[wds] WDS 2012 - WDS Client Error; Client cannot obtain IP Address from DHCP in GUI

[THawk]

Setup is as follows:

 

DC/DNS/DHCP: Windows Server 2008R2 Standard

WDS: Windows Server 2012R2 Standard

 

Trying to push out a new Windows 7 Pro Image to a bare metal workstation. It's a test setup now but a project I'm taking on is converting an orphanage's IT infrastructure from a peer-to-peer network to a Domain environment. They are a smallish organization with about 20-30 clients but most are running the HOME version of either Win 7 / 8 / Vista. I'd really rather not reinstall all of these one at a time...

 

DHCP Settings (other than domain settings of router, dns, domain)

 

066 - WDS Server IP

067 - boot\x86\wdsnbp.com

 

Client WS is PXE-Boot enabled

WDS Server set to respond to all computers.

 

Boot Image is default image from 7 Pro DVD, with NIC drivers injected. The drivers were injected using the WDS Console on the 2012 box.

 

Client boots up and gets an IP address. I pause the display and it shows that it did get an address from DHCP (192.168.20.8/24. etc).

 

It loads into the Win 7 setup GUI -- screen says "Setup is starting..." It hangs there for awhile with the blue circle spinning before printing:

 

"WDS Client Error; Client cannot obtain IP Address from DHCP. Please ensure there is an operational DHCP Server on the subnet" (something along those lines)

 

Switch is an unremarkable DLink 16-port switch (it's not a 'smart' switch).

 

Any ideas would be great.

[PotNoodleTech]

Sounds like the network card driver could be missing - have you loaded them into the drivers section in WDS?

[THawk]

Actually, that *was* the issue. The funny thing was, I did inject the drivers into the boot images via WDS and via DISM. I used the DVD that came with the board. It took the drivers without a problem. However, it was only after I went into the WinPE environment (Shift-F10) after the error, and tried to load the drivers using drvload driver.inf that for some reason, the image refused to take the 32-bit driver. So I got the newest driver straight from the RealTek site and injected those -- it took. Everything worked from there...

 

Basically, from command prompt, ipconfig yielded no IP address. Downloaded the driver, did drvload driver.inf, then ran netcfg -winpe. That worked.

 

Is there a way to restart the setup sequence from there?

Edited September 24, 2014 by THawk