OSD Windows 7x64 and UEFI partitioning

[jrgonzalez_nyc]

Hello,

 

Our School District is wanting to move to UEFI/Windows 7 environment.

 

We are having problems laying down a Windows 7 x64 image using UEFI pxe boot. I think it has to do with the way we are partitioning the disk but I am not sure what I need to change. I have attached a copy of our smsts.log file and screenshots of our task sequence. We are not using MDT task sequence. We are using a SCCM task sequence. Please any help would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Joe

 

smsts.log

[anyweb]

are you starting this in Windows ? and is the system in UEFI mode or LEGACY mode prior to running the task sequence ?

[jrgonzalez_nyc]

Hi Niall,

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

In the BIOS settings, we are having the technicians turn off LEGACY and enabling only UEFI. These machines are unknown to CM as they are just being unboxed.

 

After they make the changes in the BIOS, the machines uefi pxe boot using an x64 boot image. They then select our UEFI Task Sequence and it goes through the whole TS and upon restart it gets the efi\bcd error.

[anyweb]

well the disks are in legacy non-gpt mode so i think that's causing issues, are you starting the task sequence in windows or via PXE ?

[jrgonzalez_nyc]

I'm starting it via PXE.

 

Shouldnt the TS set the disk to GPT mode when it runs the UEFI step?

[anyweb]

yup, and if you look at your log it looks ok

 

<![LOG[successfully completed the action (Partition Disk 0 - UEFI) with the exit win32 code 0]LOG]!><time="12:55:10.084+420" date="07-13-2015" component="TSManager" context="" type="1" thread="560" file="instruction.cxx:830">

 

so... what happens after this ? are you sure it's failing at this point, can you press f8 when it's failing and verify that you are capturing the log from x:\windows\temp\smstslog\smsts.log

[jrgonzalez_nyc]

After the machine restarts to continue the task sequence, it gets the black screen error efi\bcd.

 

Yes, I actually opened up a cmd prompt using F8 and then used CMTRACE to open up the smsts.log. I copied the log from the path you referred to and copied onto a usb drive.

 

I do notice in the log file the following error after OSDdiskpart.exe:

 

<![LOG[==============================[ OSDDiskPart.exe ]==============================]LOG]!><time="12:54:54.999+420" date="07-13-2015" component="OSDDiskPart" context="" type="1" thread="1064" file="main.cpp:1078">

<![LOG[Command line: "osddiskpart.exe"]LOG]!><time="12:54:54.999+420" date="07-13-2015" component="OSDDiskPart" context="" type="1" thread="1064" file="main.cpp:1079">

<![LOG[succeeded loading resource DLL 'X:\sms\bin\x64\1033\TSRES.DLL']LOG]!><time="12:54:54.999+420" date="07-13-2015" component="OSDDiskPart" context="" type="1" thread="1064" file="util.cpp:964">

<![LOG[Reading partition size info for partition 0]LOG]!><time="12:54:55.193+420" date="07-13-2015" component="OSDDiskPart" context="" type="0" thread="1064" file="main.cpp:461">

............................

<![LOG[Reading partition size info for partition 2]LOG]!><time="12:54:55.193+420" date="07-13-2015" component="OSDDiskPart" context="" type="0" thread="1064" file="main.cpp:461">

<![LOG[Remaining size before partition: 499266388480]LOG]!><time="12:54:55.193+420" date="07-13-2015" component="OSDDiskPart" context="" type="0" thread="1064" file="main.cpp:465">

<![LOGLOG]!><time="12:54:55.193+420" date="07-13-2015" component="OSDDiskPart" context="" type="0" thread="1064" file="main.cpp:483">

<![LOG[set partition size: 134217728]LOG]!><time="12:54:55.193+420" date="07-13-2015" component="OSDDiskPart" context="" type="0" thread="1064" file="main.cpp:541">

<![LOG[Remaining size after partition 2: 499132170752]LOG]!><time="12:54:55.193+420" date="07-13-2015" component="OSDDiskPart" context="" type="0" thread="1064" file="main.cpp:618">

<![LOG[Failed to read filesystem from OSDPartitions2FileSystem, not formatting]LOG]!><time="12:54:55.193+420" date="07-13-2015" component="OSDDiskPart" context="" type="0" thread="1064" file="main.cpp:421">

Notice the Failed to read filesystem error. I assume this is the problem?

Thank you so much for your help!

[jrgonzalez_nyc]

Just wanted to follow up with a little more info/details about this issue.

 

I UEFI pxe booted again and before I ran the task sequence, I did the following:

Hit F8, Entered Diskpart and cleaned the selected disk of any partitions.

 

• Ran the Task Sequence again and before letting it restart I entered Diskpart again and verified the following:
• Disk 0 shows an as asterisk under the GPT column as seen in your post here: http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/11135-why-do-i-get-a-winloadefi-status-0xc0000359-error-when-using-uefi-network-boot-in-system-center-2012-r2-configuration-manager.
• There are 4 Partitions, Recovery, System, Reserved, and Primary in that order.
• There are 3 volumes, Volume 0 = Letter C and it is the OS NTFS partition. Volume 1 = no letter and shows as Windows NTFS partition. Volume 2 = Letter S and shows as the FAT32 partition.

 

Also, after I let the TS restart and got the BCD failure message again, I went into the BIOS and enabled LEGACY Options. After I did this, I restarted the laptop and it continues with the task sequence! Seems very odd to me. Any ideas??

 

Best Regards,

 

Joe

[TimLancer]

Joe-

 

I suspect I'm having the exact same issue. I've been successfully deploying Windows 7 x64 via a SCCM (2012R2 SP1) task sequence to systems running a BIOS OR with UEFI in Legacy/CSM mode. Since it's been working so well for me I've avoided complicating things with MDT, UEFI, or Secure Boot....my problem is that I just got in a new Lenovo Helix 2 (20CG-000SUS) that does NOT have a Legacy/CSM option in the UEFI!

