pxe boot and sccm

[andy_nic]

I need help, soon be mental help if I don’t soon get this working.

I’ve been setting up a SCCM 2012 SP1 server I’ve got a boot image distributed; I’ve set up dhcp 66 to the IP address of the server and 67 to smsboot\x86pxeboot.com

But when I boot the PC to PXE boot I get a blue screen of death.

But what I don’t get is how PXE boot works let me explain

1.Boot PC to pxe

2.goes to dhcp

3.gets server and bootpath

loads boot file.

But what if I have 2 boot files such as windows 8 and windows 7?

Please help this is week 3 of setting up sccm 2012 sp1 and its starting to my head in. I’ve followed a book and youtube videos and tutorials and still it won’t work.

[Sam_Brown]

You'll download the .com file and this is basically nothing more than a tiny program to enable you to then download the Windows PE Boot Image (this is what handles all the tools to image your computer). Providing you're fully 64-bit compatible you should only need one .com file and one Boot Image.

 

Funnily enough my option 67 is set to...

 

smsboot\x64\wdsnbp.com

 

Once you get that far that Windows PE has been downloaded then you get to chose what Task Sequence you want to run etc. This is when you get to chose what images you want to use such as Windows 7 or Windows 8.

 

Blue screen could be you're trying to run the wrong boot image such as trying to run x64 on a x86 system or that it doesn't have the right network drivers in it. Could also be the hard disk. Try setting the bios HDD settings to Legacy. This has fixed some of our issues before.

[andy_nic]

when i change it, it now come up with

"The details below show the information relating to the pxe boot request for this computer. please provide these details to your WDS administrator so that this request can be approved

 

peading request ID 6

Message from admin

Please wait. SMS is looking for policy

"

[Sam_Brown]

That's good news. Basically means it's talking to the SCCM server but the SCCM server doesn't have anything deployed to the collection the PC \ Laptop you're booting from is in.

 

A few steps you may have missed...

 

* Create Task Sequence - This is where you'll set what O\S to install, what drivers to use, what Applications to install etc etc.

* Distribute Content - You'll have to make all the content the TS needs to run available on a Distribution Point. This is things like the O\S image, Boot Image, Drivers etc.

 

* Deploy the TS to a Collection - Basically make this Task Sequence available to the computers in a specific collection. If it's a new computer not in a collection already then deploying it to the UNKNOWN COMPUTERS collection is probably the way you want to go although please please bare in mind the below...

 

IMPORTANT!!! - Make sure when deploying your TS to set it to "AVAILABLE" and "ONLY MEDIA AND PXE". The last thing you want is to accidentally start to re-image everything on your network with the Config Manager Client on it! Setting it to REQUIRED and pushing it to a large collection is a sure fire way to accidentally re-image everything on your network!

Edited August 7, 2013 by Sam_Brown

[andy_nic]

i've got a task for a collection with just 1 PC in Hyper V i had the client software, i'm trying to do a build and capture task. if i log in to the PC and look at System center client i can see the task.

[Sam_Brown]

That might mean you've made the TS available to "ONLY CONFIGURATION MANAGER CLIENTS" when you deployed the TS. You could try redeploying it and altering where it's made available to. You've got a few things to try really. But the first thing is making sure it's set to a deployment type where PXE is allowed.

 

As for Build and Capture. There was a topic on here a while back about the merits of it. Personally I never saw the benefits of Deploy and Capture over building a machine from scratch using the default INSTALL.WIM although I know there are people who disagree with me on that one! I did try it although it though although found it created a few issues I never had time to fix so resorted to building from scratch which has always worked so far!

Edited August 7, 2013 by Sam_Brown

[free780]

You also need to provide additional switches for when the sccm client is installed in the build and capture. This is because the vm will never be on the domain. SCCM has taken several test installs to get right. Its a complex beast.

[Sam_Brown]

I wish I'd have known this at the time! Probably why my client kept on screwing up! Would build a computer based on a BnC image and the client would never install properly! You think this is related to what you're talking about?

[free780]

Also you need culmative update 1 think 2 is out as well as the cert on one of the msi's signing/cert is out of date. CCMSetup.exe /mp:SMSMP01 /logon SMSSITECODE=AUTO FSP=SMSFP01

Make sure you use fqdn for servers. I usually specify the site code.

 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg712298.aspx

Edited August 7, 2013 by free780

[Sam_Brown]

Also you need culmative update 1 think 2 is out as well as the cert on one of the msi's signing/cert is out of date. CCMSetup.exe /mp:SMSMP01 /logon SMSSITECODE=AUTO FSP=SMSFP01

Make sure you use fqdn for servers. I usually specify the site code.

 

How to Install Clients on Windows-Based Computers in Configuration Manager

 

When creating a TS based off a Windows image captured from a B&C do you need to add installing the Config Client in the TS as well? Or is the fact it's captured already in the image from the B&C process enough? This may be where I was going wrong. Deploying it in the original B&C image and then again in the TS based on that captured B&C image...

 

I hope that makes sense!

[andy_nic]

It works, changed the boot to smsboot\x86\wdsnbp.com and the deployed task to only media and PXE, So is it possible to move images from WDS to SCCM, without rebuilding?

[localzuk]

When creating a TS based off a Windows image captured from a B&C do you need to add installing the Config Client in the TS as well? Or is the fact it's captured already in the image from the B&C process enough? This may be where I was going wrong. Deploying it in the original B&C image and then again in the TS based on that captured B&C image...

 

I hope that makes sense!

 

Indeed, you add the client in both the B&C TS and the deployment TS. The reason being - part of the process uses the client to do things. But when you finish the capture, the client settings are stripped I believe.

Edited August 8, 2013 by localzuk

[free780]

This is what I did in the b and c config. We decided on GPO for the client for existing computers you spicy the MP and smssitecode in group policy. I also put the into the program section for the config manager client upgrade package.

[Sam_Brown]

@andy - Not something we've had to do before but certainly worth a test. You could try importing one of the old .wim files into SCCM under the "OPERATING SYSTEM IMAGES" part and using it in a task sequence. Really have no idea if it will work or not though.

[free780]

If you use images created using WAIK or from win 7 media they wont be fully supported. SCCM 2012 SP1 is supposed to use the ADK for its boot images. There is limited support in CU2 i believe Description of Cumulative Update 2 for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1 Waik would have needed the 3.1 supplement. Unless your imaging P4 computers (hope not) go with ADK.