50 brand new HP 6000 Pro systems. I've unpacked one, physically set it up with everything each user would get (Office, Anti-Virus, and some custom Windows settings ie: splash screen). Ideally I would LOVE to be able to take (or capture) a "snapshot" of that single machine, create an image file (wim?) and push that out to the reamining 49. Currently SCCM works fine for doing bare metal installs through what might be described as a more "normal" method. Pushing out works fine for doing that. However after 3 days in these forums and others, trying everything I can find to simply CAPTURE the image has failed. I have no issues PXE booting (after finding out that SCCM might make multiple references to the same system and prevent PXE from booting properly). Getting past that hurdle... I get 2 slightly different errors, when trying two completely different processes for just CAPTURING the reference PC (which is completely comfigured).

 

1. Method 1 was just a typical Build and Capture TS looking like the following:

-Build the reference Machine

-Restart in PE

-all other entries of this section have been disabled.

 

-Capture Reference Machine

-Prepare ConfigMgrClient

-Prepare OS

-Capture the reference machine.

 

This boots from PXE and get to the spot where it has a GUI saying "Initializing Windows PE" and I get the following error code "Capture failed with the error code 0x00000032"

 

2. After reading this forum and trying whatever might be suggested, method 2 was a more custom solution to the same problem and looked more like this:

-Use Toolkit Package

-Set Backup Share

-Set Backup Filename

-Create Image

 

For this method, it fails at a similar time, during the screen that says "Iniitalizing Windows PE" and the error code in this case is 0x0000001

 

In either case I cannot seem to JUST CAPTURE AN ALREADY CONFIGURED MACHINE...... being that the other 49 are identical hardware I thoguht this would be the easiest solution, however now I am having nightmares over my inability to get something, that takes 5 minutes with Ghost, to work at all in 3 days of searching forums and trying everything...

 

Is there not a simple solution to capturing a reference PC (forget the build that is done)? Or can anyone shed some light on what those errors might be or how I might proceed? I'm at a dead end here... and if I cannot figure out a way to take a snapshot this week, I will have to resort to bare-metal installs and manually changing a few things on each PC.

 

HELP! Any help appreciated! Thanks! Please keep in mind I am a newb to this software so if you require me to do anything to provide more information, i am happy to do so but you should also tell me how to do that. Thanks again.

[anyweb]

well try the custom capture windows 7 task sequence then...

[Zeus_at_Work]

well try the custom capture windows 7 task sequence then...

 

Do not want auto login....

[Chris Nackers]

I can already build and capture.... as i said it works fine when we use bare metal to any machine.... I guess you can say it is a superior product if it accomplishes what you want, however from reading other posts I am not the only one here who wishes you could take a snapshot and have it work. I am not sure how you can say Ghost is not adequate, I can do hot-images from the PC you are on and using while in use, and push that out to new PC's.... anyway I don't want to argue about which product is better, after deploying 20+ per day for 3 years, that amounts to deploying roughly 15,600 pc's in that 3 years.... im not sure why it isn't good for "large" deployments.

 

It appears I will not get a satisfactory answer here..... althoguh anyweb it was a couple of your posts which got me this far..... and your solution to the seemingly retarded issue when attempting to image the same machine over and over..... (thanks microsoft... ) why shouldn't it work properly.... ?

 

4 full days.... not a single PC imaged (the way WE want) not the way MS says they would like us to.....brilliant product..... completely efficient!

 

Maybe we should start with that then. You say "the way WE want". Ideally, how would you like to build/image machines? Not using a particular product, just from a process standpoint. If you can tell us that, maybe we can direct you to the best way to handle that with ConfigMgr, or possibly a combination of tools.

 

Microsoft certainly has best practices they would like people to use, but that doesn't mean that is the only way to accomplish.

 

The typical drawback to ghost is that it isn't hardware independent, you can turn around a deploy the same hardware easily, but deploying that image to a laptop from a desktop can be challenging without the appropriate configuration.

 

Hope that helps.

[Zeus_at_Work]

Maybe we should start with that then. You say "the way WE want". Ideally, how would you like to build/image machines? Not using a particular product, just from a process standpoint. If you can tell us that, maybe we can direct you to the best way to handle that with ConfigMgr, or possibly a combination of tools.

 

Microsoft certainly has best practices they would like people to use, but that doesn't mean that is the only way to accomplish.

 

The typical drawback to ghost is that it isn't hardware independent, you can turn around a deploy the same hardware easily, but deploying that image to a laptop from a desktop can be challenging without the appropriate configuration.

 

Hope that helps.

