Rebooting into PE and formating harddrive

[Jroth]

I have an issue where we need to reboot certain machines and have them format instead of cleaning the drive(I need to treat it as a newcomputer instead of a refresh). We have set the command line for these machine to send a newcomputer deployment type. I have set the Task Sequence to ltiapply /pe like the "Refresh Deployment" type but it isn't working right.

 

It does reboot into PE but it stops at the welcome screen and we have to click on the deploment start button, also the format start and wipes everything but then the inject drivers can't fine the partition.

 

When I run the same task sequence from a disk it works great.

 

What am I missing?

 

 

Thanks,

 

J

[winoutreach5]

Hi J,

 

When you boot into Windows PE using MDT, you have the option of refreshing the system (and also import the user data) or simply treating the system as a “new computer” which, as you said, is your end goal. With that said, you shouldn’t need to set a command line reference to specify this MDT will, by default, format the drive and install the image associated with the selected task sequence.

 

Because the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) by itself offers a Lite Touch Installation (LTI) option for deployment there will still be minimal interaction required on your end such as the need to push the “Run the Deployment Wizard” button to begin the deployment.

Next, you said the deployment completes successfully when you use a disk; I have to wonder what method you are currently using to deploy Windows and what, if anything may have changed. Are you using Windows Deployment Services via PXE boot? It is also is a good idea to update the deployment share with every change / addition.

 

Since the default action of a deployment task sequence is to format the drive, I would suggest building a new simple task sequence to see if you experience the same sort of issue. If so, it could mean an issue with the deployment share, drivers, etc. If not, it could mean it was one of the script customizations, which you could then bring in your customizations one by one until you encountered the errors. Your task sequence should include only the settings you need such as product key, OS settings, and admin password. If you require tasks such as domain join and systemlocale, you can easily edit the unattend.xml and add those settings. The inject drivers task is already added and enabled by default in the standard client task sequence and should not need to be edited. After you create the new task sequence outlined above, update the deployment share and please proceed to deployment.

 

Using the above suggestion I was able to recreate your scenario with the provided information and successfully complete my new system deployment with drivers installed successfully. I did not import any previous data and the install turned the computer into a “new” Windows machine.

 

There are some great videos on using MDT to deploy Windows available on the Springboard Series page of TechNet. Two that I always recommend are Deployment Day Session 1: Introduction to MDT 2012 and Deployment Day Session 2: MDT 2012 Advanced.

Also, there is a great deal of deployment information available from the Springboard Series on TechNet that you might want to check out. For example, if you are deploying Windows 7, you will want to check out the Deliver and Deploy Windows 7 page; if you are deploying Windows 8, you will want to check out the Deliver and Deploy Windows 8 page.

 

Again, the more information we have about the task sequence settings you are using, the scripts you are running, the version of Windows you are deploying and the method in which are you are booting into Windows PE, the better we will be able to assist you.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Jessica

Windows Outreach Team – IT Pro

[Jroth]

The process works fine when booting from the bootcd and it works when doing a refresh deployment type. When I change the deployment type on the litetouch.vbs command line to force the machine into a deployment type of "newcomputer" is when we have an issue. I can get it to reboot and it tries to format but then fails to find the drive. Again this works from a cd. I made the Task Sequence for "newcomputer only" to run the ltiapply /pe (like it is set in the refresh only group) but its stopping on the wizard for newcomputer. It doesn't do this when I run the deployment from CD or with the refresh deployment type. We are not using PXE we are actually running the litetouch.vbs from Altiris.