Build forces boot into WinPE on hard drive
Hello,Over the weekend, I was able to successfully build a Windows XP workstation using SCCM OSD. I have two advertisements (one is for a non-working Vista task sequence) advertised to the same collection, but neither advertisement has been set as mandatory, thereby giving me the option of choosing which sequence to execute. This works great.Now, for the problem I'm running into. Yesterday, when I revisited my task sequence execution, I started getting a message saying "copying the windows preinstallation environment" as the first step after choosing my XP task sequence. After it finishes this step, it says "Ready to start", "Remove the CD and do not boot from CD", "Click Finish to start the task sequence".So, my question comes down to .... why is the task sequence not simply executing off of the CD? Why is it forcing me to reboot into WinPE off the hard drive?Thanks,Trevor SullivanSystems EngineerOfficeMax Corporation
September 16th, 2008 9:03pm

I've had something similar but it was downloading WinPE from the network and then booting off the hard drive rather than from the network. I found it was the advertisement that was set to do this. I have not used CD media but believe it may be something similar. In 'Software Distribution' > Advertisements. Look at the properties for your advertisement. On the 'Distribution Points' tab there are two options. One to download the required packages locally and one to access it directly from the network. It sounds like you have the first option selected.
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September 17th, 2008 1:02am

FusionGroup,Wow, I hadn't even realized that this setting would have affected the manner in which Windows PE executes. I did, indeed, just change this setting recently, so that software installs would run locally. I'll try this out and post back if I have any additional issues. I really appreciate your input on this! I probably never would have made the connection on my own.Thanks, Trevor SullivanSystems EngineerOfficeMax Corporation
September 17th, 2008 5:39am

I needed a Dell BIOS update script to run locally as it would not run directly from the server. I got round it by using the 'connect to network drive' task then running a batch file that copies the files locally before runnning the install via a 'run command line' task. It would be really hand if this option could be set per package install rather than globally...
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September 17th, 2008 10:39am

FusionGroup,Well, unfortunately, I must report that I did have the option set to "Access content directly from a distribution point when needed by the running task sequence." The task sequence is still giving the same behavior as before.I changed the setting to "Download content locally when needed by running task sequence" and it's still showing the same behavior. It's booting WinPE off of the hard drive, instead of simply executing the task sequence from the PE instance already booted off of CD or USB.Trevor SullivanSystems EngineerOfficeMax Corporation
September 17th, 2008 3:46pm

I've also seen similar behaviour from the 'Restart Computer' task if you have already applied your OS. If it has'The boot imageassigned tothis task sequence' selected rather than 'The currently installed default operating system' it will download WinPE to the HDD so it can boot into it second time round.This is becauseit will not be accessible via the network/usb/cd without manual intervention and this is a (supposedly) 'zero touch' install. This is the first step in a build and capture task and normally only executes if you are not in WinPE. It sounds like your task sequence may be executing this step when it shouldn't be. Check this step in your task sequence. Go to the options page and make sure that you have a task sequence variable condition... Task Sequence Variable _SMSTSInWinPE equals FALSE
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September 17th, 2008 4:38pm

James,I don't have any restart computer tasks in my task sequence. My build actually failed when I had tried to put one after applying the XP WIM file, and after doing some Googling, it turns out that you're supposed to use the "Setup ConfigMgr and Windows" task instead of a reboot task.Thanks,Trevor
September 17th, 2008 11:02pm

It easier than that.... SCCM will only stage the WinPE image to the hard drive if the boot image that is referenced by the task sequence is different from the boot image that is on the CD. Like if the PackageID and/or the versionnumber is different (most times it is the version number that is different) If the boot images match, thenthe extra staging and reboot will not be done.
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September 18th, 2008 10:11pm

John,How can I identify the version of source media? I'm pretty sure that the version on my distribution points is the same as the USB key I'm using to boot the system from. I could be wrong, but that's never been known to happen before.Actually, I wonder if this would indicate anything .... I looked at the "boot.wim" file on my USB key, which has the exact same modify date, and file size, as the "boot.OMX001FF.wim" file on my distribution point. Despite this, it's still downloading the WinPE image to the hard drive.Any idea why this might be?Trevor SullivanSystems EngineerOfficeMax Corporation
September 19th, 2008 7:11pm

The boot image does not check the .wim file properties... The PackageID and source version are stored (encrypted) in variables.dat on the boot image (<CD-Drive>\SMS\Data). When starting the deployment, it will compare the _SMSTSBootMediaPackagedID and _SMSTSBootMediaSourceVersion values from variables.dat with the value from the task sequence. You can see this in the smsts.log file. If the versions doesn't match, you will get an message like: "WinPE assoicated with task sequence does not match boot media"
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September 21st, 2008 1:38pm

Thanks, that helps a lot. I'll check out the log file to see if this message is showing up under these circumstances, and post back.Trevor SullivanSystems EngineerOfficeMax Corporation
September 22nd, 2008 4:10pm

Here are some snippets from my log file:http://www.miraclesalad.com/webtools/clip.php?clip=2232Any thoughts?Thanks,Trevor SullivanSystems EngineerOfficeMax Corporation
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September 22nd, 2008 5:57pm

Well, the line "WinPE assocated with task sequence is the same as the boot media" says that your boot image is up to date... so for that reason it doesn't need to stage it... However, later in the log there is a line saying "Boot Image not found in local data cache. Staging is required", which normally means the advertisment is configured to stage WinPE locally....(eg. "Download content locally when needed by running task sequence", instead of "Access content directly from a distribution point when needed by the running task sequence")
September 22nd, 2008 10:11pm