 

For troubleshooting purposes I found a recent desktop system that is UEFI but has the CSM option. I can image with CSM off and get the same error as you do. I can go into the UEFI and turn CSM on, and the system boots fine. Post setup I can confirm the disk layout is correct and it's using GPT.

 

Not sure what I'm going to do with my Helix 2 then...

[jrgonzalez_nyc]

Hi Tim,

 

I also read the following regarding other Dell Models: "We use MDT 2013, and UEFI on our systems. We have found, if Legacy Option Rom is disabled imaging always comes back as unable to read the partition after pushing the captured image. "0xc000000d An error occured while attempting to read the boot configuration data." Similarly, if you try to disable it after the machine is good, it will not be able to read the partition in the same way.

This is only for the Windows 7 image. Never knew why, but as a result of this behavior disabling Legacy Option Rom isn't an option.

Everything works peachy without legacy option rom on Windows 8.1 however (both during and after imaging)." Found on this thread: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19622501

However, I don't know if this a specific model issue because we have seen the same error on our Optiplex 7010's, 3020's, and 9020's as well as our Latitude E3340 model.

I am going to test by setting the BIOS to UEFI and then imaging from windows 7 x64 disc just to determine whether its a hardware issue or our SCCM task sequence. I'll post what I find here.

[jrgonzalez_nyc]

Hello just to follow up on this thread I wanted to post what I have tried:

 

I created a Windows 7 x64 SP1 CD as well as a Windows 8.1 x64 CD.

 

I set the BIOS to UEFI and tried installing Windows 7 directly from the disk and it freezes.

I set the BIOS to UEFI and tried installing Windows 8.1 from disk and it succeeds.

 

It looks like this might definitely be an issue with Dells BIOS not working nicely with Win 7 and UEFI.

 

Has anyone been able to image a Dell machine with Win7 and UEFI? If so, how did you guys do it?

[TimLancer]

Could this be about Windows 7 + the vendor's implementation of UEFI on specific models? Sorry - I don't have any Dells here to test with, we're a Lenovo shop.

 

Even though my main concern is about imaging this Lenovo Helix 2 (which doesn't have a CSM/Legacy option) for troubleshooting purposes I decided to use a machine that I have been able to successfully deploy to in the past. I wanted to separate any potential issues with UEFI in my shop from issues that might be specific to the Helix 2.

 

My test subject is a Lenovo ThinkCentre M73 Tiny (10AY-001YUS) that originally shipped with Windows 7 x64. It supports both the legacy BIOS and UEFI (with a CSM option).

• UEFI: On / CSM: On = Windows 7 SP x64 OSD succeeeds
• UEFI: On / CSM: Off = Error

If I use the *same* Task Sequence that fails above and change the "Apply Operating System" step to reference a Windows 8.1 x64 WIM instead of the Windows 7 SP1 x64 WIM, it deploys successfully!

 

...too bad my users hate Windows 8.1

[anyweb]

my advice with UEFI is use UEFI designed os's for UEFI deployments and that would be Windows 8 and onwards, I've done Windows 7 deployments in UEFI mode and they are patchy at best,

 

for example on lenovo's they work as long as CSM mode is enabled but Secure boot must be disabled as it's not Windows 7 aware,

 

rather than struggle with Windows 7 and UEFI, why not just go for Windows 10 in UEFI mode ?

[jrgonzalez_nyc]

Thanks for the feedback. I contacted our Dell rep regarding this as well and he also suggested using Windows 8 and onward with UEFI.

 

The good news is with all the research and time we have already spent testing, our manager decided to hold off on UEFI until we get Windows 10!

 

Thanks for all the step by step guides you provide Niall. They really are helpful.

[TimLancer]

As a follow up, I was able to deploy my existing task sequence pointed at the Windows 8.1 .WIM file to my "problem" Lenovo Helix 2 and it finished successfully. Since I don't have an option to disable UEFI on my Helix 2 I guess I'll be deploying Windows 8.1 on them for now.

 

Once Windows 10 is available on the volume license site I plan on using that instead. Originally I planned on ignoring UEFI/Secure Boot until Windows 10 came out but now that I have this Helix 2 I am no longer afforded that luxury.

 

Thanks for posting Joe and of course thanks Niall for being awesome (as always).

 

If you're thinking about deploying Windows 7 x64 onto UEFI enabled hardware with no Legacy/CSM option - think twice!

[Santosh khaple]

As a follow up, I was able to deploy my existing task sequence pointed at the Windows 8.1 .WIM file to my "problem" Lenovo Helix 2 and it finished successfully. Since I don't have an option to disable UEFI on my Helix 2 I guess I'll be deploying Windows 8.1 on them for now.

 

Once Windows 10 is available on the volume license site I plan on using that instead. Originally I planned on ignoring UEFI/Secure Boot until Windows 10 came out but now that I have this Helix 2 I am no longer afforded that luxury.

 

Thanks for posting Joe and of course thanks Niall for being awesome (as always).

 

If you're thinking about deploying Windows 7 x64 onto UEFI enabled hardware with no Legacy/CSM option - think twice!

Hi Admin,

 

is there any way while installing OS through normal task sequence it can ask for computer name.

 

regards;

Sant

[TimLancer]

Sant-

 

You should probably start a new thread when you have a question unrelated to the original post. Yes, it is possible. Niall wrote a great guide for it here

 

http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/5542-how-can-i-easily-prompt-for-a-computer-name-in-configuration-manager-2012/