Okay OSD pro’s, I have a relatively new implementation of OS Deployment and have successfully deployed images to several hardware types via Offline Media or the Re-Image options. I want to use PXE as my primary method of deploying new images. The PXE connection to my Bare Metal Server is successful, the problem I have is driver bindings. When I boot a machine via PXE, it reaches the Driver Bindings menu and errors out with a loop detected. Reviewing the logs shows there are issues with different drivers. I have been working with level 3 support for over 5 weeks now so this is getting pretty frustrating.
What I’ve tried:
- I have attempted PXE on several models with different variations of driver binding menu errors
- Initially on importing the drivers, I didn’t manually bind anything (as was recommended to me) but through the troubleshooting process I have attempted to do manual bindings
- All drivers were loaded directly from Dell’s website and I’ve tried old and new versions
- With the Dell .cab file drivers not working I resorted to using DoubleDriver to capture drivers from matching systems which are already deployed in the environment. This still results in errors.
- When I select my Image, Computer Model and Run Driver Check, it returns a message that there are “No driver problems detected for the selected image and computer model.” And as previously stated, I can lay down the same image via Offline Media or Re-Image methods.
My environment:
IEM 9.2.5
Deploying Windows 7 SP1 x64
WinPE5 x64
Dell OptiPlex 7010, 5040, Latitude 5450 (test machines)
Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Aaron
Are you even getting as far as your image? It sounds like you’re manipulating & checking the drivers for the OS Image that you want to install, but from the problem you describe I’m not even sure it’s making it past the Windows PE boot image.
Are you using the BigFix “OS Deployment and Bare Metal Imaging” site’s Dashboards to manage the drivers, or are you trying to work through the TPMfOSD web interface?
In the “OS Deployment - Driver Library” dashboard, in the “Check Drivers” tab, try to check drivers against each version of the “WinPE [3/4/10] [x86/x64]” images. Also, after sending an image deployment, try connecting to the OSD Server’s web interface and see whether you can retrieve the activity.ini file; that should show which Windows PE image is being used to boot the machine.
Jason,
Thanks for the quick reply.
I’m getting the handshake to PXE, it goes through the cycle of tasks and reaches the bindings menu where I’m able to select the image, Update the menu, etc. Once the image is selected, it will try to bind the drivers and report back there are issues with some of the drivers.
I have been using the BigFix OS Deployment and Bare Metal Imaging dashboards for driver import and management. Although I just started looking at the Web Interface as an alternative to troubleshoot.
To your last question, I have only attempted to check against WinPE 4 and 5 as those are the bundles we have. But that brings up another question that I haven’t been able to get answered from any of the 4 support people I have worked with on my PMR’s. I am installing Win7 x64, so when I import drivers am I supposed to be checking the boxes for Windows 7, WinPE 3 or Windows 8.1, WinPE 5? It is unclear as WinPE 5 is designed for Win 8.1 but I’m deploying Win7.
I think it depends on how much you want/need to micromanage it (and frankly, I hate the whole Driver Binding mess). So far I’ve been able to get away with selecting all that I’m interested in - Windows 7, 10, 2008r2, 2012r2, and WinPE 3, 4, and 10.
For the WinPE, you should only need to import storage and LAN drivers (having better video/sound/etc. is unnecessary in WinPE).
I’m not sure how many different WinPEs are necessary. I have built both WinPE 4 and WinPE 10 “Bundles”. The “Bundle” to use can be defined in the Bare Metal Profiles for each image. I.m deploying Windows 7 clients using WinPE 10 Bundles and haven’t had any problem with it yet.
…
I haven’t seen your problem, so I’m not sure where it’s getting hung up. After you choose the image, is it getting as far as downloading the Windows PE and booting into it? Or is this driver binding happening before it downloads the WinPE image?
To deploy a Windows system you can use different WinPE versions but not any version.
The mapping between Windows versions and WinPE versions that can be used for deployment can be found in the OSD documentation (table 1 in the following doc page):
http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SS63NW_9.5.0/com.ibm.bigfix.lifecycle.doc/Lifecycle/OSD_Users_Guide/c_install_mdt_creator.html
Okay guys, thanks for the replies.
vtripodi, that documentation link was helpful. My Bare Metal server is “7.1.1.20 build 280.74.” If I’m understanding the documentation correctly, when deploying Win7 and using WinPE5, I only need to check the Windows 8.1, WinPE 5 x64 selection if I’m only deploying a 64 bit image. Is that how you see it?
Alright, new update…
I was able to get the machine past the bindings menu and am now seeing this error:
Looks like your Windows PE image is missing a network driver for the network interface card. As I understand it, once you add Windows PE drivers using the Driver Library (including the WinPE .x drivers), you need to use the “OS Deployment - Bundle and Media Manager” dashboard to regenerated the Deployment Resources.
Does that sound right, @vtripodi? I’m not real clear on this point myself - I think we go to the “MDT Bundle Creators and Windows Media” tab, and “Create MDT Bundle”; but I’m not certain whether we would need to “Create both MDT Bundle and OS Resources”, “Create a new MDT Bundle only”, or “Create new OS Resources only”. And is it correct that running one of these operations will incorporate the newer WinPE drivers that were added through the Driver Library dashboard?
It is not necessary to recreate the MDT Bundle if you imported new drivers or changed the binding for WinPE in the Driver Library dashboard. Drivers are sent on the fly at deployment time.
Thanks, that’s great to know. Does this mean that even a network driver that is not present in the WinPE image can be inserted at deployment time? These are downloaded at the PXE level before the WinPE image is booted (where the WinPE will not be able to connect to the network until the driver is added)?
Yes correct. Drivers are injected in WinPE at PXE level, before the WinPE image is booted.
