I recently upgraded our MDT servers from 2010 Update 1 to 2012 and have rebuilt all the deployment Task Sequences. With 2010 I was using a custom C: partition script instead of the standard Format and Partition script because our development machines have 1 hard drive with 2 partitions. The first is for OS/Apps and the second is for images, data backup, etc. We only want to quick format the first partition and leave the second alone. This worked perfectly fine with 2010 Update 1, however when used in 2012 I constantly get an error box upon first boot of the OS of "Unable to find the SMS Task Sequencer. The deployment will not continue". I've also noticed that that the network drive back to the MDT server does not get mapped. If I change the TS to use the standard Format and Partition command then everything works fine.
The command line for the Custom C: Format task is:
diskpart /s "%scriptroot%\DiskPartOnlyC.txt"
and the text inside the file is:
SELECT disk 0
SELECT partition 1
FORMAT FS=NTFS LABEL="OS" QUICK
EXIT
Now the task does what it's supposed to do, it's just that deployment doesn't continue after first boot into the OS if this method is used. There are no bangs in the device manager (and the network card works), so I know it's not a driver issue. Can someone provide insight as to what may be going on or how to get around this issue?