Fix Skipping Task Sequence because it is not active yet

After performing the SCCM upgrade, I noticed that the deployed task sequence did not appear in the list of available task sequences. In the smsts.log, I noticed the message Skipping Task Sequence because it is not active yet. Let us look at why this problem occurs and how you can solve it.

After updating the latest Windows ADK for SCCM, I updated the boot images and assigned a new task sequence for deploying the Windows 11 OS. Upon booting up a PXE client, I did not see my new task sequence appear at all.

When you deploy a new task sequence to a collection in SCCM and when the PXE client boots up with a message that there are no task sequences available, you will need to review the smsts.log to determine the root cause. Remember that during OSD, the location of SMSTS log keeps changing.

Fix Skipping Task Sequence because it is not active yet

The OSD issue ‘Skipping Task Sequence because it is not active yet‘ occurs when you have scheduled the task sequence to become active on a future date. To resolve this issue, change the TS schedule to one day or one hour before the Task Sequence becomes available.

In the below screenshot, the smsts.log reveals that the task sequence has been skipped because it is not active yet. That’s because the active time for the task sequence is configured to be later than current time. And therefore, the PXE client doesn’t have any task sequence to choose from.

The snippet below shows the data from the SMSTS.log. We see “Is active time for task sequence later than current time” which indicates that our task sequence is scheduled to become active at a later date, which should be avoided.

Active daylight bias: 0 min	TSMBootstrap
m_spPolicyObjectNode.selectNode( sXPath, &spValueNode ), HRESULT=80070002 (D:\dbs\sh\cmgm\0502_134106\cmd\1f\src\Framework\TSCore\tspolicy.cpp,2933)	TSMBootstrap
Is active time for MCM00041 task sequence later than current time? Current time: 2024-10-16 11:11:32.421. Active time: 2024-11-01 11:07:00.000.
Skipping task sequence MCM00041 because it is not active yet.
Retrieving collection variable policy.	TSMBootstrap
Found 0 collection variables.	TSMBootstrap
Retrieving machine variable policy.
Found 0 machine variables.
Setting collection variables in the task sequencing environment.
Setting machine variables in the task sequencing environment.
Exiting TSMediaWizardControl::GetPolicy.
Running Wizard in Interactive mode

Modify Schedule for Deployed Task Sequence

While deploying a new task sequence, SCCM will automatically schedule when the deployment will be available, setting the date and time to your current time. If you are going to set a custom schedule for task sequence, the deployment availability time cannot be less than the current time minus one day.

Unless you have scheduled the task sequence to appear on a specific date and time, the task sequence should appear on the TS selection screen upon booting the PXE client with the F12 key.

In this section, I will show you how to modify the scheduling options for the task sequence that is deployed to a collection. Configuring a correct schedule will fix the skipping task sequence because it is not active yet as discussed above.

In the Configuration Manager console, go to Software Library > Operating Systems > Task Sequences. Select the task sequence and click on the Deployments tab (bottom pane). Right-click on the TS deployment and select Properties. Switch to the Scheduling tab and here you can modify the schedule for the deployed task sequence.

Note: If you schedule a start time for a required deployment that’s earlier than the date and time when the task sequence is available, the Configuration Manager client downloads the content at the assigned start time. This behavior occurs even though you scheduled the task sequence to be available at a later time.

After specifying the correct TS schedule, restart the PXE responder service once. Now, reboot the client and press F12 key for PXE boot. You should see your task sequence on the selection screen.