IThastobecool.com Geeks have opinions too!

1. 

   Josh
   August 21st, 2009 - 14:51

   Really nice and elegant script Henk, I plan on implementing this just as soon as I’m back at work on Monday! Great work, and good way around SCCM =)

   Josh
2. 

   yacker
   September 3rd, 2009 - 16:22

   Write-EventLog : The source name “WDS Server” does not exist on computer “local
   host”.
   At C:\DeploymentShare$\Tools\MDT-ZTI.ps1:164 char:16

   I keep getting this fault – any ideas?
3. 

   Henk Hofs
   September 3rd, 2009 - 17:20

   Hmm, looks like it’s trying to use the $Source variable as input for the Write-EventLog… shouldn’t happen… Which version of Powershell are you running?

   Try replacing line 163 and 164 with (adding quotes around MDT-ZeroTouch):

   New-EventLog -LogName “MDT-ZeroTouch” -Source MDT-ZeroTouch 2>1
   Write-EventLog -LogName “MDT-ZeroTouch” -EntryType $LogLevel -EventId $EventID -Source $Source -Message $Description
4. 

   yacker
   September 3rd, 2009 - 22:28

   Powershell 2.0 on Server 2008 R2
   Still same error by adding the quotes, if I change line 135 to
   ZTI\Write-Log -LogLevel “Information” -Description “Getting pending devices from WDS” -EventID 4006 -Source “WDSServer” and line 148 to
   ZTI\Write-Log -LogLevel “Information” -Description “Found $TotalPending pending device(s)” -EventID 4007 -Source “WDSServer”
   I have taken the space out of WDSServer I now get:
   Write-EventLog : The source ‘WDSServer’ is not registered in log ‘MDT-ZeroTouch
   ‘. (It is registered in log ‘Application’.) ” The Source and Log properties must be matched, or you may set Log to the empty string, and it will automatically
   be matched to the Source property.
   At C:\DeploymentShare$\MDT-ZTI.ps1:164 char:16
5. 

   Henk Hofs
   September 4th, 2009 - 09:17

   Could you please verify if there’s a log called MDT-ZeroTouch in the eventviewer?
   There should be a space between WDS and Server, because the source for the eventlog is called WDS Server, not WDSServer..

   As a temporary workaround you could strip the following lines from the ZTI\Write-Log function (comment it out please)

   New-EventLog -LogName MDT-ZeroTouch -Source MDT-ZeroTouch 2>1
   Write-EventLog -LogName MDT-ZeroTouch -EntryType $LogLevel -EventId $EventID -Source $Source -Message $Description

   This way it will not try to log it’s entries in the eventlog, but only outputs them to screen.
6. 

   yacker
   September 4th, 2009 - 13:48

   No there is no log called MDT-ZeroTouch in the eventviewer,
   done as above, this is the new errors:

   Information : Getting pending devices from WDS
   Information : Found 0 pending device(s)
   Exception calling “Substring” with “1″ argument(s): “startIndex cannot be larger than length of string.
   Parameter name: startIndex” At C:\DeploymentShare$\Tools\MDT-ZTI.ps1:121 char:38 + $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Substring <<<< (20)
   + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DotNetMethodException

   Exception calling "Insert" with "2" argument(s): "Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
   Parameter name: startIndex" At C:\DeploymentShare$\Tools\MDT-ZTI.ps1:122 char:35
   + $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert <<<< (2, ":");$MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(5, ":");$MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(8, ":"); $MACAddress = $MAC
   Address.Insert(11, ":"); $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(14, ":") + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
   + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DotNetMethodException

   Exception calling "Insert" with "2" argument(s): "Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
   Parameter name: startIndex" At C:\DeploymentShare$\Tools\MDT-ZTI.ps1:122 char:76
   + $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(2, ":");$MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert <<<< (5, ":");$MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(8, ":"); $MACAddress = $MAC
   Address.Insert(11, ":"); $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(14, ":") + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
   + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DotNetMethodException

