Andrew, Yes there is definitely a c:\windows\temp folder on the machine at all times.
The server is not overloaded. The clients get the policies in the first place so there's no communication issue with the server - the agents get the policies and attempt to execute the tasks associated with the policies, so it can't be communication related. The issue occurs at a different location as well - this other location has its own task server, whereas the location where I've done most of the diagnosis has no task server so it's all handled by the NS.
But the same problems occurs at both locations. Same image.
There are only 320 or so agents total. The NS is dedicated to the task. So it's not load.
And the system temp environment variable is C:\Windows\Temp as well.
Could it be the version of the agent within the image?
Should I maybe pull apart the image (it's in Ghost, captured via DS7.1) and inject a new version of the agent? It's 7.1 SP1.
When the machine first starts up, it is pointing to SERVERNAME.FQDN:80. When it gets it first client config, it changes to SERVERNAME.FQDN and it usually takes about 15-30 minutes before it starts executing. I suspect that it's something to do with the agent possibly needing to update itself before it can execute things? Maybe? I don't want to have to re-create the image because it's at a client site and that would necessitate costly changes.
Any other ideas?