SCCM Task Sequence Troubleshooting: Reading SMSTS.log Like a Pro

A failed SCCM task sequence gives you almost nothing useful on screen, just a generic error code and a reference to a log file most admins have never actually opened properly. SMSTS.log has the real story, but its location moves depending on what stage the task sequence failed at, which is the first thing that trips people up.

Finding SMSTS.log at each stage

During WinPE (before the OS is installed), it’s at X:\Windows\Temp\SMSTSLog\smsts.log or X:\SMSTSLog\smsts.log depending on boot image version. After the OS installs but before the task sequence completes, it moves to C:\_SMSTaskSequence\Logs\Smstslog\smsts.log. Once the task sequence finishes successfully, it lands in its final home at C:\Windows\CCM\Logs\Smstslog\smsts.log. If a deployment fails and you can’t find the log in the expected final location, check the earlier-stage paths. The failure likely happened before the OS finished installing.

Read it with CMTrace, not Notepad

CMTrace (included with the SCCM console/toolkit) color-codes errors and warnings and lets you follow a specific thread of execution, which is nearly essential given how verbose this log gets. Plain text editors make it much harder to spot the actual failure point among thousands of routine log lines.

What to actually search for

Search for “failed” first. The specific step name appears right before it. Then look at the actual error code reported; SCCM error codes are frequently just standard Windows/Win32 error codes in disguise, so 0x80070002 for instance means “file not found” at the Win32 level, often pointing to a missing driver or package source file rather than an SCCM-specific problem. Cross-referencing the hex code against a Win32 error code list frequently gets you further than searching the SCCM error code alone.

The most common real causes

Content not available on the local distribution point (check the DP’s content status first, before assuming a script or driver problem), a driver package incompatible with the exact hardware model, and expired boot image certificates after an SCCM upgrade are the three causes that account for the large majority of task sequence failures in practice.

For official guidance, see Microsoft’s Configuration Manager documentation.