[mdt] MDT Launching to CMD

[mw184]

Hi all, can anyone help with this problem?

 

Bit of background, back to using MDT and WDS after many years of doing intune deployments due to the IT work over summer by an external company, so I am a bit (more like very) rusty with MDT and WDS. They setup the task sequences and the boot images etc and it worked fine.

 

I got a new laptop delivered which is a make and model we have never used in school before. Put it through MDT to see if it would work and it gave me a script error but no details. Did some digging and found out about the win11 issues with MDT and WDS. Tried an older version of Windows 11 to see if that would deploy, same problem. I therefore returned the task sequence to its original state with the other version of windows set to deploy.

 

I then remembered drivers etc and went and downloaded the drivers for the device and put them into MDT. I then (as many guides online said, as well as one of the guys at the tech company) regenerated the boot images via MDT and then replaced the image in WDS with the new boot image. I then set up a boot and as soon as MDT/WDS loaded on the client machine, no task sequence started, instead a cmd box came up and nothing further happens.

 

I am looking into the Litetouch.vbs and also into the task sequence but am not quite sure what else to try.

 

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

Many thanks!

[ITGuyNW]

Can you navigate to the C drive of that machine in that CMD and delete any stale folders related to MDT such as MININT?

[mw184]

So when I tried a list disk etc there were no disks found on the device. However after the MDT was terminated, the laptop and the test PC I have been running since the issue started both booted through to the OS already installed. Both machines are displaying the same behaviours with regards to MDT booting straight to cmd.

[3s-gtech]

Is the deployment share mapping correctly, so you can access the Z: drive on the client?

 

If not:

net use z:\\\deploymentshare$

 

Then:

z:\scripts\Litetouch.vbs

 

If these don't work, something is broken on your MDT/WDS.

[mw184]

I will give this a go and let you know, currently don't have my office as it is being used for y6 mock sats so been kicked out for a while.

[mw184]

So it won't talk to the deployment share at all. "System error 67 has occurred" "The network name cannot be found"

 

Ran an ipconfig and it came back blank...

[3s-gtech]

Tried rebuilding your boot image?

[mw184]

I have just tried that and replacing the wds boot image with the new one, but still same problem. Tbh I am starting to find issues with lots of things like this, as the company set it up their way and then left, using custom scripts they made etc but explained none of it to me. I miss my old network haha

[3s-gtech]

Talk online is that this is DNS related, possibly to your DC or MDT host. Have a good scrutinise.

[mw184]

Right, time to go digging. Wish me luck, I will update when I have news... (should have suspected DNS from the start, it always seems to be DNS when something goes wrong)

[lparry]

A haiku about DNS:

It’s not DNS

There’s no way it’s DNS

It was DNS

[mw184]

So... for once there seems to be a disturbance in the force... DNS is looking healthy and seems to be working properly... even the DNS event logs are clear with nothing showing up as an issue.... I am not saying it isn't DNS, but for once it doesn't look like it is...

[3s-gtech]

Network adapter settings on the MDT server?

[mw184]

Only just got around to investigating this more, so sorry for the late reply to your message! I ended up building the devices manually. It took a bit longer but the devices just needed to be deployed to staff so it had to be done somehow.

 

I am now back to looking into the problem. I have checked the network adapter on the server and it seems to be all ok, everything working how it should, but the same problem still seems to persist.

[3s-gtech]

Can older devices boot to the TS?

[mw184]

That's the strange thing, no devices can boot to the TS, even devices that have been imaged via the same TS previously.

[3s-gtech]

Your boot image is broked. Drivers, something. Can you default it?

[mw184]

So what I have done is removed the drivers I added to MDT and reverted MDT to the state it was before the issues started. I have regenerated the boot image and will give this a test when I get a chance.

[mw184]

I managed to run a test this morning on multiple devices and the same problem still occurs. It boots into the LiteTouch but then doesn't even attempt to run the task sequence and just brings up the cmd box. Now extra confused as it is all as it was setup by the company in August and it still doesn't work. And to top it off when we contacted them for support, all they did was say it should be working instead of looking into it....

[PotNoodleTech]

I am sure I have seen that, if the PC doesnt have the correct drivers for the network card in the build images. It needs to be in the WDS build image too not just the MDT Drivers section.

[johnfermor]

Hi all, can anyone help with this problem?

 

Bit of background, back to using MDT and WDS after many years of doing intune deployments due to the IT work over summer by an external company, so I am a bit (more like very) rusty with MDT and WDS. They setup the task sequences and the boot images etc and it worked fine.

 

I got a new laptop delivered which is a make and model we have never used in school before. Put it through MDT to see if it would work and it gave me a script error but no details. Did some digging and found out about the win11 issues with MDT and WDS. Tried an older version of Windows 11 to see if that would deploy, same problem. I therefore returned the task sequence to its original state with the other version of windows set to deploy.

 

I then remembered drivers etc and went and downloaded the drivers for the device and put them into MDT. I then (as many guides online said, as well as one of the guys at the tech company) regenerated the boot images via MDT and then replaced the image in WDS with the new boot image. I then set up a boot and as soon as MDT/WDS loaded on the client machine, no task sequence started, instead a cmd box came up and nothing further happens.

 

I am looking into the Litetouch.vbs and also into the task sequence but am not quite sure what else to try.

 

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

Many thanks!

 

 

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents ..

 

Commonly, if the PXE build launches but fails on a command prompt, either:

a) the storage driver is missing - Running DISKPART should confirm this and will show no drives

or

b) the NIC driver is missing - Do an IPCONFIG at the command prompt. If no I/P address is returned, the NIC driver is missing.

 

In both of these scenarios, you will need to add the relevant drivers to the PXE build image.

 

Adding drivers:

Using a Windows ISO, build the device *manually* and install all missing drivers (see these in devmgmt.msc).

On the newly-built device, run DoubleDriver and backup the non-Windows drivers to C:\Drivers (these are selected by default).

Run a cmd prompt and enter "wmic computersystem get manufacturer, model > c:\Drivers\ManufacturerModel.txt". This will create a text file containing the WMI Manufacturer and Model of the device (used below).

 

In MDT:

(If it doesn't already exist) Create a folder in the "Out of Box Drivers" folder named using the MANUFACTURER property in the text file above. It MUST be exact.

Under the new MANUFACTURER folder, create a new folder named as the MODEL property in the text file above. It MUST be exact.

Import the drivers from C:\Drivers in the MANUFACTURER\MODEL folder created above.

Do a FULL Update to your Deployment Share.

 

In WDS:

Import the newly-created MDT boot image into the "Boot Images" tree node.

 

When you try rebuilding the device with new image, you should see the status "Importing Drivers" and will take a little while as it does its thing. If the status "Importing Drivers" flashes up and disappears immediately, there probably is typo in the Manufacturer or Model folders you created above and the drivers WILL NOT be available to the build process.

 

Hope this helps..

 

John

Edited January 10, 2025 by johnfermor

[TomHutchinson]

If the device is just hitting CMD after starting to load up the scripts, switch to C:, and do a DIR. If there is a folder on there called MININT, try deleting that folder completely, then reboot and try deploying again.

[BrianSewart]

Thanks a million Tom, this was the solution to my issue.

 

New to MDT after our SCCM Server died.  Spun up an MDT and worked great until HP 640 G* needed NIC drivers.  After importing, was getting the command prompt issue.  Rebuilt the Boot image 3 times before seeing this post!