ConfigMgr Client Log locations during OSD

Just a quick reference for finding the client logs during an Operating System Deployment.

As we all know ConfigMgr moves the logs during a deployment depending on the stage of deployment.

We can define 4 major stages in regard to the log file locations:

  1. System has started in WinPE, no hard drive configuration has taken place:
    “x:\windows\temp\smstslog” folder
  2. System has started in WinPE, hard drive has been partitioned and formatted:
    “x:\smstslog” folder
    “c:\_SMSTaskSequence\Logs\Smstslog” folder
  3. System has started in Windows but ConfigMgr is NOT yet installed:
    “c:\_SMSTaskSequence\Logs\Smstslog” folder
  4. System has started in Windows and ConfigMgr IS installed:
    “c:\windows\ccm\logs\Smstslog” folder

After the completion of the OSD the Task Sequence log file can be found in:

“c:\windows\ccm\logs\smsts.log

Probably you will find 2 of those, 1 with a date appended. This is because log files can’t grow unlimited!

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