Disabling multicast crashes WDS service

[pstanley]

Hi,

 

I recently set up multicast on our SCCM 2007 R3 server (Windows 2008 Standard SP2 64-bit) as per the guide by Steve Rachui - http://blogs.msdn.co...ng-in-sccm.aspx

 

Everything is working as far as multicasting, but I wanted to turn multicasting off so I could run some OSD TS tests on a single machine (as I find unicasting to be faster, even when only multicasting to a single machine). I unchecked the Enable multicasting box in the ConfigMgr console under Site Settings-->SCCM Server-->Configmgr Distribution Point and then restart the WDS service via services.msc, but now the WDS service then fails to restart and gives the following error in Event Viewer.

 

Log Name: Application

Source: WDSServer

Date: 12/28/2011 12:35:51 PM

Event ID: 257

Task Category: WDSServer

Level: Error

Keywords: Classic

User: N/A

Computer: SCCM Server

Description:

An error occurred while trying to start the Windows Deployment Services server.

 

Error Information: 0x7E

 

If I re-enable multicasting, I can successfully start the WDS service. I have tried restarting the SCCM server, but the issue still remains.

 

I have tried searching the error but nothing pertains to SCCM specifically. Can anyone shed some light? Thanks.

[jeaostro]

Hello

 

First of all, you dont need disable the multicast feature to run a unicast. Just change the advertisment to run everything from DP, or create a advertisment just for Multicast (to a collection) and other advertisments to another collection for unicast. Or do not set the OS image to be multicast enabled.

 

Second: The "error" you describe is a common issue (seen this on 4 different installations where Multicast is in use), and Microsoft has knowledge about this. Do not know if there is a fix anywhere.

 

So you have to make a choice:

1. do not use Multicast (remove the PXE role, then remove Multicast, and WDS, afterwards install WDS and PXE roole again)

2. Have multicast enabled, and create a advertisment for Multicast and another advertisment for Unicast.

 

Hope this could shed some light