Kernel Confusion

When using Windows PE (in my case version 3.0) for deployment, you might have already your share of problems that can occur while executing a task sequence.

I just had the “opportunity” to see a new one at a customer’s test site. It happened at unusual times, like in the middle of the image transfer or directly after it. The logs showed that the client was unable to reach his server. But why that? Physical connectivity was tested and ok and it never happened when running Windows 7 itself on the same machine.

It took me a bit because this one isn’t something you stumble upon everyday: the client lost his IP! Why? A DHCP lease time of 10 minutes! So, if a task took more than 10 minutes without a reboot, the IP was gone and the sequence ended in an error.

The lession learned here is that the DHCP Client in Windows PE doesn’t refresh his lease on time (or at all). Doh!

PS: Please don’t ask why this lease time was set at the DHCP server