Event ID 1280 — BCD File Access and Creation

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

Each boot image is represented in the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store as an available boot loader option. The BCD store contains boot configuration parameters and controls how the operating system is started in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems. These parameters were previously in the Boot.ini file (in BIOS-based operating systems) or in the nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM) entries (in Extensible Firmware Interface–based operating systems).

Each boot image on the Windows Deployment Services server has a corresponding BCD file that contains a Boot Loader entry. The entry describes how to boot that particular operating system image. The BCD file contains information such as the boot device (RAMDISK), the image name (obtained from the .wim metadata), the detect HAL option, and the operating system type (Windows PE).

Event Details

Resolve

Ensure that WDSServer has the correct permissions

To resolve this issue, do the following in the specified order:

• Ensure that the WDSServer service has the correct permissions for the RemoteInstall folder.

• Ensure that the server can read configuration data from the local registry.

• Reinitialize the server.

Ensure that the WDSServer service has the correct permissions for the RemoteInstall folder

Often this problem occurs when the WDSServer service could not lock the Boot.sdi file located at C:RemoteInstall\Boot. This means that WDSServer needs to open the file with read/write permissions and limit others to read-only permissions, but it was unable to do this. This indicates that either the WDSServer service may not have Full Control file permissions or the file may be in use. To fix this problem, make sure that the WDSServer service has the necessary permissions for the RemoteInstall folder.

To perform this procedure, you must either be a member of the local Administrators group or have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To ensure permissions:

1. Right-click the RemoteInstall folder (by default, this folder is located on drive C).
2. On the Security tab, make sure that **WDSServer **is set to Full control.

If this does not fix the issue, use the procedure in the following section to ensure that the server can read the configuration data in the registry.

Ensure that the server can read configuration data from the local registry

The registry data may be missing or corrupt, or the computer may not have sufficient permissions to read the data.

Caution: Incorrectly editing the registry might severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data.

To perform these procedures, you must either be a member of the local Administrators group or have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To ensure registry data and permissions:

1. Open Registry Editor. (Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER).
2. Ensure that the following registry key exists: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WDSServer\.
3. If this registry key exists, make sure that the SYSTEM account used by BINLSVC has permission to read from the registry. To do this, right-click the WDSServer node, click Permissions, click SYSTEM, and then make sure that Full Control is selected.
4. If the specified registry key is missing or corrupt, you will need to use the procedure in the following section to reinitialize the server.

Reinitialize the server

To reinitialize the server:

1. Open the Command Prompt window.
2. At the command prompt, run wdsutil /uninitialize-server.
3. At the command prompt, run wdsutil /initialize-server /reminst:<path>,** **where <path> is the path where you would like the RemoteInstall folder to be located.

Verify

To perform this procedure, you must either be a member of the local Administrators group or have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To verify that the BCD file has been generated correctly and is accessible:

1. Locate the following file on the Windows Deployment Service server: **RemoteInstall\Tmp\<arch>.{<GUID>}.**bcd, where <arch> is x86, x64, ia64, or x86x64 and <GUID> is 32 characters. Note: By default, the RemoteInstall folder is on drive C.
2. In the Command Prompt window, run the following command for the file you located in step 1: bcdedit.exe /enum /all /store: <Drive>:\RemoteInstall\Boot\<arch>\default.bcd. The output should contain the contents of the BCD file.
3. Verify that the output contains entries for each of your boot images.

Related Management Information

BCD File Access and Creation

Windows Deployment Services