Deployment Solution

Hello!

I have tried following the 7.1 and 7.5 guides and scoured the forums in relation to setting up the Altiris Deployment solution. My goal is to image unmanaged PCs.

Currently I have an NS server and a site server with NBS, task and package services installed. I have a test VM with no OS on the same subnet as the site server. The VM will PXE boot and communicate with the site server. When it comes to boot to WINPE I get the following:

Symantec NBS pre-select Automation processing

PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel PXE ROM.

Operating System not found

Under the Network Boot settings> Initial Deployment (Unknown Computer) I have checked 'Respond to unknown computers' and have set a PXE boot image.

In the Preboot Configurations I can see the status of the selected PXE boot image shows a tick for my NBS server. I can also confirm the image is located under D:\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Agents\Deployment\SBS\images of the site server.

I'm not sure if it is the WINPE image I am using or if there is something that I have to do differently because I am using a VM as a test. It just doesn't even seem to look for an image to boot from as it bombs out so quick.

Any help to point me in the right direction is appreciated!

Are you trying to PXE boot unmanaged/physical machines or the VM? If physical machines, did you upload preboot drivers for the unmanaged PCs?  These WinPE cabs should cover all enterprise level Dell devices, for example

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/enterprise-client/w/wiki/2065.dell-command-deploy-driver-packs-for-enterprise-client-os-deployment#WinPE

If it's the VM you're having issues with, this older thread may help.  Everything I read says you should use e1000 NIC.

When you PXE boot an operating system, the operating system needs to have the block device drivers to access the hard disk and the NIC of the target system. Your VM will be emulating a specific NIC - usually an Intel NIC, and a specific hard disk - often a SCSI type, although IDE may be supported. Therefore you need to ensure your WinPE image contains the appropriate drivers for your VM's NIC and possibly the hard disk as well.

Thanks for the responses.

Symantec got back to me to assist troubleshooting. After switching on 'Respond to Managed computers' we noticed the VM was getting the F8 prompt and booting to WinPE. The tech explained this is a known issue where unknown devices where being seen as managed and a query needed to be run on the Symantec DB. If you ask for this query they should supply it:

spDeployment_GetPxeBootInfo

Once run the VM was booting up with the unknown computer settings.

Thanks for the Dell driver link. That will come in handy when we roll out to production to our physical Dell machines