Sign in
 
HomeLibraryWikiLearnGalleryDownloadsSupportForumsBlogs
Resources for IT Professionals >
> 
> 
> 
MDT 2012 + WinPE 4.0 + VMWare ESXi - Hangs "Windows is loading files" booting into PE

Answered MDT 2012 + WinPE 4.0 + VMWare ESXi - Hangs "Windows is loading files" booting into PE

  • Monday, December 10, 2012 10:41 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    I'm trying out using MDT 2012 and WinPE 4.0, upgrading things. I've recreated things following templates in MDT 2012. I'm also using ADK and WinPE 4.0.

    Issue I'm seeing is upon restarting into WinPE I see the screen showing Windows is Loading Files and the progress bar. I see the first one load through and then the second slower one load through. Once progress bar fills, it just does nothing and I'm left looking at a complete progress bar.

    I was trying obviously first using VMWare ESX 5.0 with no success, subsequently tried a couple of physical machines and those had no problems. I still want to get working on ESX since that will help speed up development and testing of the rest of the stuff I need to upgrade. Tried a variety of SCSI controllers within ESX vms. I tried VMWare Workstation 9 with the mixed results as with the LSI Logic Parallel SCSI controller had success but not the others.

    I of course at first tried making sure drivers were added with no change, although that still could be an issue with drivers I found to put in being incorrect.

    More interestingly though is that I can of course install Windows 8 from install media just fine on these hardware, as well as if I create an ISO from the deployment share and boot to that it works just fine, so it seems to just be an issue when booting to WinPE on disk.

    Any ideas are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

     

All Replies

  • Tuesday, December 11, 2012 11:15 AM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0
    What does the logs say?
     
  • Tuesday, December 11, 2012 6:46 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    Not sure exactly what log we're talking about here, but MDT logs (BDD.log) show everything as fine up to the point of just prior to rebooting from what I can see.

    If there are other logs to check I will definitely do that but was not aware of any related to where I'm seeing the issue. I'll poke around some more.

     
  • Wednesday, December 12, 2012 9:45 AM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0
    I usually open up SMSTS.log and search for "Failed " and very often it leads me to the problem.
     
  • Wednesday, December 12, 2012 4:26 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0
    Can't seem to find that log. After the computer hangs at "Windows is loading files" I've reset and booted to a cd in order to poke around on the disk, and can't really anything helpful but the bdd logs which showed no concerning issues.
     
  • Monday, December 17, 2012 10:57 AM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0
    I'm having exactly the same issue. I'll post if I find an awnser
     
  • Monday, December 17, 2012 1:51 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0
    I have the same issue on my VMWare Workstation 9. I'll give it a look also.

    Blog: http://scriptimus.wordpress.com

     
  • Monday, December 17, 2012 3:35 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    When I boot my x64 ISO on VM Workstation 9 it starts then reboots.

    If I press f8 at the start, I can get a console and look around, but when I close it, WINPE reboots.

    If I type X:\deploy\scripts\litetouch.vbs then I get my menu as expected.

    Something very goofy going on there. Logs don't help much either.

    Blog: http://scriptimus.wordpress.com

     
  • Monday, December 17, 2012 5:52 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0
    Update: It looks like this only happens with the x64 boot image.

    Blog: http://scriptimus.wordpress.com

     
  • Monday, December 17, 2012 7:59 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    So I'm still not quite there yet in figuring out what my fix will be but I think that I have determined the problem. I believe it all stems from booting into the wrong partition or something. Not an expert here on disks, partitions, booting, etc.

    So what I did determine though is that when I restart to go into PE it is booting into the 100 mb reserved parition, which did not have all the boot stuff udpated by LTIApply.wsf since it was too small to be chosen as the boot partition. This still has an old win7 boot loader. If after reboot, I instead boot to something else on a cd, and copy bootmgr and boot\ to the small partition that it appears to be booting from and then restart and boot to disk, it works flawlessly. So the issue is that this partition is not set up, and that's what is being booted into.

