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Task Sequence cannot be run because the program files for cannot be located on distribution point for all packages even newly created ones

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Thursday, January 24, 2019 8:02 PM

Hello,

I have had task sequences that have been running fine for close to a year now and a new one I was building and the other day I show up to find them failing due to error

"Task Sequence cannot be run because the program files for <package ID> cannot be located on distribution point"

So I tried just replacing the package with a new one and that worked but the TS then failed with a new package ID. As I started to go through and replace them I soon realized I was going to be replacing all of them.

So I decided instead to make a new TS and see if that worked. It did not.

So I went through the process of replacing them all yesterday and things seemed fine.

Only today I come in and all the new packages are now broken and the TS is giving me the same errors wanting me to replace them all again.

Please help! Tried submitting a ticket and the MS rep said they cannot help me as they do not support customized TS.

Thomas Faherty

All replies (24)

Sunday, January 27, 2019 7:00 PM ✅Answered | 1 vote

Hi Thomas,

You shouldn't be worried about accessing SMSPKG via browser.

While you wait for MS, you might want to check the below:

  • Is content validation enabled for the Distribution Point? Consider disabling validation.
  • With validation disabled, you might want to try redistributing the packages. It might help to remove the package from the DP, verify removal via smsdpprov.log, distribute the content once more.
  • And the very last option is to prestage content, which is time consuming and a bit tricky.

You mentioned you created some new packages, resulting in other packages throwing errors, this seems very similar to a problem my team came across. Are you able to perform any NEW package installation via Software Center on a client machine?

If the above does resolve the problem, the problem is obviously with content validation. You could setup a new DP with a test boundary, leave the content validation enabled and see what happens. If the problem appears on the new DP, you have something to test with, to find the root cause.

You might also want to look at the Content Library Explorer or perhaps this nifty script: https://slightlyovercomplicated.com/2017/08/11/powershell-script-to-query-content-status-for-a-specific-task-sequence-and-generate-a-html-report/

Kind regards,

Marin

Thursday, January 24, 2019 8:27 PM | 1 vote

> Tried submitting a ticket and the MS rep said they cannot help me as they do not support customized TS.

Tried submitting a ticket to who? Microsoft CSS will absolutely provide support on this as this is normal operations. It'll be paid support of course. 

> do not support customized TS.

This is a moronic statement -- sorry being blunt -- as all TSes are custom at the end of the day but the functionality at question here is 100% built-in functionality and not in any way tied to you using a "custom" task sequence.

If you truly are contacting actual Microsoft CSS for support and you get this answer, don't accept it as that's simply not accurate. 

For your errors, have you validated your boundaries and boundary groups and that your test system is properly within them? Also, have you validated that all of the necessary content is successfully distributed to your distribution points? Have you reviewed the smsts.log for explicit details?

Jason | https://home.configmgrftw.com | @jasonsandys

Thursday, January 24, 2019 8:43 PM

Content all shows distributed, boundaries haven't changed at all from when it was working to now so I don't think that would be in the right direction especially since all sites experienced it at once, US, India, and UK. No major changes have occurred the previous day was business as usual the next day was everything is broken. It also wouldn't account for me remaking them, having them work, then the next day the new ones are broken too. It is like I am experiencing active corruption.

I will ask for a different MS Engineer because I felt the same way you did. You can't find a single company that doesn't run a custom TS. Maybe this one just didn't want to deal with it.

smsts.log

 

Thomas Faherty

Thursday, January 24, 2019 8:44 PM

Thomas Faherty

Thursday, January 24, 2019 8:45 PM

Thomas Faherty

Thursday, January 24, 2019 8:45 PM

Just Right click view image.

Thomas Faherty

Thursday, January 24, 2019 8:49 PM

Can't help but wonder if I should just restore from a backup.

Thomas Faherty

Thursday, January 24, 2019 8:55 PM | 1 vote

There is no right-click view image. It's a text file, post the text or, better yet, post on a file sharing service and include the link here.

Jason | https://home.configmgrftw.com | @jasonsandys

Thursday, January 24, 2019 9:24 PM

Here you go,

Also thank you for taking a look.

https://app.box.com/s/si8tf6cwafxk07qnc52vm4wuz5n44ony

Thomas Faherty

Thursday, January 24, 2019 9:48 PM

Are you sure that your MP is healthy?

Jason | https://home.configmgrftw.com | @jasonsandys

Thursday, January 24, 2019 10:03 PM

Good call. I am running on no sleep and got tunnel vision. Let me check on things and I will report back.

Thomas Faherty

Thursday, January 24, 2019 10:16 PM

don't know if this will be any help, but on your screen shot, under location reply line, it says '0 locations'.  Does this point to the contain not been on your DP? Have you got a fallback configured to point to another boundary group with another DP for content?

Check your references tab for the boundary group assigned has the DP listed as a site server

Friday, January 25, 2019 10:21 AM

Hi,

According to the error code 0x80040102: Failed to resolve the content locations, it’s recommended kindly to check the following settings:

  1. Is the MP up and running? The content location requests are made to the Management point.
  2. Is package available on distribution point?
  3. Is the boundary group and boundary group fallback behavior configured? If boundary group is configured but no site servers added to Boundary group, the error will still persist.
  4. Is the network access account configured with right permissions? 

