How to fix SCCM Boot Image Distribution Error 0x80070003

Recently, one of the users reported an issue related to SCCM boot image distribution error 0x80070003. He tried distributing the boot images to PXE enabled distribution point, but it failed.

The distribution point server had many drive partitions and there were no errors while installing DP role. Below listed is some information about the issue and fix for it.

The user tried following steps to resolve error 0x80070003.

• Deleted all the content off the distribution point.
• Removed the distribution point role.
• Uninstalled WDS service on server.
• Place a no_sms_on_drive.sms on a secondary drive that previously contained some DP files in the server so that all DP files were on one drive.
• Restarted Server.
• Created the DP in SCCM console.

However, the above steps didn’t work. The SCCM Boot image distribution error 0x80070003 was still observed. When the distribution point role was reinstalled the same issue came up. Looking at the distmgr.log file revealed the following.

Successfully created directory \\server\SMSPKGM$\P0100002 for package P0100002.
user(NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM) running application(SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER)
\\?\M:\SMSPKGSIG\P0100002.20 could not be located
Failed to get RDC signature path for for package P0100002 version 20. Error = 2
Copying package P0100002 to the package share location SMSPKGM$\P0100002 on the server
CContentDefinition::ExpandContentDefinitionItems failed; 0x80070003
 CContentDefinition::Expand failed; 0x80070003
Failed to expand package P0100002 to \\?\M:\SMSPKGM$\P0100002.E
Error code = 0x80070003
Error occurred. Performing error cleanup prior to returning.
All DP threads have completed for package P0100002 processing thread.

Fix SCCM Boot Image Distribution Error 0x80070003

The SCCM Boot image distribution error 0x80070003 can be fixed by deleting the NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS file from the drive. Copying a boot image to a PXE enabled Distribution Point in SCCM fails if a NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS file is located on the same partition on which the Content Library is located.

What is NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS file? – This file prevents Configuration Manager from installing files on a specific drive. Just create an empty file named NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS. Place it on drive and SCCM won’t install the binaries for the configuration manager components.