   Exception calling "Insert" with "2" argument(s): "Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
   Parameter name: startIndex" At C:\DeploymentShare$\Tools\MDT-ZTI.ps1:122 char:117 + $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(2, ":");$MACAddress = $MACAddress.In
   sert(5, ":");$MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert <<<< (8, ":"); $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(11, ":"); $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(14, ":")
   + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DotNetMethodException

   Exception calling "Insert" with "2" argument(s): "Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
   Parameter name: startIndex" At C:\DeploymentShare$\Tools\MDT-ZTI.ps1:122 char:159
   + $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(2, ":");$MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(5, ":");$MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(8, ":"); $MACAddress = $MACAddres
   s.Insert <<<< (11, ":"); $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(14, ":") + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
   + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DotNetMethodException

   Exception calling "Insert" with "2" argument(s): "Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
   Parameter name: startIndex" At C:\DeploymentShare$\Tools\MDT-ZTI.ps1:122 char:202 + $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(2, ":");$MACAddress = $MACAddress.In
   sert(5, ":");$MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(8, ":"); $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(11, ":"); $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert <<<< (14, ":")
   + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DotNetMethodException

   Information : No computer entries found for , rejecting device

   Windows Deployment Services Management Utility [Version 6.1.7600.16385]
   Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

   An error occurred while trying to execute the command.
   Error Code: 0xC1040104
   Error Description: The value is not optional for parameter /requestid in command
   /reject-autoadddevices.
7. 

   Henk Hofs
   September 4th, 2009 - 14:44

   Are you running the script as an administrator?!
8. 

   yacker
   September 4th, 2009 - 15:21

   yes
9. 

   Henk Hofs
   September 9th, 2009 - 21:33

   Do you see your client coming up in the WDS console as a pending device?
   I need to clean up my code a bit anyway, it doesn’t have to continue when there are no pending devices found… will do that one of these days…
10. 

    bashi
    October 16th, 2009 - 11:19

    For information, you need Powershell 2.0 to run MDT-ZTI.ps1 script.
    Cmdlet “New-EventLog” and someone other aren’t included in PS 1.0 … So, we must use Windows Server 2008 R2 :/
    … or what for a PS2.0 package for 2008 SP1/SP2
11. 

    Henk Hofs
    October 19th, 2009 - 18:09

    Well, you can always deinstall the powershell feature on WS2008 and then install powershell CTP on server 2008.
    But 2.0 will be available in the next few months: http://blogs.msdn.com/powershell/archive/2009/07/23/windows-powershell-2-0-rtm.aspx
12. 

    eV3r
    October 30th, 2009 - 17:30

    # //***************************************************************************
    # // Created by: Henk Hofs
    # //
    # // Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Solution Accelerator
    # //
    # // File: MDT-ZTI.ps1
    # //
    # // Version: 1.0
    # //
    # // Purpose: Provide ZTI Functionality to MDT without the use of SCCM/SMS.
    # //
    # // Usage: powershell.exe -command MDT-ZTI.ps1
    # //
    # // History:
    # // Version Author Notes
    # // 0.7 HHO Initial version
    # // 0.8 HHO Added SQL Invoke-command function from the Powershell Cookbook by Lee Holmes
    # // 0.9 HHO Added Remove-netBootComputer account to fully clear PXE data on computers
    # // 1.0 HHO Final version
    # // 1.1 TKO Fixed Bugs in Script
    # //***************************************************************************

    # //***************************************************************************
    # // Configuration:
    # // Notes: Set the database name and datasource for your environment heren.
    # // For SQLEXPRESS on the same server use “.\SQLEXPRESS” as datasource
    # //***************************************************************************
    $Database = “MDTDeployment”
    $DataSource = “.”

