Troubleshooting

You can often troubleshoot issues with the IBM Deployment Pack. Troubleshooting involves making sure that you performed certain tasks. The symptoms of a problem that you might have often provide a clear clue to an unintended setup omission or a faulty setting.

Read the documentation.
The majority of issues related to the use of this product are covered in the documentation.

Ensure that you have checked this documentation first before calling support.
Some related Microsoft® TechNet sections of the Configuration Manager documentation that you should be familiar with include:
- Technet: Troubleshooting Operating System Deployment
- Technet: Troubleshooting Operating System Image Deployment Using USB Devices
Check your action settings.
The primary cause of task sequence failures is related to the settings you provide in the task sequence steps.
Be sure to check the task sequence steps for:
- Valid environment or task sequence variable references
- Valid file references : You should use DOS 8.3 naming whenever possible. Never use file names with embedded spaces
- Valid directory references – When capturing files from a target computer, ensure that the destination directory already exists. The process does not automatically create directory structures.
Check the log files and possibly, use debug logging.
The custom actions in this deployment kit provide for capturing the SMSTS.LOG file from WinPE and bringing it back to the Configuration Manager server.

You can also perform extended logging with the custom action to assist with troubleshooting issues. You can enable this logging on the Logs / Return Files tab in the sequence action.
Gather the appropriate information.
When you call support, you must have a set of information ready to provide to them so that they can efficiently work your issue. Use the following information as a guide to what to collect.
1. Export the task sequence you were using, by right-clicking the task sequence and selecting Export.
2. If the issue is visible in the interface, collect screen captures of the relevant portions.
3. If the issue is related to installation of the product or follows closely after installation:
  1. Gather a copy of the MSI installation log, located in the temporary files directory, which is identified in the %TEMP% environment variable. This file is usually located in a “1” directory and has a random name that is formatted as MSIrandom_characters.LOG.
  2. Gather a copy of the _Installer.Log file and the _InstalledComponents.Xml file, which are located in the following directory:
```
{AdminUI Install Directory}
 \XmlStorage\Extensions\bin\Deployment
 \IBM\IBM Deployment Pack\setup
```
4. If the issue occurred while running a task sequence:
  1. Gather a copy of the SMSTS.LOG file from WinPE.
    The log might be in the X:\Windows\Temp\Smstslog directory for a PXE boot. The log might also be in the \Smstslog directory on the local drive. The format of the log name might be SMSTSLOGtime_based_name>.LOG.
  2. A copy of the custom action logs saved using the ”Retrieve the task sequence log file from the client when this action runs” checkbox on the custom action Logs / Return Files tab. You should also check the box for Enable extended/debug logging by this action.
  3. A copy of the files used as input to the configuration task, such as configuration INI or XML files.
5. A complete, detailed explanation of the issue, including:
  1. The exact point of failure, such as for example, the action running when the process failed, a description or screen captures of error messages, error codes, and other relevant facts.
  2. A detailed description of the computers being configured, such as model, hardware configuration, RAID controllers, and other characteristics.
  3. A description of other circumstances, such as:
    - Has this task sequence / action ever worked? When did it stop working?
    - If it had worked before, what is different now? Is the task sequence being applied to different computer types, is it using different configuration files, different task sequence variables, or has something else been modified?
When all else fails, contact support, as described in Getting help and technical assistance.