    Like I said, looking at LTIApply.wsf logs I see that it was too small, so it reverted to using system drive. It prepared that to boot, put all the files onto it, but I can't figure out why it's not booting to that partition instead when restarted. Any ideas are welcome.

    I'll continue looking through everything.

     
  • Monday, December 17, 2012 8:49 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    I've read your issue a couple times over now and it looks like we have different issues. Your progress bar threw me. Let's clarify and work on your issue.

    It looks like you're PXE booting your litetouch wim image. Is this correct?

    What architecture is it?

    Is is freezing before the Windows splash screen?  If not, please explain where exactly it's freezing.

    Blog: http://scriptimus.wordpress.com

     
  • Monday, December 17, 2012 9:12 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    No, I'm not PXE booting the litetouch wim image. My task sequence is pretty much the default "sysprep and capture" task sequence.

    It is hanging just as the progress bar completes loading with the "Windows is loading files..." message still displayed and a full bar. Nothing else happens here.

    What I believe is happening is it is booting to the 100 mb system reserved partition, which has the old win 7 boot loader...thus the "Windows is loading files..." instead of the win 8 style "Loading files..." message. If i replace on that small 100 mb partition the bootmgr and /boot/ with what is on the main partition which LTIApply set up, then it loads into the PE on the main drive just fine.

    It would seem to me the solution to me is to figure out how or why LTIApply is not setting up to boot from the main partition instead of the smaller one, or need to replace the files.

    A note is that if I swap out and use the PE 3.0 litetouch wim instead on the main disk, this works fine, I'm guessing a compatibility issue with the win 7 loader and PE 4.0.

     
  • Monday, December 17, 2012 11:36 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    Well, I resolved my issue. It had nothing to do with VMWare or WINPE. There were errors in the unattend.xml on my boot disk, it was an x86 unattend.xml. Sorted now.

    Right, back to your issue. I've had issues like that in the past.

    Scenario: If you use copype.cmd in AIK to create a bootable usb you can't swap that wim out and have a true winpe 4, you have to run copype.cmd from ADK to create the disk architecture.

    Your hard disk is based on winpe 3 so as you have figured out it's not booting true winpe 4.

    Answer: In your issue, as you are not using Windows 8 I suggest you revert back to AIK and use WINPE 3.0.

    /Andrew

    Blog: http://scriptimus.wordpress.com

     
  • Tuesday, December 18, 2012 12:41 AM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    Understood and sounds good, although I can't say that I like that answer.

    Obviously in this case there is no reason to be using WinPE 4.0, but I was hoping to not have to maintain having both PE versions. I obviously plan to provide task sequences for doing refreshes upgrading from Win7 to Win8. What PE would I be using for that, shouldn't it be WinPE 4.0 and I need to figure this issue out anyways. Also, WAIK and WADK can't coexist on the same machine, so would that mean having to use multiple MDT instances, one not involving Windows 8 and thus using PE 3.0 and one involving Windows 8 and using PE 4.0?

    I guess I just don't understand how or why I could use 3.0 in some cases and 4.0 in other cases.

     
  • Thursday, December 20, 2012 8:12 AM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    MDT 2012 Update 1, ESXi 5

    I'm having the same issue. I set up VM for all Windows 7 versions and architectures to have a complete set of reference computers. Every Windows just got installed and updated, no drivers or tools yet. When I try to capture the installations, 64bit OS works like a charm, 32bit OS just hangs at "Windows is loading files...". I tried capturing a Windows 7 Professional 32bit on a physical machine, works perfectly. I tried deployment shares on a Pro 32bit machine with this problem and built a new deployment share from the scratch on Server 2012, same issue.

    Since 64bit capture works and 32bit only on physical machines, I think ESXi is the problem. Changing network adapter type or RAM of the VM doesn't affect the hangup. A brand new VM with a differend HDD controller emulation type and compatible to VMware 7 makes no difference. Even pretending it's 64bit upon vm creation doesn't fix it.

    Since 64bit capture works, is there a way to tell MDT to use the same PE for capturing the 32bit OS?