    # //—————————————————————————-
    # // Function: AD\Remove-netBootComputerAccount
    # // Purpose: Removes the DomainAdmins(n) computer account from AD to reset the PXE request
    # //—————————————————————————-
    Function Global:AD\Remove-netBootComputerAccount ([string]$UUID) {

    $objSearcher = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher
    $objSearcher.SearchRoot = “LDAP://OU=WDS_Prestaged,OU=Comp,OU=Customer,DC=ittwi,DC=net”
    For ($i = 0 ; $i -lt $UUID.Length ; $i =$i + 2){
    $UUID = $UUID.Insert($i,”\”)
    $i = $i + 1
    }
    $objSearcher.Filter = “(&(&((objectclass=computer)(netbootguid=” + $UUID + “))))”
    $objResult = $objSearcher.FindOne()

    If ($objResult -ne $Null) {
    $DN = $objResult.GetDirectoryEntry().distinguishedName
    Return dsrm.exe -noprompt “$DN”
    }
    else{
    Return “Computer [$DN] not Found in Active Directory”
    }

    }

    # //—————————————————————————-
    # // Function: SQL\Invoke-Command
    # // Purpose: Invoke a command in SQL syntax
    # // Notes: From Windows PowerShell Cookbook (O’Reilly)
    # // by Lee Holmes (http://www.leeholmes.com/guide)
    # //—————————————————————————-
    Function Global:SQL\Invoke-Command ([string] $DataSource, [string] $Database, [string] $SQLCommand, [System.Management.Automation.PsCredential] $Credential) {
    # // Prepare the authentication information. By default, we pick Windows authentication
    $authentication = “Integrated Security=SSPI;”

    # // If the user supplies a credential, then they want SQL authentication
    if($credential)
    {
    $plainCred = $credential.GetNetworkCredential()
    $authentication =
    (“uid={0};pwd={1};” -f $plainCred.Username,$plainCred.Password)
    }

    # // Prepare the connection string out of the information they provide
    $connectionString = “Provider=sqloledb; ” +
    “Data Source=$dataSource; ” +
    “Initial Catalog=$database; ” +
    “$authentication; ”

    # // Connect to the data source and open it
    $connection = New-Object System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection $connectionString
    $command = New-Object System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand $sqlCommand,$connection
    $connection.Open()

    # // Fetch the results, and close the connection
    $adapter = New-Object System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter $command
    $dataset = New-Object System.Data.DataSet
    [void] $adapter.Fill($dataSet)
    $connection.Close()

    # // Return the dataset
    Return $dataset
    }

    # //—————————————————————————-
    # // Function: ZTI\Process-PendingDevicesData
    # // Purpose: Process the data to a usable format.
    # //—————————————————————————-
    Function Global:ZTI\Process-PendingDevicesData([hashtable]$PendingDevices, [int]$i) {
    $UUIDRaw = $PendingDevices.GetEnumerator() | Where-Object {$_.Value -eq $i -and $_.Key -match “UUID*”} | Select-Object Key
    $MACAddressRaw = $PendingDevices.GetEnumerator() | Where-Object {$_.Value -eq $i -and $_.Key -match “MAC address”} | Select-Object Key
    $RequestIDRaw = $PendingDevices.GetEnumerator() | Where-Object {$_.Value -eq $i -and $_.Key -match “Request*”} | Select-Object Key
    [string]$UUID = $UUIDRaw.Key
    [string]$MACAddress = $MACAddressRaw.Key
    [string]$RequestID = $RequestIDRaw.Key
    $UUID = $UUID.Split(“:”) | Select-Object -Last 1
    $UUID = $UUID.TrimStart()
    $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Split(“:”) | Select-Object -Last 1
    $MACAddress = $MACAddress.TrimStart()
    $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Substring(20)
    $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(2, “:”);$MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(5, “:”);$MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(8, “:”); $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(11, “:”); $MACAddress = $MACAddress.Insert(14, “:”)
    $RequestID = $RequestID.Split(“:”) | Select-Object -Last 1
    $RequestID = $RequestID.TrimStart()

    Return @{“RequestID” = $RequestID; “MACAddress” = $MACAddress; “UUID” = $UUID}
    }

