Hi everyone, Been lurking here for a while time to ask a question :) Without boring people with too much detail - is it possible to boot into the Task Sequence wizard from the local hard disk? What I am after is a bit like bare-metal/PXE boot, but from the local disk. I thought this would be trivial by "splashing the image from USB drive/CD to local hard disk. I then wanted to use the local drive to do the first boot (using the BOOT.WIM on local disk) and then proceed working from the RAMdrive (X:). Then just carry on as normal with imaging the local disk (that WinPE originally booted from but no longer needs as it is working from the RAMdrive)... I am getting WinPE to start but it is then complaining that it Failed to find the current TS configuration path. I cant figure out for the life of me how to get it to find them files. Exactly identical setup works from CD and from USB stick. It just fails booting from the hard disk. Unfortunately out of the box solutions dont really work as I am working within the confines of another (in house) deployment system and I really need to boot from local disk and then deploy to speciffic partitions. <log> TS::Utility::GetTSMDataPath(rsPath), HRESULT=80070002 (e:\nts_sms_fre\sms\client\tasksequence\bootshell\configpath.cpp,231) Failed to find the current TS configuration path ConfigPath::FindConfigPath(sConfigPath), HRESULT=80070002 (e:\nts_sms_fre\sms\client\tasksequence\bootshell\bootshell.cpp,550) Failed to find the configuration path. The system cannot find the file specified. (Error: 80070002; Source: Windows) Execution failed with error 80070002. </log> Any ideas greatly appreciated! Thanks, Vlad.

try the Creating the SCCM Boot.wim section of this guide http://kongkuba1.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!EEFF1607E296E5AB!311.entryMchael Petersenhttp://kongkuba1.spaces.live.com

try the Creating the SCCM Boot.wim section of this guide http://kongkuba1.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!EEFF1607E296E5AB!311.entryMchael Petersen http://kongkuba1.spaces.live.com Thanks for that Michael. Actually, your blog was my main source of information but I found it on:http://blog.coretech.dk/osdeploy/make-changes-to-wdssccm-boot-file-to-run-script-before-task-sequence/That is why I was comparing it to PXE boot.... I just don't seem to be able to get that right at all. I tried all permutations I could think of and I stil get the same error. Funny thing is that once my WinPE does come up I can actually see the SMS folder in my X: drive,but the error remains the same. Out of interest, did you ever try booting this from your HDD (while testing) or just PXE? I will go "take it from the top" once again, just to make sure. Thanks for trying to help. Much appreciated.

Actually no,I never tried that (but I guess thats something for the weekend then).. But just for fun, why not try and update the boot image on sccm, and the boot from the cd with the old boot image.. Then when the TS starts to run it will download the new boot.image to the HD and then ask you to restart the PC.. Before restarting you should be able to take the boot stuff of the HD.. I guess Michael P.S. I blog both places.. one is my own the other is my company http://kongkuba1.spaces.live.com

But just for fun, why not try and update the boot image on sccm, and the boot from the cd with the old boot image.. Then when the TS starts to run it will download the new boot.image to the HD and then ask you to restart the PC.. Before restarting you should be able to take the boot stuff of the HD.. I guess Now that is a cool idea! Thanks Michael. I will try that next as soon as I work out how to (without destroying my only working boot image :). BTW, I just re-tried the PXE-boot method step-by-step and just couldn't get it to work at all.

