SMSTS.log, Task Sequence & OSD Error Codes

Anyone who has been working with SCCM for a long time will remember Trace32.exe. This was the utility that came bundled with SCCM 2007 R2 and was used extensively for analyzing various SCCM .log files. One of the most useful features of the tool is that it highlights errors in red and warnings in yellow and makes combing through the logs much easier. In SCCM 2012 this tool has been replace by CMTrace.exe and has many of the same features. When analyzing the results of Task Sequences the log file most analyzed is the SMSTS.log file. This file can potentially contain a great deal of information and I find it useful to configure the SMSTS.log to provide additional logging for analysis. Frank Rojas has an extremely detailed blog post on how to configure this here
I like to set my logs to the following:
 
[Logging]
LOGLEVEL=0
LOGMAXSIZE=5242880
LOGMAXHISTORY=5
DEBUGLOGGING=1
 
The SMSTS.log files can be found in the following locations depending on which stage the Task Sequence is in:
 

• Windows PE before HDD format: x:\windows\temp\smstslog\smsts.log
• Windows PE after HDD format: x:\smstslog\smsts.log and copied to c:\_SMSTaskSequence\Logs\Smstslog\smsts.log
• Full version Windows before SCCM agent installed: c:\_SMSTaskSequence\Logs\Smstslog\smsts.log
• Full version Windows after SCCM agent installed: c:\windows\system32\ccm\logs\Smstslog\smsts.log
• Full version Windows (x64) after SCCM agent installed: c:\windows\sysWOW64\ccm\logs\Smstslog\smsts.log
• After Task Sequence has finished running: c:\windows\system32\ccm\logs\smsts.log
• After Task Sequence has finished running (x64): c:\windows\sysWOW64\ccm\logs\smsts.log

It is important to note that debugging should be enabled on your boot image so that you are able to press F8 in WinPE to access a command prompt for debugging purposes. If there is a failure during the imaging Task Sequence I like to copy the SMSTS.log files to a network share by running the following:
 
net use T: \\servername\share

I then copy the files to that directory and analyze them with the CMTrace tool on my workstation.
 
The following are some of the common error messages that I commonly see when we are deploying workstations and laptops using OSD
 
an error occured while retrieving policy for this computer(0x8004005):
 
- This error often indicated a clock synchronization issue between the client and the Domain Controller used by the primary site server. Setting the date and time from the F8 Debug prompt prior to launching the TS from WinPE will fix this
- This error can also indicate an issue with NIC drivers. Ensure that a compatible NIC driver has been included in your PXE images

an error occurred while retrieving policy for this computer (0x80070057):
MP Location returned and empty site code
CCM::SMSMessaging::GetMPLocation failed; 0x80004005
Failed to query http://primarysiteserverfqdn for MP location
 
- These two errors typically accompany each other when using SCCM Bootable Media. It is most commonly caused by an invalid Self-Signed certificate in use by the bootable media that SCCM no longer considers valid. The solution to this is to simply recreate the Bootable Media from the console

an error occurred while retrieving policy for this computer (0x80070070):
 
- This is usually caused by insufficient disk space available on the volume targeted for imaging by OSD. The solution is to simply upgrade the size of the drive.

Your PC needs to restart
Please hold down the power button
Error Code 0x0000005D
Parameters
0x030F0401
0x756E6547
0x49656E69
0x6C65746E

- This occurs when trying to PXE boot a computer with a processor that does not support the SSE2, PAE, and NX bit features.
- Processors older than Pentium 4 processors are typically affected the most.

Error Code 0x80070490:

- This error typically indicated a faulty or missing hard drive. It is best to comfirm your hard drive is found in the BIOS.
- Troubleshoot the hard drive with diagnostic utility or replace it.

Error Code 0x80070002:

- This error usually indicates that a NIC driver has not been recognized by the Task Sequence
- Check to ensure that your NIC drivers have been loaded into the WinPE image

These are some of the more common OSD errors. It is important to analyze the logs for clues to any task sequence errors.