Problems with ImageAssist on machines using m.2 SSD drives (NOT NVMe)

Question

Hello guys, first i have to admit, that i face ImageAssist the very first time, so maybe i´m asking a dumb or boring question. i tried the Search inside this Forum but didn´t get any results.. Ok, so here´s what i wanna do... our new Hardware Generation (E5570, E7270, Precision 7710, OptiPlex7040 so far) has to be distributed to our subsidiaries all over the world. Sometime they have to set up a client, so i want to create a BASE+APPS Sysprep Image, which i can send to those guys. So here´s what i did (Problem follows when restoring my Image) e.g. lets take the E5570, 8GB RAM, 256 SED m.2SSD. I installed Win7x64 Enterprise with an ISO from Microsoft inside a VM using VMWare Workstation 11. Config of my VM: 4GB RAM, 60 GB HD, Network in Bridged Mode, switched off Sound and VM Printer and here comes my first question: Inside VM:BIOS or EFI- Mode and Harddisk ACHI or Raid in SATA or SCSI Mode ?? OK, i´m prepared and tried all of them... so after installing win7 and .net 4.5.2 (VMWare Tools too, for using Drag&Drop) and 2 Reg Settings regarding our Environment (MaxTokenSize=65535 and EnableLUA=0) i created my BASE Image/Snapshot.  after adding some Software Packages i created my BASE+APPS (Still with VMWare Tools). Next step, uninstallation of VMWare Tools...  reboot, after this shutdown. now booting into DELL PE and i created our MaintenanceImage to a Network Drive. So far everything works fine, so i used the unattend-creator tool and set our values (Name&Company, Language selectable, workgroup, Computername must be filled by the regional IT guys, and i checked to copy the profile to Default User Profile... that´s it Validation Tool went through without moaning, Capturing also... i splitted the Image (about 10GB) to some 2GB Slices and copied them back onto our USB-Stick for testing purposes... Stick plugged into E5570 USBPort, restored, added Drivers from DELL CAB Files, and after finishing restore, the E5570 booted Win7x64 for the first time...  everything worked fine, Installing of devices etcpp... reaching about 90% of first boot i got the message: 'Windows could not configure one or more system components. Ti install Windows, reboot and re-install Windows. Hope someone could slam that hint to my face :D  i also tried a BIOS/MBR Installation with the Precision 7710 using a STandard 2,5' SSD... i didn´t get any error or problem with that one... restroing & syspreping went fine Awaiting a lot of useful hints to solve this Problem :)))) Best regards & greetings from Germany CHRIS

daywalker386 · Accepted Answer

Hello Tyler, Problem solved, everything runs like a charm... Thx for your help... Got the wrong information from german support. I tried some things over the weekend, and now it works. regards...

DELL-Tyler M · Answer

Hi Chris - In your reference build, (before you captured the image) did you happen to install the Microsoft hotfixes mentioned in the article below?  This may be your problem. http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN300689/en We have included an article in the DIA forums on this here.  We have also made mention of it on the Family Driver packs page in the header of the Windows 7 category; calling out 'Note: For Windows 7 M2 / NVMe native support refer to this KB article.' Hoping this helps. Warm wishes from Texas Tyler

daywalker386 · Answer

Hello Tyler,

this patch is for m2 drives which are using NVMe Technology, isn´t it ?

I prepared a USB Stick with an original Win7x64 Enterprise and i just added USB3 drivers, because E7270 is a USB3 only device. Didn´t add something else, Installation ran perfectly with the m2 SATA drive.

i checked it vice versa and i put the m2 NVMe drive into the notebook, used the same Stick to install and after choosiung language & keyboard layout, i was asked to put a driver, right before doin´the Partiontion cleanup in the win7 setup. so that driver from this patch is not nneeded for the m2 SATA drives, or is this wrong ?

tried a little more today and the setupact.log inside c:\windows\panther showed me that the driver installation went through to 100% but made a rollback due to error code 1223.... this aseems to be exactly the point where restore stops and gave that error message "Windows could not configure....."

i´ll do another try tomorrow without the E7270 driver package..

regards & have a nice Weekend...

rpanait · Answer

Hi,

I am using the Dell IA 6.4.0.1 because it's the only version allowing to create the PXE boot for the WDS, and I am having the same issue. the m.2 SSD is not being recognized. I have to go to BIOS and change the Storage configuration from RAID to AHCI/NVME.

Is there a sollution for this one? Until we switch to Windows Autopilot, WDS is still my way to go.

I have no issue using the latest Dell IAX, but here I am using the WDS.

Note: the links from the sollution above are not longer valid.

Image Assist

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