Device fails to boot after deployment using Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows® 8

  • 7013318
  • 18-Sep-2013
  • 19-Sep-2013

Environment

Novell ZENworks Configuration Management

Situation

After using Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows® 8, device fails to boot with an error screen that  is black with the following text in white:

Your PC needs to restart.
Please hold down the power button.
Error Code:  0x0000005D

Resolution

This can occur for two different reasons:

a) Only use systems compatible with Windows 8 - this can be validated by:
  1. Downloading coreinfo.exe from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/cc835722.aspx
  2. Running the tool to determine if the system has support for NX, PAE, and SSE2.
  3. If the system is reported to support NX, PAE, and SSE2, it may be possible to use WADK to image the device, otherwise it will be necessary to use the compatible WIM mode based on WINPE 3.x.
b) In addition, some processors like the Intel Xeon may be set to 64-bit mode ("Capable")  instead of 64-bit mode ("Enabled"). WADK will not work in "Capable" mode (see http://www.dmtf.org/sites/default/files/standards/documents/DSP0134_2.8.0.pdf Section 7.5.9)

Cause

a) This is a Microsoft limitation. To use the WADK, the device needs to be fully compatible with Windows 8 as shown in Microsoft articles such as:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/hh975398.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30652

b) this is because the SMBIOS reports that the device is 64-bit, regardless of the setting, so the 64-bit WADK is used to boot, but when in "Capable" mode the machine is actually using the 32-bit mode, and so the WADK cannot boot.

Additional Information