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Altiris PXE boot issue

  • 1.  Altiris PXE boot issue

    Posted Mar 09, 2012 12:31 PM

    I am having an issue with PXE booting to Altiris.  What happened was our server went and had to be rebuilt.  After it was rebuilt we started to run into an issue where we would PXE boot.  It would use WinPE 2.1.  And then get to a dos screen. And do the following.

     

    X:\Windows\system32>wpeinit

     

    X:\Windows\system32>

     

    I did find somewhere else where some said they fixed it doing the following.

     

    "I had unchecked the "use compression" box while making the PXE boot image."

     

    I could not find "use compression".  I did find "Compress WIM file". But changing that did not make a difference.

     

    I am very new to Altiris Deployment Solution so I may not be looking in the right place.  I am also afraid without realizing it I may be leaving out details that could help people answer this question.

     

    Any help would be appreciated. 

     

    Thanks,

    Dave



  • 2.  RE: Altiris PXE boot issue

    Posted Mar 12, 2012 05:30 PM

    Hello Dave,

    THe command prompt (you called this DOS screen) is WInPE. Our version of WinPE does not load WIndows Explorer.  So you are in the right path.

    The compression is used to reduce the size of the Winpe file(wim file) download.  From ~150 Megs to ~110 Megs. This makes a huge difference when multiple machine connect.

    Nelo



  • 3.  RE: Altiris PXE boot issue

    Posted Mar 21, 2012 12:18 PM
    Turning the compression on and off hasn't made any difference. It just sits there and does nothing. It is like it cannot go on to the next step. Right now we are dead in the water and can't drop any images to any box. I checked the wpeinit.log and it doesn't show any errors. What can I do to troubleshoot this? I have removed and reinstalled Altiris Deployment Solution and I just this morning applied the latest software (6.9 SP5 MP2). But nothing has changed. Right now I am looking at the “Boot Disk Creator” but I don’t know how to use it and so far I am having not any luck and documentation about how to use that piece of software. Dave


  • 4.  RE: Altiris PXE boot issue

    Posted Mar 21, 2012 02:44 PM

    Not sure where DS is failing. Lets try to elaborate the  steps.

     

    1. DS Console launch PXE configuration and create a WinPE PXE or you could use WinPE Managed.

    2. Boot a client that is PXE enabled. do you see a PXE menu?  select Boot Next this will tell us PXE is running.

    3. the client gets dagent install. this is the client that tells the computer what to do.

    4. DS console create a script task that will boot WinPE MAnaged or the one you created. Task should contain a simple dir.

    5. Assign the task/job to the client. the client reboots into Winpe and the dagent in winpe comes up and checks with the deployment server for any jobs.  if there is a job/task it will do it. Once it is done it will reboot to production (OS).

    sorry for assuming to much just want to see where in the process DS is failing.

    Nelo



  • 5.  RE: Altiris PXE boot issue

    Posted Mar 22, 2012 11:39 AM
    Im sorry but I dont understand all the questions. Please understand I never had to do anything with Altiris or PXE until a few weeks ago. I will try answer your questions as best as I can. 1. DS Console launch PXE configuration and create a WinPE PXE or you could use WinPE Managed. I have no idea what you are asking. In the Altiris Boot Disk Creator is shows WinPE 2.1 using "Altiris_DS_Preboot_WinPE_2.1_x86.exe" 2. Boot a client that is PXE enabled. do you see a PXE menu? select Boot Next this will tell us PXE is running. I do see a menu and it is going to "WinPE". It looks lit is is downloading and running WinPE. I get a screen with background. Then a dos window opens and it is running "wpeinit" and then it looks like it finishes and then just stops. 3. the client gets dagent install. this is the client that tells the computer what to do. I am not sure what you are asking here. 4. DS console create a script task that will boot WinPE MAnaged or the one you created. Task should contain a simple dir. Again I am not sure what you are telling me here. 5. Assign the task/job to the client. the client reboots into Winpe and the dagent in winpe comes up and checks with the deployment server for any jobs. if there is a job/task it will do it. Once it is done it will reboot to production (OS). It starts this but stops. I do have a job. When I boot the device it going straight into the PXE server and starts to download WinPE. But it never gets to the point where it tries to connect to the Altiris server. I am pretty sure there is something wrong with how we got WinPE 2.1 running. Maybe it is how it is being created in the Altiris Boot disk creator. But with out any errors I can only guess. We have another server that is working fine but it using WinPE 1.6. But I cant find the files to put on the server that is using WinPE 2.1. So I cant even try to WinPE 1.6 to if if that works. Dave


