Some laptops cannot get past "Starting Windows"
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Server
- FOG Version: 1.3.3 (bzImage Version: 4.10.9 bzImage32 Version: 4.9.1)
- OS: Kubuntu 14.04
Client
- Service Version: Service Pack 1
- OS: Windows 7 Pro
Description
Hi everyone,
We just set-up a fog server not too long ago. During imaging, some laptops are not getting past the “Starting Windows” screen. For example, a HP 6710B can be imaged just fine. However, a HP 6730B cannot get past the “Starting Windows” screen. We just have a bare bones Fog setup at this time and on the W7 Pro image we do not have any setup complete scripts or unattended files in place. Maybe that is our problem, but it is confusing why some laptops work and others don’t.
Thanks!
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@mark-dangelo What does the partition layout look like? What image type is configured in FOG for those laptops (resizable, single disk multipartition)?
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@Sebastian-Roth My apologies for getting back to you so late. I never received a notification of your reply. The Image type is “Single Disk - Resizable.”
Other options include:
- Multiple partition Image - Single Disk (Non-Resizable)
- Multiple partition Image - All Disks (Non-Resizable)
- Raw Image
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@mark.dangelo Can we ask you to update to the latest RC release of FOG 1.4.0RCx?
Use the upgrade to trunk document and then test again. https://wiki.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/Upgrade_to_trunk
There was many changes in disk resizing between 1.3.4 and 1.3.5, with a remaining bug in 1.3.5. was addressed in 1.4.0RC1.
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@george1421 Thanks for the reply. I have updated FOG, tried all 3 different partition options and we still get stuck at the Starting Windows Screen. Could this have anything to do with the Mass Storage Drivers? Or should this just “work?” Thanks!
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@mark.dangelo How are you injecting the storage controllers into your master image?
Are there any error messages or the system just stops at starting windows forever?
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I also am seeing this. Here is the hardware:
Dell Optiplex 9020, Optiplex 7040 – Gets to the Window of cannot start windows, please reinstall
Any laptop I try the image on it works fine, this is windows 1607. Laptops are as follows:
Dell Latitude 7440, 7450, 7470
Also works on older models in our environment. I’m happy to do some debugging per any direction. We are using a sysprep’d image. It seems to only happen after I sysprep and then when it tries to boot on the desktops it struggles with finishing the windows install. -
@sarge_212 said in Some laptops cannot get past "Starting Windows":
Dell Optiplex 9020, Optiplex 7040 – Gets to the Window of cannot start windows, please reinstall
That is strange, but let me preface this with I haven’t done any heavy imaging with win10. Where I have seen this happen with Win7 is that during setup a bad driver caused OOBE to reboot unexpectedly on the next boot of OOBE it would give a similar message as you posted.
I can say for both of our core images (win7 and win10) we build them with MDT. In MDT we install the Dell WinPE drivers cabs (WinPE3 and WinPE10) into the reference image. http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/enterprise-client/w/wiki/2065.dell-command-deploy-driver-packs-for-enterprise-client-os-deployment This way the reference image has at least the base network and disk controller drivers in the image. Then we use a fog post install script to copy the hardware specific drivers to the target system before oobe boots the first time.
Since we’ve been doing that with the Dell’s we’ve had zero issues with driver related issues. I can’t say that will fix the issues in this thread, but this process worked for us.
Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!
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Possible causes (top of my head, could be slightly off):
Antivirus causing havok (unlikely since some computers work)
Drivers causing havok (likely, since it’s limited to certain models)
unattend.xml causing havok (possible, depending on how it’s configured)
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@george1421 We are not quite sure how to inject the storage controllers in the master image. We looked for documentation to help with that but haven’t really found anything and are kind of fuzzy on the whole driver thing when it comes to fog . And yeah it just stops at starting windows forever.
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@mark.dangelo Did you use the /generalize switch when sysprepping ?
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@mark.dangelo how do you create your master image?
Quazz brings up a good point about AV. Are you installing it in your master image or post imaging?
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@george1421 thank you, I will certainly look into that on the Dell website, and post my findings. Appreciate it.
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I have ran into this before. The problem was that some of the settings in the BIOS were not the same as when the image was initially pulled. My issue was that the SATA settings on one was set to RAID and the other laptop was either set to ATA or AHCI. Hope this helps you.
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Changing from RAID on in BIOS to AHCI fixed this issue for me. Thanks so much for the tip @FoSTerCyber !!
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@Quazz Yes, we use the generalize switch. @george1421 No, we install the AV post imaging.
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@FoSTerCyber said in Some laptops cannot get past "Starting Windows":
have ran into this before. The problem was that some of the settings in the BIOS were not the same as when the image was initially pulled. My issue was that the SATA settings on one was set to RAID and the other laptop was either set to ATA or AHCI. Hope this helps you.
Thanks for the suggestion! We create the image with-in VirtualBox, but have tried both settings and we are not configuring it for RAID.
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Just for reference. I have Dell OptiPlex 7040’s and they’ve worked fine from FOG version 1.2.0 and higher.
I believe I may have had to change some BIOS settings before deploying to them the first time.
edit: Imaged 7040 with both Windows 7 and Windows 10. I’ll set one up and check the BIOS settings.
edit2: Here are the relevant BIOS settings on the OptiPlex 7040 that I think I changed (like a year ago).Under System Configuration:
- Integrated NIC
– Uncheck “Enable UEFI Network Stack” (this might be default)
– Select “Enabled w/PXE” - SATA Operation
– Select “RAID ON” (Default was either Disabled or AHCI)
I think that’s all I changed.
- Integrated NIC
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@george1421 I am not sure if I responded to your question, but we are creating a master 7 windows image on Virtual Box. Then running sysprep. We have no unattend or setupcomplete.cmd currently in place. I am leaning towards the problem being with Mass storage drivers or something driver related considering the fact that we have no driver install set-up it is currently all done after via a CD. Would this be helpful? Or do you guys have any other driver tutorials that would point us in the right direction?
Thanks!
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@mark.dangelo That wiki is a bit old but still usable.
At my work we also develop our golden images on a vm, sysprep them and then capture with FOG. From there we use fog post install scripts to copy the appropriate drivers to the target computer during imaging. We previously instruct windows OOBE to look for drivers in a specific location when OOBE is running so the drivers get installed at that time. The system works pretty well. We support about 14 different hardware models in our fleet of computers (all Dell BTW).
