Serva TFTP Errors and Windows 7 Network drivers

[JJL Computers LTD]

We are using serva to image our computers inj classrooms but when using it we get errors like this in the serva log.

[07/24 10:01:28.182] TFTP Err: File <Boot\Fonts\wgl4_boot.ttf> : error 3 in CreateFile; The system cannot find the path specified.
 

we also have the problem where our windows 7 image wont boot we get to the serva logon page on the client and before we can enter the user name or password we get the error: Loading network resources: FAILED; no NIC/ Driver, Aborting

How can we solve these problems we have tried many things on the website and forums and no luck.

 

https://www.vercot.com/~serva/ 

[NelizMastr]

The first error would indicate the true type font it's trying to access can't be found in that folder, so make sure that file is there and not corrupted somehow.

 

The NIC error would indicate your Windows 7 image doesn't have the network driver for the machine you're trying to deploy. That needs to be checked as well.

In fact, it seems the preboot image doesn't even appear to have the driver. 

 

I'm not familiar with this product, though. I've only used RIS/WDS/MDT on Windows Server.

[JJL Computers LTD]

The font is in the requested path and seems to work okay as I have installed it onto my machine.

 

We know that the NIC error is a driver issue however we can't seem to work out a way of getting the correct drivers to the boot.wim and install.wim.

We have even tried not generalizing the windows 7 image (as all windows 7 machines will be the same) in hope that it carries over the drivers from that image.

[JJL Computers LTD]

Would you be able to assist us in setting up a WDS server as we are a bit unsure on how to set it up and how it works? and can we use a custom image as we have a custom install.wim for windows 10 and 7?

Thanks in advance.

[Blake]

On 7/24/2018 at 8:05 PM, Sackville School said:

we can't seem to work out a way of getting the correct drivers to the boot.wim and install.wim.

Okay...

 

1. Make a Directory called C:\Mount\ This will be where you 'mount' the .wim image you want to inject the drivers into.

2. Open a CMD prompt with elevated privileges. If the Titlebar of the windows doesn't say "Administrator: C:\...." you done this step wrong. I'd stop here if that was the case.

3. Run: DISM.exe /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\path\to\wimfile.wim /Index:n /MountDir:C:\Mount\

3a. To get DISM download the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (or Windows ADK). This kit also includes very useful tools like USMT, lets you download a WinRE and WinPE images.

3b. to get the index run the following command: "Dism /Get-ImageInfo /imagefile:C:\path\to\wimfile.wim"

4. Run: "DISM /Image:C:\Mount /Add-Driver /Driver:C:\path\to\driver.inf" or use a folder full of .inf drivers and the /recuse flag to apply them all at once.

5. run: "DISM /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\Mount /Commit"

6. Congrats, now do this for every index on both the BOOT and INSTALL .wim files you are going to use. If your only using the professional version of Windows 7, only need to do this with the professional indexes listed in 3b.

 

[JJL Computers LTD]

We have come back after the summer holidays and tried your instructions and it didn't work still we get the error no NIC or drivers.

[SoldierofRome]

19 hours ago, Sackville School said:

We have come back after the summer holidays and tried your instructions and it didn't work still we get the error no NIC or drivers.

I just wanted to let you know, in order for the person your replying to to see your message in their notification box you have to hit the quote button below their message and then type in your message. Otherwise they won't know you have replied unless they manually check back to this thread.

[Blake]

On 10/9/2018 at 7:29 PM, Sackville School said:

We have come back after the summer holidays and tried your instructions and it didn't work still we get the error no NIC or drivers.

If you've just added the NIC drivers, but the NIC is behind the chipset, there is a good chance you need to install the chipset drivers before it will even expose the NIC to the OS. 

 

Also did you run the commands correctly? did you run them on the install and boot .wim files?

 

Are you sure you even have a .wim file? most windows 10 builds are now .esd files.

 

The other thing to consider:

WDS is the defacto pxe boot server for windows, why not use that? you know something that actually has market penetration so you can call your MSP if you have any major issues? 

[JJL Computers LTD]

We have now made the windows 7 image boot via serva by using the windows 10 boot.wim in place of the windows 7 boot.wim

Thanks For Your Help.

[patpat]

When using Serva (or WDS or any other PXE solution) you need the right NIC drivers.

Then you either "inject" the corresponding OEM drivers as described in Serva's documentation,
or you use a more modern Boot.wim (as you did) hopefully already having included the needed NIC driver/s.

 

About the missing Fonts you can disregard that error. Windows install will continue w/o problem.