Hi,

We're running SCCM 2012 R2 CU2. Our boot images have Enable command support enabled. I am able to use F8 to get a command window at the Welcome to the Task Sequence Wizard. After the first restart, F8 and Shift-F10 have no effect.

I have a computer that keeps getting hung somewhere in the task sequence but I have no way to get to the logs. If I force power off and power on again, the computer is stuck in the same place again with no command window support. I tried booting to WinPE and use CMTrace but it cannot access the OS drive from the "in-progress" deployment which I believe could be due to drive encryption.

How do I get the command prompt (F8) to work? I have done some searching and haven't found a solid answer yet.

Thanks,

Rob

F8 only works from Windows PE. I'm asuming that you're no longer in Windows PE after the first reboot?

F8 only works from Windows PE.

After the first restart, the task sequence is still running and I thought F8 was available as long as the OS is still being deployed. I could swear that SCCM 2007 could launch a command window at any point during the image deployment.

I cannot get to this failing computer's logs so I can get some info on what is failing.

• Edited by robwm1 Tuesday, August 05, 2014 6:46 PM

I concur with Torsten - I have used F8 numerous times when in the OS but I havent really researched it further.

I know that this does not answer you question but you could implement this solution into your task sequence so the logs are copied to a file share if the Task Sequence Execution fails.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/steverac/archive/2008/07/15/capturing-logs-during-failed-task-sequence-execution.aspx

Are you sure that you don't need a Fn+F8 to get it to work, I ran into this problem using our MS Surfaces

Are you using PXE to boot into WinPE or Boot Media?

Is your boot environment and task sequence both using the same boot image? You might have command support on one boot image and not the other.

• Edited by CamecoKev Wednesday, August 06, 2014 3:40 PM

CamecoKev,

I'm using a standard keyboard so F8 should be all I need. Because of SCCM 2012's design, we will not be using PXE. I am using the boot image on a flash drive and I have made sure that the boot flash drive matches the boot image the task sequence uses.

I know what you mean about the Surface. I noticed that as well.

-Rob

You've confirmed that F8 works to open a command prompt in the initial WinPE, but not after the next part, which is an indication that the task sequence switches to using a boot image that doesn't have command prompt enabled. Although you may have already done this, confirm that the boot image used by the task sequence does indeed have command prompt support enabled.

If all of your boot images do have command prompt support enabled (which, you should be using only one if at all possible), try disabling and re-enabling the support, and confirm that the process finishes correctly.

F8 will work throughout the entire task sequence, if enabled properly.

• Marked as answer by Daniel JiSunMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Thursday, September 11, 2014 9:44 AM

The deployment is getting hung, it never actually stops/fails. I've seen it stop in a couple of different places. We do have steps similar to the link you gave but since the deployment doesn't actually stop, logs are not being copied.

Old post i know but thought I would add this for anyone coming to view. The reason it never completes and just hangs is because the F8 command window is running it just isn't visible in the shell. I have this same issue, tapping F8 nothing happens but when a restart computer step processes it just sits there "Setup is preparing your computer for first use".

Usually a hard reset works here and the TS picks up where it left off.

This doesn't explain why the F8 command prompt window is not visible in the shell. I should also mention that before the password is entered the F8 command works well and it works well right up until the point that it leaves PE and goes into the real OS.

Maybe someone else can shed some light on whats going on. So far I am deploying these task sequences to VM's that are sat on ESXI 5.5. Never personally had an issue with this on real hardware but a colleague of mine has.

Strange and frustrating one.

I just ran into this behavior when trying to do some Win7 OSD, but it only started happening to us after we upgraded to SCCM 2012 R2 SP1. After the reboot from the Install OS group tasks, if I press f8 at the right time I can very briefly see the command window pop-up when I press F8 and then it goes to the background layers behind the gray system center desktop background (which only just started appearing during OSD after the SP1 update). I know it is still running back there because if the task sequence errors out it won't restart the machine while the command window is open. I also have another thread on my mouse cursor disappearing at the exact same point when trying to do Win 8.1 OSD, so there must be something with the visible layers when the system reboots to the full OS to continue the task sequence for setting up the OS and installing applications.

Pressing Alt-Tab does nothing. Is there a way to stop the SCCM gray background from appearing on reboot?

I just ran into this behavior when trying to do some Win7 OSD, but it only started happening to us after we upgraded to SCCM 2012 R2 SP1. After the reboot from the Install OS group tasks, if I press f8 at the right time I can very briefly see the command window pop-up when I press F8 and then it goes to the background layers behind the gray system center desktop background (which only just started appearing during OSD after the SP1 update). I know it is still running back there because if the task sequence errors out it won't restart the machine while the command window is open. I also have another thread on my mouse cursor disappearing at the exact same point when trying to do Win 8.1 OSD, so there must be something with the visible layers when the system reboots to the full OS to continue the task sequence for setting up the OS and installing applications.

Pressing Alt-Tab does nothing. Is there a way to stop the SCCM gray background from appearing on reboot?

I just ran into this behavior when trying to do some Win7 OSD, but it only started happening to us after we upgraded to SCCM 2012 R2 SP1. After the reboot from the Install OS group tasks, if I press f8 at the right time I can very briefly see the command window pop-up when I press F8 and then it goes to the background layers behind the gray system center desktop background (which only just started appearing during OSD after the SP1 update). I know it is still running back there because if the task sequence errors out it won't restart the machine while the command window is open. I also have another thread on my mouse cursor disappearing at the exact same point when trying to do Win 8.1 OSD, so there must be something with the visible layers when the system reboots to the full OS to continue the task sequence for setting up the OS and installing applications.

Pressing Alt-Tab does nothing. Is there a way to stop the SCCM gray background from appearing on reboot?