ThatOneGuy

What's so great about the MDT / SCCM integration, specifically about task sequences and OS deployment? I understand that using MDT to build an image is preferable for a lot of reasons, and I'm okay with that part. It's the MDT-enabled task sequences that are bothering me. It seems like whenever I need to create an MDT task sequence, I have to bend over backwards, analyze everything in the task sequence created, tweak the defaults, pat my head, and rub my tummy before it will (somewhat) work correctly. Here's my latest example: I needed a fairly simple refresh task sequence to be run on about fifteen computers of a single hardware model. I'm not concerned with preserving any data on them; I just need to format and install Windows, along with a set list of applications. I'd like to use copyprofile as well, so I turned to MDT instead of building my own unattend.xml from scratch. My MDT task sequence is now three times as long as my original "vanilla" task sequence was, contains unneeded variables for BitLocker, UEFI, and the UDI wizard, and it still fails! I get seemingly random 80040005 errors throughout the task sequence with no apparent rhyme or reason (they actually happen in different places in the same task sequence on the same machine) with no output in smsts.log. The SMSTS.log files are now stored in about four different places. In fact, when I create a new MDT task sequence without selecting the UDI wizard and try to run it from within Windows (using the Software Center), it doesn't even restart into Windows PE - I get an error when it tries to partition Windows from within Windows. I'm fairly new to MDT, so it's very possible I'm doing this wrong...but from my perspective, integrating MDT with SCCM has been nothing but a headache. Could anyone explain some of the advantages of using these enhanced task sequences?

Sorry for the belated response. I was FINALLY able to resolve the issue. In case anyone else has this issue, the blank screen I described it means that mshta.exe is running, but it's unable to find the HTA file it was asked to run. Here's the TSconfig.ini file that ended up working for me: [CustomHook] CommandLine="%systemroot%\system32\mshta.exe %systemdrive%\import.hta" @Lucid - thanks for the reminder about the hyphen; that was part of the problem. I renamed them both to just import.hta so I wouldn't have that problem any more. Thanks everyone for the help! Edit - forgot to mention that I also moved the HTA to the root of the drive. It's easier to maintain that way, especially since I use a couple of images.

Thank you for the reply. I'm quite sure I'm using the right boot image; I've checked the filesystem on the PE drive and confirmed that my hta is there. It does load successfully from the command line using mshta X:\Deploy\Scripts\import-0_1.hta. Here's the contents of my tsconfig.ini file: [CustomHook] CommandLine="mshta.exe x:\Deploy\Scripts\import_0_1.hta"

So I've been taking the first steps in creating an HTA for our environment. We do not have MDT integration set up, so I'm following the instructions in this post http://myitforum.com...nt-end-hta.aspx to try to set up a frontend. In summary, I just add HTA support to the image and create a tsconfig.ini file that invokes the file. I then go through and add HTA support to the boot image and configure a TS to use that image when it reboots. (It's a x64 boot image, by the way.) The problem is that when the computer PXE boots, I see the PXE password screen (as usual), and after I enter the password, a blank white window appears with the title of my HTA. It sits around there until I close the window, and then it proceeds to the task sequence selection window. It's as if the boot image doesn't support HTA scripts, even though I explicitly added that capability through dism. Most people that use HTAs seem to have MDT integrated. Can anyone help me get this standalone feature working? Thanks in advance!