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RhoSysAdminFlag for United States of America

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How do I restart a SCCM task sequence into WinPE and pick up where I left off?

Deploying Windows 10 with SCCM current branch 1607.  I need to do a restart early in my task sequence, but a restart back into WinPE - which is easy. The trick is that I want to pick up where I left off in the task sequence - otherwise I'm stuck in an endless loop.

I know if I chose to "reboot into the installed OS" option for this step, the TS would pick up where it left off. The problem is I haven't installed the OS at this point. I'm clearing the TPM chip before installing Windows 10.

Does anyone know the (hidden) trick to get me out of this endless loop?
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Mike Taylor
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Hi,

The standard task-sequence is OK, but you ought to have MDT integrated which adds more steps and more logic including a BitLocker ready phase/steps.

There is a step called "Restart to Windows PE" that is set "Specify what to run after restart: The boot image assigned to this task sequence".
That's the setting you want.

Mike
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We have MDT 2013 (update 2). I was using the "Restart Computer" task and setting it to use "the boot image assigned to this task sequence".

I was getting a 8007000F error b/c SCCM couldn't download the WinPE image to the local disk. It turns out I was using the wrong partition formatting at the start of my task sequence. Once I switched to something (more UEFI friendly) I saw in a sample TS (could have been one of yours MIke), everything started working.

And yes, the TS picks up where it left off. I could have sworn I was in a loop a couple of weeks ago, but that is no longer the case.

Thanks!
So I want to retract my "everything is working" statement. I've found that when I start with a Legacy BIOS Dell, I format it MBR so I have a partition for the CCTK package that run in so it can do all the BIOS-UEFI changes. My restart task kicks off without error, but it does NOT pick up where the TS left off.

I assume I have another issue where I'm not formatting the disk properly when it's Legacy.

When I start with a UEFI enabled BIOS, everything works flawlessly.

Any tips on how to deal with my older Legacy BIOS computers?  I could just do the extra reboot. When it comes up UEFI after the first reboot, it does everything correctly. However, I'd like to avoid the extra reboot.
Solution appears to be to reformat the disk to a UEFI supported layout before the "Restart - WinPE" task when dealing with a computer that you've just converted from Legacy BIOS to UEFI. It took a couple of tries to find the correct layout, but it appears to be working now.
Hi - that's great news. Good to know. I am currently still waiting for a customer to decide on going to W10 or not so have this to possibly look forward to :).
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RhoSysAdmin
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