Error occurred while retrieving policy for this computer 0x80004005

Question

Hello,

We have MECM configured and have 3 new physical servers to deploy Server 2022 on via bootable USB created in MECM.

All Servers are identical. We have sucesfully deployed 2 physical servers with the bootable USB and they are in MECM all ok now.

The 3rd server is failing to deploy. When booting the server to USB, the task sequence loads and then a message appears to detail, error 0x80004005 failed to retrieve policy. We have restarted the server and tested again, opened CMD via F8 on server run disk part and that shows physical disk online ready. We have also re-created USB on new USB Drive, however still same error.

I have loaded the SMS Log and and see the below issues in the log:

• C:\WinPE does not exist.]LOG]!><time="16:25:41.472+480" date="09-25-2024" component="TSBootShell" context="" type="1" thread="2648" file="bootshell.cpp:739">
• C:_SmsTsWinPE\WinPE does not exist.]LOG]!><time="16:25:41.488+480" date="09-25-2024" component="TSBootShell" context="" type="1" thread="2648" file="bootshell.cpp:753">
• Volume C:\ is not a local hard drive.]LOG]!><time="16:26:02.244+480" date="09-25-2024" component="TSBootShell" context="" type="1" thread="2648" file="bootshell.cpp:553">
• OSDDetectedWinDrive='', _OSDDetectedWinDir='']LOG]!><time="16:26:02.244+480" date="09-25-2024" component="TSBootShell" context="" type="1" thread="2648" file="bootshell.cpp:604">
• Unable to open PXE registry key. Not a PXE boot.]LOG]!><time="16:26:06.221+480" date="09-25-2024" component="TSMBootstrap" context="" type="0" thread="2556" file="tsmbootstrap.cpp:897">
• Failed to find the source drive where WinPE was booted from]LOG]!><time="16:26:06.221+480" date="09-25-2024" component="TSMBootstrap" context="" type="2" thread="2556" file="tsmbootstrap.cpp:1100"> Any idea what the issue might be? Thank you

Answer 1

Hi, @MiM-5821

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Q&A forum.

The error 0x80004005 indicates that the task sequence engine failed to retrieve policy for the computer. This error can occur due to various reasons, such as incorrect network settings, missing or incorrect certificates, or issues with the management point.

In your case, the SMS log shows several errors related to the boot process, such as missing WinPE directories and inability to detect the source drive. These errors suggest that the bootable USB may be corrupted or missing some required files.

To resolve this issue, you can try the following troubleshooting steps:

• Recreate the bootable USB using a different USB drive or from a different computer.
• Verify that the bootable USB contains all the required files and directories, including the WinPE directories.

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