Client Management Suite

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  • 1.  PCs Always Booting into WinPE from PXE

    Posted Nov 02, 2011 01:05 PM

    First of all we are new here to Altiris so apologies for my impending n00bness...

    We have an issue with our Windows 7 PCs already deployed via CMS, that are always booting into WinPE instead of the local HDD.  This has been a problem in the past during the initial deployment, but a few days ago after installing the latest Symantec updates via Symantec Installation Manager (I can't remember which updates they were and don't know where to look to find out?), all PCs are now booting into WinPE on startup.  We have the PCs set to boot via PXE first, but usually since there are no tasks waiting for them, they just roll on to booting from the HDD.  That isn't happening now.  They are now booting into WinPE everytime and just sitting there unusable, waiting for tasks.

    I have pushed out a "Reboot To Production" task which is also hit and miss - sometimes they boot to HDD and sometimes boot straight back into WinPE.  Sometimes I have to push out the task 2,3 or more times to a PC before it will eventually reboot from the HDD.  But even those that do boot into production revert back to booting into WinPE when they are restarted.

    Things we've tried so far:

    • Restarting the Symantec Boot Services in the appropriate order
    • Rebuilding the Preboot Configuration files
    • Turning off PXE WinPE booting for unknown computers

    I have an open case with Symantec support but I always seem to get assigned to the chap who only has an hour left on his shift...so won't hear anything back from him until tomorrow, his inital suggestions aren't really workable (Turn of PXE booting in the BIOS, turn off WOL etc.)  

    Just wanting to keep my options open and ask for help here also.

    Anything I should be checking/looking at?



  • 2.  RE: PCs Always Booting into WinPE from PXE

    Posted Nov 02, 2011 03:52 PM

    some things could be

    if pxe not had delete temp files

    net stop _Symantec_netBoot_Mtftp
    net stop _Symantec_netBoot_Server
    del "D:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Agents\Deployment\Task Handler\SBS\SBSStore\"*.* /q
    Net start _Symantec_netBoot_Server
    net start _Symantec_netBoot_Mtftp

    or

    If you still have a job to run pxe, it will boot to pxe
    all pxe taks must be stop before Reboot To Production



  • 3.  RE: PCs Always Booting into WinPE from PXE

    Posted Nov 02, 2011 05:26 PM

    This KB may apply:
    http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH133468

    I would recommend stopping all of the SBS services (they begin with an underscore) and deleting all files from the SBSStore at \\localhost\Deployment\Task Handler\SBSStore.  Do this on all of your PXE servers if you have multiple PXE servers (that is, Site Servers running task service, package service, and the deployment task handlers).

    For a single computer having the problem, ensure no tasks are assigned to it.  Press ESC to prevent booting to WinPE if it's still trying to send you there, get to the production OS, and check for jobs/tasks, report basic inventory, and request a policy update.  Then reboot.  You should not load WinPE.  If you do, you should see the Initial Deployment menu.  The question to answer at that point would be why the PXE server believes you are unknown.  The initial KB and my recommendation on restarting the SBS services should have prevented this.

    Do either of these steps help?



  • 4.  RE: PCs Always Booting into WinPE from PXE

    Posted Nov 23, 2011 06:23 AM

    Thanks for the feedback.  In the end, this problem went away after we restarted the SBS a second time and changed the startup type from manual to automatic.

    However, it has occured on a few individual PCs which we recently deployed since then and I discovered that getting them to send a full inventory to the server seemed to solve it - so it does seem to be related to PXE responding to what it thinks are unknown computers.

    I have made a note of your suggestions and will try them next time this problem occurs.  Needless to say we are going to be more careful applying Symantec updates in the future!