    # //—————————————————————————-
    # // Function: ZTI\Get-PendingDevices
    # // Purpose: Get the pending devices from WDS
    # //—————————————————————————-
    Function Global:ZTI\Get-PendingDevices() {
    ZTI\Write-Log -LogLevel “Information” -Description “Getting pending devices from WDS” -EventID 4006 -Source “MDT-ZeroTouch”
    $PendingDevices = wdsutil.exe /Get-AutoAddDevices /DeviceType:PendingDevices
    $PendingDevices = $PendingDevices | Where-Object {$_ -ne “”}
    [hashtable]$PendingHashTable = @{0 = 0}
    [int]$i = 0
    $PendingHashTable.Clear()

    $PendingDevices | ForEach-Object{
    if($_ -match “UUID*”){$PendingHashTable.Add($_, $i)}
    if($_ -match “MAC add*”){$PendingHashTable.Add($_, $i)}
    if($_ -match “Request*”){$i++;$PendingHashTable.Add($_, $i)}
    }
    $TotalPending = $PendingHashTable.Count / 3
    ZTI\Write-Log -LogLevel “Information” -Description “Found $TotalPending pending device(s)” -EventID 4007 -Source “MDT-ZeroTouch”
    Return $PendingHashTable
    }

    # //—————————————————————————-
    # // Function: ZTI\Write-Log
    # // Purpose: Write-Log entries to the event log and display on screen
    # //—————————————————————————-
    Function Global:ZTI\Write-Log ([string]$LogLevel, [string]$Description, [int]$EventID, [string]$Source) {
    Switch ($LogLevel) {
    “Error” {$ForegroundColor = “Red”}
    “Warning” {$ForegroundColor = “Yellow”}
    “Information” {$ForegroundColor = “White”}
    }
    New-EventLog -LogName “MDT-ZeroTouch” -Source “MDT-ZeroTouch” 2>1
    Write-EventLog -LogName “MDT-ZeroTouch” -EntryType $LogLevel -EventId $EventID -Source $Source -Message $Description
    Write-Host -ForegroundColor $ForegroundColor $LogLevel “:” $Description

    }

    # //—————————————————————————-
    # // Main Routine
    # //—————————————————————————-
    # // Get the pending devices from WDS
    [hashtable]$PendingDevices = ZTI\Get-PendingDevices
    # // Calculate how many loops to make
    [int]$TotalPending = $PendingDevices.Count / 3
    If($TotalPending -ne 0){
    # // Initialize the loop
    $i = 0;Do { # // Start of Loop
    # // Iterate loop number
    $i++
    # // Process data
    [hashtable]$PendingDevicesData = ZTI\Process-PendingDevicesData -PendingDevices $PendingDevices -i $i
    [string]$MACAddress = $PendingDevicesData.MACAddress
    [string]$RequestID = $PendingDevicesData.RequestID
    [string]$UUID = $PendingDevicesData.UUID
    Write-Host $PendingDevicesData.UUID
    Write-Host $UUID

    # // Check if Computer MAC address is found in MDT database
    $SQLCommand = “SELECT ID FROM dbo.ComputerIdentity WHERE MACAddress = ‘$MACAddress’”
    $SQLDataset = SQL\Invoke-Command -Database $Database -DataSource $DataSource -SQLCommand $SQLCommand

    $ID = $SQLDataSet.Tables | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Rows

