RDP 3.83 W2k8 all versions failing on capture image job

[Chris_C]

Hi Guys,

I installed rdp 3.83 and having issues with running the capture image job in windows 2008 32&64 bit. The scripted install works with no problems but when I try and do a capture image job it fails when the target server reboots after the imaging portion of the job.

I have narrowed down to something in the sysprep that is causing the issue. When the job fails it makes the target server corrupted and unusable. I can boot the target server into WinPE and grabbed the unattend.xml and the sysprep error logs however there are no errors in the error logs. When the target server reboots after imaging it gets a parse error on reading the unattend.xml file on the specialize section and the target server is unusable. The screenshot is too large to attach but I have attached the unattend.xml. The actual error on the target server is

"Windows could not parse or process the unattend answer file for pass [specialize]. The settings specified in the answer file cannot be applied. The error was detected while processing settings for component [Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup]."

This is a base install with no customization. The blade is a bl460c g1 with 32 GB memory and dual quad core cpus.

Anyone have any ideas?

As far as I can tell the unattend.xml file gets generated from a vb script in RDP.

Thanks,

Chris

[Chris_C]

Turns out there is a bug with the 2008 capture image jobs on my installation. And the bug reappears after running the PIM again. When you go into sysprep advanced settings on the 2008 capture image jobs they are pointing to 2003 sysprep features. I found a workaround by changing the radio button to "disable mass storage support" and then saving the job. Once that is done, then the job is updated with the correct details and works successfully at capturing the image.

Hopefully this saves someone the many many hours I spent troubleshooting.

[Jaremy B]

Chris,
Looking at Sysprep advanced settings on my copy of RDP, I don't see the option to disable mass storage on any 2008 job (if I select the 2003 OS before going to advanced, that selection is there). What I do see is PnP drivers options: Install additional device drivers (with the default path .\lib\osoem\proliant.zzz\w61.64\drivers). Do I need to simply use the 2003 setting and leave it at that?
Any advice would be appreciated - I'm struggling with 2008 in RDP lately.

[Chris_C]

The specific error I ran into was only with 2008 capture image jobs, the scripted installs worked fine.

What specific error are you getting and trying to do what job?

What you are seeing in the advanced settings for 2008 sysprep is correct. You can try clicking the checkmark to install additional drivers and see if that works.

[Jaremy B]

Yes, the capture job is the problem I have too. The advanced settings I described are the ones that appear on the capture job for me unless I change the operating system selection on the "create disk image" screen to something earlier than 2008. Older OS selections there will allow me to select the "disable mass storage" radio button on the advanced screen. Having Server 2008 selected on the create disk image screen only gives me the additional drivers option under the advanced sysprep settings (which is already populated with the path I mentioned previously).

I am trying to capture Server 2008 Web ed. x64 and the result is exactly what you describe - the sysprep fails and loops with the same message.

"Windows could not parse or process the unattend answer file for pass [specialize]. The settings specified in the answer file cannot be applied. The error was detected while processing settings for component [Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup]."

[Chris_C]

I suggest getting the sysprep error logs from the reference server. Once you get into the syprep failure loop on the reference server, then force the server to boot into PXE using WinPE and send it a wait job. At that point then from WinPE copy over the sysprep error logs as spelled out per:

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/servers/management/rdp/knowledgebase/00000210.html

[shocko]

I have the same problem on RDP 6.0 but with windows 2008 R2 only. There is a knowledge base article on the altiris website relating to this but no fix as of yet

[Ole Thomsen_1]

Thanks Chris.

I had strange errors in the pre-sysprep which were "solved" by not having the captured server in the domain.

But that just gave me the same error as you describe when running post job.

It turned out that my capture job had the same configuration error as yours, and was corrected the same way.

Thanks again.

Ole Thomsen