I couldn't get that to work either. :( It does indeed download the new image but it starts the TS process on next boot.That takes out a layer of flexibility as it pre-caches the whole TS on the first boot...I did notice one thing though... When booting from removable media : ==============================[ TSBootShell.exe ]==============================Succeeded loading resource DLL 'X:\sms\bin\i386\1033\TSRES.DLL'Debug shell is enabledWaiting for PNP initialization...Booted from removable mediaChecking for "D:\SOURCES\BOOT.WIM"Found D:\SOURCES\BOOT.WIMFound config path D:\Booting from removable media, not restoring bootloaders on hard driveExecuting command line: wpeinit.exe -winpeThe command completed successfully.Starting DNS client service.Executing command line: X:\sms\bin\i386\TsmBootstrap.exe /env:WinPE /configpath:D:\The command completed successfully.---------------------------------------------------------------------When booting from fixed disk : ==============================[ TSBootShell.exe ]==============================Succeeded loading resource DLL 'X:\sms\bin\i386\00000409\TSRES.DLL'Debug shell is enabledTSBootShellWaiting for PNP initialization...Booted from fixed disk!sVolumeID.empty(), HRESULT=80004005 (e:\nts_sms_fre\sms\framework\tscore\resolvesource.cpp,472)!sTSMDataPath.empty(), HRESULT=80070002 (e:\nts_sms_fre\sms\framework\tscore\resolvesource.cpp,1393)TS::Utility::GetTSMDataPath(rsPath), HRESULT=80070002 (e:\nts_sms_fre\sms\client\tasksequence\bootshell\configpath.cpp,231)Failed to find the current TS configuration pathConfigPath::FindConfigPath(sConfigPath), HRESULT=80070002 (e:\nts_sms_fre\sms\client\tasksequence\bootshell\bootshell.cpp,550)Failed to find the configuration path. The system cannot find the file specified. (Error: 80070002; Source: Windows)Execution failed with error 80070002.Finalizing logging from process 844Finalizing logs to root of first available driveLOGGING: Setting log directory to "C:\SMSTSLog".-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Looks like booting from fixed disk does things differntly.. (assumes you are "at stage 2" (i.e. not wizard)?)Anyone?

OK, this is not getting me out of the hole, so maybe I should stop digging J Let me ask the question differently... Imagine the following scenario : We are a large organisation, purchasing equipment from a single OEM. We wish to give that OEM a disk image to be incorporated into all systems to be delivered to our site. We wish to use Config Manager for OS deployment. It is important to us to be able to slipstream line-of-business applications so they get delivered as soon as possible after the operating system. Leveraging BITS / Task Sequences appears ideal for this. However, different desktops get different configurations and LoB applications. Hence we need to run different TS for different desktops. For various reasons we cannot rely on PXE boot (into TS engine). What image do we give to the OEM to put on the HDDs? And how do we create it. Anyone?

I have done something quite similar,getting to boot into the TS straight from HD. Check the threadhttp://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/configmgrosd/thread/f272c017-fbe2-4169-9186-943c77006d55/#8cde50df-85bc-4b9f-9fe5-28466574fef5When you have pre-staged the c-disk to boot into your wim in the way described above, you could take a ghost snapshot of the diskand deliver it on cd to your OEM partner.Kenneth Titlestad | MCSE | MCTS:SCCM | www.deploymenttech.com