    # // If computer is found in MDT database proceed
    If ($ID) {
    ZTI\Write-Log -LogLevel “Information” -Description “Computer entry found for $MACAddress, checking if device is allowed to netboot” -EventID 4008 -Source “MDT-ZeroTouch”
    $ComputerID = $ID.Get_Item(0)
    $SQLCommand = “SELECT netboot FROM dbo.Settings WHERE Type = ‘C’ AND ID = ‘$ComputerID’”
    $SQLDataset = SQL\Invoke-Command -Database $Database -DataSource $DataSource -SQLCommand $SQLCommand
    $netBoot = $SQLDataset.Tables | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Rows
    $netBoot = $netBoot.Get_Item(0)
    # // If the computer is allowed to netboot proceed
    If ($netBoot -ne “FALSE”) {
    ZTI\Write-Log -LogLevel “Information” -Description “Computer is allowed to netboot, approving device” -EventID 4009 -Source “MDT-ZeroTouch”
    $iRetVal=wdsutil.exe /Approve-AutoAddDevices /RequestID:$RequestID /OU:”OU=WDS_Prestaged,OU=Comp,OU=Customer,DC=ittwi,DC=net”
    ZTI\Write-Log -LogLevel “Information” -Description “WDSUTIL Returncode: $iRetVal” -EventID 4009 -Source “MDT-ZeroTouch”
    # // Reset computer information in both WDS and MDT database so on next boot computer will be rejected
    Sleep -Seconds 10
    $iRetVal=wdsutil.exe /Delete-AutoAddDevices /DeviceType:ApprovedDevices
    ZTI\Write-Log -LogLevel “Information” -Description “WDSUTIL Returncode: $iRetVal” -EventID 4009 -Source “MDT-ZeroTouch”
    $SQLCommand = “UPDATE dbo.Settings SET netBoot = ‘FALSE’ WHERE Type = ‘C’ AND ID = ‘$ComputerID’”
    $SQLDataset = SQL\Invoke-Command -Database $Database -DataSource $DataSource -SQLCommand $SQLCommand
    Sleep -Seconds 10
    $RemoveComputer = AD\Remove-netBootComputerAccount -UUID $UUID
    ZTI\Write-Log -LogLevel “Information” -Description “Cleaning Up AD. DSRM Returncode: $RemoveComputer” -EventID 4013 -Source “MDT-ZeroTouch”

    # // If computer is not allowed to netboot, reject the device and clear the WDS database
    } Else {
    ZTI\Write-Log -LogLevel “Information” -Description “Computer is not allowed to netboot, rejecting device” -EventID 4010 -Source “MDT-ZeroTouch”
    $iRetVal=wdsutil.exe /Reject-AutoAddDevices /RequestID:$RequestID
    ZTI\Write-Log -LogLevel “Information” -Description “WDSUTIL Returncode: $iRetVal” -EventID 4010 -Source “MDT-ZeroTouch”
    Sleep -Seconds 10
    $iRetVal=wdsutil.exe /Delete-AutoAddDevices /DeviceType:RejectedDevices
    ZTI\Write-Log -LogLevel “Information” -Description “WDSUTIL Returncode: $iRetVal” -EventID 4010 -Source “MDT-ZeroTouch”
    }
    # // If computer is not found in MDT Database, reject the device and clear the WDS database
    } Else {
    ZTI\Write-Log -LogLevel “Information” -Description “No computer entries found for $MACAddress, rejecting device” -EventID 4011 -Source “MDT-ZeroTouch”
    $iRetVal=wdsutil.exe /Reject-AutoAddDevices /RequestID:$RequestID
    ZTI\Write-Log -LogLevel “Information” -Description “WDSUTIL Returncode: $iRetVal” -EventID 4011 -Source “MDT-ZeroTouch”
    Sleep -Seconds 10
    $iRetVal=wdsutil.exe /Delete-AutoAddDevices /DeviceType:RejectedDevices
    ZTI\Write-Log -LogLevel “Information” -Description “WDSUTIL Returncode: $iRetVal” -EventID 4011 -Source “MDT-ZeroTouch”
    }

    # // End of loop
    } until ($i -ge $TotalPending)
    }
13. 

    eV3r
    October 30th, 2009 - 17:36

    This is a fixed version of the script. Without Errors on Windows Powershell 2.0 RC on Windows 2008 Server.
    Only the Lines:
    $Database = “MDTDeployment”
    $DataSource = “.”
    $objSearcher.SearchRoot = “LDAP://OU=WDS_Prestaged,OU=Comp,OU=Customer,DC=ittwi,DC=net”
    $iRetVal=wdsutil.exe /Approve-AutoAddDevices /RequestID:$RequestID /OU:”OU=WDS_Prestaged,OU=Comp,OU=Customer,DC=ittwi,DC=net”
    must change to your environment.
14. 

