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ConfigMgr TS Editor reporting the “Too many steps in the task sequence object” error

September 12, 2011 / posted in Operating System Deployment, Planet CDOT / No Comments

Earlier today I was playing around with ConfigMgr 2007 and editing a fairly large task sequence (a couple of hundred steps). When I attempted to save, I got the following error:

SCCM Task Sequence Editor - Too many steps in task sequence object error

TS Save Error

I googled around and saw suggestions to adjust the WMI provider’s memory allocation, restart the WMI service and even re-integrate MDT with SCCM.

I restarted the WMI services but the error did not go away. SMSAdminUI.log recorded the following messages:

...
instance of SMS_ExtendedStatus
{
	Description = "Invalid sequence input parameters - task sequence not found.";
	ErrorCode = 1078462229;
	File = "c:\\qfe\\nts_sms_fre\\sms\\siteserver\\sdk_provider\\smsprov\\ssptspackage.cpp";
	Line = 2711;
	Operation = "ExecMethod";
	ParameterInfo = "SMS_TaskSequencePackage";
	ProviderName = "WinMgmt";
	StatusCode = 2147749889;
};
...

“task sequence not found”??

I duplicated the task sequence from the console and was able to make changes, add steps and save the newly created TS. Exporting the troublesome TS also revealed that the task sequence was under the 4MB limit (only about 200kb).

After editing the duplicate task, I shutdown all instances of MMC, restarted WMI/SMS Agent Host services and was able to edit the task sequence once more.

BUG: Task Sequence editor fails to find the MDT Toolkit package if parent group is disabled

April 19, 2011 / posted in Infrastructure, Operating System Deployment / No Comments

I’ve recently encountered an issue with an MDT integrated System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 R3 installation. In a non-MDT task sequence, if you disable the parent group of the Use Toolkit Package step, the SCCM task sequence editor reports an error in locating the package:

SCCM Task Sequence MDT Package Not Found Error (BUG)

SCCM Task Sequence MDT Package Not Found Error (BUG)

You can re-select the package from your list and the (X) goes away until you click Apply or re-open the TS editor.

Workaround: If you disable the ‘Use Toolkit Package’ step itself, the package is found and there is no error reported by the editor:

SCCM Task Sequence MDT Package Not Found Error (Workaround)

SCCM Task Sequence MDT Package Not Found Error (Workaround)

This is not exactly a blocker and there is a quick and dirty workaround but may prove tedious on more complex task sequences.

I’ve experienced this issue on two separate System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 R3 installations, both MDT 2010 Update1 integrated:

  • Windows Server 2008 x86
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 x64

Hope this helps…

SSD TRIM in Windows 7

September 22, 2010 / posted in Infrastructure, Operating System Deployment / No Comments

If you’ve recently purchased an SSD you should probably be aware of performance issues that arise over time when it comes to writing data. TRIM technology was designed to make sure your drives write performance is consistent throughout the life of the drive. What is TRIM?

Windows 7 supports TRIM natively and you probably wont need to mess around with it. However if you want to check if TRIM is turned on or off use the following command:

C:>fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify
DisableDeleteNotify = 0

0 – TRIM is enabled
1 – TRIM is disabled

Windows 7, for example, will query the drive’s RPM and if it responds with 0, it assumes the drive is an SSD. It then turns on TRIM and disables disk defrags as they are no longer needed.

If your system reports TRIM as disabled you can enable it by setting the property to 0:

C:>fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0
DisableDeleteNotify = 0

… or if you want to showcase TRIM vs. No-TRIM:

C:>fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify 1
DisableDeleteNotify = 1

If you’re in the market for an SSD, remember you get what you pay for, so if that drive is relatively cheap make sure it supports TRIM. Also keep in mind that not all operating systems support TRIM, some may need patches and some may not support it at all for the time being.

Performance improvement is significant when deploying or capturing on an SSD, I highly recommend this upgrade to your lab environment.

SMS Trace64 and Trace32 for WinPE

September 10, 2010 / posted in Infrastructure, Operating System Deployment / No Comments

SMS Trace is a great tool for troubleshooting deployment issues from within WinPE, no doubt about that. It makes errors and warnings clearly visible in thousands of lines of markup logs.

Trace64 has been removed from the MDT Healthcare package, because “it is a System Center tool” and they don’t have permission to release it (See Dan’s blog).

Adding Trace32 and Trace64 to your winpe.wim is easy:

imagex /mountrw c:\winpe_x86.wim 1 c:\mount
copy /y c:\sms_trace\trace32.exe c:\mount\windows\
imagex /unmount /commit c:\mount

imagex /mountrw c:\winpe_x64.wim 1 c:\mount
copy /y c:\sms_trace\trace64.exe c:\mount\windows\
imagex /unmount /commit c:\mount

You should also create a package that copies these files to the %SystemRoot%. If your task sequence fails outside of WinPE you won’t have access to SMS Trace.

Remember to update your Distribution Points before creating the ISOs.

Download SMS Trace32 and Trace64