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    You are at:Home»Enterprise Mobility»Configuration Manager»SCCM 2012 R2: Where is the SMSTS.log located?

    SCCM 2012 R2: Where is the SMSTS.log located?

    7
    By Ronni Pedersen on August 12, 2014 Configuration Manager, Enterprise Mobility, Windows Deployment

    Allmost every time I get a call from a customer, or want to answer a question in the TechNet Forums about OS Deployment, I always start by asking for logfiles.

    There are MANY log files when it comes to ConfigMgr 2012 R2, and most of them are normally located in the same folder every time you need them. But when you are troubleshooting OS Deployment using, one of the most common log files you almost always want to check, is the SMSTS.log. And this log file is moving around depending on the phase of the deployment process.

    There are plenty of blogs out there about the location of the SMSTS.log, but most of them are not up-to-date (The log files are on longer placed under System32 or SysWOW for 64-bit clients), so here you go:

    Phase Location
    Windows PE
    (Before the hard disk are formatted)
    x:\windows\temp\smstslog\smsts.log
    Windows PE
    (After the hard disk are formatted)
    x:\smstslog\smsts.log and copied to c:\_SMSTaskSequence\Logs\Smstslog\smsts.log
    Windows Operating System
    (Before the SCCM client is installed)
    c:\_SMSTaskSequence\Logs\Smstslog\smsts.log
    Windows Operating System
    (After the SCCM client is installed)
    c:\windows\ccm\logs\Smstslog\smsts.log
    Windows Operating System
    (When the Task Sequence is complete)
    c:\windows\ccm\logs\smsts.log

    /Enjoy.

    +Ronni Pedersen


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    Ronni Pedersen
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    My name is Ronni Pedersen and I'm currently working as a Cloud Architect at APENTO in Denmark. My primary focus is Enterprise Client Management solutions, based on technologies like AzureAD, Intune, EMS and System Center Configuration Manager. I'm is also a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Microsoft MVP in Enterprise Mobility.

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    7 Comments

    1. Arek on November 28, 2017 03:20

      it was very helpful in troubleshooting tas sequence errors.

      Reply
    2. Aaron on March 6, 2019 06:42

      None of those locations exist on this server…

      Reply
      • Ronni Pedersen on March 19, 2019 18:22

        It’s not on the server. The logfiles are on the client.

        Reply
    3. Bartosz Mikulski on April 9, 2019 10:39

      Is smsts.log located on one of these paths only when the SCCM client is already installed on client machine or it is not relevant ?

      Reply
      • Ronni Pedersen on July 24, 2019 18:35

        Or in Windows PE…

        Reply
    4. tom on May 3, 2019 21:08

      oddly, the only place I found this smsts.log file is on the first pathway, which says pre-formatting. Yet the issue im having is that after the second boot, it comes up to the windows boot screen, but then fails to bring up windows, and then just restarts the computer. Seems the log should be somewhere on the c; drive in ccm folder. thanks for any thoughts

      Reply
    5. timofey efimov on July 15, 2020 11:01

      Thank you!

      Reply
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    About
    My name i s Ronni Pedersen and I'm currently working as a Cloud Architect at APENTO in Denmark. My primary focus is Endpoint Management and Security, based on Microsoft technologies. I'm also a Microsoft Certified Trainer and a dual Microsoft MVP in both Security and Windows.
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