could not start remote installation service on local computer

[anyweb]

For those of you that don't know Service Pack 2 is now available (on windows update and as a separate download) for Windows 2003 Server.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;DisplayLang=en

 

Some people may inadvertently upgrade their Windows 2003 sp1 servers to sp2 without reading the relase notes, and if that server was a RIS server (remote installation services via pxe boot) then you may be in for a surprise.

 

Amonsgt other things (release notes) Service pack 2 upgrades your RIS server to act as a Windows Deployment Service, however in the process of doing so it effectively renders the 'old' Remote installation SERVICE obsolete (and this explains the cryptic errors below).

 

 

 

What does this mean ?

 

If they didn't know about it what they will see is all PXE boot attempts to their 'RIS' server will FAIL.

 

 

Symptoms include:-

 

Error on startup of the server immediately (and after every reboot) after installing Service Pack 2, stating

 

'a service failed to start, please check the event viewer for details'.

 

PXE boot failure on the client (no boot filename received error).

 

RIS service on the server fails to start with the following error if you try to start it manually -

 

'Could not start Remote Installation Service on local computer.

Error 127: the specified procedure could not be found.'

 

 

Steps to alleviate the problem:-

 

Advise customers to open administrative tools and to click on 'services'. Scroll down to 'Windows Deployment Services server' service, it will NOT be started and it's state is set to 'manual'. Ask the customer to start the service (they may wish to set it's startup type to 'automatic'.

 

Now, the customer should be able to PXE boot their clients as normal to the RIS server and deploy images exactly as they did before.

Other things to note:-

 

The new service is actually very useful to your customer, because now they can deploy Vista images via this server, however as SP2 is forcing the change gently from RIS to Windows Deployment Services what you will see are three modes for the new service (shown below). So effectively if the customer upgrades a SP1 RIS server to SP2, then they will be able to use the Windows Deployment Services in legacy mode to retain compatability with RIS.

 

More info about this below:-

 

Windows Deployment Services

Starting with this version of Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Remote Installation Services is replaced by Windows Deployment Services. You can use Windows Deployment Services to set up new computers through a network-based installation without having to be physically present at each computer and without having to install directly from DVD media. For more information about Windows Deployment Services, see the Windows Deployment Services Update Step-by-Step Guide

 

Overview on technet > http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista...3.mspx?mfr=true

 

Initial server mode

The method of installation and subsequent configuration actions dictate the initial server mode as follows:

Task Procedure

To get to Legacy mode: 1. Install the RIS optional component on Windows Server 2003 with SP1.

2. Install the Windows Deployment Services update.

3. Run RISETUP and add an image.

To get to Mixed mode: 1. Install the RIS optional component on Windows Server 2003 with SP1.

2. Run RISETUP and add an image.

3. Install the Windows Deployment Services update.

4. Run WDSUTIL /initialize-server.

To get to Native mode: 1. Install the RIS optional component on Windows Server 2003 with SP1.

2. Install the Windows Deployment Services update.

3. Run WDSUTIL /initialize-server.

 

here's an example of that

 

D:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools>wdsutil /verbose /progress /initialize-server /reminst:"e:\RemoteInstall"

 

the /verbose command is very useful for seeing errors (such as access denied). I did receive access denied errors when running the Windows Deployment Services GUI wizard, and after much searching It turned out to be possibly related to

 

1. I had renamed my RemoteInstall folder to Remoteinstall2k3 (easy to rename back, but then you must re-share it to REMINST and then re-scan the domain controller in Active Directory users and computers, select the domain, choose properties, choose Remote install, choose verify, it will find errors and correct them.

 

2. verify your permissions on the REMINST share, if they are read-only for EVERYONE then WDS will fail with 'access denied'.

[mryan67]

This topic appears dead but I will ask my question in hopes of getting a response....

I am involved in the situation you have described exactly except that when I try to manually restart RIS is continues to return the same error message even though WDS has started fine.

I am running mixed mode.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

 

For those of you that don't know Service Pack 2 is now available (on windows update and as a separate download) for Windows 2003 Server.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;DisplayLang=en

 

Some people may inadvertently upgrade their Windows 2003 sp1 servers to sp2 without reading the relase notes, and if that server was a RIS server (remote installation services via pxe boot) then you may be in for a surprise.

