[sccm 2007] Can't PXE boot properly

[Batman]

I wonder if there's anyone knowledgeable enough to enlighten me on this subject.

 

We've just had a new system put in and are using SCCM/WDS to build our computers. I don't think we've had any trouble imaging machines first time around, but any time we go to reimage a machine we have to delete it out of config manager first, according to the chaps who set the thing up for us, otherwise we can't image anything. This seems like a dumb way of having to do things to me, but being a complete newbie to the system I don't know any better. I miss having a system where we can just image on demand, and I don't understand why we can't do this with SCCM. My suspicion is that it will do what we want it to do but we don't know how to make it do it yet.

 

Not only that, but the method has so far not been foolproof as a collection of MSI Winds we have here needed reimaging but as far as I can see from the smspxe.log the guid of the machines has remained lurking in the database after we've deleted the machine from config manager leaving us unable to reimage. I tried creating bootable media for the Task Sequence, which booted but then gave up, saying there were no tasks for that client. How I assign the task to the machine I don't know.

 

The gaps in my knowledge are vast, and I would appreciate any suggestions for good self help guides because we're not getting the training we had expected to get when the project was started. I've seen lots of step by step "do this, then that, then this and you'll get this" kind of stuff but that's not helping me understand how it all works.

[Ric_]

Just right-click on the computer object and select 'clear last pxe advertisement'. Job is a good 'un! (You may also need to re-advertise your task depending upon expirations and such like)

 

EDIT - didn't read properly...

 

To assign a task, create a collection and put the computer into it then just right click and select adevertise task sequence. ZeroHour lent me a useful book from Sybex but I found the Technet documentation was very easy to understand too. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680651.aspx

Edited June 18, 2010 by Ric_

[Theblacksheep]

For the reimage, how have you deleted the machines from SCCM?

 

delete? special delete?

 

Delete doesnt really delete... it stays in the SCCM DB.

 

Special delete is what is needed:

 

* Create a "special delete" collection with a direct reference to the MAC of the PC you want to reimage.

* Right click on "special delete" collection (which removes the clients in that collection from the SCCM database, but keeps the collection.)

* re-import the PC via mac to SCCM and add to your build collection with correctly the assigned task sequence to build.

 

 

 

Reimaging without deleting can be done. I have a collection that has a build process task sequence always advertised and I manually add PCs to this collection when I want to reimage it. With PXE it can be zero touch on the client end, but the work is shifted from the client to doing the donkey work in sccm console.

 

The SCCM unleashed book is the best i've found. Better than MS SCCM book IMHO, which is more about installation and setup.... unleashed also has this but it has better working knowledge of collection, advertisments etc...

Edited June 18, 2010 by Theblacksheep