SCCM SP2 and Windows 7 Deployment
- For the past few weeks I have been trying to successfully deploy Windows 7 using SCCM SP2. I have successfully captured Win7 using the capture media from SCCM and when I import the WIM file it imports it with two volumes that the install creates. When I create the task sequence it wants to create and format two partitions, the 100 meg partition and the boot partition where Win7 will reside. That task sequnce wants to create the second primary partion with a fixed size to the size of the hard drive of the machine that I originally captured. This is causing my task sequence to fail when deploying to a different machine every time. I want to two partions to get created as this is the initial behavior of a Windows 7 install. I thought SP2 was ready to deploy Windows 7 out of the box but I am having all kinds of issues deploying it because of this partition issue.
Anyone have any ideas?
Rustin H.
Answers
- The folks at Microsoft supplied me with the answer I have been looking for. Below are the steps taken within the task sequence to deploy a multipled partition of Windows 7.
1. In the Configuration Manager Console, select the Task Sequence and the from Actions pane select Edit.
2. The Task Sequence Editor will open. In the left pane select Partition Disk
3. Double click on the first item under Volume to bring up the Partition Properties. Under Formatting options, select Quick Format and under the Advance Options in the Variable field, type BOOTPART. Click OK.
4. Double click on the second item under Volume to bring up the Partition Properties. In the Partition options, select Use a percentage of remaining free space. The Size(%) should be set to 100. Under Formatting options, select Quick Format and under the Advance Options in the Variable field, type OSPART. Click OK.
5. Select Apply Operating System. Change the Image drop down menu from 1-1 to 2-2. Select from the Destination drop-down menu Logical drive letter stored in variable. In the Variable name field, type OSPART. Click OK.
6. Click on the Apply Data Image 1. Click on the Options tab and select Disable this step. Click Ok.
Rustin H.- Marked As Answer byYog Li - MSFTMSFT, ModeratorWednesday, November 11, 2009 9:14 AM
All Replies
- the 100mb partition is created for bitlocker, are you using the Entreprise edition of Windows 7 or what ?
I have a build and capture guide for Windows 7 here and no where do I see the second partition
http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/1182-deploy-windows-7-enterprise/
cheers
niall
my SCCM step by step Guides > http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1064 - Yes I'm trying to deploy Windows 7 Enterprise. I'm not capturing Windows 7 the way you explain in the walkthrough. It's my understanding that I can use the capture media created by SCCM once I have Win7 installed and configured the way that I want it configured. When I use the capture media is when the WIM image is created with the two partitions 1-1 and 2-2. I would like that second partition to be installed as we want to use Bitlocker. I will try your walkthrough using the build and capture to see if it captures the second partition as well.
Rustin H. - Hi,
Correct when you used the capture media you will have two partitions. In your task sequence there will also be two partitions. But let say my disk is 10 GB it creates one drive with 100 MB and one drive with 10 Gb. The task sequence will fail because it is not able to create that 10 GB driver because only 9900MB is left.
I fixed this to configure the second partition to use 100% of the available space left on the drive.
Follow me through my blog!
- I tried your solution and the task sequence tries to assign a drive letter to each partition so the 100 meg partition is getting drive C: and the system partition is getting D:. The original install of Win7 doesn't do this. It's creating the 100 meg partition as the primary volume but has no drive letter. I can't specify this in the task sequence options.
Rustin H. - How do you apply your images. 1-1 on the 100mb partition and the 2-2 on the other (larger) one?
Follow me through my blog!
How do you apply your images. 1-1 on the 100mb partition and the 2-2 on the other (larger) one?
Hi,
Follow me through my blog!
i have the same issue
yes i apply my images. 1-1 on the 100mb partition and the 2-2 on the other (larger) one
but
for sccm sp2 "- Support for capturing with a BitLocker partition in place from multiple partitions. For more information, see How to Capture an Image from a Reference Computer by Using Capture Media .
" i found this
- Support for capturing with a BitLocker partition in place from multiple partitions. For more information, see How to Capture an Image from a Reference Computer by Using Capture Media .
The task sequence tries to apply 2-2 to the Next available formatted partition in the "Apply Operating System" step and then there's a new step titled "Apply Data Image 1" where the 1-1 partition is applied again to the Next available formatted partition.
Rustin H.- I have opened a case with Microsoft on Tuesday. Still no word on what the fix is for this. I will post when I get one.
Rustin H. - The folks at Microsoft supplied me with the answer I have been looking for. Below are the steps taken within the task sequence to deploy a multipled partition of Windows 7.
1. In the Configuration Manager Console, select the Task Sequence and the from Actions pane select Edit.
2. The Task Sequence Editor will open. In the left pane select Partition Disk
3. Double click on the first item under Volume to bring up the Partition Properties. Under Formatting options, select Quick Format and under the Advance Options in the Variable field, type BOOTPART. Click OK.
4. Double click on the second item under Volume to bring up the Partition Properties. In the Partition options, select Use a percentage of remaining free space. The Size(%) should be set to 100. Under Formatting options, select Quick Format and under the Advance Options in the Variable field, type OSPART. Click OK.
5. Select Apply Operating System. Change the Image drop down menu from 1-1 to 2-2. Select from the Destination drop-down menu Logical drive letter stored in variable. In the Variable name field, type OSPART. Click OK.
6. Click on the Apply Data Image 1. Click on the Options tab and select Disable this step. Click Ok.
Rustin H.- Marked As Answer byYog Li - MSFTMSFT, ModeratorWednesday, November 11, 2009 9:14 AM
- excellent, thanks for sharing.
my SCCM step by step Guides > http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1064
