Intel,Altiris Group

Has anyone managed to get an HP Elite Desk 800 G2 to boot into GSS yet with WinPE 5.  This is driving me mad.  Were using GSS 3.0 HF3 on Windows 2012 R2 Standard.  There is lots on the Web about drivers to load into SCCM etc but not a lot for Altiris and when I go into the Boot disk utility and add these drivers in and then recreate the BOOT ISO it just will not pick up any network settings.  Any help would be appraciated as my company want to move to these machines and we have one on loan until the end of the week that so far we havent been able to do anything with.  Thanks.

Hi Worb,

I've been trying around with drivers for ages and finally the attched worked for me.

Hope this also works for you?

-BBC

Attachment(s)

Drivers_1.zip   3.75 MB 1 version

I shall give that a go - are they X86 or X64 drivers?

These are the x64 drivers.

Did you just add these into the Boot disk creator, rebuild as an X64 ISO for automation and it then was able to get on the network?

Normally, once added to the boot disk creator, make sure they are selected before rebuilding the ISO.

You can also load drivers dynamically from the WinPE command line using the DRVLOAD executable. Just put the drivers (.SYS .CAT and .INF as a minimum) into a folder somewhere and then type DRVLOAD <path to INF file>

Good way of testing candidate drivers before burning a new ISO.

OK so I have network and can boot into Altiris automation to deploy the image.  It now seems Im missing the USB Keyboard driver and Network drivers as part of the image.  How hard can this be for these machines in jumping from an EliteDesk 700 to the 800.  Has anyone else seen these issues?  Thanks.

Yes, have seen this before and had to add the USB controller drivers, same as the kbd/mouse drivers in. These you can pull with the SCCM package from HP (I think you already have these...).

Hi worb,

Yes we have seen this (and I suspect so has everyone else who has bought a Skylake-based PC).  As I explained in another similar thread, it is due to the fact that they don't have USB2.0 support as standard and Windows 7 does not have USB3.0 support as standard - therefore you have to slipstream the USB3.0 drivers into your image.

Whats the best way (and easiest) to put these into the build please?

One way to inject certain drivers is to do it post image deploy. On a few machines we have we've seen the USB 3.0 drivers are not injecting correctly or not at all with Windows 7. This is during Sysprep or during DeployAnywhere. The solution I have isn't elegant, but it does work every time on the problem machines we encounter with Windows 7 and USB 3 drivers:

@Echo off
REM Copy Drivers to production for Win7 x64

Echo Retrieving Model Name...
FOR /F "tokens=2 delims==" %%G IN ('WMIC baseboard get product /format:VALUE') DO SET Model=%%G

ECHO Model: %Model%

if "%Model%"=="OptiPlex 9020" goto 9020
if "%Model%"=="OptiPlex 9010" goto 9010
if "%Model%"=="051FJ8" goto 9010
if "%Model%"=="20B6005JUS" goto T440
if "%Model%"=="20BV000AUS" goto T440
if "%Model%"=="2344BPU" goto T430
if "%Model%"=="23426QU" goto T430
if "%Model%"=="234238U" goto T430
if "%Model%"=="2344C4U" goto T430

Goto END

:9020
xcopy "\\server_share_here\d$\drivers\Desktop\9020\HCSwitch\x64\*.*" "C:\drivers\9020USB\HCSwitch" /S /Y /I
xcopy "\\server_share_here\d$\drivers\Desktop\9020\Win7\x64\*.*" "C:\drivers\9020USB\Win7" /S /Y /I
pnputil -a C:\drivers\9020USB\Win7\*.inf
pnputil -a C:\drivers\9020USB\HCSwitch\*.inf

:END

And so on...

I've only put the 9020 destination even though the script example is calling for more model numbers that it may encounter.

We already have a post build job to install drivers listed like the above but the build job isnt getting that far.  Ive added the NIC drivers and USB drivers into Deploy Anywhere.  The machine boots into Automation so an image can be deployed, the image goes down ok and then a very quick Deploy Anywhere window pops up (normally takes longer) and then it stops saying the DA Agent has lost contact etc.  We exit the DA Agent and the machine restarts starting services and configuring Windows 7 to the first logon prompt and stops.  I suspect there is no network driver to continue etc but there is no keyboard either that then works as the USB drivers arent installed.  Im a bit stuck now on this.  As the machine is off the network I cant run the driver job either now.  Thoughts? Thanks.

Anyone??

Hi Worb,

I don't use DeployAnywhere for many reasons, so cannot tell about that part, but a general note on NIC drivers for the Mini, I recently figured that the drivers HP provided with their SCCM package do not get installed by default on all Windows versions. After digging around, I finally found that Intel have released a later version of the i219-LM NIC drivers (attached the  x64 in case you need or want them) actually solve this and are detected and installed just fine.

Again, I can't tell if this is related to DeployAnywhere.

-BBC

Attachment(s)

i219-LM-x64.zip   7.97 MB 1 version

Hi BBC - how do you install these drivers?  We normally deploy the image down that picks up the base windows drivers and then install drivers afterwards in a seperate job but this cant get on the network causing issues.  Thanks.

I copy drivers also based on WMIC detection for the hardware during the WinPE PXE session and refer to them in the answer file.

I'm a bit more generic than tloenhorst, but in the end it's very similar. The below is reduced to what is essential, but I added a few comments to make it more clear.

