PENDING Windows 11 ADK WinPE crashes when it boots

[WillGravatt]

Running SCCM 2107, installed Windows 11 ADK and PE Extension pack on the server, set up a boot image and deployed it to a Hyper-V machine but it crashes as soon as the desktop and first progress bar appears. If I ping the F8 CMD box fast enough I can get it to pop up which keeps the OS running but its like nothing has loaded, and theres no immediate log files I can examine to determine the cause the issue.
I have found a couple of instances of this issue but no real resolutions, can anyone help?

 

[Prajwal Desai]

Redistribute the boot images to DP again and check if the boot images require drivers.

 

[WillGravatt]

@Prajwal
I have re-distributed the boot image many times, with/without a WinPE driver pack from Dell, with/without the optional component packages available within SCCM to select. I have only really been trying this in a hyper-V environment as I work remotely but this should be much less reliant on drivers or have compatibility issues. This was tested against hardware some months ago, but when it displayed the same symptoms I reverted to the 2004 image, I have only now found the time to properly investigate.

do you have any other suggestions or information on any potential compatibility issues? The Hyper-V for instance is from a 2012R2 server, would this pose a problem?

 

[MrYanL]

I found when changing my 2004 ADK for current win11 (went from 10.1.19041 to 10.1.22000), I had to restart the server after any ADK change for it to "fully" take effect. For example, when you look at properties of your boot wim, if the drivers tab is missing after updating ADK, restart and it should then be available. The 11 ADK has been a headache for me so far. I ended up going back to ADK for 1809 since it seems to be most stable with server 2019 and I couldn't get 2004 to work again properly after having changed it.

When you F8, do you have a valid IP?

 

[WillGravatt]

No I dont get a valid IP as not enough of the WinPE OS loads to load network drivers but ill have to load it up again to confirm.

Server has been restarted multiple times, the ADK is fully recognised by SCCM, shows as 10.2200, all the tabs are present for the boot image, i can add drivers/optional components etc. Either the loaded extras that SCCM adds to the image just arent compatible with the win 11 PE environment (official docs suggest they should be) or theres just something fundamental I am missing in the prep for it all. I am back on 2004 at the moment but I hate having to move backward...

 

[MrYanL]

Whenever I can't get a valid IP, most of the time, it is driver related and have to find the correct one to add to the boot wim. You may be past this already though.

 

[wally]

No I dont get a valid IP as not enough of the WinPE OS loads to load network drivers but ill have to load it up again to confirm.

Server has been restarted multiple times, the ADK is fully recognised by SCCM, shows as 10.2200, all the tabs are present for the boot image, i can add drivers/optional components etc. Either the loaded extras that SCCM adds to the image just arent compatible with the win 11 PE environment (official docs suggest they should be) or theres just something fundamental I am missing in the prep for it all. I am back on 2004 at the moment but I hate having to move backward...

Will - I know this was from a few months ago and you may have fixed it but I just came across this same issue. Nothing I tried worked, and even looking at the smsts logs was totally inconclusive. I had a ton of networking drivers, plus a storage one, added to the boot image, so I figured I'd start from scratch by just deleting all of them from the boot image to see what would happen. Lo and behold, the new boot image with no drivers added to it worked just fine. Looks like I now need to go back and figure out whether the previous devices I needed those for still need a driver added or what. Hope this helps point you in the right direction.

 

[WillGravatt]

Will - I know this was from a few months ago and you may have fixed it but I just came across this same issue. Nothing I tried worked, and even looking at the smsts logs was totally inconclusive. I had a ton of networking drivers, plus a storage one, added to the boot image, so I figured I'd start from scratch by just deleting all of them from the boot image to see what would happen. Lo and behold, the new boot image with no drivers added to it worked just fine. Looks like I now need to go back and figure out whether the previous devices I needed those for still need a driver added or what. Hope this helps point you in the right direction.

Hi Wally, thanks for checking in

I did an upgrade of SCCM to latest, retried the ADK for windows 11 and again same issue. Tried with no drivers and no optional components, still no joy. Soon as the WINPE image loads, loading screen flashes up and then it reboots. Examined logs, file contents etc, no definitive issue. What issues I found in the logs seem to be dead ends.

I have to upgrade the server host OS to server 2019, plan is to try again with the ADK 11 after it is complete, see if it makes a difference. Currently stuck using 2004 which works fine for what I need...

Any insights would be appreciated