The first adventure was successfully capturing a build with the Image Capture CD. I created the CD per the instructions in the included guide. Windows PE got all the way to attempting to connect to the Image Share, then crapped out with an error code 8000704fc.
My initial attempt did not include any additional network drivers, and as a result, Windows PE was unable to connect to the share I setup for capturing images to. After a few botched attempts at including the drivers, I realized that all the .inf and other related driver files had to be in the same folder – Windows PE does not search through subfolder structures. After lumping all the drivers together, I was able to capture an image (4.6 Gigs) and move on to the next step: deployment.

I created the OS Package and Program, then created an Image Installation CD, with the same driver setup. I popped it into a bare metal system and booted to the CD. This time, it began restoring the image, then failed at the State Restore phase with “exit code 3″ – it turns out that there is a hotfix that addresses this issue. I called Microsoft PSS, got the hotfix and applied it. I re-created the Image Capture CD, grabbed the image, and the created the package, program and installation CD. I started the Image Installation process just before leaving this afternoon. We’ll see tomorrow if it was successful.

• Very high CPU utilization
• Vitrually unresponsive systems
• Violent end-users
• Vicious finger pointing (not really, but it was a good V-word!)

While doing research, we’ve noted that the 2 things common on systems with these symptoms was that SVCHOST.EXE (Automatic Updates in this case) or CCMEXEC.EXE were the main CPU hogs. Killing CCMEXEC, running ccmclean.exe, or sometimes killing the Automatic Updates service would bring the system back from the brink.

Googling for “ccmexec cpu” and similar phrases came up with a few places to start looking:

SMS Admin newsgroup
MyITForum Discussion

Hopefully we’ll get this nailed down and have:

• Responsive systems
• Readiness for update deployments (we’re temporarily suspending them until we get this worked out)
• Really happy customers
• Raises (maybe not).

How to Troubleshoot Windows 2000 Hardware Abstraction Layer Issues

How to force a Hardware Abstraction Layer during an upgrade or an installation of Windows XP

HAL options after Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 Setup

More information to follow once we begin to more fully understand the copncept of Hardware Abstraction Layers.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been trying to get a deeper understanding of SMS 2003. Unfortunately, the more I learn about SMS, the more I realize that it’s going to continue to broaden it’s scope of management. From the enhanced post-SP1 patch and update management features to the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack and beyond. Luckily, MyITForum.com has got more information than I could possibly ever read, tons of tools, downloads and an active forum of knowledgable experts. Expect to see plenty of links to these folks as I discover more of their content.