Supporting older workstations after SP1

[h4x0r]

So we're in this waiting game along with everyone else who still has that odd number of older workstations that they need to provide support for, and hoping that someone will come up with a solution to the issue.

 

While going over some different threads, I ran across the mention of running WDS in parallel with SCCM. Basically, the idea was to use WDS for your older stations and use WinPE 3.1 images, while allowing SCCM to handle your newer deployments utilizing WinPE 4.0.

 

Has anyone done this or have any inclination on how this could be configured? Would a setup like this involve the "Specify the PXE server response delay" option under the DP PXE settings?

[Ocelaris]

I have that set up somewhat like you're talking about, but the problem is the broadcast address will only go to one place, i.e. the client sees the first responder and then ignores any others. So it's like a light switch, you EITHER have 2007 or 2012, not both. On my test Vlan I have 2012 and 2007 and if I mess around with the delays I can swap between 2012 and 2007, but on our production network, it's unaffected because it only broadcasts to the 2007 server. Basically the client will grab onto whichever server first responds, so you basically have to limit the ip helper statement in the switch to limit the broadcasts. If you can set up a subnet for imaging 2007 machines, that's what I'd do.

[h4x0r]

Yeah, I figured that the iphelpers would be an issue if you had different servers...I should have been more clear...I was wondering if it would be at all possible to run both WDS and ConfigMgr from the same box simultaneously.

 

Way in the back of my head i had some vague recollection that you could do this with ConfigMgr 2007...but I suspect that 2012 might be more particular.

[Ocelaris]

I'm pretty sure you can't, because you would have to specify 2 instances of WDS, which would be listening on different interfaces... SCCM hijacks WDS for it's PXE references... You'd have to have a service smart enough to only listen on one interface adapter basically, and I don't think WDS has that option? and I don't see how you could hack it to have two instances of WDS running... sorry that wasn't more helpful!

[anyweb]

at some stage in the past in one of my CM07 labs i had wds configured and Configmgr configured with different response times meaning i could switch back and forth between the two, i haven't tried this with CM12, but i'm sure you will, now

 

so i don't know if i will work but go ahead and try

[h4x0r]

Thanks, Niall...I'm pretty sure that was what I was thinking of I'll go ahead and give that a try when I have some time to do a bit of testing on it.

 

Now, when you say "switch back and forth" do you mean alternating the response times in CM and WDS (for example: CM = 3s, WDS = 5s...and then CM = 5s, WDS = 3s) or simply changing available TS's for the client? From what it sounds like in your thread there, if there were no required or available TS's deployed to a collection that the client was a member of then PXE booting would be handed off to whatever WDS boot image was available. Is that how it worked back under that model?

 

I appreciate the help and input on this! thanks!

[anyweb]

when you say "switch back and forth" do you mean alternating the response times in CM and WDS (for example: CM = 3s, WDS = 5s...and then CM = 5s, WDS = 3s)

 

yes that's what I mean, it's manual work, give it a try and see what happens, note that in order for this to work (if it works at all) you have to manually configure WDS prior to adding PXE support in CM12..

[h4x0r]

Hmmm...prior to adding PXE support in 2012...is that as simple as disabling PXE on the DP, configuring WDS, and then re-enabling PXE on the DP? Sorry for the questions...I know some of this I could probably figure out simply by testing it...I just have a lot to do this morning before heading out the door for a few days at a conference

[h4x0r]

FYI,

I have found a solution for now, at least until Microsoft says anything one way or the other...I came across the answer from a thread via one of our other forum members who was having similar problems, and asked the question on the technet forums here

 

Unfortunately, the first step is a little tedious as it requires you to setup SCCM in a VM all over again, but I was able to get this to work for our older workstations so it makes it worth it to me...

1. Build an SCCM 2012 RTM server (Site code TST) and copying off the boot.TST0001.wim from D:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\OSD\boot\i386
2. Create a bootable USB using the Task Sequence wizard in you SCCM 2012 SP1 installation
3. Copy the boot.wim, off the newley created USB (D:\sources\boot.wim) and mount the image using DISM. This should be winPE4.0
4. Browse the mounted image and copy the (d:\sms\bin\i386) to a local drive for later use.
5. Mount the boot.TST0001.wim, which is winPE3.0, and copy the above directory (which should contain all the SMS SP1 OSD functions) into the same location on the mounted wim. Click yes to overwrite all files.
6. Un-Mount and commit the boot.TST0001.wim, rename it to boot.wim and copy to the USB key in place of the WinPE 4.0/Overwriting this

What I hadn't thought about at the time, was that you might have been able to find a VM from Microsoft that already had ConfigMgr installed as some sort of trial (if such a thing exists)...this would save you having to setup SCCM 2012 RTM yourself.

 

I would also note that it would be a good idea to add the USB stick drivers to your WinPE image, otherwise you might get an error that says WinPE cannot read from the task sequence disk.