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WdsClient: An error occurred while obtaining an IP address from the DHCP server. Please check to ensure that there is an operational DHCP Server on this network segment.

John Tran — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:33:01 +0000

If you get the error following error when you boot into WinPE using Windows Deployment Services (WDS).

WdsClient: An error occurred while obtaining an IP address from the DHCP server. Please check to ensure that there is an operationgal DHCP Server on this network segment.

To resolve this issue you will need to enable spanning-tree portfast on your switch. To do so you can run the following commands on your cisco switch.

Switch1(config)#interface “interface name”
Switch1(config)#spanning-tree portfast

To enable spanning-tree portfast on all interface use the following command

Switch1(config)#spanning-tree portfast default

Note: This will enable portfast by default on all interfaces. You will have to disable portfast explicitly on switched ports eading to hubs, switches and bridges as they may create temporary bridging loops.

Adding drivers to wim file

John Tran — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:43:15 +0000

If you’re trying to set up a boot wim file for Windows Deployment Services or creating a WIN PE boot on a USB key then you may find that you will need to install the corrent NIC drivers for it to work.

Here are some steps that you can follow if you need to inject drivers to your wim file

1. Install Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0, download link
2. Install Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK), download link
3. Once you have installed Windows Automated Installation Kit, navigate to the C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86 folder, right-click wimfltr.inf and Select Install.
4. Create a folder D:\VistaMount
5. Run cmd – command line
6. cd C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86
7. Mount wim file with the following command, imagex /mountrw “source location\wim file” 2 d:\vistamount

Note: Make sure that you use the 2 in the command to specify the second image of the boot.wim file. If you don’t, you may recieve problems with detecting the network drivers when booting into WinPE. This is a known problem with the new HP DC7900 Desktops.

8. Download the drivers from the manufacturer and extract them to D:\drivers
9. Run cmd – command line
10. cd C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools
11. peimg /inf=”driver source location\inf file” d:\vistamount
12. unmount and save changes to wim file with following command, imagex /unmount /commit d:\vistamount

Note: Make sure you use the /commit parameter to ensure that changes are saved to the wim file.

Free PDF Converter

John Tran — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:41:16 +0000

For those that need to convert their word documents but do not have Acrobat installed, then here is a handy website that allows you to do it without any software being installed.

PDF Converter

How to change IP address and DNS of computer from command prompt

John Tran — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:13:22 +0000

Here is the command for those who want to change the IP address and DNS of a computer via command prompt.

Command to change IP

netsh int ip set address “local area connection” static 192.168.0.101 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.254 1.

Command to change DNS

netsh int ip set dns “local area connection” static 192.168.0.254 primary

Both commands are assuming that you want to change your IP to 192.168.0.101, your default gateway is 192.168.1.254, your DNS is 192.168.0.254 and the name of the network adapter is ‘local area connection.’ You will need to change these values according to your own network.