Hope this helps. Have a nice day!

Best regards,
Simon Ren

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.
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Sunday, January 27, 2019 7:29 AM

1. MP is good

2. all 30+ failing packages are available on 6 Dps with ability to check the others on failure which is shows it is doing in the logs

3. Ms themselves triple checked boundaries and says they are good

4. yeah network access account is same as it was when it was working but for good measure I removed tested and added it back

worked with MS for days now they can't solve it. Now they wont even call me back. I have a priority one ticket and every time I call them they said I will be called back in two hours. I have called 7 times in the last 19 hours and they can't manage to get an Engineer to talk to me. Filed a complaint with the BBB and spoke to a manager about violating our SLA so they wont charge us a credit for this ticket since they are too incompetent to do anything.

I am pretty much totally stuck and I cannot leave till this is done. 19 hours in an office, so much fun. Good thing I am hourly.

I did notice on all the DPs that when I click on the SMS_SMSPKG$ I get a 404 error not sure if that is part of the problem. I can't seem to find anything that is wrong with it but that doesn't seem right either.

I just noticed in the smsts.log that it said the below and it led me to look into IIS. It cycles through trying every DP we have before fully failing.

Unsuccessful in connecting to or accessing mcs://<DP FQDN>/SMS_MCS/.sms_mcs?filePath=http://<DP FQDN>/SMS_DP_SMSPKG$/SP100346&PackageFlags=134217888&packageID=SP100346&version=1 with default account.

Failed to access the share mcs://<DP FQDN>/SMS_MCS/.sms_mcs?filePath=http://<DP FQDN>/SMS_DP_SMSPKG$/SP100346&PackageFlags=134217888&packageID=SP100346&version=1 with network access account

Failed to locate the Windows setup program. The package must be configured to the root of the Windows installation source. For Windows XP, this must contains the I386, IA64 or AMD64 folders. For Windows Vista, this must contain the SOURCES folder
The system cannot find the file specified. (Error: 80070002; Source: Windows)

Thomas Faherty

Sunday, January 27, 2019 10:04 PM

Hey thanks Marin those are some great suggestions that I will get started on right away.

What method do you recommend for removing the packages from the DP? Just manually going into the folders and deleting them?

Thomas Faherty

Sunday, January 27, 2019 10:12 PM

I am gonna follow these steps to remove.

How to remove content from distribution point group properties
1.       In the Configuration Manager console, click Administration.
2.       In the Administration workspace, click Distribution Point Groups, and then select the distribution point group in which you want to remove content. On the Home tab, in the Properties group, click Properties.
3.       Click the Content tab, select the content to remove, click Remove, and then click OK.

Thomas Faherty

Monday, January 28, 2019 1:33 AM

alright, did what you said and here are the new logs

https://app.box.com/s/9ij7b34c41c0srl32obmdf1yrvzhlgan

Thomas Faherty

Monday, January 28, 2019 2:06 AM

I was able to fix the problem with the new logs by deleting the deployment and deploying again. After that it was right back to the same issue.

https://app.box.com/s/9kn574ow5y2b78rm53besc61zgl9limv

Thomas Faherty

Monday, January 28, 2019 2:31 AM

The nice folks at Microsoft have now resorted to hanging up on me when I call about this case. Been hung up on four times today. The guy assigned to my case Amit Rana said he would call me at 1 PM it is now 6:30 PM and no call of course just like yesterday and the day before. His backup Hemant Singh is nonexistent and the managers who I CCed [email protected] and [email protected] refuse to respond to any of my emails even when I address them directly. Some serious top notch customer server they have. 

Thomas Faherty

Monday, January 28, 2019 3:54 AM | 1 vote

I don't know all the details so won't put anything strong this reply other than I'm going to forward this to one of the support leads at Microsoft to look into.

Jason | https://home.configmgrftw.com | @jasonsandys

Monday, January 28, 2019 4:43 AM

I found despite telling it to distribute all content in the TS it was missing three packages I have sent those out manually. Marin, I think you had it right with your reply. Just testing and I will mark it if this works.

Thomas Faherty

Monday, January 28, 2019 5:47 PM | 1 vote

Hey Thomas,

I'm following up on your support experience noted above. 

Thursday, January 31, 2019 3:44 AM

Marin, 

You sir, are a life saver. You were right! It was the content verification that was causing the issue. To be clear for anyone having the same issue I went to each DP from Administration, right clicked on the DP role and unchecked content vitrifaction. I then removed all content from the DPs using a PowerShell script, then added it back and it's working perfectly. 

 Mike,

Don't worry about it. I filed a complaint with the BBB and the corporate office contacted me. Suddenly everyone wanted to help me but Marin here already gave me the resolution so I ended up not needing them. I have since been working with a MS rep to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again. 

I do appreciate you reaching out though, seriously. 

Thomas Faherty

Thursday, January 31, 2019 11:44 PM

Glad to hear that your issue is resolved.