 

Amonsgt other things (release notes) Service pack 2 upgrades your RIS server to act as a Windows Deployment Service, however in the process of doing so it effectively renders the 'old' Remote installation SERVICE obsolete (and this explains the cryptic errors below).

What does this mean ?

 

If they didn't know about it what they will see is all PXE boot attempts to their 'RIS' server will FAIL.

Symptoms include:-

 

Error on startup of the server immediately (and after every reboot) after installing Service Pack 2, stating

 

'a service failed to start, please check the event viewer for details'.

 

PXE boot failure on the client (no boot filename received error).

 

RIS service on the server fails to start with the following error if you try to start it manually -

 

'Could not start Remote Installation Service on local computer.

Error 127: the specified procedure could not be found.'

Steps to alleviate the problem:-

 

Advise customers to open administrative tools and to click on 'services'. Scroll down to 'Windows Deployment Services server' service, it will NOT be started and it's state is set to 'manual'. Ask the customer to start the service (they may wish to set it's startup type to 'automatic'.

 

Now, the customer should be able to PXE boot their clients as normal to the RIS server and deploy images exactly as they did before.

Other things to note:-

 

The new service is actually very useful to your customer, because now they can deploy Vista images via this server, however as SP2 is forcing the change gently from RIS to Windows Deployment Services what you will see are three modes for the new service (shown below). So effectively if the customer upgrades a SP1 RIS server to SP2, then they will be able to use the Windows Deployment Services in legacy mode to retain compatability with RIS.

 

More info about this below:-

 

Windows Deployment Services

Overview on technet > http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista...3.mspx?mfr=true

 

Initial server mode

The method of installation and subsequent configuration actions dictate the initial server mode as follows:

Task Procedure

To get to Legacy mode: 1. Install the RIS optional component on Windows Server 2003 with SP1.

2. Install the Windows Deployment Services update.

3. Run RISETUP and add an image.

To get to Mixed mode: 1. Install the RIS optional component on Windows Server 2003 with SP1.

2. Run RISETUP and add an image.

3. Install the Windows Deployment Services update.

4. Run WDSUTIL /initialize-server.

To get to Native mode: 1. Install the RIS optional component on Windows Server 2003 with SP1.

2. Install the Windows Deployment Services update.

3. Run WDSUTIL /initialize-server.

 

here's an example of that

 

D:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools>wdsutil /verbose /progress /initialize-server /reminst:"e:\RemoteInstall"

 

the /verbose command is very useful for seeing errors (such as access denied). I did receive access denied errors when running the Windows Deployment Services GUI wizard, and after much searching It turned out to be possibly related to

 

1. I had renamed my RemoteInstall folder to Remoteinstall2k3 (easy to rename back, but then you must re-share it to REMINST and then re-scan the domain controller in Active Directory users and computers, select the domain, choose properties, choose Remote install, choose verify, it will find errors and correct them.

 

2. verify your permissions on the REMINST share, if they are read-only for EVERYONE then WDS will fail with 'access denied'.

[anyweb]

you cannot restart the RIS (remote installation service) service once you have got the WDS service installed, the WDS service REPLACES the RIS service, so you must disable the RIS service and enable the WDS service,

 

once you have started the WDS service instead of the RIS service, all your normal RIS fucntions will work again,

 

have you tested PXE booting to the ris server ?

[mryan67]

thanks for the response... I am actually in Legacy mode and have resolved the problem of the target machine not seeing the RIS but now have a seperate issue.

I have sucessfully imaged two machines but remote administration(AKA-selecting to manage the computer from the server) is being denied. It appears that the newly imaged machines are not picking up the Group Policy to disable windows firewall and disabling locally on the machine makes no difference--additionally the newly image machines are not appearing in the appropriate location(mydomain/computers) when they appear in the domain.

Any thougths on these issues?

Thanks--I am new to the 2003 server environment.

 

 

This topic appears dead but I will ask my question in hopes of getting a response....

I am involved in the situation you have described exactly except that when I try to manually restart RIS is continues to return the same error message even though WDS has started fine.

I am running mixed mode.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[anyweb]

what os are you installing on these computers ?

more details please in order to determine the issue

 

cheers

niall