Task Sequence fails for higher models with 16GB RAM using 32-bit Boot Image
Task Sequence fails for higher models with 16GB RAM using 32-bit Boot Image
Issue
It has been observed that task sequence fails right after applying the operating system for models like Lenovo P700, C30 which has at least 16GB of RAM. The error we used to get is:
"windows could not configure one or more system components. To install windows, restart the computer and then restart the installation"
The computer restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error. Windows installation cannot proceed. To install Windows, click "OK" to restart the computer, and then restart the installation.
And it shows a Bluescreen death screen with error code: "0x00000f4"
If we further look into the dism.log which shows step by step instructions while applying WIM file, we can see that it cannot read the Software Hive from the registry
Reason
The main reason for this failure is WinPE tries to compact the offline registry and fails to commit the registry hives back to disk. The issue comes in these two cases:
1. This issue only comes with high-end models which have 16GB of RAM. Secondly, the 32-bit boot image is been used to deploy 64-bit Windows 7 image.
2. The issue comes with WinPE 5.0 or 5.1 boot image which is newly introduced with SCCM 2012 infrastructure. The issue wasn’t been coming with the previous version of boot images to WinPE 4.0.
Solution
To resolve the issue, changes have to be made into existing boot image (ie 32-bit WinPE boot image). We have to create registry value by mounting the boot image. Following values are required to be created:
HKLM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Configuration Manager
DWord : RegistryReorganizationLimitDays = 3650
DWord : RegistryReorganizationLimit = 20000000
How to Mount Registry
You need to open a command prompt with Elevated rights. Following commands needs to be executed:
imagex /mountrw c:\sources\boot.wim 1 c:\mount
reg load HKLM\test c:\mount\windows\system32\config\System
(HKLM\test will point to HKLM\Software of wim)
reg unload HKLM\test
imagex /unmount /commit c:\mount