SCCM OSD Log File Locations

I may be late with this but it's for my reference more than anything.  SCCM OSD can be a hair tearing process at the bet of times.  Should you ever need to troubleshoot it MS don't exactly make it easy finding the files either.

He is where you will find the log files at various points throughout the whole OSD process as they do move dependant on which stage you are up to...

WindowsPE, before HDD format:              x:\windows\temp\smstslog\smsts.log
WindowsPE, after HDD format:                 x:\smstslog\smsts.log
Windows, SCCM agent not installed:       c:\_SMSTaskSequence\Logs\Smstslog\smsts.log
Windows, SCCM agent installed:               c:\windows\system32\ccm\logs\Smstslog\smsts.log
Windows x64, SCCM agent installed:       c:\windows\sysWOW64\ccm\logs\Smstslog\smsts.log
Task Sequence completed:                           c:\windows\system32\ccm\logs\smsts.log
Task Sequence completed x64:                   c:\windows\sysWOW64\ccm\logs\smsts.log

Don't forget - use Trace32 to view these log files - it makes it miles easier....

Windows Blue officially named "Windows 8.1" - and it's free!

 

So after much deliberation and hearsay Microsoft have announced that Windows "Blue" will be officially released as Windows 8.1 - and IT WILL be free!

Release dates so far have been speculated as "later this year" but there are indications that it could be ready for the holidays.

Client Center 2012

I've just seen the new Beta for Client Centre 2012 is out and can be downloaded here:

http://sccmclictr.codeplex.com/

Looks ok - sluggish but it is still beta...

X1 Carbon Incorrect Hash Errors during OSD

I was fighting with this one for a couple of days.  Lenovo X1 Carbon - deploying Windows 7 x64.  All drivers were fine and dandy but I was getting randon "Incorrect hash value" errors when the OSD was failing.

This was determined by looking in the SMSTS.log once the OSD had failed.

It transpires that if the USB to Ethernet adapter was plugged in to the right hand USB socket it was dropping loads of packets.  Plugging it into the left hand side worked a treat.

As simple a solution as it sounds this may be far too obvious for some tecchy to even try.  I managed to replicate this on 3 different units so it wasn't just faulty parts.

Felt like a complete numpty once I discovered the fix!

Unable to display all rows in SCCM reports

Just recently I found a few of our larger reports weren't displaying/returning all rows properly so a call went into MS with the following resolution:

Issue:-

Unable to view complete Reports. Row count limited to 2035

Cause:-

                1> ASP buffer Limit was set to false

2> Buffer limit was using default settings.

Resolution:-

                1> Enable the Buffer Limit to true.

2>. On all computers on which a reporting point is enabled, run Regedt32 or

 Regedit.

3. Navigate to the following registry key:

               \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SMS\Reporting

               or on a 64 bit Operating System:

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\SMS\Reporting

4. In the Reporting key, create a DWORD value named Rowcount, edit this value, and enter ffffffff for this new entry.

5. All rows should now be returned by any report query run from this reporting point.

 Open command prompt to C:\Inetpub\AdminScripts and run the following command:

 Cscript adsutil.vbs set w3svc/aspbufferinglimit "209715200"

6. Restart the IIS and SMS_Reporting services.

This program cannot run because a reboot is in progress or software distribution is paused.

Really quick post here.  You may find when running an SCCM2007 task sequence from Run Advertised Programs that you get an error regarding another program is installing please try later. 

when examining the execmgr.log you will see This program cannot run because a reboot is in progress or software distribution is paused.

This worked for me - not claiming it to be a fix for everyone but you could try it.  On the problematic machine go to either:

• x86 – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Mobile Client\Software Distribution\State\
• x64 – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\SMS\Mobile Client\Software Distribution\State\

Set both "Paused" keys in there back to "0" if they are on "1" and then reboot.  Fixed it for me!!!

Lenovo X1 Carbon PXE Boot Issues

I  was recently given the nice new shiny Lenovo X1 Carbon to play with and deploy our corporate Windows 7 image to it.  To maintain its slim physique it hasn't got a built in Ethernet adaptor and is supplied with a Lenovo USB 2.0 to Ethernet Adapter.  Obviously we now had to track down the driver to inject to our Boot Image.

Initially we used the Lenovo USB 2.0 Ethernet Adapter Driver 5.4.3.0 which PXE booted but then seemed to fail and hang once WinPE loaded up.

I then downloaded the Lenovo X1 Carbon SCCM Driver Pack which came with v5.12.4.0 which also seemed to give me problems.

Eventually I found that it was the manufacturers Vista driver that worked for me.

From the AXIS website you can download the AXIS AX88772B Vista Driver which worked a treat.  With the SSD this was a dream to image and was quite quick in comparison to others.

Hope this helps.

Chris.