Finally deployed, one small issue...

[mrbios]

I've deployed windows 7 in the library, 9 PCs in total as the librarian is quite IT competent which makes it the perfect place to act as a test bed for the final thing to be pushed out in the summer..

 

..One issue i have though, it's only a small one but i'm curious as to what it could be, when i image a machine, i log in, add it to the domain and restart. When its coming back up from the first restart upon being added to the domain the screen sits on "please wait" with the rotating timer, i left it on there for 20minutes and then rebooted a machine rather than waiting, when it restarts it does it for about 10 seconds then it's fine and sits on the ctrl+alt+del menu

 

Question is though what is it doing during this please wait section which appears to go no where? am i cutting something short by manually rebooting them at this point?

 

After a bit of testing there doesn't seem to be any problems with them after i've done that, all the usual funcionality works etc

[SYNACK]

There is no stage that I am aware of that should cause the 20 minute delay, it could be a script or some other operation that does not time out when trying to do something that it can't do after the first boot. I'd look at the event logs to see if there are any clues in there but this is not behaviour that I have encountered on my 7 installs.

[mrbios]

Ah i should have checked that before i asked, looks like it could be a GPO that installs the office 2007 compatibility pack + adobe flash player 10 on first startup, think it's having difficulty installing those and getting stuck instead

[stevenlong1985]

Ctrl + Alt + Del this normally works for me Im not kidding its gets me out of the XP when its keeps says please wait checking for domain etc try it

[mac_shinobi]

Ctrl + Alt + Del this normally works for me Im not kidding its gets me out of the XP when its keeps says please wait checking for domain etc try it

 

I normally do that twice in a row so ctrl + Alt + Delete * 2

[sted]

isnt not getting software via gpo is it as vista/7 dont tell you its installing say office03/paint.net etc just says please wait which imo is silly if people can see its doing something useful they are less likely to want to hang the it guy

[mac_shinobi]

isnt not getting software via gpo is it as vista/7 dont tell you its installing say office03/paint.net etc just says please wait which imo is silly if people can see its doing something useful they are less likely to want to hang the it guy

 

Couldn't you put the windows 7 machines in there own OU whether under the library OU or in its own OU and block inheritance and set specific group policies for the win 7 machines

Edited February 9, 2010 by mac_shinobi

[TomStanley]

In GP, browse to Administrative Templates and then System. Set the policy 'Verbose vs Normal status messages' to enabled, and reboot. You can see exactly where the startup is getting stuck, as it will say exactly what it is doing, e.g 'Applying Group Policy Printers', etc.

 

Tell us exactly where it's getting stuck.

Edited February 9, 2010 by TomStanley

[sted]

Couldn't you put the windows 7 machines in there own OW whether under the library OU or in its own OU and block inheritance and set specific group policies for the win 7 machines

 

well you can but you might want the software on them

[Tricky_Dicky]

Great tip TomStanley. Very useful for debugging

[Gatt]

Agreed!! thanks for that one - enabled on my Default Domian Policy

 

Interestingly though - Windows Server 2008 (R2) has this enabled by default!

[sted]

Agreed!! thanks for that one - enabled on my Default Domian Policy

 

Interestingly though - Windows Server 2008 (R2) has this enabled by default!

 

what effect does it have on xp stations if any as they already seem to do it?

[TomStanley]

Instead of all the usual 'Applying your personal settings', etc, it'll tell you, as in Windows 7, exactly what it is doing.

 

Tom.

[Gatt]

Instead of all the usual 'Applying your personal settings', etc, it'll tell you, as in Windows 7, exactly what it is doing.

 

Tom.

 

 

Yeah it actually tells you waht policy it is applying - also in Win7 it shows you the managed software being installed!

[mrbios]

heres the exact cause of the issue:

 

Product: Compatibility Pack for the 2007 Office system -- Error 1704. An installation for Adobe Flash Player 10 ActiveX is currently suspended. You must undo the changes made by that installation to continue. Do you want to undo those changes?

 

Always nice when something in the event viewer asks "do you want to undo those changes?" do you think if i shout YES loudly enough at the screen it might do it? because there's certainly no button to press on that pc at the time!

[sted]

least you have found it i usually find pauses in bootup are me leaving pauses in batch files ive been testing lol

[Tricky_Dicky]

Just out of curiosity how did you do the deploy? I've been working on PXE booting and doing an automated install with little success

[mrbios]

Just out of curiosity how did you do the deploy? I've been working on PXE booting and doing an automated install with little success

 

A combination of WDS and MDT2010 this time,

 

In the past we've always used symantec ghost solution suite with RIS, but i thought it was getting a bit long in the tooth this year. Very impressed with WDS and it's use of unattended files, at the moment i select an image then press nothing until windows is installed, then i have to select about 3 different options to do with locale and time/date (it doesn't seem to automate this for some reason, it'll only automate that stage when i have the locale set to en-us which i don't want!) next thing i know im on the logon screen and i can add it to the domain then walk away.

 

Is it just the PXE boot your having issues with? Have you set options 66 and 67 in DHCP?

[Tricky_Dicky]

Is it just the PXE boot your having issues with? Have you set options 66 and 67 in DHCP?

 

Very much so, what do I need to set and where?

I tried setting Option 67 in the DHCP scope and pointing it to the file that I had created for PXE booting but the computer I was trying to boot from just said "no file found" or something to that effect.

 

Any ideas?

 

Rich

[mrbios]

Very much so, what do I need to set and where?

I tried setting Option 67 in the DHCP scope and pointing it to the file that I had created for PXE booting but the computer I was trying to boot from just said "no file found" or something to that effect.

 

Any ideas?

 

Rich

 

This is what i have mine set to:

 

066 Boot server host name:

067 Booffile name: boot\x86\pxeboot.com

 

The "boot\x86\pxeboot.com" is the directory within the remoteinstall folder that is created when WDS is setup, mine is the default path which should probably be the same as yours assuming it's a standard WDS install

 

On WDS itself check your options under the PXE response tab and the boot tab, also are you installing this on a DHCP server? If so you'll want to set something on the DHCP tab of WDS, if it's just a standard server though those settings shouldnt matter

 

EDIT: oh the PXE server should also be an authorized DHCP server..i think

Edited February 9, 2010 by mrbios

[Tricky_Dicky]

You are a Scholar and Gent good sir.

My first PXE boot is just kicking off now :D

[mrbios]

You are a Scholar and Gent good sir.

My first PXE boot is just kicking off now :D

 

Excellent stuff, always happy to help