Systems Management

Will post results shortly. On a quick side note. Any idea why we don't format with diskpart?

We partition with DP, then run a separate format command with 2 different PI tasks.

Couldn't we edit a copy of the Create Single Partition task to include the diskpart format command? - murbot 9 years ago

having two makes it more flexible to changes, so you can combine them if you want - SMal.tmcc 9 years ago

LOG: The log file named with the MAC address has plenty of info inside of it.
IMAGE SIZE: The size looks good at about 8GB's and it ticks up normally during capture while monitored.
HIVE EXISTS on original after booting after sysprep: Yes
MANUAL CAST: Success!! Yippy Skippy Doo!!

I'm going back over my KBE's now. I must of had something off in there if the manual dep succeeded. - murbot 9 years ago

If I boot to a KBE and manually run the imagex cmd, it runs fine, but the image dropdown fails. I've gone over my KBE's, PI's and the VB script, but can't figure when it's losing the path.
After a failure, I can run the command or just to begin with and it's fine. The Apply_wim.vbs script doesn't error with the line 8 msg box that pops if there is no connection to t:\imagestore and I'm able to run it manually so we know it's connecting.
That seems like it may be some internal issue here that I'll have to weed out.
DRIVERS
I deployed the optiplex 7010 image to a 6440 with audio and video drivers for the 6440 under the INF folder. But the ethernet, Broadcom USH, PCI Simple Comm, SM Bus, and an Unknown device are missing drivers.

What's the best way to get those missing drivers to install on images residing on different hardware? I have the "Use driver feed (only with sysprep'd images)" unchecked currently. - murbot 9 years ago

Yep, those the drivers I'm using. I only used video and audio at first, but just added everything else (128mbs in this case) and the drivers all installed this time.
If I can figure out why the deployment through Kace's dropdown fails but manually typing it succeeds, I can put this to bed. Very happy with the drivers right now. :-)
Will continue to post till I figure it out. Maybe it will help some other poor soul someday. So close... - murbot 9 years ago

if you get worried about space have post task remove the directory. I use inf\tmccdrivers\model so if needed I can del at tmccdrivers - SMal.tmcc 9 years ago

I'm not so concerned about space on the machine after it's built and someone is using it, but I want to keep it small so it deploys a bit quicker and takes up less space on our servers. Not a big deal, but I'll pick away at it once I get the Kace drop down menu deployment to run right. Time to pack it in for the day. Thanks again!!! - murbot 9 years ago

Did you mention once that it's possible to run a mid-level task to copy necessary drivers from the network during the build?
Not sure this is the answer for me as it may cause the deployment to take longer than we want, but I am curious if it's an option.
Maybe a simple batch file?
xcopy \\server\drivers C:\windows\inf\dkdrivers\6440\* - murbot 9 years ago

Got it. I created a batch file named 'deploy.bat' and in my mid level WIM Deploy task, I replaced apply.vbs with deploy.bat. The bat file contains: imagex /apply t:\imagestore\name.wim 1 c:\
I saved the image that worked on my 7010 and 6440 and it had only their drivers stored in the INF folder, but I created another image and added drivers for 3 other Dell machines. After boot, a 7240 and a 7010 both got stuck unleashing sysprep at the setting up system services step. I went back to my image that worked yesterday with only the 7010 and 6440 drivers and those models still work so I'll play with the drivers and find what works. There must be conflicting drivers with the models I used.

Still have some tidying up to do, but I know it can work and be advertised to our techs to use soon. Wouldn't have gotten it done without your help. Thank you. - murbot 9 years ago

I have run into some newer lenovo drivers causing problems with the older models. I went to using a set of mid level tasks that are for each model I have and they each copy the complete set of drivers for that model to c:\windows\inf\model. Look at this approach as a tech controlled/tuned version of the driver feed. - SMal.tmcc 9 years ago

Which copy cmd are you using to copy drivers during the build? I'm creating the bat files now, but realized I may have trouble accessing the windows\inf folder unless I copy the files to a different local folder first. - murbot 9 years ago