    Henk Hofs
    October 30th, 2009 - 19:28

    Nice find ev3r. But I wanted to create a script that required as little configuration as possible..
    Unfortunately I have been really busy with customer projects and working together with Martin Zugec on an powershell driven automation framework, and therefore didn’t have time to update / clean my MDT ZTI code… I also made contact with Maik Koster over @ mdtcustomizations.codeplex.com that will host v2 of my MDT-ZTI script.
15. 

    travis
    April 28th, 2010 - 20:52

    @yacker: replace $source with MDT-ZeroTouch on line 164. worked for me.
16. 

    travis
    April 30th, 2010 - 00:56

    So I’m having a problem with the WDS administrator approval mechanism. When I enable it, it will for for 3 or 4 times, and then stop working. The client sits at the “waiting for approval” screen for infinity. This happens with or without the script. When I reinstall WDS, it works for a few more times and then does the same thing. Fully patched 2008. Anyone else having this problem?

    If I can’t get it resolved I was thinking it might be possible to alter the script to create an AD object with the GUID of the computer for netboot, and delete it out when it’s done booting to PXE.
17. 

    Roger le routier
    May 19th, 2010 - 15:29

    Hey! Great job there! Please do not let this project die!
18. 

    Mark C
    September 16th, 2010 - 11:50

    Hi. This is a great idea to get around SCCM. My organisation is worried about using mandatory advertisement to deploy images in case it ‘goes global’ and reimages every workstation. I have a question regarding the setup of the DHCP scope for this. What bootimage should be reference in the DHCP options. I know I should point opion 60 to the WDS server.
    thanks.
19. 

    Henk Hofs
    September 16th, 2010 - 11:59

    Hi Mark,

    the bootimage you should reference is: boot\x86\wdsnbp.com
20. 

    Daniel Buckley
    October 23rd, 2010 - 12:44

    What are the minimum permissions needed for the user account running this script?
    I know it works perfectly fine as the domain admin, but local admin doesn’t work, even giving full access to the RemoteInstall folder doesn’t work.
    I’m running the script on Windows 2003 R2 server and scheduling the script to run every minute as you can’t schedule the same as with 2008 server.
    I’ve delegated control of the AD OU to the WDS server and to a specific user account, with create and delete objects and write all properties rights. running the script as system account or the specified user account doesn’t work because the accounts don’t have access to query WDSUTIL for pending devices.

    I’m getting a bit stuck, any help would be welcome!
21. 

    Daniel Buckley
    October 23rd, 2010 - 12:59

    I notice in the script there is a section where specific credentials can be added instead of using the currently logged in account. This could solve my problems, it’s on lines 63, 66, 69-73.
    I’m not a developer, how can I edit this so I can specify the account I want to use to access the SQL database?
    Thanks!
22. 

    Henk Hofs
    October 24th, 2010 - 00:46

    Hi Daniel,

    the minimal permissions needed would be:
    object removal rights in AD
    database modify access in SQL server
    In WDS I don’t know exactly which rights you should have.. I always run this under a Service account who is a domain admin…, try looking for delegation of control articles about WDS… that should contain some information as to which rights you would need to access the pending devices database…

    You can schedule exactly the same on 2008 R2 as on 2008, so you can let the script act on the event that a client has pxebooted.. I did it many many times already.. so I know it works , just look a little deeper on the new scheduled job triggers
23. 

    Mo
    December 3rd, 2010 - 11:25

    Hi, Great Post & idea.
    i have used above script 1.1 and seem to get all the right vibes, but computer fails to load boot image, but the vent logged seems odd, 0.6666.. device found ? please advise.

    “Log Name: MDT-ZeroTouch
    Source: MDT-ZeroTouch
    Date: 02/12/2010 17:56:21
    Event ID: 4007
    Task Category: (1)
    Level: Information
    Keywords: Classic
    User: N/A
    Computer: SERVER.domain.local
    Description:
    Found 0.666666666666667 pending device(s)
    Event Xml:

    4007
    4″
    1
    0×80000000000000

    26
    MDT-ZeroTouch
    SERVER.domain.local

    Found 0.666666666666667 pending device(s)
24. 

