ConfigMgr SP1 installation causes BSOD

Had an interesting problem yesterday, ConfigMgr RTM upgrade to SP1 two thirds of the way through induced a BSOD.

Hard to troubleshoot, system reboots and all you're left with is a minidump (depending on your OS configuration for debugging) and a partially completed ConfigMgrSetup log file.

ConfigMgrSetup log file indicates that the failure point took place around where the WinPE boot images are updated. You can go really far in terms of digging on this one, or just drop back, get the minidump and parse it in the Microsoft debugging tools.

Once you sort out your Symbols and analyse the dump, you'll be closer to identifying what causes the BSOD. In my case, it turned out to be a driver called SRTSP.SYS that belongs to the Symantec Anti-Virus suite.

Yep you read that right! It was the Anti-Virus software that Blue Screened the Operating System. Most disappointing, but from experience, and from talking to other Admins ... Anti-Virus is a plague we all have to tolerate, and it causes unusual and unpredictable behaviour to take place.

If you've not debugged a minidump, or forgotten the steps (for us oldies!) then here's a great article on Ghacks by Martin on how to get the process up and running.

I'd like to dedicate this blog posting to Larus Bulat, who cusses and curses about Anti-Virus software causing him no end of headaches, and who made me smile when I realised that the problem I was dealing with was entirely due to those pesky Anti-Virus products.