Posts made by Jaymes Driver

Check the compatibility. The test will help us to find the failing component so we can rectify it.

I’m leaning towards the kernel needs to be updated. If I were you, I would look into the kernels Tom has been uploading he does an amazing job of packing all the stuff up in a good working lightweight kernel. When I build them I normally just check all the things that look necessary and then it takes AGES to load

[FONT=Tahoma]To [/FONT]Run a compatibility test.

[FONT=Tahoma]From the fog PXE boot menu, you will see:[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]Boot from hard disk[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]Run memtest86[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]Quick host registration and Inventroy[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]Perform full host registration and Inventory[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]Quick Image[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]Client system information[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]Debug Mode[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]A. Choose Client System Information[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]B. Your computer will load another menu and it will look like this:[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]1.) Reboot[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]2.) IP Information[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]3.) Partition Information[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]4.) Check FOG compatability[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]5.) Ping a Host[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]6.) Display MAC Address[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]7.) Show DMI Information[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]C. Type 4 and press Enter[/FONT]

Deepfreeze is a program that locks a station in a “frozen state” meaning any changes to the OS revert back to the original “frozen state” on each reboot. You can thaw a machine, make changes and then freeze it again if you like, I do so to update my windows image when the students leave for the day by installing Windows Updates from my WSUS. This keeps the students from moving my icons around and putting them in the trash can, the second I reboot my stuff comes back. So with that being said: It won’t affect much when it comes to imaging, just keeps your image clean after you push it out.

I understand your concerns with trying to use Sysprep, don’t take this the wrong way. I was never insinuating that my intelligence is higher than yours, just that I too have experience deploying Windows 7. I spent ALL of last year working on Windows 7 deployment, I know MANY ins and outs of it, but even I will not accept that I know EVERYTHING there is to know about it.

We are merely trying to prepare you for the journey ahead. You have expunged a lot of information from us regarding the process and how to complete it properly, it is ultimately up to you to decide how you image. We aren’t going to twist your arm, we are just trying to figure out if there is a volatile reason you want to avoid it like the plague, because we MAY actually be able to help you to work around it.

Either way, good luck.

Thanks for sharing your information and files chad, I’ll look through them and see if I can learn anything form them too

My question is… Why use a free imaging system and pay to have the SID changed, Sysprep is easy (and free, and included with windows), the answer file takes some work to get it right, but a free alternative is always tastier to me than a paid solution.

And that is just my two cents. It seems like a lot of work to circumvent the sysprep process when really it can only benefit you.

If you’re looking to throw money away, you could just set up a windows WSUS server and let it do all your imaging, it will help you to pack all your programs up and let them install after imaging, help you do sysprep and create your answer file for you.

I prefer FOG as I am like Chad, we use DeepFreeze, I set everything specific in the image for Teachers, other Staff (Principals and such), and students. When I deploy my image I just lock it in a fresh state and bounce happily out of my lab.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to push you away from FOG, but with so many of us barking the word “sysprep” at you, why will you still not heed our warnings?

If you’re worried about the time it takes to get the answer file correct, set up a virtual image and save some snapshots before you sysprep, that’s what I do, then I just revert back, and edit my file a bit, save and upload again. Plus the more you sysprep the more familiar you are with it. Like chad said a few posts up he can get an image ready, sysprepped, and answer file on there in a few hours tops.

I could not have said it better myself chad, thank you.

Now we are expunging some information.

If you are not working with the IT group (they would know where the DHCP server is and what options to change) I would use the proxy DHCP service, this way your network isn’t altered and in order to “fix” any problems that arise by adding a server to your network, could be fixed by turning off the server.

Are you not the IT person of your building?

What kind of an Environment do you have? Novell? Active Directory?

We can’t tell you what your DHCP server is, we can only speculate. If you didn’t set up the DHCP server and you don’t have access to change the settings then use the link in the post above, it will allow you to use a FOG server without editing the configuration of your DHCP.

My environment is a Novell Environment, unfortunately, and I use a program called DNSDHCP to attach to my server tree and I can edit my DNS, and DHCP information for each building within the tool.

Under the correct building I edited option 66 and option 67 to point to my fog server, 10.8.22.3 and my boot file pxelinux.0. This solved some of the problem but not all of it. Using the link above I set up DNSmasq and used the proxy dhcp service to serve my clients, that way my entire network is not ruined when I remove my fog server.

If you can not access your DHCP server, there is a work around called Proxy DHCP -> [url]http://www.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/Using_FOG_with_an_unmodifiable_DHCP_server/_Using_FOG_with_no_DHCP_server[/url]

It depends on how you serve your DHCP ip addresses. Are you doing that from fog or do you have another sever? Probably a windows server that doles out IP addresses.

You need to edit the configuration on the DHCP server to accept the “Next Server” or “TFTP Boot Server” (Option 66 = your fog server ip address) and Boot File name (Option 67 = pxelinux.0).

Be advised there are known issues with Ubuntu 12.04 and the tftp server.

My recommendation -> [url]http://fogproject.org/forum/threads/ubuntu-installation-for-fog-12-04.9338/[/url]

Did you set up your DHCP client to point to the fog server by editing Option 66 & 67?

What Ubuntu OS are you running? Did you reboot the server?

AWESOME! Glad you got it working

When you say “does not finish” do you mean that the imaging/upload finishes but on reboot the machine tries the task again? or Does the imaging process/uploaded process fail and present an error?