John,I have the latter option checked. "Access content directly from a distribution point when needed by the running task sequence"It still says the same thing as the log file I posted above.What else should I check?Trevor SullivanSystems EngineerOfficeMax Corporation
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September 22nd, 2008 10:55pm

Well, when having the same packagie id and source version and accessing the content directly from the server, my boot media doesn't stage itself to the disk after selecting a sequence, it will start the task sequence immediately... Do you have multiple task sequence advertisments to this collection? Please post your full smsts.log file ..
September 22nd, 2008 11:06pm

John,I have 2 non-mandatory task sequences advertised to the collection containing the device I'm working with. One is a Vista task sequence, and the other is the XP task sequence, which I'm currently working with.It does start the task sequence immediately, but after partitioning the disk, and before applying the WIM file, it installs WinPE locally.Do you have an e-mail address I can send the log file to?Thanks,Trevor SullivanSystems EngineerOfficeMax Corporation
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September 23rd, 2008 12:00am

Send the smsts.log file to firstname [dot] lastname [at] truesec [dot] com
September 23rd, 2008 10:50pm

The log file should be in your inbox as of yesterday morning.Trevor SullivanSystems EngineerOfficeMax Corporation
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September 25th, 2008 5:21pm

sorry, no email yet... firstname is Johan, lastname is Arwidmark
September 27th, 2008 1:25am

Johan,I tried sending it again just now. It only has a log file attached, and a few screenshots I included for reference. The log is about 350kb. Thanks,Trevor SullivanSystems EngineerOfficeMax Corporation
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September 27th, 2008 5:57am

Did you get the XML file you asked for? It would probably be helpful to post back any findings in this thread.Trevor SullivanSystems EngineerOfficeMax Corporation
October 7th, 2008 6:39pm

Bump. It's still exhibiting the same behavior.
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October 13th, 2008 6:54pm

The boot image does not check the .wim file properties... The PackageID and source version are stored (encrypted) in variables.dat on the boot image (<CD-Drive>\SMS\Data). When starting the deployment, it will compare the _SMSTSBootMediaPackagedID and _SMSTSBootMediaSourceVersion values from variables.dat with the value from the task sequence. You can see this in the smsts.log file. If the versions doesn't match, you will get an message like: "WinPE assoicated with task sequence does not match boot media" I had this same issue, I was testing OSD so was editing multiple task sequences and boot wim's etc.Turned out issue was due to the fact i had created a bootable media through SCCM, using Boot image C(the latest one i was testing), and the task sequence i was trying to apply had an old boot image(boot image A) specified in its properties. Goto Task sequence properties, then advanced and you will see option use a boot image... Make sure this boot image is the same one you are using to boot into PE.
June 12th, 2009 9:43am

The boot image does not check the .wim file properties... The PackageID and source version are stored (encrypted) in variables.dat on the boot image (<CD-Drive>\SMS\Data). When starting the deployment, it will compare the _SMSTSBootMediaPackagedID and _SMSTSBootMediaSourceVersion values from variables.dat with the value from the task sequence. You can see this in the smsts.log file. If the versions doesn't match, you will get an message like: "WinPE assoicated with task sequence does not match boot media" I had this same issue, I was testing OSD so was editing multiple task sequences and boot wim's etc.Turned out issue was due to the fact i had created a bootable media through SCCM, using Boot image C(the latest one i was testing), and the task sequence i was trying to apply had an old boot image(boot image A) specified in its properties. Goto Task sequence properties, then advanced and you will see option use a boot image... Make sure this boot image is the same one you are using to boot into PE. I just got the "Remove the CD and do not boot from CD" issue out of the blue on one my of my Task Sequences. I also had "Access content directly from a distribution point when needed by the running task sequence." set. I compared this TS to my others and nothing was different. I wanted to spend 5 days troubleshooting it but I ended up deleting it and recreated it and it went away. I hate not finding the root issue but sometimes you just have to move on for times sake.Mike
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January 28th, 2010 6:25pm

Hi. I seem to have a similar issue. However I cannot see how to get out of it. I get the BootPackageID: CEN00001 AssociatedWinPE: CEN00329 in the smts.log so I get a mismatch. However the boot.wim on my USB stick is the WIM file for CEN00329 so I cannot work out why the two are being seen as different. Any pointers much appreciated
July 8th, 2010 5:38pm

Hi. I seem to have a similar issue. However I cannot see how to get out of it. I get the BootPackageID: CEN00001 AssociatedWinPE: CEN00329 in the smts.log so I get a mismatch. However the boot.wim on my USB stick is the WIM file for CEN00329 so I cannot work out why the two are being seen as different. Any pointers much appreciated I suggest that you re-create the boot media and edit the task sequence properties. Make sure that you assign exactly the same boot image package for both.
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July 9th, 2010 3:41am

I too am now getting this message when imaging x64 OS's or x32 OS any task sequence is getting this message as well. - I've reselected the boot.wim in the TS properties - I've also disabled the step reboot into winPE just in case. I've just kicked off an update DP for the bot WIM to see if that makes a difference.
August 2nd, 2010 9:11am

Ok I found the solution that worked for me... I had found that with our setup I had 2 DP's and published the boot.wim's to both DP's I also noticed when the PC was booting it was pulling the boot.wim from the wrong DP (one much further away). I removed the boot WIMs from the second DP and this then allowed me to boot up as per normal and image as per normal. The remove CD and reboot prompt no longer appears. I guess the boot WIM's on each DP were not exactly correct or there is bug in the SCCM code..
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August 2nd, 2010 10:06am

I had the same problem as trevor. After reading this thread, I decided to delete my advertisement and create a new one. And now it works as expected. The new one had exactly the same configuration as the old one, but now it works. Don't know why the problem happened in the first instance, but hey it works now. steve
October 6th, 2010 4:16am

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