Hints and tips

The hints and tips provided in this section are designed to help you address common issues you might experience when installing and using the Operating System Deployment feature.

Create the installation or uninstallation log file

When the Lenovo XClarity Integrator Deployment Pack is either installed or uninstalled, the log file with a random name is created in the %Temp% folder. To specify the log file name, use the following methods.

• To create the installation log file, run the .exe file from the command line with this parameter: /v"/l install.log"
• To create the uninstallation log file, run the .exe file from command line with this parameter: /v"/l uninstall.log"

Set the log level in the register

OSD supports five log levels: debug, info, warning, error, and fatal. The default log level is info.

To change the level, set the LogLevel value as another one of the five types under this register path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Lenovo\Systems Management Integrations\Log.

Test WinPE-based sequence actions

When using PXE, always configure advertisements with the settings shown in the following table.

Table 1. PXE-required settings for advertisements

General page	Make this task sequence available to boot media and PXE. Otherwise, the network client cannot receive the intended task from the Configuration Manager server.
General page	Browse to select the collection of the target server.
Schedule page	Mandatory assignments. As soon as possible
Schedule page	Program rerun behavior: Never rerun advertised program (default).
Distribution Points page	Access content directly from a distribution point when needed by the running task sequence. In WinPE, the default option, Download content locally when needed by running task sequence, does not work. WinPE causes the task sequence server to ignore all actions that have packages set for this option.
Interaction page	Show task sequence progress

Always configure WinPE boot images with the following setting:

Table 2. WinPE boot image-required settings

Windows PE

Enable command support (testing only).

• PXE issues
  To troubleshoot a "File not found PXE error," re-create the PXE service point. You can also use the Reboot to PXE/USB custom action to circumvent a problem that might occur after rebooting a target system multiple times.
• Tips when rebooting to PXE or USB
  When deploying a new unconfigured server, there are no configured disks from which to boot. Therefore, the system must boot from other media, such as a CD or DVD drive, from a USB port, or from the network using the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE). At times, the installation might reboot the server being deployed during the task sequence to complete initialization of a configuration, such as defining array disks.
• Tips to resolve problems when starting the Lenovo XClarity Integrator Deployment Pack
  Lenovo provides a state variable during the task sequence to control which steps are run in the sequence. The installation uses Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) remote calls to reset the PXE advertisement for the computer so that when it restarts, it reruns the task sequence appropriately.
• Manual workaround method
  You can manually work around the PXE reboot issue by creating the task sequence steps and groups and using the procedure that the Lenovo XClarity Integrator Deployment Pack uses to solve the problem.
• The Reboot to PXE/USB custom action
  Insert the PXE/USB custom action to control multiple reboots when booting to PXE or USB.
• Preventing a server from looping during multiple reboot processing
  During multiple reboot processing, the target server might loop and be unable to run the task sequence correctly. The problem is due to an improper setting for the state variable that controls the installation. The improper setting can occur when an error occurs that does not stop the installation.