Windows 7 Embedded keeps hanging in 'this computer is being serviced'

Hi all,

We are using SCCM 2012 SP1, which we also use to manage Windows 7 Embedded clients (HP t610). The problem is that sometimes these clients keeps hanging in the service mode state, with the message: 'this computer is being serviced'. It doesn't matter how long i wait, the client stays in this servicing mode .. even after a reboot.

I figured out that when i (remotely) delete the file C:\Windows\CCM\Clienstate.dat and then reboot the client that the service mode state is gone and i can normally logon .. but the write filter is still open(so everything can be permanently written to the client)!

This situation should probably be the result of a deployment (application, package, tasksequence, etc), but my question is how i can figure out why the client keeps hanging in this state and what is causing this problem (is it server side or client side .. log files, etc)

With kind regards,
Hayo Veenstra

November 27th, 2013 3:38pm

How do you figure out that the clientstate.dat is the culprit?

Is there any useful info in Event Log? If so, post here.

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
November 28th, 2013 7:53am

The way i figured it out was by trial and error. I was looking (remotely) in the C:\Windows\CCM directory for recently changed files and the clientstate.dat file looked to me like a file that coul be involved in the 'client state'. So i (re)moved it to an other location and rebooted the system .. and voila the 'service mode' was gone. To see if i could bring back the 'service mode' state, i placed the (same) clientstate.dat back to the C:\Windows\CMM directory ... and as i hoped the 'service mode' was there again. Unfortunately this file doesn't contain any readable information.

I also searched the event viewer for useful information, but i couldn't find any.

November 28th, 2013 9:06am

Hi,

Yes, the file is not human readable and there is not an official document talking about this file. I suggest you reinstall the CM agent and see what's going on.

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
November 28th, 2013 9:42am

Hi Xin,

Reinstalling (Redeploying) is what i do regularly to different thin clients, and as part of that proces the CM client is also (re)installed .. so even after a reinstall of CM the (on fresh machines) it could happen that the situation exists.

At this moment we are not in production with these thin clients(we are in a pilot), but my biggest fear is that when we are going to roll out hunderds of thin clients .. at one moment all these thin clients hangs in the service mode and there is no way for a user to get out of that situation.

So i hope someone could give me some in-depth information of the proces.

November 28th, 2013 10:08am

If so, the issue is a little bit hard to troubleshoot. I think we may use Process Monitor to see what the system is doing when stuck in 'this computer is being serviced'. Using the filter and keyword "clientstate" may find the useful entries.

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
November 28th, 2013 10:19am

We're experiencing the same issue. We are building a new thinclient image and deploy this image to a new system. After deployment the system get stuck in the servicing mode and won't come out anymore, even after several hours. If you log on the write filter is disabled but doesnt get enabled anymore. Still got no

.. clue why this is

November 28th, 2013 7:49pm

Thanks for your reply.

It seems that i'm not the only one. Which Thin Clients are you using? (We are using HP t610.)

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
November 29th, 2013 8:58am

Just thought I would join this thread as mine didn't go anywhere -

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/d8024e96-1613-48f7-b995-86482e0b78a3/windows-7-embedded-stuck-in-service-mode?forum=configmanagergeneral

We are using HP T510 clients

November 29th, 2013 4:21pm

It sounds like you should open a support case with Microsoft around this.  Its a pretty small subset of ConfigMgr environments that use devices with enhanced write filters.  The best support for EWF issues seems to be by opening a support case.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
November 29th, 2013 4:41pm

Hi

Did any of you guys log a ticket with Microsoft?

We use Wyse and if you read page 21 there are a number of settings you need to change for the sccm to function correctly. Not sure if this is applicable to you guys

https://appservices.wyse.com/supportdownload/WES/Wyse_SCCM_WES7_Admin_Guide_AUG2013.pdf

J


  • Edited by jamest2305 Thursday, January 16, 2014 12:49 PM
January 16th, 2014 12:40pm

Hi

Did any of you guys log a ticket with Microsoft?

We use Wyse and if you read page 21 there are a number of settings you need to change for the sccm to function correctly. Not sure if this is applicable to you guys

https://appservices.wyse.com/supportdownload/WES/Wyse_SCCM_WES7_Admin_Guide_AUG2013.pdf

J


  • Edited by jamest2305 Thursday, January 16, 2014 12:49 PM
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
January 16th, 2014 12:40pm

My clients will do this after an Operating System Deployment. 
But they won't hang. They'll eventually reboot and go back into normal logon screen. 

What log files can I review to determine why SCCM is disabling my client's file based write filter, rebooting, going into serviced mode, then turning fbwf back on and rebooting? 

There's certainly nothing showing up in the client's "Software Center", so I'm not sure where else to look. So many log files with same last modified dates/times so this is rather confusing. 

August 6th, 2014 11:59pm

I know this is an old thread - but in case anyone is still experiencing this on HP Thin clients, see appendix B in this whitepaper:

http://h20566.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c03817821-1&docLocale=en_US

It looks like HP recommends some extra steps above and beyond the "ewfmgr <driveletter> /enable" command line.

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 11th, 2015 3:41pm

I know this is an old thread - but in case anyone is still experiencing this on HP Thin clients, see appendix B in this whitepaper:

http://h20566.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c03817821-1&docLocale=en_US

It looks like HP recommends some extra steps above and beyond the "ewfmgr <driveletter> /enable" command line.

Thanks for bumping, it's good I got an alert.

I wanted to follow-up here and say that the issue, in my environment, was that the computers being service were indeed NOT in the collection that I restricted maintenance windows on. 

I set their maintenance window to an old date, disabling any future maintenance windows, so they would never do it again.

When I did a query with power shell right-click tools against the computers that were going into service mode reboot, to gather their collections, I'd realized they were not in the right collections. 

So be extra careful and add extra criteria for how these computers become members of the collection, because SCCM doesn't always pick them up by OS type, etc, even though they're on the same image and configured via same OS task sequence deployment. 


  • Edited by JGQ85 17 hours 54 minutes ago
August 12th, 2015 9:58am

This topic is archived. No further replies will be accepted.

Other recent topics Other recent topics