    Jean-Pierre Paradis
    December 6th, 2010 - 22:38

    Great script !
    Youhave done a good job.

    May I suggest that you modify you installation procedure to follow this recommandation http://blogs.technet.com/b/mmodin/archive/2010/02/03/how-to-extend-the-mdt-2010-database-with-custom-settings.aspx when you add a colomn to the Settings table.

    Note : This will allow the MDTDB.psm1 script (http://blogs.technet.com/b/mniehaus/archive/2009/05/15/manipulating-the-microsoft-deployment-toolkit-database-using-powershell.aspx) to work with the netBoot Property.
25. 

    Henk Hofs
    December 6th, 2010 - 22:44

    Looks like it’s having some divisioning errors… it will divide by 3… so looks like it’s not getting the pendingdevices data right from WDS..
    Try clearing your pending devices using the WDS GUI and then try again.
26. 

    Henk Hofs
    December 6th, 2010 - 22:49

    Well… the Database scripts by Michael Niehaus… awesome as they are… they are a bit overkill to load into powershell as they are not needed for the zerotouch script to run. And we want to keep loading things in memory to a minimum obviously

    The extending of the database is a good point, you would need to update the views, as specified in that article…, but there are multiple ways to get the database expanded… I just posted the most obvious one.
    The one I use the most is just editing the .sql file that comes with MDT and add the netBoot property to the end of the setting table and then run that .sql file against the database, that will make sure the views are also correctly initialized..
27. 

    Daniel Buckley
    February 3rd, 2011 - 16:09

    New problem!
    I’ve implemented it into a live environment, and when a machine tries to PXE boot, the script runs, checks against the DB, approves it, but the next action fails with WDS “cannot find the file specified” in event viewer and the machine doesn’t PXE boot.

    Slight differences in setup, I’m using 2003 SP2 R2 server, the script runs every minute as the NT AUTHORITY\System account as 2003 doesn’t have event triggers.

    Any ideas? Thanks
28. 

    Henk Hofs
    February 7th, 2011 - 00:12

    Hi Daniel,

    try PXE booting the machine without using the zero-touch scheduled script (booting from PXE using the F12 button) and see if that works…
    the only thing the script does is approve the machine for pxe booting, which by the looks of it is working…
    Are you using a Windows DHCP server? If so, is it on the same box and have you configured WDS to not listen on port 67?

    This error message means that the pxe server is telling the client to look for a boot program which it cannot find. You could try to set dhcp option 66 (boothostname) to point to the hostname or ipaddress of your pxeserver (wds) and option 67 (boofilename) to point to the relative path of the n12 file. e.g.: boot\x86\pxeboot.n12

    Let me know if it works without the zero-touch!
29. 

    Daniel Buckley
    February 7th, 2011 - 16:55

    Looks like that was it, there’s an iphelper on the routers specifying a specific boot file, but not the boot server, so DHCP points to the server but its still looking for the other boot file. I editted the ZTI script to add /bootfile and it’s working fine now.

    Just having a problem configuring the WDS server through SMS now, trying to automate it. But that’s a problem for Microsoft to look at, seems WDSUTIL /add-image run via SMS doesn’t work if you haven’t added an image manually first, who knew?

    Thanks again for the help, this solution is gonna be a lifesaver when it’s rolled out into Live.
30. 

    Thomas Langhans
    April 6th, 2011 - 12:34

    Why so complicated?

    Simply configure your WDS only to answer to know computers and set the already existing value “OSInstall” to Yes for Installation or No for Non-Installation of the particular client. Using a Standard Client Task Sequence the client will either be installed or not after pressing F12.

    Best regards,
    Thomas
31. 

    Michael Redding
    April 21st, 2011 - 01:26

    Where did you add the add/bootfile in the script
32. 

