*(5/5/2011) Stumbled across some code I was playing with awhile ago to make this error easier to get by. I haven’t had time to reproduce this error to see if the following code fixes it, but if you’d like, you can try this code experimentation. Essentially I wanted to make this problem easier to deal with by allowing for a script to automatically clear the directories. I was later going to expand on re-running the script without a reboot after that too but never got that far. I’m not even sure if the current code works. But I figure if anyone wants to try… Here it is:

Open up LiteTouch.wsf in the Scripts directory. Search for

ElseIf oEnvironment.Item("LTISuspend") <> "" Then

Add the following code (please use ONLY for testing as it is completely untested)

'MM
Dim resp

	resp = oShell.Popup("Task suspended." & VbNewLine & oEnvironment.Item("LTISuspend") & VbNewLine & VbNewLine & "MM: This problem occurs if LiteTouch detects an incomplete or corrupt state within MININT/_SMSTaskSequence folders. Click YES to delete any MININT/_SMSTaskSequence folders to resolve this on next reboot.", 0, "Suspended", 4)

	If resp = 6 Then
		'a to i
		For count = 97 to 105
			RunAndLog "rd " & Chr(count) & ":\_SMSTaskSequence /s /q", false
								RunAndLog "rd " & Chr(count) & ":\MININT /s /q", false
		Next
	End If
'MM

Recompile the boot CDs and try it out the next time you have a regular CD encountering this error.

 

*(1/19/2010) Please note, after further investigation the problem actually lies much deeper and would appear to take a large amount of analyzing to figure out a cure to this. For now, the best way is to hit F8 when the error occurs, and run the following:

rd C:\_SMSTaskSequence /s /q
rd C:\MININT /s /q

Other drive letters may have to be substituted for the above commands. If I find anything new out, I will post it here*

The task sequence has been suspended.
LiteTouch has encountered and Environment Error (Boot into WinPE!)

Look familiar? I’m surprised of the few search results on such an error. The problem occurs because MDT will often not clean up MININT and _SMSTaskSequence on C drive. Don’t believe me? Hit F8 after loading your windows 7 PE disk to bring up a command prompt and navigate to C. If that turns out to NOT be the case you should adjust the BIOS  order to have harddrive loaded first. If it persists, another solution is to run diskpart and clean the drive from the console.

A solution to prevent this, rather than a workaround? Modify your task sequence to include a couple commands to clear those directories. Right click your task sequence, go to properties then the Task Sequence Tab. Click add and create two ‘Run Command Line’ tasks. Place them in an appropriate area.

Have one with:
If Exist C:\_SMSTaskSequence\nul rd C:\_SMSTaskSequence /s /q

The other with:
If Exist C:\MININT\nul rd C:\MININT /s /q

‘\nul’ is not required however it wont hurt. If you end up using these in a batch file though, then you will want those. When batch files check for the existence or not of a directory, using ‘if exist’ or ‘if not exist’, if the directory is being checked for on a Windows system then the batch file needs to use ‘\NUL’

7 Comments

  • Hi, I came across your fix for the hard-dirve Deployment Error and wanted to know where exactly is the best place to place the two run commands in the task sequence. Sorry for the dumb question but I'm new the Deployment process.
    Thanks, Phill

  • Hi Phil,

    You should be able to place them within the first few states of the the task sequence such as Initialization. However later I noticed a flaw in this: if you are refreshing computers you will be deleting the saved state info and it will fail to restore any saved data. Oddly enough I have not seen this error happen often at all or how to easily recreate, so I couldn’t experiment. It might even be better just to leave it out and perhaps just add a script that is easy to call to do these two commands from the PE prompt and then restart the PE process (if possible). Also these can be implemented into the unattended xml for the PE disk.

    I’ll be sure to post up any more findings of a better spot or any additional logic that can supplement this when this error occurs.

  • You should not be removing the c:\minint\ and/or c:\_SMSTaskSequence folders *Within* a MDT Task Sequence. the MDT Task Sequencer needs these folders to run. Cleaning up *before* or *after* running MDT is fine.

  • Hi Keith,

    Not even if its at the initialization or ending stage of MDT? I understand the files are used during run, but I don’t think it creates/uses them before the very first/last task begins. I also had these commands as task sequences’ for some time with no ill effects. I have disabled them though after I realized the errors is simply not too common for me. I’ll have to confirm when I have more time.

  • I’ve run into this issue too – a task sequence does not complete leaves us with a machine which we cannot redeploy to until formatting\cleaning the drive. Is there anything else that can be impletmented to stop us having to manually clean machines when we wish to retry\redeploy?

  • I know this is kind of an old post but I havnet found this solution on any search I do so here goes. This is what works for me when I am running MDT and it gets interupted before arriving at the desktop.

    Boot to WinPE
    Type: regedit
    left click on HKEY_Local_Machine
    Click “file” > “Load Hive”
    Browse to C:\Windows\System32\Config ***NOTE the C: drive may not always be the system disk. Look for any disk containing a Windows folder that isn’t the X: drive***
    Select “system” file and the click OPEN – Name the file TEMP – Expand the TEMP key from the tree on the left
    Left Click on the SETUP key under TEMP – Configure all numbers in () to 0, should be 5 of them – Select TEMP on the left – FILE – Unload Hive – Reboot….Task sequence should continue now

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