     
  • Thursday, December 20, 2012 10:10 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0
    I saw a point in what I asked, so I tried and found a workaround: When setting up your sysprep & capture task sequence, I selected a x64 operating system. Now it boots as expected and captures the OS. Although I saw it copying x86 to the local disk. Maybe some driver incompatibility issue. I didn't try to deploy yet though.
     
  • Monday, December 31, 2012 11:37 AM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    Hello,

    same issue here : VMWare ESXI 4.1 and MDT 2012 with latest WINPE.

    How can i revert to WINPE 3.0 without losing data?

    Thx

     
  • Thursday, January 03, 2013 10:33 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    Same issue here, except that I'm using PXE and VMWare Workstation 7.  The progress bar makes it all the way across the screen, and then that's where it stops.  This is with an x86 version of WinPE 4.0 created with the MDT wizard in SCCM.  I tried the lastest version of VMWare Workstation (version 9) and had the same result while using a Windows 8 or Windows 8 x64 virtual hardware selection.

     
  • Thursday, January 03, 2013 11:39 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    Update: Just finished testing a few more scenarios.   Same issue while PXE booting with the standard clean WinPE 4.0 boot image in SCCM.  However, creating bootable media from the "Create Task Sequence Media" wizard, and then booting the virtual machine from ISO worked with VMWare Workstation version 9.  However version 7 with clean ISO, or MDT ISO gave me what I think is the new BSOD, or may now it's the Blue Screen of Sadness? HAL_INITIALIZATION_FAILED I'm guessing this isn't a good sign for anyone with an older VMWare Product...

     
  • Friday, January 04, 2013 7:37 AM
     
     Proposed Answer
    Sign In to Vote
    2

    I did have the same problem with ESXI 4.1 and Windows 8.

    I found a full solution with the following:

    download the linked file at the bottom of this post and add the following options to your vmware-configuration
    file:

    bios440.filename =
    "<full path to rom image>"  --> if file in folder of vm only "bios.440.rom

    mce.enable = TRUE

    cpuid.hypervisor.v0 =
    FALSE

    vmGenCounter.enable =
    FALSE

    This worked for me for several environment with an older ESXI-invironment and Windows 8.

    http://communities.vmware.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/2139717-98102/bios.440.rom

    • Proposed As Answer by Mvd12345 Friday, January 04, 2013 6:16 PM
    •  
     
  • Sunday, January 06, 2013 8:58 AM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0
    Any-one tried the above option?
     
  • Monday, January 07, 2013 2:37 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    Yes, we did.  It is working fine.

    Cheers,

     
  • Monday, January 07, 2013 4:46 PM
     
     Answered
    Sign In to Vote
    0
    For me, the solution has been to replace the boot files on the system reserved partition since those are what are incompatible with the WinPE 4.0. This means modifying LTIApply so that it replaces those files on the system reserved partition even though it is not large enough to hold the .wim instead leaving that on the main system drive, and setting it up to boot to that one. The key though, is the incompatability of the Win7 boot files with the WinPE4.0 when booting from disk.
    • Marked As Answer by jh1285 Monday, February 18, 2013 4:42 PM
    •  
     
  • Thursday, January 10, 2013 9:27 PM
     
     Proposed Answer
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    I did have the same problem with ESXI 4.1 and Windows 8.

    I found a full solution with the following:

    download the linked file at the bottom of this post and add the following options to your vmware-configuration
    file:

    bios440.filename =
    "<full path to rom image>"  --> if file in folder of vm only "bios.440.rom

    mce.enable = TRUE

    cpuid.hypervisor.v0 =
    FALSE

    vmGenCounter.enable =
    FALSE

    This worked for me for several environment with an older ESXI-invironment and Windows 8.

    http://communities.vmware.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/2139717-98102/bios.440.rom

    I can confirm that this works also!  Many thanks!

