Intermittent Deployment Problems with OSD & BDD 2007

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Intermittent Deployment Problems with OSD & BDD 2007 - 9/18/2008 11:13:24 PM

mshah923

Posts: 5
Score: 0
Joined: 11/17/2006
Status: offline

We have been using SMS 2003 OSD and BDD 2007 to deploy Windows XP workstations and everything has been working just fine for us until recently. A few weeks ago we started seeing the install process randomly come to a halt during the State Restore phase. We have been going through logs and we cannot determine why the install process just stops.

Here is the process and problem that we are seeing:

·         Image installs and machine reboots as expected.
·         Machine starts up and runs Sysprep and machine joins the domain and then reboots as expected.
·         Machine reboots and the Restoring computer and user state window and progress bar is displayed on screen.

For machines that fail

Once the above progress bar completes, the machine goes right to the GINA. When we press Ctl-Alt-Del, the user ID is populated with Administrator and the local machine name for the domain name. Thus, the remaining tasks failed to run.
When we manually logon as Administrator, we can see the folder C:\ _SMSTaskSequence is present. If the debug command is used, the MININT folder is present. Otherwise the MININT folder is not present.

For machines that do not fail

The machine auto-logs on as Administrator and it completes all of the tasks defined in the State Restore phase such as Install Packages and then goes on to perform the custom task sequences that we have defined for our install process.

Here is some additional background information:
· This problem is intermittent. We have seen the problem happen on two different OS Image Packages and couple of different hardware.
· We had the OS package deployed to 3 SMS DPS, but we noticed that only one DP was ever being used. For troubleshooting purposes, the OS package was removed from the 2 DPs that were never getting used. This did not resolve the issue.

Infrastructure

SMS 2003 R2, SP3
OSD feature pack version 2.50.3726.2000
Windows Server 2003, SP1
BDD 2007
WAIK Version 6.0.6000.16386

We have checked all of the logs in great detail and followed the deployment process flowcharts, but we simply cannot find out why the process fails intermittently like this. The process will often fail and then work on the same machine when an install is run back-to-back.

Any assistance or pointers on where we can look is greatly appreciated. Even detailed understanding of what processes gets called by OSD & SMS right during the startup to initiate the tasks within BDD's State Restore Phase.

Thank you in advance!

Post #: 1

RE: Intermittent Deployment Problems with OSD & BDD 2007 - 9/19/2008 11:15:16 AM

rbennett806

Posts: 885
Score: 18
Joined: 6/14/2006
Status: offline

Is your OS .WIM image file up to date? Or do you disable the Automatic Update service during the OSD process?

In the past I used to see a lot of oddities and conflicts because while we were trying to install packages during the State Restore phase, sometimes Windows was randomly pulling down and installing Windows Updates at the same time. The solution for us was to simply capture a new, up to date OS .WIM image each month (we only have 2 OS .WIMs so it's not a big deal for us).

I don't know if that's your problem or not, so just tossing it your way...

(in reply to mshah923)

Post #: 2

RE: Intermittent Deployment Problems with OSD & BDD 2007 - 9/19/2008 12:39:51 PM

mshah923

Posts: 5
Score: 0
Joined: 11/17/2006
Status: offline

Thank you Rick for your reply! Our OS.WIM is current up to August Patches. Since we hadn't planned on updating the WIM file monthly, we were going to use ITMU & Windows Update to aid in applying remaining patches.

When I use PSLIST on the Target machine that is being deployed and is at the State Restore Phase, I do see WUAUCLT.EXE running. Based on our environment, WUA should only be doing scanning at this moment or perpahs update itself if needed, since this would be the first time the WUA is running afer sysprep.

Just to rule things out, we will look at disabling Automatic Updates from doing anything (I think it's only doing scans during this phase) and see if it helps. I will also review WindowsUpdate.log to see if I can find anything odd in there.

Manoj

(in reply to rbennett806)

Post #: 3