If the task just seems to want to run every time you boot the host, try these post here, it will explain how to delete the file so the machine can boot properly again.

[url]http://fogproject.org/forum/threads/rogue-task.873/#post-4044[/url]

I was tired and typed UID out of what I thought was memory, I meant to type SID, as in machine Security Identifier.

Look, this is the information that sysprep changes, and to say that it isn’t needed is bologna, if it wasn’t needed it wouldn’t be required…

“Windows operating system installations include many unique elements per installation that need to be “generalized” before capturing and deploying a disk image to multiple computers. Some of these elements include:
Computer name[1]
Security Identifier (SID)
Driver Cache
Sysprep seeks to solve these issues by allowing for the generation of new computer names, unique SIDs, and custom driver cache databases during the Sysprep process.”

I’m not here to argue, just recommend that you sysprep. It has been speculation that the SID affects activation. I can’t confirm or deny this, but I can point you at an example.

This summer we rolled out Windows 7, the reason they never upgraded was because they didn’t want to sysprep and get the image to activate. We do not have a Volume license, we have KMS, and very few MAK keys. After I spent some time playing with 7, deploying, and activating it to the MAK, I realized with some help of this forum, that my imaging method was incorrect and figured out the way to sysprep our image. After my sysprep image was pushed to my test machines I was able to activate my images to my KMS sever, or the MAK license we had. All I can state is SOMETHING that sysprep does, WILL affect your activation. Specifically if you have a WSUS server for windows updates and activation.

That being said, you are correct Mark does state that having more than one SID shouldn’t affect anything
“I realize that the news that it’s okay to have duplicate machine SIDs comes as a surprise to many, especially since changing SIDs on imaged systems has been a fundamental principle of image deployment since Windows NT’s inception. This blog post debunks the myth with facts by first describing the machine SID, explaining how Windows uses SIDs, and then showing that - with one exception - Windows never exposes a machine SID outside its computer, proving that it’s okay to have systems with the same machine SID. [B]Note that Sysprep resets other machine-specific state that, if duplicated, can cause problems for certain applications like Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), so MIcrosoft’s support policy will still require cloned systems to be made unique with Sysprep.[/B]”

So I am sorry in stating that SID affects activation, I was incorrect, but as you can see there are other reasons to sysprep that will affect the outcome of your image.

Also note that in an Active Directory environment, having machines with the same SID would be counter-productive.

Might I ask why you do not want to sysprep?

[quote=“Lethal Kebab, post: 20910, member: 1498”]we deploy to 1000 computers every 12 weeks… never syspreped once… is that
bad??[/quote]

See lower post, SID is not preliminary to activation, but Sysprep does affect activation.

Hope this helps.

albero, can you try running a command from a windows machine for me?

run this command and tell me what the output is
[code]tftp x.x.x.x get pxelinux.0[/code]

Dont feel bad, this is the problem that plagued me when I set up fog

Albero,

I use the PXE menu for everything I can, uploading hosts, quick image, etc.

I create the image name save on the WEB gui, so the image NAME can be assigned to my hosts.

I start by PXE booting and performing a full host registration, give it a name, tell it the image store you will be using (What you set up in the web GUI). Then reboot the machine.

Now I go to the web GUI again, and under hosts, click the list all hosts, find the machine I just added. I click on basic tasks and tell it to upload.

You can check the tasks and delete errant tasks so you can try again if you would like.

Please check to make sure your machines display the PXE boot menu when you try to boot up the machine, if not you need to check the BIOS settings to make sure it is accepting Lan Option Rom (or something similar, enable PXE booting). Reboot, if you still don’t see the PXE boot screen, verify that the Option 66 and Option 67 are being supplied to your DNS and pointing to your fog server.

These are just some steps I would try.

Tom is probably closer to home than I, he actually develops and works really hard to keep fog going, but I would verify that the PXE boot screen is displaying, if not I would check the BIOS and tftpboot settings.

my suggestion, always my first one.

What happens if you check compatibility on the FOG PXE menu?

[FONT=Tahoma]To [/FONT]Run a compatibility test.

[FONT=Tahoma]From the fog PXE boot menu, you will see:[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]Boot from hard disk[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]Run memtest86[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]Quick host registration and Inventroy[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]Perform full host registration and Inventory[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]Quick Image[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]Client system information[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]Debug Mode[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]A. Choose Client System Information[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]B. Your computer will load another menu and it will look like this:[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]1.) Reboot[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]2.) IP Information[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]3.) Partition Information[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]4.) Check FOG compatability[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]5.) Ping a Host[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]6.) Display MAC Address[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]7.) Show DMI Information[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]C. Type 4 and press Enter[/FONT]

Are you asking how you would display this information on the Host List on the FOG web GUI?

Your question is very vague, please elaborate.

Thanks for the insight on this, I know it should help a few.

I had deployed Windows 8 before 8.1 went live, but I haven’t tried since; I am happy to see that Fog 0.32 can still handle the way windows does things

Dan, that is correct, when a unicast host requests the image it is sent to the machine and then decompressed at the level.

For multicast, the image is decompressed and sent in “sections” to the hosts. Each machine will wait for the others to catch up with the current “section” before they will move on to the next step. This causes a high load on your server, but it helps when you are imaging a large amount of computers that are the same model.