    TerryG
    April 21st, 2011 - 04:10

    I am at home now and I am almost tempted to go to work and get started on this…how sick is that !!!
    Very cool tutorial Hank
    Many thanks
33. 

    Dan Buckley
    May 13th, 2011 - 09:55

    I’ve rolled this out on a large scale but I’m hitting a problem.
    The computer is in the database, the event viewer logs say it’s been approved, all commands are successful, but the machine doesn’t netboot, it just keeps waiting, dot dot dot dot, etc.

    Anyone got any ideas? I’m clean out
34. 

    Henk Hofs
    May 13th, 2011 - 11:15

    Hi Daniel,

    try doing the approval manually from the WDS console, see if that works.
    If that also doesn’t work, there’s an issue with your WDS deployment, try restarting the WDS service.
35. 

    Dan Buckley
    May 13th, 2011 - 11:35

    Worked manually, looked at the script and realised I’d edited the WDS approval command at some point, removed the changes and voila, it worked.
    Thanks
36. 

    Alan Seedhouse
    May 13th, 2011 - 15:37

    I am working on a zero touch MDT solution in C#. I am using the same sort of mechansim as described in your script but calling the WDS API directly and not via WDSUTIL. The problem is the necessary delay between approving/rejecting the pending device and clearing in the AutoAdd database. If you clear the database too soon the client does not respond. I think the mechanism may fail if you attempt to rebuild a lot of computers at the same time. Did you every test your script building multiple computers simultaneously?

    Cheers
37. 

    Dan Buckley
    May 23rd, 2011 - 12:32

    Here I am again.

    The problem described on May 13th is still here, it appears to not be a permanent problem but does keep occurring. restarting the service doesn’t fix it, but leaving it for a time does.
    However, manually approving seems to work every time.
    This issue is happening on multiple servers (every one tested so far) so I’m disinclined to think it’s a server config issue, though I’m open to any suggestions.
    Now this is set up on Windows 2003 servers, not 2008, but the script works nonetheless, it’s just set to run every minute instead of whenever an event is triggered.

    If I could get my eyes on some WDS logs I’d be happy but WDS logging on 2003 server appears to be.. well a mystery.
38. 

    Dan Buckley
    May 27th, 2011 - 14:09

    aaaand the fix is!!!
    Change the wait time after the client is approved in WDS from 10s to 30s.
    Looks like the client was taking so long to receive the approval message that its computer account was gone from AD.
39. 

    Henk Hofs
    June 1st, 2011 - 23:02

    Hi Alan,

    I have indeed run into this problem at one of my customers.
    The trick was to check for another ID in the eventviewer, that confirms the succesfull download of the bootimage.
    I don’t quite remember the eventID, but look in your eventlog to find it out. shoudn’t be too hard.
    I did something along the lines of this:

    Device started the boot process (the event that’s being used to trigger the ps1 script)
    Get events for that id for last 2 minutes.
    add all those devices to an array.
    if eventid for succesfull download also present in last 2 minutes, remove entry from array
    approve the device
    if array is empty
    clear database
40. 

    Gerry Tessier
    August 21st, 2011 - 03:24

    It’s been a while and I’ve been keeping an ear to the ground to see what the progress was on this project. I’ve tried my hand at it and seem to have been unsuccessful so far. Must you configure the properties on the WDS Server to “Always continue to PXE boot”?

    Secondly, is there a final version of this scripts somewhere?

    Thanks in advance.
41. 

    Lee Eastham
    September 1st, 2011 - 21:00

    I’ve tried implementing this too but it fails at every step. It’s a real shame as this is something that is sorely missing from MDT 201x systems and is critical for those of us who want to fully automate it.
    Henk, are you planning any further developments?
42. 

    Douglas Davenport
    August 20th, 2012 - 05:10

    Successfully using this script for ZTI along with the N12 hack to remove F12 requirement.
    Awesome work! Well coded and well commented. We can’t afford to buy SCCM so this is really a big help for us.

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