midteq

This article will detail some caveats and issues not already mentioned and/or those found and overcome by others.

1. Hal.dll errors on reboot post deployment

Sympton:

You may receive hal.dll related errors post deployment if there are hidden partitions on the disk.  This is common on newer Dell hardware but may be experienced with other manufacturers and vendors.

Solution:

Boot into WDS using the deploy boot image.  Once logged in, press 'Shift + F10' to open a command prompt.

DISKPART
SELECT DISK 0
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
EXIT
EXIT

Once the command prompt has closed, continue the deployment process.

Contributed by Gatt in this post at the EduGeek forums. 

This step is not required if you utilise a 'WDSClientUnattend.xml' file and include the following section:

      - <DiskConfiguration>
          <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
        - <Disk>
          - <CreatePartitions>
            - <CreatePartition>
                <Order>1</Order>
                <Type>Primary</Type>
                <Extend>true</Extend>
              </CreatePartition>
            </CreatePartitions>
        - <ModifyPartitions>
          - <ModifyPartition>
              <Active>true</Active>
              <Extend>false</Extend>
              <Format>NTFS</Format>
              <Label>OS</Label>
              <Letter>C</Letter>
              <Order>1</Order>
              <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
            </ModifyPartition>
          </ModifyPartitions>
        - <DiskID>0</DiskID>
            <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
          </Disk>
        </DiskConfiguration>

More details about creating and using a 'WDSClientUnattend.xml' can be found here.

2. Using 'boot.wim' from an OEM Vista DVD

Sympton:

You may receive the following error message when attempting to deploy a captured image:

'Windows could not display the images available for installation'

This is sometimes caused by using an oem boot.wim (e.g. from a Dell Vista DVD) rather than a Volume License or Genuine MS one.

Solution:

On the server (or wherever the Windows Automated Install Kit (AIK) is installed), copy a fresh version of 'boot.wim' from 'OEMCD\Sources\boot.wim' and copy it to a temporary location.

Open an AIK command prompt (Start > ... ) and mount the 'boot.wim' so that the contents can be modified:

mkdir E:\path\to\temporary\folder
imagex /mountrw e:\path\to\boot.wim 2 e:\path\to\temporary\folder

Go into 'e:\path\to\temporary\folder\Sources' and delete 'pid.txt'

Exit the path (cd \ ) and then unmount the image

imagex /unmount /commit e:\path\to\temp\folder

Then add the boot image to WDS in the usual way.

Contributed by pete in this post at the EduGeek forums.

3. Images created on Intel architecture cannot be deployed to AMD based machines.

"If we make a machine on a laptop with AMD chip and chipset then that will work on an Intel machine but the reverse isn't true."

Solution:

The intel service 'intelppm' runs on Intel machines so to make an image work on both Intel and AMD based machines you would have to disable that service during mini-setup with:

sc.exe config intelppm start= Disabled

Contributed by SeanMc74 in this thread at the MySysprep forums.

4. SCSI/RAID Host Controller does not install correctly on first boot post deployment

Sympton:

On first boot after deployment, the 'SCSI/RAID Host Controller' tries to install but fails. If I then uninstall it via the Device Manager and reboot, it installs correctly without a problem.

Solution:

Are you putting Daemon Tools on the image - if so, run this as part of the machine startup:

sCmd="\\server\share\devcon\i386\devcon.exe remove ""ACPI\PNPA000"""
oShell.run sCmd,,true
wscript.sleep 5000
sCmd="\\server\share\devcon\i386\devcon.exe rescan"
oShell.run sCmd,,true

This removes the device and then does a rescan. 'Devcon.exe' is an MS download which can be found here.

Please note: Both of the code snippets used in #4 and #5 below require the line of code shown below:

set oShell=createobject("wscript.shell")

Contributed by srochford in this post at the EduGeek forums.

5. Altering default power management at machine startup.

Sympton:

I created the image initially using a laptop and now when I deploy to desktops, I have to manually change the default settings to 'always on' on first boot.

Solution:

Use this code snippet in your machine startup script:

sCmd="powercfg /setactive ""home/office desk"""
oShell.run sCmd

Alter "home/office desk" to "always on" as appropriate to your requirements.

Please note: Both of the code snippets used in #4 and #5 above require the line of code shown below:

set oShell=createobject("wscript.shell")

Contributed by srochford in this post at the EduGeek forums.