SCCM Windows deployment troubleshooting – Part 4: Package errors

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Mike Taylor

Mike has been working in IT for 20+ years. He is a Windows endpoint engineer turned cloud consultant, scripter and OS deployment engineer based in the UK. He has a special interest in automation, security and PowerShell.

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There’s not much point to deploying Windows to a computer if you don’t install any applications to it, so applications are a key part of any task sequence. This section details various errors you may see with applications failing to install. The main trick to deploying applications during a task sequence is finding the silent command-line to install the software without any pop-ups or user-interaction. Unfortunately as different software vendors use different installers, instead of Windows installer, there is no standard for silent installs.

Error: installation failed 0x80070001

CAUSE: Some source files were missing. The most common issue is some software has pre-requisites (like .Net for HP Access Connections), so you need to install the pre-requisite software before you install the software you need.

FIX: Enable the TS step you disabled that installs the pre-requisites package.

Error: The request is not supported. Code(0x00000032)

Symptom 1: The step (xyz) must be running in full OS

CAUSE: You're tried to access something in Windows but "Windows" does not exist yet!

FIX: Create a package and use "run command line" and not "install software" package. The package for both is the same, however although the "program" can contain a script with a command line such as "cscript myscript.vbs" SCCM treats them *very* differently.

Error : Applying TS, Error 0x00000653 The installation package could not be opened

Error : Applying TS, Error 0x80004005 The installation package could not be opened

Error: Applying TS, Error 0x800704062 The installation package could not be opened

CAUSE: A file is missing from SMS\PKG\<package code>

FIX: Check the package source, add any missing file(s) and update the distribution point.

The error means: This installation package could not be opened. Verify that the package exists and that you can access it.

Error: 0642

CAUSE: An MSI you are installing from USB is failing because it is prompting for a disk with a specific disk label. As SCCM runs unattended you can’t respond to any prompts and SCCM cancels the install, resulting with the error “User cancelled installation”. The MSI is prompting because the value of the disk label in the media table (from the MSI or an MST) is either wrong or does not exist!

FIX: Make you include an entry in the MEDIA table of your MST that reflects the volume label of the USB/DVD you are building from.

Error : TS fails with Hash error 0x80091007

CAUSE: One or more Distribution points (DPs) are out of date (unsynchronised)

FIX: Update your DPs. Start with the package you changed last and try again.

Error: 000000FF

CAUSE: You've made a typo in a command line for the task sequence

FIX: Check your typing

Error: 0x80070656

CAUSE: the program command-line is writing to a log file that it can't reach. The path or file does not exist.

FIX: Create the path anywhere you like before this step of the task-sequence, e.g CMD /C MD <path>.

That concludes the series. I believe it is the most comprehensive list of SCCM deployment related errors you will find. I have not found anything similar – the biggest being a list of about six error codes.