Potential Fix: Windows 10 Build Fails When Imaging Machines With Intel i217-LM Network Card

(Scroll down to The Fix: to see the potential fixes)

I don’t think i have ever been happier to consider an imaging issue resolved than this one. If you are reading this you are probably having similar issues imaging to Windows 10 with the painful (and shit) Intel i217-LM Network Card.

Your symptoms will probably look a lot like this:

The Problem:

• You have been sent a new HP or Dell desktop with an i217-LM (or i218-LM) network card (in my case it was the HP EliteDesk 800G1 USDT)
• You attempt to deploy Windows 10
• You have the latest drivers from intel for this card
• You attempt to image the machine but it fails either: 
• Binding to domain
• Failing with no network adaptor,
• Other generic network failures after booting to Windows from WinPE

My Setup consists of the following:

• SCCM 2012R2 SP1 (latest CU)
• Windows 10 build 1511
• ADK 10 (v10.0.26624)
• Driver package for HP 800G1 (latest driver from intel included 12.15.22.3 )
• Task Sequence Steps:

Before i get to the solution, here are some screenshots and descriptions of the symptoms i was seeing:

(image ref1)

In this case you can see the NIC disappearing shortly after boot into Windows for the first time

(image ref2)

SMSTS.log would look similar to this, note the network failures.

(image ref3)More of the same.. network failure.

(image ref4)When windows finally would boot, you would see something similar to this. 

Things i tried to do to fix it:

• Downloaded 15 versions of the i217 driver
• Imaged an 800g1 about 20 times.
• Drank heavily
• Injected latest intel driver into my gold w10 image
• Prayed
• Posted on every conceivable forum with others having exact same issue. 
• Drunk some more.
• and then……

So many drivers…..

The Fix:

UPDATE 2:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SCCM/comments/4cl08s/osd_i217i219_fix/ 

UPDATE 1:

Since posting the below method i have seen a better increase in success by trying this:

1. Update to CU3
2. Ensure updated client is going out in your TS
3. delete all drivers from boot image, add only this one (modified) , http://1drv.ms/1XVaCNl, then also create a new driver package with just that driver, i also deleted all traces of i217 from sccm drivers list.
4. test

While this method is certainly not foolproof, it DID increase my success rate. It could have been the above that helped, or it could have been the color of my office floor, or the humidity or lack of in London’s “lovely” weather, or 1000 other random events that assisted in my success rate, i just dont know. 

If the above method doesnt help you, read on to the slightly more messy method below..

WARNING: Before following below please note: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/configmgrteam/2015/11/20/issue-with-the-windows-adk-for-windows-10-version-1511/
Also, the below appeared to fix my issue for a few tests then my success rate dropped, it only helped me achieve about 30% success. 
Otherwise read on… 

edit: kb for this is now out : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3143760

I was asked a few times what version of the ADK i was running, and of course i was running ADK 10 as i was servicing Windows 10 images, duh. 

But! Unknown to me i was running a slight older revision of ADK 10 than what is available. This was confirmed by checking my Boot image versions and they were listed as 10.0.10240.16384

I went ahead and downloaded the latest version of ADK10

Version gets changed to 10.1.10586.0 : 

Then go ahead and recreate your boot images and you will see :

Update this new boot image to your PXE points, assign to your Task Sequence(s) and then reimage. Your machine should now build successfully given you have done everything properly. 

Note: I also added the latest i217-LM driver to my boot image, but i doubt this step is necessary. 

I’m not sure what is new in the ADK that fixes this issue, and why i only have this issue on the i217 card. I will be sure to push microsoft for an answer but i assume there is a slight update in DISM that causes the i217 driver to be injected from PE to Windows correctly.

On an unrelated note, there are other issues with the i217-LM driver which CAN cause network flooding under certain circumstances when ipv6 is enabled, just google “i217-LM Flooding” and you will see lots of hits. 

Thanks to Drew Owen for the suggestion to update the ADK, you saved my bacon.

Cheers, 

Dan