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We currently have a working setup of MDT linked to WDS. When I PXE boot, everything works as expected, and the new computer deployment succeeds.

However, I am trying to see if we can push the build remotely with PsExec or PDQ Deploy. I've got it mostly working by pushing this command:

\\domain.org\dfs\MDT\Scripts\LiteTouch.vbs /skiptasksequence:YES /skipcomputername:YES /rulesfile:\\domain.org\dfs\MDT\Control\CustomSettings.ini /SkipDomainMembership:YES /SkipApplications:YES

The LiteTouch launches, the computer reboots into WinPE, and it begins - but it fails right when it should do "Install Operating System", giving error 

FAILURE (5456): Unable to determine Destination Disk, Partition, and/or Drive. See BDD>LOG for more information. Litetouch deployment failed, Return Code = -2147467259 0x80004005

I tried a few different things I found with changing the Install Operating System step and the Format and Partition step, no dice. Fails at this point every time.

All I want is 1 partition for the whole drive for the OS to use. We've had OSDisk as the name but that doesn't even matter if it is important. And I use a script called UserExit.vbs that keeps the name of the machine when it rebuilds.

All relevant servers are Windows Server 2016, version 1607.

All client OSes are Windows 10 Enterprise, version 1507.

Screenshots

CustomSettings.ini

I tried to include all the relevant code and screenshots above, slightly anonymized with domain.org. Please let me know if there is any more information needed.

Sam Lewis
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  • ts.xml is here: http://pastebin.com/veQcf02u – Sam Lewis Mar 07 '17 at 16:17
  • Why not create two partitions: a System Partition for boot and a Windows Partition for applying OS which is the more recommended partition method? Additionally, if you use variable "OSDisk" in the format and partition step, you can change the OS applying destination to "Local drive letter stored in a variable" as well in the Installing Operating System step. – Jimmy Sun Mar 08 '17 at 13:13
  • I would be okay with having two partitions, but I'm not sure what settings to put for them like size, format, name, etc. Would that System partition be hidden to users or be like a D: drive? I did leave the name OSDisk in there, and I tried putting it in for the Install Operating System step as well, which is how it was at first. – Sam Lewis Mar 08 '17 at 14:31

1 Answers1

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In my lab I have the latest MDT build 8443 which provides better support for deploying Win10 1607 and Server 2016. It's recommended to upgrade your MDT 2013 U1 to the latest version, the download link can be found here.

For your questions, you can give the System Partition size 350MB, mark it as a Boot partition, and create the OS partition with the rest disk space. In my test I just keep with the default configuration like below:

enter image description here enter image description here

The System Partition will be hidden automatically and the OS partition will get C: drive latter. (During WinPE the System Partition is assigned a V: drive letter but it will be removed later)

enter image description here

Edit: Now I can just reproduce your issue in my lab as the below error shown: enter image description here

I add "Format and partition disk" step under the "Refresh Only" group to enforce this step be executed during the TS. After configuring this, the issue appeared subsequently. If I run the same WMI query as the log stated it returns empty result. The VolumeSerialNumber(VSN) in the query is created during the partition creating and formatting process and will change each time when the disk is formatted. However, in this query the VSN used is still the previous one (before formatted) so the result will be empty.

SELECT * FROM Win32_LogicalDisk WHERE Size = '41996513280' and VolumeName = 'Windows' and VolumeSerialNumber = 'XXXXXXXX'

Commonly, when you launch the LiteTouch.vbs it will be considered as a "Refresh" deployment. In this scenario by default the disk will not be re-formatted excepted the OS drive. When you launch the TS from WinPE (via PXE or boot media) it will be considered as a "NEWCOMPUTER" scenario and disk will be formatted. These two scenarios are totally different in the deployment behavior and your TS only can be used in the NEWCOMPUTER scenario.

Solution: Do not disable the "New computer only" and "Refresh Only" groups in your TS, remove the "Format and Partition disk" step just like the default TS shown then your deployment should be okay.