 

I'd like to unpack 1 of the 50 we have in boxes... completely set it up with every piece of software & setting we want ALL users to have, then take a snapshot/image/picture/wim of that already completely configured machine and push it out to the other 49. Here is maybe a real-world scenario to make this point... "Betty Lou" is a mission critical user... her motherboard is having intermittent issues, works for a couple hours then overhears (this is completely invented).... SO.... "we" decide to take a snapshot of her machine.. and duplicate that to another machine with the exact same make/model/hardware..... so she can be up and running on new hardware in less than an hour.... (or exactly like I said in the beginning). We have 50 new ones.... 1 of that model completely configured, ..... why start all over ... I want to take that one "image" and push it out to the other 49......

[Chris Nackers]

I'd like to unpack 1 of the 50 we have in boxes... completely set it up with every piece of software & setting we want ALL users to have, then take a snapshot/image/picture/wim of that already completely configured machine and push it out to the other 49. Here is maybe a real-world scenario to make this point... "Betty Lou" is a mission critical user... her motherboard is having intermittent issues, works for a couple hours then overhears (this is completely invented).... SO.... "we" decide to take a snapshot of her machine.. and duplicate that to another machine with the exact same make/model/hardware..... so she can be up and running on new hardware in less than an hour.... (or exactly like I said in the beginning). We have 50 new ones.... 1 of that model completely configured, ..... why start all over ... I want to take that one "image" and push it out to the other 49......

 

one scenario is backing up a users pc and then restoring that to a new pc. I don't think you would want to restore that to any other machines as it would contain user specific data that really shouldn't be replicated out. Plus any additional programs/changes she's made would be replicated as well.

 

the other solution is creating a master "image" that you will use to build new hardware or refresh existing hardware.

 

The scenario you described would be handled as a replacement scenario. You would run a user state capture on her machine, capture her user data, then do a "bare metal" install to a new machine, lay down your image, install additional applications and then restore her user state to that new machine. User State Migration Tool, is the preferred tool for capturing/restoring user data, this integrates with ConfigMgr, or can be used completely stand-alone.

 

it's generally a good practice to put down a clean os image instead of imaging/backing up an exisitng users machine, any problems they have, would simply come along with that, from an IT standpoint, any chance we can get to get them a new clean OS, is a good thing to have.

 

If you have a physical machine that you want to capture as the master machine, that is fairly easy to do. You need to create "Capture Media" from ConfigMgr (right click on task sequences and select create task sequence media), this media (Cd/dvd) when ran on the machine will sysprep and shutdown the machine and capture the computer to a network location as a .wim. It is HIGHLY recommended that the computer not be joined to a domain or have ever been joined to the domain, again as you are just increasing your risk of having issues with that "image", doesn't matter if it's ghost or otherwise, that's a general imaging best practice.

 

Thankfully configmgr can inject mass storage drivers on the fly (xp), so you won't have to worry about adding drivers to your image prior to capture to be able to deploy that image to different hardware. The only thing that would come into play is the HAL of the machine, and HAL switching is not supported by microsoft.

 

Hope that helps.

[Zeus_at_Work]

*massive sigh*

 

In this case, which is the only case I am concerned with at this point, hardware is not a concern... all 50 are identical..... I did try the capture media method however it implied i needed physical access to the sccm server (which is not the case) as my imaging lab is on the 4th floor and the sccm server on the 8th.... secondly i'd never put a usb key in a server... so unless I completely misunderstood that, it's not a real option.

 

However in the event I was already swimming through the 88888100102123 and 7 trillion things SCCM tries to do, I only need it to do ONE... so please direct me to the best way ... have a completely configured hp 6000, would like to use it on all other 49 machines.....

[anyweb]

you dont need to insert a usb key in the server, just install the sccm console on your desktop (windows xp/7) and create the key there..

[Zeus_at_Work]

you dont need to insert a usb key in the server, just install the sccm console on your desktop (windows xp/7) and create the key there..

 

I woulnd't know if I can download that, or if I have to find it lurking in some deep dark network share somewhere.... will it automatically find all the other SCCM info specified on the actual SCCM server? IE: all the other images/boot images and packages etc... simply by specifying a site id... or.... is it a completely new install, starting from scratch?

[Zeus_at_Work]

How do i install the console on another location besides the sccm server? I created capture media from a task sequence last night before leaving work and dragged the ISO across the network and burned it....... but I guess my skepticism comes from the fact that if the TS doesn't work, why would creating a boot cd for it?

 

I would like to install the console so I can do that more often without running up and down 4 stories of the building.....

[anyweb]

get your sccm 2007 sp2 media, as it's similar to installing a site, except choose to Install the console.

 

see pic