Microsoft KB Archive/936625

= How to enable logging in Windows Deployment Services (WDS) in Windows Server 2003 =

Article ID: 936625

Article Last Modified on 10/11/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for Itanium-Based Systems

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Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure that you back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry



INTRODUCTION
This article discusses how to enable logging in Windows Deployment Services (WDS) in Microsoft Windows Server 2003. Additionally, this article describes how to gather data in Windows Deployment Services.

You can use this information to help troubleshoot issues that you may experience in Windows Deployment Services.



MORE INFORMATION
Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

Overview
Each Windows Deployment Services component has a mechanism that you can enable for logging and for tracing. You can then analyze the results for troubleshooting. Use the information in the following sections to enable logging and tracing for Windows Deployment Services components.

General Windows Deployment Services server health
Type the following command to generate general server health information:

WDSUTIL /get-server /show:all /detailed

This command causes general server health information to be logged in the Application log and in the System log.

Windows Deployment Services server component
Type the following command to generate health information about the Windows Deployment Services server component:

WDSUTIL /get-server /show:all /detailed

This command causes Windows Deployment Services information to be logged in the Application log and in the System log.

Trace logs
To obtain trace information, you must enable tracing in the Windows Deployment Services server component. To do this, set the following registry entry:

Name: EnableFileTracing

Value type: REG_DWORD

Value data: 1

After you set this registry entry, trace information for the Windows Deployment Services server component is logged in the following file:

%windir%\Tracing\wdsserver.log

Windows Deployment Services management components
Type the following command to generate management component health information:

WDSUTIL /get-server /show:all /detailed

This command causes Windows Deployment Services component health information to be logged in the Application log and in the System log.

Trace logs
To obtain trace information, you must enable tracing in the Windows Deployment Services management component and in the Windows Deployment Services Microsoft Management Console (MMC) component. To do this, set the following registry entries:

For the management component
Name: EnableFileTracing

Value type: REG_DWORD

Value data: 1

For the MMC component
Name: EnableFileTracing

Value type: REG_DWORD

Value data: 1

After you set these registry entries, trace information for the Windows Deployment Services management component is logged in the following file:

%windir%\Tracing\wdsmgmt.log

Additionally, trace information for the Windows Deployment Services MMC component is logged in the following file:

%windir%\Tracing\wdsmmc.log

Note Although the Windows Deployment Services MMC component and the WDSUTIL component share the same API layer, MMC sometimes adds processing and functionality. If an error occurs, it is frequently worthwhile to use WDSUTIL to try to reproduce the failure. WDSUTIL may help you determine whether the error is local to MMC or whether the error is a general management API failure. Frequently, the WDSUTIL component provides more detailed error output when tracing is not enabled. Where applicable, use the following options to obtain extra information:
 * /detailed
 * /verbose
 * /progress

Windows Deployment Services legacy components
If you perform legacy management functions, set the following registry entry to enable tracing in the RISetup component:

Name: EnableFileTracing

Value type: REG_DWORD

Value data: 1

To obtain the trace log in the WDSCapture operation, follow these steps:  Start the Capture Windows PE boot image. When the Capture Wizard starts, press SHIFT+F10 to open a command prompt. Enable tracing in the WDSCapture component. To do this, follow these steps:  Start Registry Editor. Set the following registry entry to enable tracing in the WDSCapture component:

Name: EnableFileTracing

Value type: REG_DWORD

Value data: 1

  Start a second instance of the WDSCapture component. Then, reproduce the problem by using the second instance of WDSCapture.

Note Do not close the original instance of WDSCapture. If you close the original instance of WDSCapture, Windows PE restarts. Instead, press ALT+TAB to switch between the instances of WDSCapture.</li></ol>

The following trace log file is generated:

X:\Windows\Tracing\WDSCapture.log

Windows Deployment Services client components
To help troubleshoot issues that you may experience with Windows Deployment Services client components, review the Setup program's log files that are generated on the client computer. These logs are in different locations, depending on when the failure occurred.

If the failure occurred in Windows PE before the Disk Configuration page of the Windows Deployment Services client is finished, the log file is stored in the following location:

X:\Windows\Panther

To access this log file, press SHIFT+F10 to start a command prompt, and then use the cd command to change to the Panther directory.

If the failure occurred during the first computer startup after the image was applied, the log files are stored in the Windows\Panther folder on the local disk volume. Typically, the path of this folder is C:\Windows\Panther.

PXE boot issues
To troubleshoot PXE boot issues, enable tracing in the server component and in the management component. Then, obtain the trace log files. Additionally, obtain a network trace that captures the unsuccessful boot attempt. In this scenario, it is best to obtain a network trace from the client and from the server at the same time. This helps you determine whether the failure occurs at the client (during receiving) or at the server (during sending). To obtain this network trace, follow these steps:
 * 1) Connect the client computer to a hub to which the server is connected.
 * 2) Connect a third computer to the same hub.
 * 3) Use the third computer to start a network trace operation.
 * 4) Start the client computer from the network.

Note If you use Network Monitor to obtain the trace information, make sure that the buffer size is set to 20 MB or more. If you set a buffer size that is too small, the packets are lost in the capture output.

Additional notes
When you enable tracing by changing the associated registry keys, you must restart services to create the logs. To do this, follow these steps:
 * 1) Open the Windows Deployment Services Management Console.
 * 2) Right-click the server name, click All Tasks, and then click Restart.

To delete the *.log file, you must stop the WDS server.

Keywords: kbhowto kbinfo kbregistry KB936625

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