Jimmy Sun
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  • I went ahead and made my Format and Partition Disk step look like yours, and I still get the error. Again, it is only when I launch LiteTouch.vbs from within Windows. If I boot into the environment and click through the steps, it works fine even with this change. – Sam Lewis Mar 09 '17 at 13:21
  • I'm currently deploying Windows 10 version 1507, so will the update have any effect? Of course I will eventually have to go to 1607 or later, so I should probably update regardless. – Sam Lewis Mar 09 '17 at 13:23
  • I let the build finish, and I looked at DiskPart. It looks a bit different from yours: http://i.imgur.com/k7AOTBm.png. Any chance there's some other place for me defined that stuff over in "Info" besides the screen shot you showed me? – Sam Lewis Mar 09 '17 at 13:29
  • The reason that your screen shot different from mine I think is the MDT version. You can build a lab and test this with MDT version 8443. – Jimmy Sun Mar 14 '17 at 04:54
  • Alright, so I made a different deployment share (on version 8443) and set it all up the same and like your screenshots, and I still get the error (only when deploying via running the LiteTouch.vbs from within Windows). Within WinPE, this is what my disk looks like: http://i.imgur.com/pGDQHVI.png – Sam Lewis Mar 20 '17 at 14:09
  • I also have tested to launch the OS deployment from within Windows and it succeeded. Could you please share the BDD.log under the path X:\MININT\SMSOSD\OSDLOGS? – Jimmy Sun Mar 21 '17 at 07:37
  • Here's the BDD.log from the machine in WinPE: http://pastebin.com/RydbbTnY – Sam Lewis Mar 21 '17 at 16:40
  • Hello, please see the new edits of my answer and I think it should be the cause of your issue. – Jimmy Sun Mar 22 '17 at 07:06
  • I changed the "Format and Partition Disk" Step to label the drive as OSDisk instead of Windows, and I still get the error :(. The change looks like it did take affect, as the Diskpart results shows the drive being labeled OSDisk, but BDD.log still shows it can't find OSDisk... Here's the new log: http://pastebin.com/2Gy2W64B – Sam Lewis Mar 22 '17 at 15:58
  • We may be getting somewhere. It now continues past the Install Operating System phase, but then when it goes to reboot into the new install after that, it just sits on the boot screen (windows logo with spinning circle below it) for seemingly forever. After about 20 minutes I rebooted, and it got that far again and popped up an error message: "The computer restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error. Windows installation cannot proceed. To install Windows, click "OK" to restart the computer, and then restart the installation." – Sam Lewis Mar 23 '17 at 17:31
  • Note: I've tried this with both my 8298 and 8443 shares, been updating each of them with each change (OSDisk vs. Windows, Format under New computer only, etc.) – Sam Lewis Mar 23 '17 at 17:46
  • Since this new issue occurred during the Windows Setup, you should examine the Set Up logs: C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\setupact.log&C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther\setuperr.log or C:\WINDOWS\PANTHER\setupact.log&C:\WINDOWS\PANTHER\setuperr.log – Jimmy Sun Mar 24 '17 at 03:15
  • Well I am thinking that issue is that the previous installation (the one LiteTouch.vbs launches from) is not being wiped out (since it isn't formatted - that's why I had it set that way before, because how could install work without formatting?), so it's all still there. There's no $WINDOWS.~BT folders, and the Windows\Panther\setupact.log has information from the intial install (3/7/17) and this one (3/23/2017). I'll paste the lines from 3/23 here: http://pastebin.com/BMePg3tV - it won't let me put the whole file because it's too big. Setuperr.log just has one line from the 3/7 install. – Sam Lewis Mar 24 '17 at 14:06
  • That's not correct. In the "Refresh Scenario" the hard disk will be wiped except for the folders containing backup, this can be easily found from the docs:https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/deploy/windows-10-deployment-scenarios. Could you please post your current TS steps screenshot because a default "Standard Client TS" just works perfectly in my lab? – Jimmy Sun Mar 25 '17 at 02:07
  • Sorry, please also share the BDD.log for troubleshooting. Thanks! – Jimmy Sun Mar 28 '17 at 08:05
  • The log terminated suddenly I think it's due to your manually reboot which is really not a good way because a unexpected reboot during the Windows setup will cause the failure like the message shown. If you wait for it will the deployment succeed at last? – Jimmy Sun Mar 30 '17 at 02:34
  • I just let it go for about 4 hours, and it never finished or produced any errors, just sat at the Windows boot logo/animation. – Sam Lewis Apr 04 '17 at 17:06