M100672: A ManageSoft snapshot package is constantly rebooting

After deploying a ManageSoft snapshot package you find that the package is constantly installing and rebooting the managed device.

Symptoms

  1. You have created a ManageSoft package or a ManageSoft package from an Installation Snapshot
  2. After putting the package in policy, the package constantly re-installs and reboots the managed device

This may be caused by the package installing a file that is in use by the operating system or another 3rd party product and to which the operating system or 3rd party product is constantly updating this file.

Examples of files that may trigger a package reboot include:

  1. The Windows update log (C:\Windows\WindowsUpdate.log)
  2. Windows temporary files that are used for software distribution (such as C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\tmp.edb)
  3. ManageSoft managed device log files (such as %windir%\temp\ManageSoft\installation.log or %windir%\temp\ManageSoft\launcher.log)

Workaround

  1. Search the ManageSoft launcher or installation log file for the word reboot.

    The search should reveal log lines such as (Note: Different versions of ManageSoft may produce different lines of logging):

    [3/18/2005 11:51:31 AM (G, 5)] Delete (on reboot) file "C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\tmp.edb" 
    [3/18/2005 11:51:31 AM (G, 5)] Delete OK (on reboot) file "C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\tmp.edb" 
    [3/18/2005 11:51:31 AM (G, 5)] Move (on reboot) file "C:\Program Files\ManageSoft\Launcher\Cache\Common\TestPkg\stage\stg00372.log" to "C:\WINDOWS\WindowsUpdate.log"
    [3/18/2005 11:51:31 AM (G, 5)] Move OK (on reboot) ("C:\Program Files\ManageSoft\Launcher\Cache\Common\TestPkg\stage\stg00372.log" to "C:\WINDOWS\WindowsUpdate.log") 
  2. The log file shows that two files are triggering a package reboot. They are:
    1. C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\tmp.edb
    2. C:\windows\WindowsUpdate.log
  3. These files should be removed from the ManageSoft package and the package should be redeployed to the clients where the package should cease to continuously reboot.
  4. This issue may be prevented in the future by following these practices:
    1. Snapshot packaging machines should not have the ManageSoft managed device installed on them. This is because a snapshot may capture ManageSoft installing other packages that are being installed as part of a policy update. If the snapshot packaging machine must have the managed device installed then the ManageSoft managed device services should be stopped before the package snapshot is performed and re-started once the snapshot has finished. These services are the "ManageSoft managed device" and the "ManageSoft installation agent"
    2. Ensuring that each snapshot package is reviewed, edited and trimmed before being deployed. This is to ensure that all files, registry keys, ini file settings and other items that are captured are genuinely part of the package. ManageSoft knowledge base article 100456 "Package Trimming" describes how to do this and common items that may be removed or edited.

Additional Information

Please refer to the Packaging Guide for more information on snapshot packages 
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