REM [WinPE] Copy Driver selection

REM The G: drive is pointing to the local PXE server, so could also be substituted with %ALTIRIS_PXE_SERVER%
REM General Variables
REM -----------------
SET DRVROOT=G:\Drivers\WIN\WIN7
SET WLOG=\\%DSSERVER%\eXpress\TechSup\Windows\x64\wlogevent.exe

REM Fill in manufacturer variables
REM ------------------------------
:HWDETECT
%WLOG% -c:0 -l:2 -ss:"FYI: Identifying Hardware Manufacturer."
REM This is required for us as Lenovo holds the Produtinformation in the version field, where all others hold it in the Name field
REM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR /F "tokens=2 delims==" %%B IN ('WMIC csproduct GET vendor /VALUE ^| FIND /I "vendor="') DO SET HWVEN=%%B
IF "%HWVEN%"=="Compaq" SET HWVEN=HP
IF "%HWVEN%"=="HP Compaq" SET HWVEN=HP
IF "%HWVEN%"=="Hewlett-Packard" SET HWVEN=HP
IF "%HWVEN%"=="Hewlett Packard" SET HWVEN=HP
IF "%HWVEN%"=="LENOVO" SET HWVEN=IBM
IF "%HWVEN%"=="Dell Inc." SET HWVEN=HP
IF "%HWVEN%"=="FUJITSU" SET HWVEN=HP
IF "%HWVEN%"=="VMware, Inc." SET HWVEN=HP
REM -----------------------------------------

%WLOG% -c:0 -l:2 -ss:"FYI: %HWVEN% identified."
GOTO %HWVEN%

:HP
%WLOG% -c:0 -l:2 -ss:"FYI: Identifying Computer Model."
FOR /F "tokens=2 delims==" %%A IN ('WMIC csproduct GET name /VALUE ^| FIND /I "name="') DO SET machine=%%A
%WLOG% -c:0 -l:2 -ss:"FYI: Computer model: %machine%"
GOTO DRVCOPY

:IBM
%WLOG% -c:0 -l:2 -ss:"FYI: Identifying Computer Model."
FOR /F "tokens=2 delims==" %%A IN ('WMIC csproduct GET version /VALUE ^| FIND /I "version="') DO SET machine=%%A
%WLOG% -c:0 -l:2 -ss:"FYI: Computer model: %machine%"
GOTO DRVCOPY

:DRVCOPY
%WLOG% -c:0 -l:2 -ss:"FYI: Copying legacy set for %machine%."
XCOPY "%DRVROOT%\%HWVEN%\%machine%\*.*" C:\TEMP\Drivers\*.* /S /E /Y

I use that or a similar procedure for many years and I'm happy with that and it appears to be working around all these many issues that are seen with DeployAnywhere.

-BBC

Do you use the above procedure as part of the PXE process - if so how do you do that?  In PXE we have the Network drivers in the BOOT.ISO so we can connect to the Altiris console and deploy the first image.  Then GHOST deployes the image but it then gets stuck it seems when its doing the answer file stuff and trying to put on the domain.  

We have a similar drivers job that goes down after the image has been deployed but at the moment our image seems to stall as no network drivers it seems.  Ive added the extra drivers supplied into DA which I agree doesnt do much but in the past we have just had to add the NIC into here and enable DA on the job.  It doesnt seem to do that much in DA and then hangs with no network and sits on Ctrl-Alt-Del.  In the GSS console the machine is available when it PXE's and the image goes down but then dissapeares after the first restart.

Thanks for all your help so far, were getting there but seem to have that final hurdle.

I posted an article a few years back, but the overall is still the same. Probably a major difference to your process is that I don't deploy an image any longer, but either run a silent install of the OS or simply apply an OS WIM to the local disk after having partitioned it using diskpart and then applying the answer file to it.

In brief, this is how my process looks like:

• PXE boot
• diskpart the drive
• lay down the OS WIM (imagex or dism, both work here)
• create my support folder structure for
  • Apps
  • Patches
  • Tools
  • Drivers
  • Office
• copy down the relevant content (to folders above)
• modify the boot sector or activate the OS on the local drive
• using the Answer file for 1st run tasks:
  • install Apps
  • install office
  • deploy drivers (!! using DPINST with some parameters and here i usually run it twice so that i don't have the issue with USB 3 devices and controllers)
  • install patches

As you can see it's as simple as possible and at the same time allows me to change content easily, say i.e. a new update to Adobe Reader DC is there, i just add this to the install sequence for Adobe and am all set. No need to modify a sysprep image.

That is the article where you can also find the attached PDF containing the details.

I hope this helps you and takes you to your goal?

Thanks BBC - still struggling with this.  We deploy an image which goes down ok but then just stops.  It drops out of the GSS console as well.  After the image is deployed, DA runs but very quickly - it doesnt seem to scan for any devices to update, restarts and then Win7 starts services, install devices and then sits on CTRL ALT DEL.

Has anyone seen this and got round it somehow?  Very tight deadlines on this and I cant get this moving unfortunately.

So devices are installed, but the DA does not report back to the console? Or am I misunderstanding something? Have you checked if the DA is actually reporting to the correct DS or is this probably a config issue from that side?

The image goes down and then the DA window pops up but on other machines it runs for a couple of minutes with this machine it is seconds and then dissapears.  Then restarts and sits at CTRL ALT DEL unable to do anything.  It drops out of the GSS console as well.  Were running GSS 3.0 HF3 - im wondering if there is a fix in a later hotfix for Skylake chipsets but would like that confirmed first before installing etc.

Has anyone managed to get GSS 3.0 HFx to deploy one of these machines?

Still struggling with this, I have a case open with Symantec but not getting very far.

Have you tried an alternative route, like i.e.:

- create a local account (with the answerfile) so you can logon and check details;

- add a task after the image is deployed to copy over the critical drivers from a location on the DS and have the unattend file install these during OS deployment or mini setup;

These will at least help you to drill deeper into the issue. I assume that DA also generates a log file either on the client or the DS which can be checked further for details, but don't know about details here - as mentioned, I don't rely on DA at all.....