  • 6.  RE: Altiris PXE boot issue

    Posted Mar 22, 2012 01:34 PM

    here is a awesome guide for deployment solution.  Give it a read and will give you the information you are looking for.

    https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/deployment-server-69-quick-start-course-part-1-introduction

    questions about this ask away.

     

    nelo



  • 7.  RE: Altiris PXE boot issue

    Posted Mar 22, 2012 05:50 PM
    Thank you very much for this. This will help me out a lot. Right now we are rebuilding the entire server and then installing Altiris clean. https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/deployment-server-69-quick-start-course-part-13-configuring-pxe-winpe FYI The problem we are having is happening on Part 13, step 20. It is happening after WinPE has downloaded. It basically happens right when the envirorment loads. At step 20, it shows some screenshots. The screen after "Windows is loading files" never comes up. I will let you know what happens but thanks again for your help. Dave


  • 8.  RE: Altiris PXE boot issue

    Posted Mar 27, 2012 11:40 AM
    Ok it is still not working. I am still getting stuck and the DOS window where it run "WPEINIT". I am missing a step here but I dont know what. They would up not rebuilding the server. They just went back to an older image but I removed and reinstalled Altiris. I just dont know what to do anymore. Dave


  • 9.  RE: Altiris PXE boot issue

    Posted Apr 05, 2012 03:01 PM

    I have suddenly ran in to same issue! Just a cmd with winpe init in it The background is like what you get with a bootable cd you made from a Windows Advanced Installer kit.

    Have blown everything out including registry. Amd running DS 6.9 SP5 MR2 now after reinstall,still getting same issue.



  • 10.  RE: Altiris PXE boot issue

    Posted Apr 09, 2012 12:34 PM

    Im curious as to what version of WinPE you are using.  I am using 2.1.

     

    Dave



  • 11.  RE: Altiris PXE boot issue

    Posted Apr 11, 2012 10:22 PM

    have either of you tried reinstalling WinPE?  i've had to do that in the past when PE got corrupt somehow.

    open PXE config utility, click New...

    on the left, click Add Pre-boot...

    click WinPE 2.1 x86 (assuming you want x86 and not ia64 or something) then browse to the WinPE installer.  it should be in your DS Setup dir and is named something like "Altiris_DS_Preboot_WinPE_2.1_x86.exe"

    follow the prompts and this should reload WinPE for you.  then close the popup windows to get back to the main PXE Config, then in the lower right, check WinPE and click the regenerate button, and click save.  click the status tab and watch to see when your server(s) finish updating.  



  • 12.  RE: Altiris PXE boot issue

    Posted Apr 12, 2012 09:07 AM

    Actually I have done that several times with no change.  But I would like to know what to delete so I can be sure when I do resinstall WinPE. I know it is a fresh install.

     

    Dave



  • 13.  RE: Altiris PXE boot issue

    Posted May 15, 2012 11:18 AM

    on your pxe server, find the MenuOption folder you're interested in (assuming you have more than one PXE boot option) dir and just rename it (safer than simply deleting, just in case).  by default, it's in "C:\Program Files\Altiris\eXpress\Deployment Server\PXE\" but could be anywhere, really, since it's trivial to change that when installing the pxe server.  

    on the DS itself, it's in basically the same location.  just find the MenuOption### folder you're interested in (usually 131 or 160) and rename it - again, just in case.  also be aware of the masterimages and the regular ones - make backup copies before just deleting stuff, so you can go back if you need to. thankfully, pxe seems to be pretty tolerant of just ripping chunks out and replacing them wholesale without lots of reconfiguration.  if anything, just restart the pxe config helper service on your pxe server(s) after making any changes to make them "phone home" and get any updates.  watch the status tab in pxe config manager to see when your pxe servers are done updating and ready to try again.