Hi Kenneth. Thanks for the pointer. I did see that thread before and spent some time trying to understand it all. :) I gave up as I naively thought: ...someone @ product team must have had their coffee that morning and implemented a simple /forcebootfromHD switch. :) Seems like there was a shortage of coffee that morning... So, back to your suggestion ... Id really appreciate a few pointers. (for us slower ones in the back rows :) I can boot into WinPE off the hard disk no worries (using various methods). Even imaging the CD/USB down to HDD works fine. But what is getting me is SCCM sequencer not wanting to play afterwards. It just cannot find its configuration data. Your method of copying my boot.wim to c:\_SMSTaskSequence\WinPE\sources yields better results than just copying to c:\sources\ and playing with BCDEDIT. It seems to get past the TSbootshell stage but it then throws up: Unknown case. PXE not present and bootstrap.ini not present. My BOOT.WIM is created as per Michaels instructions above (I have injected the DATA folder from the boot CD) . And TSMBootstrap.ini is definitely present on the ramdrive when I check. (X:\sms\data\tsmbootstrap.ini). It just seems unable to find it.... Id really appreciate any and all ideas at this stage... Log file below ------------------------------ ==============================[ TSBootShell.exe ]============================== Succeeded loading resource DLL 'X:\sms\bin\i386\1033\TSRES.DLL' Debug shell is enabled Waiting for PNP initialization... Booted from fixed disk Found config path C:\_SMSTaskSequence Restoring boot system from C:\_SMSTaskSequence\backup Successfully loaded the BCD boot system Successfully loaded an exported BCD boot system Successfully merged logs from cache. Executing command line: wpeinit.exe -winpe Executing command line: X:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /k The command completed successfully. Successfully launched command shell. The command completed successfully. Starting DNS client service. Executing command line: X:\sms\bin\i386\TsmBootstrap.exe /env:WinPE /configpath:C:\_SMSTaskSequence The command completed successfully. ==============================[ TSMBootStrap.exe ]============================== Command line: X:\sms\bin\i386\TsmBootstrap.exe /env:WinPE /configpath:C:\_SMSTaskSequence Succeeded loading resource DLL 'X:\sms\bin\i386\1033\TSRES.DLL' Succeeded loading resource DLL 'X:\sms\bin\i386\TSRESNLC.DLL' Processor Is IA64: 0 Failed to open PXE registry key. Not a PXE boot. Media Root = C:\ Executing from Media in WinPE Loading TsPxe.dll from X:\sms\bin\i386\TsPxe.dll TsPxe.dll loaded Failed to open PXE registry key. Not a PXE boot. FALSE, HRESULT=80004001 (e:\nts_sms_fre\sms\client\tasksequence\tsmbootstrap\tsmediawizardcontrol.cpp,2250) Unknown case. PXE not present and bootstrap ini not present. oTSMediaWizardControl.Run( sMediaRoot, true ), HRESULT=80004001 (e:\nts_sms_fre\sms\client\tasksequence\tsmbootstrap\tsmbootstrap.cpp,902) Execute( eExecutionEnv, sConfigPath, sTSXMLFile, uBootCount, &uExitCode ), HRESULT=80004001 (e:\nts_sms_fre\sms\client\tasksequence\tsmbootstrap\tsmbootstrap.cpp,1106) Exiting with return code 0x80004001 Execution complete. Finalizing logging from process 744

VladI am trying to exactly this. Anybody out there successfully gotten an SCCM TS Media installed to a fixed disk and then boot from it and run a TS?I'm trying to TS a dual boot iMac in a controlled lab environment, and have gotten as far as you have with the configuration data not being findable despite making it available in tsbootshell.ini and the like. It just does not seem that I can get it to boot from thehard disk. My logs look exactly the same as yours.Todd

Hi Todd. I feel your pain, bro. :) I did manage to get it to work, eventually, but it was _very_ much of a hack. It ended up being an academic exercise/major challenge for me so I did it no holds barred Obviously, I couldnt really even dream about implementing this for my enterprise-wide solution.. Nor can I recommend that you do this for any other reason than to satisfy your curiosity. :) So, disclaimer out of the way, for your entertainment and education :), I can give you a pointer (Please remember that this is only a pointer, most of the info has already evaporated out of my head...it has been a while...) The main pointer would be the main hack : - Prepare yourself a boot USB device. - Boot off that USB stick and let it show you the TS wizard. - Select a TS you have advertised to your machine and let it do the first part (copy PE boot image to the HDD) - Interrupt the process on first reboot (just let it boot off the USB again) - Drop to command prompt (remember to enable F8/debug!) - Now find a hidden file called _SMSTSVolumeID.<some long GUID-like sequence of numbers> - Copy the file. Looking at it black-box: I think that this is the flag file SCCM uses to distinguish your HDD from removable media. - Next, you can wipe the disk; Make new partitions and mark them as bootable/active with diskpart.Reason I say partitionS : Even though it is supposed to be running from RAMdisk, SCCM will NOT install onto the same partition you are booting from. So you will need one to boot from and the other one to install windows to. - Then copy the files from the USB to the boot partition *I dont remember whether I used the blog posts above to prepare the PXE-like PE image or just SCCM-created boot image here (probably the former). You can try one and then the other, I suppose) - Finally, copy the _ SMSTSVolumeID... file you captured onto your boot partition, and let it boot - Once you are happy with it you image the disk using your favourite imaging tool and splash down to TEST! Clients. :) This (very cumbersome) procedure definitely worked for me. Got me past the error above and completed the install using the TS same way it did from the USB/CD. Our problem is that we already have up to 4 primary partitions in our enterprise (dual boots, data partitions, etc) so we were running out of temp partitions to put this. Dont like the solution? Didnt think you would! :) As I said... education/entertainment only. Maybe someone uses this to make a proper solution (please let us know if you do !!!) Finally, a bit of criticism I still cannot believe the oversight of not providing an HDD boot support. Particularly in the day and age when every OEM will offer the option of sending them the boot image and have your OSD sorted at the source, before the hardware reaches your users. As a result, we are looking at scrapping SCCM for OS deployment and sticking with our own in-house deployment method. Also, I found my TechNet Plus subscription absolutely useless in this endeavour. I was going to point you to my exchange with the not supported-drone, but cant even find my topic any longer. Now this annoys me even more. Needless to say my TN+ sub will not be getting renewed. EDIT: On second read... the bit above is probably a bit harsh to the person that told me it is not supported. I am sure they had no other option. It is justa bit of frustration on my part, particularly in that it appears that the topic has been removed. Now I wonder how long will this topic survive... :)

