Deployment Solution

Sadly, I'm caught in licensing limbo so I cannot call Symantec directly for assistance. We're still using the older Altiris Deployment Solution 6.9 SP6, but purchased licensing 2 months ago for Ghost Solution Suite 3.x moving forward. We are not ready to deploy GSS 3.1 and we're hoping to make it through this summer with Altiris DS 6.9.

That's the backstory.

The problem is I'm trying to collect an image for a Dell Optiplex 5040 and I keep receiving the error "EFI variable not found" in my Deployment Console.

I've been using Altiris long enough (from versions 6.5 to 6.8 to 6.9) and I've already worked through adding the Intel I219-V NIC drivers to my PXE configuration. I even went so far as to throw in the RAID drivers, also by Intel.

I've checked the BIOS of the Dell Optiplex 5040 and tried booting with different settings enabled/disabled, all with the same failed result.

A quick search on "EFI variable not found" sends me to TECH160342 article within Symantec, but doesn't offer any workaround.

As for the technical stuff, we're using Altiris Deployment Solution 6.9 SP6 (build 648). The workstation is a Dell Optiplex 5040, installed with Windows 7 Pro 64-bit, BIOS updated to latest 1.4.4. My PXE configuration uses WinPE4.0 x64, and I'm trying to collect the image using RDeploy in text mode.

My next best guesses are that I could try collecting the image as a GHO instead, or I could bite the bullet and just setup a GSS 3.x server. My only concern is whether I'd have the same problem with GSS or not, as I think it is more a UEFI BIOS concern than an Altiris issue.

Solved my own issue, which is fitting since I created the problem in the first place.

The Optiplex 5040 comes with Windows 10, but we downgraded to Windows 7 - we're going to Windows 10 next summer. The HDD is partitioned as GPT when it arrives with Windows 10, and somewhere in my installation of Windows 7, it partitioned the HDD as MBR. Or at least I think it did.

While I was searching for answers to the original problem, I was working with Clonezilla as a backup plan in case I ran out of other options. During the use of Clonezilla, I stumbled onto the error "This disk contains mismatched GPT and MBR partition" and Clonezilla wouldn't let me proceed.

A quick search led me here, and after following the instructions, was able to completely remove the GPT information and retain MBR. Windows 7 boots just fine, and Clonezilla was happy again. Then I thought to give image collection one more try and it worked!

Somehow I managed to create GPT and MBR partitioning information on the same HDD, which then causes Altiris to freak out during image collection with the "EFI variable not found" message.

If the URL above isn't working, here are the instructions:

Boot Clonezilla to a command prompt.

sudo gdisk /dev/sda

gdisk should return the following lines:

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.7.2

Partition table scan:
MBR: MBR only
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: present

Found valid MBR and GPT. Which do you want to use?
1 - MBR
2 - GPT
3 - Create blank GPT

My answer in this example is 1, so I can use the MBR. Then there is a gdisk command prompt. Press x for expert options, then press z to zap the GPT information and continue. You should receive a confirmation that the GPT data structures have been destroyed. You will then be asked if you want to blank out the MBR, at which point I answered N for NO. Then gdisk will tell you MBR is unchanged and leave the program.

Once that is done, Clonezilla worked as planned and collecting an image worked.