Client Management Suite

Deployment Solution 7.0 provides the capability to boot a managed computer into WinPE to run maintenance tasks while Production Windows is offline. When the Deployment Agent is installed, a boot folder is installed with it and Windows is configured to dual-boot into the WinPE .wim that exists in the boot folder.

The Reboot To task can be used to boot a computer into Automation. However, there is no method to verify that the client computer is actually in Automation before running the next task. If the client computer is for some reason unable to boot into Automation, the next task will be run in Production Windows, which could be problematic.

I have designed a task which you can use in place of the Reboot To task to reboot a computer into Automation. This task will boot a computer into Automation and make sure the computer is actually in Automation before continuing to the next task. It will attempt to boot into Automation three times before quitting with a failure.

To create a "Reboot To Automation" task, follow these steps:

1. Select a folder to create this job in. Right-click the folder and choose New > Job or Task.
2. From the list of task types, select "Client Job"
3. At the top of the right-hand pane, you can rename "Client Job" to "Reboot To Automation".
4. In the right-hand pane, click New > Task.
5. From the list of task types, select "Reboot To"
6. Make sure the boot environment is set to Automation and click OK.
7. Click New > Task.
8. From the list of task types, select "Run Script"
9. Make sure the script type is set to "Command Script"
10. Copy and paste the following into the text field for the Run Script Task: IF %ALTIRS_BOOTTYPE%==AUTOMATION (exit 0) ELSE (exit 1)
11. Change the title "Run Script" to "Automation Check 1" and click OK.
12. Click New > Condition.
13. Set the condition to "Automation Check 1 - Return Value equals 1" and click OK.
14. Repeat steps 4 through 13 once, replacing "Automation Check 1" with "Automation Check 2".
15. Repeat steps 4 through 11 once, replacing "Automation Check 1" with "Automation Check 3". This will cause the agent to attempt to reboot into automation three times before reporting failure. If three retries is too many or too few, adjust the number of repeats to something that suits you better. Just remember that the last Automation Check should not have a condition following it.
16. Click OK.
17. You should now have a task that looks like this:

    

18. Now, you can use this in place of the standard "Reboot To" task in any of your client jobs. This task will make sure the computer is actually in Automation before continuing.
    1. In your Client Job, click Add Existing.
    2. Select "Reboot To Automation" and click OK.
    3. You can either enable the "Fail Job if any Task fails or add a Condition to fail the job if the Reboot To Automation task fails.
    4. Add the rest of the tasks that you need for this job.