Task Sequence hangs at Downloading 8 of 21 Updates

[SRR]

Hi

 

This seems to be a common problem and I've tried alot of the suggestions already posted without much luck.

 

I'm trying to build a machine and everything was working fine until I introduced a "Install Software Updates" step. When it gets to this step it appears to be working normally and starts to download updates but then stops at update 8 of 21 and it will sit there for about an hour and then do another update.

 

My task sequence is as follows:

 

1.Restart in Windows PE

2.Partition Disk 0

3.Apply Operating System

4.Apply Windows Settings

5.Apply Network Settings - Workgroup

6.Apply Device Drivers

7.Setup windows and ConfigMgr - I have specified the SMSSLP and SMSMP in the Installation Properties

8.Install Software Updates - I have tried both All Software Updates and Mandatory Software Updates

9.Various other steps to install standard software

The only thing that sticks out in the logs is in the SMSTS.log file. At the point where it starts to hang there are multiple entries stating:

 

Waiting for job status notification ..........Component="InstallSWupdate" a new entry gets written to the log file every minute.

 

Steps taken to resolve this include:

 

Adding a restart in between steps 8 and 9 - this caused step 9 to fail altogether

Installing a new version of Windows Update Agent

Added a rescan of ISU as per a few posts on this forum

 

SCCM setup is in mixed mode running SCCM 2007 SP2 R2.

 

Any thoughts?

[anyweb]

are you using a proxy in your organisation ?

[SRR]

Yes we use ISA.

[anyweb]

then that's most likely cuasing your issue, if you can apply a local gpo to set the proxy prior to the software updates task then you should be ok

[SRR]

then that's most likely cuasing your issue, if you can apply a local gpo to set the proxy prior to the software updates task then you should be ok

 

I didn't think that was required as the updates are all on the SCCM box and this is where the client is pulling them from. I left the PC overnight and by the time I came in this morning it had completed the task sequence and I could see that it had installed the updates.

[anyweb]

well from the log how long was it waiting, was it like 18 hours ?

i know we had issues here with proxy settings causing it to repeat 'waiting for ....' basically because it couldnt talk to the proxy server to get the updates

[SRR]

well from the log how long was it waiting, was it like 18 hours ?

i know we had issues here with proxy settings causing it to repeat 'waiting for ....' basically because it couldnt talk to the proxy server to get the updates

 

It was just over 6 hours. If I disable this step in the task sequence and let the machine continue building, once it is into Windows the patches install in about 3 minutes, this is without any proxy specified it just pulls them from it's local DP.

[anyweb]

well if you could try using a group policy apply step before this to rule out the proxy, it would be a great test

 

you can create the local group policy on a windows 7 client (gpedit.msc) with the proxy change (User Cofiguration, Windows Settings, Internet Explorer Maintenance, Connection, Proxy)

 

once the change is made, apply the group policy (gpupdate /force)

 

then you can copy the files stored on that client computer (C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy) to your SCCM Server as a package, then create a Step in the TS to copy the files in the package to the target computer as a step in the Task Sequence, something like this

 

xcopy.exe "\GroupPolicy" "c:\windows\system32" /E /C /I /Q /H /R /Y /S

 

then Have a step before Install Software Updates called Resetart Computer which restarts the pc (and that means the Local GPO get's applied with the proxy settings)

[SRR]

well if you could try using a group policy apply step before this to rule out the proxy, it would be a great test

 

you can create the local group policy on a windows 7 client (gpedit.msc) with the proxy change (User Cofiguration, Windows Settings, Internet Explorer Maintenance, Connection, Proxy)

 

once the change is made, apply the group policy (gpupdate /force)

 

then you can copy the files stored on that client computer (C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy) to your SCCM Server as a package, then create a Step in the TS to copy the files in the package to the target computer as a step in the Task Sequence, something like this

 

xcopy.exe "\GroupPolicy" "c:\windows\system32" /E /C /I /Q /H /R /Y /S

 

then Have a step before Install Software Updates called Resetart Computer which restarts the pc (and that means the Local GPO get's applied with the proxy settings)

 

What username and password will this use? Also does it matter that it is Windows XP that I am deploying?

[anyweb]

none needed, why are you asking ?

[SRR]

none needed, why are you asking ?

 

No reason just checking. Will let you know how this goes, thanks for your help.