Casper Imaging, not installing packages (.pkg or .dmg)

[rhoward]

Hello everyone,

We are having a strange issue when we image computers using Casper Imaging. Here's the scenario:

- Computer images through netboot (or Target Imaging) and does not install packages properly after the OS package
- We were able to successfully image with this Smart Configuration for the past 5 months and only recently started having this issue.
- The packages or.dmg files in the smart configuration work properly when using Self Service or pushing them as policies to the computer.
- It doesn't matter what computer it is
- Some packages install, but it's not the same package each time

What we have tried:
- Removed all management/restrictions on the devices
- Tried a different Smart Configuration for imaging. This created a second problem in which the computers would beach ball on startup and not move through the login pages.

We've tried this on 5 computers that we were able to image this summer. We are currently on 9.4. Thanks!

Ryan

[stevewood]

@rhoward I had a similar problem a few years ago with a Smart Config. I found that one package was causing the problem, and that after taking that one package out of the config, everything worked fine.

To figure that out I had to start removing packages from the config until I the problem stopped. I started off removing half of the packages, then half of that, then half and so on. I eventually figured out that my Office package was borked and wouldn't work during imaging. It worked fine via Policy, but not when used during imaging.

[rhoward]

@stevewood We got it to work over target imaging. However, it still does not work over the netboot. All of the packages installed without issue over thunderbolt so I don't think it relates to the packages. Any help on the netboot issues would be great.

We noticed in Console > var > jamf.log on the client computer that it was failing on some packages and not logging others/skipping them. I can post a log from the client computer if needed. Thanks!

[stevewood]

@rhoward How are you creating your NetBoot Image (NBI), manually or with either AutoCasperNBI or the Net Install Creator by JAMF? And where are you hosting the NBI?

If you can post the jamf.log and system.log from a machine that failed, that might help. Or link to them posted on PasteBin or GitHub perhaps.

[rhoward]

@stevewood I didn't create the NetBoot as it was created by someone before me. Our JSS is on ubuntu and I know the NetBoot server is on an ubuntu server.

As far as the problem, it seems to have fixed itself. I'm still trying to sort through the logs on the NetBoot, but I haven't made any changes on the JSS or the Share Point. Thanks for the help! If by some means it starts failing again, I'll post those logs.