SCCM 2012 – How to catch errors in Task Sequence

Issue Description:
A key requirement with a task sequence is to intelligently capture logs in case of a failure or a success. Some of the key issues faced while working with task sequences are:

1. Log files in a task sequence hop from one folder to another depending on the OS installation and the SCCM Client Installation status.

Path of the log file	OS Status	SCCM Client Status
<largest fixed partition>\SMSTSLOG	Windows PE	Not Applicable
%temp%\SMSTSLOGS	full operating system	No
C:\windows\ccm\Logs	full operating system	Yes

1. This issue of hopping log files accentuates when the Task Sequence fails and it is difficult to locate the exact location of the log files.
   
    
2. It also becomes challenging to look for smsts logs when mass deployments are done. It is important to know how to manage logs for successes and failures, therefore the requirement is to copy the smsts.log to a central share and easily differentiate whether the deployment was a success or a failure
   
    
3. In addition, when a particular task of the sequence fails, there is an error prompt that stays for 15 minutes or so and the machine reboots thereafter. In case the administrator is not in front of the machine where the TS failed, he or she would not know upfront that there was a failure until he or she checks the log files. Therefore one requirement is to halt the task sequence where it fails

Solution Description:
Based on the above issues and requirements, the key tasks we need to accomplish are:

1. If the task sequence (TS) is a success, then
   1. The logs should get copied to a central share
   2. Into a folder called SUCCESS
   3. And the TS should complete gracefully
2. If the TS is a failure, then
   1. the logs should get copied to a central share
   2. into a folder called FAILURE
   3. Also the TS should halt immediately so that the admin can see that there was a failure

We will accomplish this requirement by using in-built variable in the task sequence - _SMSTSLastActionSucceeded. This variable captures the state of the last action and returns TRUE when the action was successful and FALSE when there was an error.

#	Description	Screenshot
1	Put the entire logic of the Task Sequence including OS install, application install, driver install, etc under a main group called MAIN TS At the same level of the Main TS, put another action called Try Catch Create 2 sub groups under Try Catch called: Success Failure The idea is to capture any errors that happen in the Main TS into that try catch action
2	Set "Main TS" group to Continue on error
3	Add a condition to the "Success" group: Evaluate whether the TASK SEQUENCE VARIABLE: _SMSTSLastActionSucceeded equals TRUE Here the variable _SMSTSLastActionSucceeded captures the status of the last task executed If there is a failure in the MainTS, the _SMSTSLastActionSucceeded will be set to false, else true The TS will enter Success group only if there are no errors in the previous tasks
4	Similarly, add another condition to the "Failure" group: Evaluate whether the TASK SEQUENCE VARIABLE: _SMSTSLastActionSucceeded equals FALSE The TS will enter Failure group only if there are errors in the previous tasks
5	Add the following logic under the Failure Group: Map a network drive -> say L: -to \\<servername>\LogFileShare\ This is the share where all the logs will get copied
6	Delete any folder associated with a computer name in the Failure Folder -> \\<servername>\LogFileShare\Failure\<computername> Add a Run Command Line tasks and put the following command in the command line: cmd.exe /c rd L:\Failure\%_smstsmachinename%% /s /Q Here %_smstsmachinename%% command refers to the computer name of the target computer This task is necessary to ensure all earlier logs corresponding to the machine are deleted
7	Create a new folder in the Failure folder for the computer name -> \\<servername>\LogFileShare\Failure\<computername> Add a Run Command Line tasks and put the following command in the command line: cmd.exe /c md L:\Failure\%_smstsmachinename%%
8	Copy the log files from the smstslog file path to \\<servername>\LogFileShare\Failure\<computername> Add a Run Command Line tasks and put the following command in the command line: cmd.exe /c copy %_smstslogpath%\*.* L:\failure\%_smstsmachinename%
9	Halt the Task Sequence by invoking a simple wscript.echo command Invoke a simple vbscript that prompts the path of the folder where the logs are kept: Script.echo "There is an error in the task sequence implementation. The log files are stored at \\<servername>\LogFileShare\"
10	Add similar tasks for group "Success"
11	Create a folder on the server for storing the logs and share it with Everyone Full Control Create 2 additional folders called Failure and Success
12	The Failure and Success folders will get populated with appropriate computer names