    ESXi 4.1 with WinPE4.0

    • Proposed As Answer by byronsims Saturday, February 16, 2013 1:06 AM
    •  
     
  • Monday, January 21, 2013 3:08 AM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    I have a very similar problem.  MDT2012 > ADK > Hyper-V setup.  I can capture my Hyper-V Windows 8 x64, Windows 7 x64,and even Vista X86 reference machines but my Windows 7 x86 hangs on the WinPe "Windows is loading files" screen.  I have tried everything and finally I just put back my WinPe 3.0 / WAIK .wims and now it captures perfectly.  Is there a fix that doesn't involve hacking in the reserved partition?  Will it cause any problems to use WinPE 3.0 to capture the image in the MDT 2012 / ADK enviroment?  Will I have use the WinPE 3.0 to deploy the images also? 

    Thanks

     

    • Edited by Ws2000 Monday, January 21, 2013 3:10 AM
    • Edited by Ws2000 Monday, January 21, 2013 5:06 PM more info
    •  
     
  • Monday, January 21, 2013 4:22 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    I never found anything besides updating the boot files in the system reserved boot partition to those of Windows 8 files.

    My guess is WinPE 3.0 captured images will be fine. From what I understand you only need WinPE 4.0 for Windows 8 related tasks, but if you're not planning on doing that sticking with 3.0 is fine. Only issue with compatability of WIMs I found was related to MDT 2010 created WIMs that may have a DLL registered that MDT 2012 is now more careful to unregister during the capture process.

     
  • Wednesday, March 13, 2013 6:44 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    Same here...

    MDT2012 with X86WINPE - ADK - W7 PRO

    Vsphere 5.1 - vmxnet or e1000 : it loads forever. No problem with physical computer.

    :((

    EDIT : i just rebooted the WDS server and it works fine now ! I don't understand...

    • Edited by doc.fc Wednesday, March 13, 2013 6:44 PM
    • Edited by doc.fc Wednesday, March 13, 2013 6:45 PM
    • Edited by doc.fc Wednesday, March 13, 2013 6:59 PM
    •  
     
  • Thursday, May 02, 2013 3:31 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    Same here to..

    My problem is

    Vmware Esxi 5.1 MDT 2012 update 1

    Image iam trying to capture are Windows 7 X86 but it just hangs on loading files i the boot progressbar

    Iam using E1000 driver on the Esxi server

    i have rebooted the WDS server but no luck.

    I have created new boot image but no luck

    So iam kind off stuck right now.

    Does anyone found a solution to the problem ?

     

     
  • Friday, May 03, 2013 10:20 AM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    Same issue here with MDT 2012 update 1, Hyper-v (2.0) and ADK.

    "windows is loading files"

    Howto fix this issue?

    Thx

     
  • Friday, May 03, 2013 3:13 PM
     
     Proposed Answer
    Sign In to Vote
    0
    Fixed by Uninstalling ADK en installing WAIK for Windows 7 SP1 !
    • Proposed As Answer by Mvd12345 Friday, May 03, 2013 3:13 PM
    • Edited by Mvd12345 Monday, May 06, 2013 6:15 AM
    •  
     
  • Monday, May 06, 2013 5:37 AM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    I havnt ADK installed. so thats a no for me.,

    Iam still stucked

     
  • Monday, May 06, 2013 6:16 AM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    Hi Daffy,

    please try this option :

    bios440.filename =
    "<full path to rom image>"  --> if file in folder of vm only "bios.440.rom

    mce.enable = TRUE

    cpuid.hypervisor.v0 =
    FALSE

    vmGenCounter.enable =
    FALSE

     
  • Wednesday, May 15, 2013 3:39 PM
     
     
    Sign In to Vote
    0

    I worked around it by creating two task sequences:

    1. Sysprep

    2. Capture

    Both are based on the MDT sysprep and capture TS. I just disabled the steps that didn't apply.

    After the Sysprep TS ran I inserted the litetouch WinPE ISO into the DVD drive, and booted.

    The PC boot to WinPE, connected to the deployment share, and gave me a selection of TS.

    I selected Capture, specified a location, and it ran fine.

    This was in Hyper-V 2012.