VladI've been working with a Mac coworker of mine on this and we basically arrived at the same conclusion this morning, before I saw your post, that we'd have to fool it into thinking that booting from a partition was a removable disk. My coworker is a bit more program oriented and he thought that he might be able to hack the OSD logic and make it not branch the code when it checks for fixed disk or not, but that's likely as much if not more work than what you worked out. I do like your idea about shipping the TS Media to the OEM, quite ingenious. We're just trying to get the bootcamp partition on iMac's deployed a little more efficiently. I kind ofget the feeling that this code might be left over from some of the first itterations of the OSD Feature Pack back in the SMS days. 5 years ago, hard disks weren't as big, 1GB flash drives were still $100, it's one of those things like Bill G said all those years ago, "Why would anybody need more than 640K of RAM?" When this was written, "why would anybody want to boot to the hard disk to do this stuff, doesn't it defeat the purpose?" Not that we don't think it would be fun to do, we're moving on and leaving this one to the archiveI guess. We could always just build a thick image and use WinPE and imagex, since we can get that to boot from hard disks. Sigh. Off to see ifI can boot an iMac to a TS CD and get it to at least do that...Thanks again for all the feedback.Todd

Just a follow up, ConfigMgr 2007 R3 (in beta now) offers the ability to prestage a bootable media and OS Image on a hard drive. It is part of a feature called Prestaged media.John | Program Manager | System Center Configuration Manager

Hi Vlad, I was just wondering whether i could speak to you about this through a private chat. I have some problems in trying to implement this setup on my machines. Its an enterprise environment and i am trying to implement a bootable partition that will speak to SCCM server TS. Are you able to email me at timbala@westnet.com.au Much Appreciated buddy Thanks

Hey Tim. Sent you an email a couple of weeks ago (admittedly not with a promisse of great help) . Your spam filters may have got it... ...just so you don't think that I am being rude :)

We are trying to do a similar thing in our enterprise to drop a boot wim to the local hard drive edit the boot sector to point to the wim and when machine restarts it boots and picks up the task sequence. Wonder did you get any more information?

We have been able to accomplish this at Dell for our customers. We generate standalone media with DVD's and prestage the content to the HD to a secondary partition. Then you prep the C: drive with the same contents as the boot media, then you update the WINPE shell to do the WinPE Init and launch the Task Sequence Boot Strapper. The PreStage media feature in R3 is limited to only prestaging the WIM for the image, it does not prestage any other content.Levi Stevens Technical Consultant - End User Computing - West Region Dell | Services

Hey Levi Sounds like you guys have it figured out. I have been trying to figure out how you achieve your solution since you posted it but am not getting far. Would help greatly if you could provide a bit more detailed rundown on how you achieve it. Thanks Chris

Chris, sorry I did not have alerts setup on this thread. I recieved an email from an account rep. You can find the whitepaper at http://content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/shared-content~services~en/Documents~leveraging-microsoft-configmgr-for-hardware-customization.pdf.aspx.Levi Stevens Technical Consultant - End User Computing - West Region Dell | Services