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A Tale of Build Numbers and Deployment

March 5th, 2010 Posted in MDT, Microsoft, WDS, Windows 7, Work

I’d just like you to know that I’ve been pulling my hair out all week.  I’m practically bald now.  We’ve been using MDT 2010 for quite some time and I’ve been super happy with it.  Until this week.

So, I’ve been creating custom images this week and capturing them to my MDT machine.  I got around to the x86 image, customized it, updated it, captured it, imported it, then tested and failed.  I couldn’t figure out why – hence the hair pulling.  And then I found it.  Like a glowing pot of gold hidden under a rock in the deepest part of the forest, I found the problem:

image

The DVD I got the source files from in the top image was build number 6.1.7600.16385.  Some update that I was running on the image I was customizing was updating this build to 6.1.7600.16481.  So, when I would go back to try to test the customized image, I’d get an error at the start of the task sequence that goes something like this:

Operating System deployment did not complete successfully.

Error: Unable to find SETUP , needed to install the image
\\MDT_Server\DeploymentShare$\Operating Systems\W7x86_CAP_3-4-10\W7x86_CAP_3-4-10.WIM

I tried the Google route, and found a bunch of unrelated stuff.  Turns out, if the build number is the same on a custom image as on an image with the full source files, MDT will not require setup sources for the custom image.  It will take it from the existing sources in another OS.  So, when it was looking for the setup sources for my 16481 build, it couldn’t find it.

There you have it.  Be careful running updates on custom images.  Make sure you have the sources with the same build number or it won’t work.

  1. 4 Responses to “A Tale of Build Numbers and Deployment”

  2. By Hugh on Mar 24, 2010

    Thanks!! You just saved me a bunch of time! I was smacking my head on the desk going WTF!? :)

  3. By Dan on Apr 14, 2010

    Just an FYI, people who use fat images, and pre-install windows updates to the wim will be unable to deploy an image that has been captured after installing MS10-015 – KB977165. This update modifies the kernel version number, and ZTI will fail saying it can not find setup files for deployment.

    More information on MS10-015 – KB977165:

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977165/

    I would say its best to install this update after deployment if this is the route you go.

    -Dan

  4. By Mark on Jun 1, 2010

    I just came across the same problem with the build numbers not matching and getting the error “unable to find setup”. Is there a way to include the updated source files in MDT so I don’t have to worry about excluding MS10-015 before capturing?
    Thanks, Mark

  5. By Patrick on Jun 1, 2010

    Not that I know of. I think we’re going to have to wait for a service pack so Microsoft will update the DVD and the source wims.

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