When in Automation Environment, Dagent shows it is connected but doesn't show in the Ghost Solution Suite 3.x console

Products

• Ghost Solution Suite

Issue/Introduction

When you boot a client system to an Automation Environment, whether boot disk, PXE or Automation Folder, Dagent loads and indicates it connected to the server, however it never shows in the Ghost Solution Suite Console.

There is no error message, however the Dagent UI won't show any data for the MAC Address.

Cause

This can be caused due to missing packages in the WinPE automation environment.  Depending on the package(s) that are missing, we will be unable to collect any inventory data from the client system while in Automation which will prevent the Ghost Solution Suite Server from identifying the client. 

You can determine whether or not you have missing required packages by running the following command lines at the X:\ prompt while the system is booted into the automation environment:

Cscript - This should return "Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version version number" and then a list of Cscript command line options.  If you get "'cscript' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file" then the Windows Scripting Host component package was not added.

wmic - This should return a "wmic:root\cli>" prompt.  If you get "'wmic' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file" then the WMI component package was not added.

One possible cause to the packages being missing is Mcafee VirusScan blocking the addition of the packages during the creation of the automation environment.

Resolution

 If you are running Mcafee VirusScan on your Ghost Solution Suite server and have the problem described in this article please refer to the Mcafee article linked below.
https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=KB76867

Other security software can also interrupt the normal functionality of the Boot Disk Creator or Microsoft's Dism utility and prevent the successful creation of an automation environment.  Possible solutions are:

1. Exclude bootwiz.exe and dism.exe processes from being scanned by your security software.
2. Temporarily disable your security software while creating boot media, PXE boot images or Automation Folder installation packages.

There have also been instances where the Windows Data Execution Prevention settings have prevented Microsoft's Dism utility from running.  To check your Data Execution Prevention settings:

1. Go to Control Panel > System
2. Click on Advanced System Settings
3. In the System Properties dialog, on the Advanced tab, click on the Settings button in the Performance section
4. In the Performance Options dialog, click on the Data Execution Prevention tab.
5. Ensure that "Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only" is selected.  If "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select:" is selected please change it.  Please note that changing this setting will require a reboot.

If you have tried the above steps and continue to have issues, enable bootwiz logging (see HOWTO119453), and recreate the automation environment.  After you recreate the environment, boot to the automation environment and see if the issue persists.  If the issue persists, please collect the bootwiz.log and the Dism logs (found in C:\Windows\Logs\DISM) and contact Technical Support for assistance in diagnosing the root cause of the issue.