WDS (2008) Deployment Error communicating with the Windows Deployment Server

This worked just *fine* yesterday…

Today, while attempting to deploy a WinXP image from my (WinSvr 2008) Windows Deployment Server, I am getting the following error message which occurs (in the GUI) after WindowsPE has loaded:

“WdsClient: An error occured while communicating with the Windows Deployment Services Server”

I found another article which references the same error message (article ID 24086631) and have performed some of the same troubleshooting steps listed therein as follows:

- I have turned on WDS logging and see messages in the WDS Diagnostics Operational log which indicate that the client successfully downloads boot.sdi, boot.wim, and wgl4_boot.ttf (located in the boot\fonts folder). the wgl4_boot.ttf file is the last one listed.

- I ran netstat and don’t see a active RCP connection

- After the process errors out, I run IPCONFIG to see what the IP address is and it’s looks like an APIPA address (169.254.x.x). This is strange since I know that earlier in the process (from looking at the WDS logs), the client machine had a 192.168.x.x IP address and now it doesn’t…?!?

- I turn off the Windows Firewall on the WDS server but the problem persists.

- Lastly, I look at the Panther setuperr and setupact logs and they are blank.

Does anyone out there have any ideas what could be causing this? As I mentioned, this worked yesterday and *nothing* has changed within my environment. I am about ready to call Microsoft PSS about this.

THANKS in advance for any help you can provide!

issue seems to have resolved itself…?!