Altiris Deployment Console 6.9 SP1 - How can I image from the second drive on the server (PXE, WinPE)

You may want to try the following. My imaging did not work until I did this. We have a very similar setup here, though I have dumped WinPE in favor of Linux due to load times. On the server itself, go to Start->All Programs(or programs dependig on what your visual style is)->Altiris->Deployment Solution->Configuration. Within Configuration, click Options. This should bring up the Deployment Server Options screen with a bunch of tabs at the top. Click on the Drive Mappings Tab. Click Add, then choose letter I and enter the location of the share.

Thanks for that. I never seen that options box before. I started administrating it a month or so ago and have been mainly setting up tasks and scripting. Never seen that config bit before.

I did what you said though, it did keep saying "Invalid Path" while trying to add locations, even though they are correct and open through explorer. I closed and reopened and it added it.

Still though, same problem. It didn't work. I managed to catch a quick glimpse in WinPE of an error (System error 67 has occurred. The network name cannot be found). I've found some ref that I'm going to try tomorrow when I'm back in work;
http://kbalertz.com/843156/receive-error-network-c...

I've have noticed Linux loaded faster, I just never mapped drives using it so wanted to start somewhere more familiar, before I started on that.

will check back tomorrow. Thanks

For any other drive mapping besides the express share you need to make sure you check the "Disable image path validation", although I believe you tried this. When you made the PXE image, whatever user you have for mapping the drive is the user that needs access to that share, although giving everyone read access should have done it. I suggest using a wait task on a computer and booting it to your WinPE and verifying you can browse to that mapped drive. If you can't try mapping it with a "Net use I: \\server\eXpress2\Images\Windows\". That will give you a better understanding of what is going on.

I have not done imaging from WinPE because it take 4-5 times longer to load it then Linux, so I am just throwing some suggestions. That and our WinPE does not work in in 6.9 sp1 yet.

As far as Linux goes with mapping drives for imaging, it can get a bit confusing. There is also a little tweaking that has to be done as far as drivers go for some of the newer machines to support full SATA and such, but it is pretty easy to do. If you wanted to switch over to Linux for your imaging, I would be happy to help you with it. Linux generally takes a fraction of the time to load that it takes WinPE. When we switched over to Linux, our imaging time was cut in half.

What you describe seems like a possible way to go. We use a very similar drive mapping to handle various different geographical sites (package servers).

What I would do:

1) Check for file permissions. As a test, set permissions for user Everyone on both the share and the file permissions to Read/write and Full Control, respectively. Make sure there are no deny rules. That way you can rule out permissions.
2) Something like a card reader might be using the I:-drive. Use a letter later in the alphabet.
3) Send a job that simply gives you a prompt and try to net use to the share.
Creating a WinPE Run Script that simply contains "cmd" will give you the prompt. When in the prompt, try:
net use v: \\server\eXpress2
Does it work? Then get the image from v:\Images\Windows\Dell745\Dell745.img

Check for file permissions >
Everyone - FC (No Denies) (Temporarily set like this for testing)
Altiris Account - FC (No Denies)
All definately has permission. Still get the "Mapping Failed" when booting. It's definately a permissions problem, but I don't get it.

Card Reader >
PC tested with just CD drive & HD plugged in.

CMD Job >
Can't get a command prompt to appear so I have some kinda control. This is a PXE image, not like a normal Bart disc, so spun me out a bit. I've tried editing the PE Image in Boot Disc Creator but no luck getting it to appear. Have added the cmd in the Startup.bat - Is this the right place?. Also tried just running a script task with a simple CMD while in PE but it just restarts the machine. So I can't even get to the cmd prompt. - Is there a way to keep the cmd prompt up that shows before the agent comes on? I know pause in a batch file will leave it open, so can that be entered to the end of MapDrv.bat?

Or is there somewhere I can get a log of what has happened on the server? I've found the logs for Linux, but can't get the PE logs to save.
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Linux does seem the way to go, and most imaging tasks have run more sucessfully in the past (Not in this manner (2nd drive)) but I've only ever used it at home on my MediaPC and years ago with RedHat, and I can remember installing things with ./configure ./install and all the rest of it. If you think you could walkthrough the drive mapping on Linux with me, I'd seriously appreciate that. I'm a pretty quick learner, and I'm quite happy to replace PE altogether. Drivers haven't been a problem either.

Thanks in advanced for the help.

Linux imaging really does not make use of a wide varity of the Linux commands if you have everything setup correctly in the DS. I'll come up with a walkthrough with screen shots for you to help guide you through setup. The biggest thing to watch out for is the mounting of the second location and the context of how to mount. I'll PM you once I have the document complete.

I appreciate the effort. Very kind of you. We did however resolve the problem by backing our server up to the dr center, expanding the disk and replicating it back again with the merged extra space. So now the mappings are not that important, and linux seems to work well after adding pre-boots. I managed to find the task in the console to get WinPE to boot with a command prompt, and none of the mappings were working. x: (the original eXpress share) is actually the WinPE disc (equiv) and I: (2nd Drive) & P: (Package server) didn't actually map at all. I resolved this by adding a batch file to launch that again maps the drives. Very weird behaviour as it wasn't picked up the first time. So anyway... Thanks a lot for helping out. If you still do the guide I will read it as all knowledge is good knowledge..