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Network Timeout bug in Windows PE 2.1 causes MDT 2008 Lite Touch to fail

By arwidmark / April 14, 2008

Network Timeout bug in Windows PE 2.1 causes MDT 2008 Lite Touch to fail.

Symptoms:
You get the following error message in MDT 2008 Lite Touch Deployment even though you have the correct nic drivers in Windows PE and the correct bootstrap.ini settings. “A connection to the deployment share \\Server\Distribution$ could not be made. The Deployment will not proceed”

Cause:
A network initializion timeout issue in wpeinit.exe in Windows PE 2.1 causes MDT 2008 Lite Touch Deployments to fail.

Workaround:
Give WIndows PE 2.1 a few more seconds by editing startnet.cmd on your LiteTouch_x86.wim (or iso) to look like below

startnet.cmd

wpeutil InitializeNetwork
ping localhost
wpeinit

If you want the Deployment Workbench to include the updated startnet.cmd every time you update the Deployment Point just follow the below steps

Configure MDT to use the updated startnet.cmd

  1. Create a folder named D:\ExtraFiles\Windows\System32 and copy the updated startnet.cmd to it.
  2. In the Deployment Workbench, right-click the Deployment Point and select Properties.
  3. In the Windows PE Tab, in the Extra directory to add textbox, type in D:\ExtraFiles
  4. Click OK
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arwidmark

arwidmark - April 28, 2008

Hi Josh, just added instructions on how to do that…

camelspiders - March 11, 2009

Hi Johan. Hate to dig up an old issue but this is closely related. I receive this exact message AFTER the operating system has been deployed. A reboot is performed, the automatic login occurs, and then right before it installs applications is when this happens. NIC drivers are loaded. I can map to my distribution share. I can browse the share and list it’s contents. I’m stuck!

redhdkat - June 3, 2009

I don’t see where to find the startnet.cmd in the MDt2008.

kittu - March 22, 2011

“A connection to the deployment share \ServerDistribution$ could not be made. The Deployment will not proceed”.it say’s the error : the following Intel 82577LM Gigabit LAN Driver driver is not installed. i have actually imported that driver into the workbench and updated. i am facing this problem with hp elitebook 8440p

arwidmark - March 28, 2011

You need to try another driver… If the one from HP doesn’t work, get the Windows 7 driver from Intel

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