For Specific Patches, it is more often or not an issue with the patch.  If you look at the Vendors Article for the patch, they will often have troubleshooting documentation.  While it's possible a Patch could be created with a incorrect syntax, that is uncommon.

In rare cases I've seen content get altered coming through FWs etc....so perhaps find the source file on your On Demand Content server and verify the Signature and/or MD5 and see if it matches what you get manually downloading the patch.....We do have some checks built in, but it's still possible.

As far as the Remediate error, that is a generic error so it's hard to say.....

Server FTF 96 is the current patch level, but FTF 97 should is next out the door and will include a couple minor ZPM issues seen by a small minority of the customers....Not quite sure why by we added in extra error handling to avoid some issues.  I'm not sure if there will be any related agent patches....

Once FTF 97 ships I can let you know...But if I had to guess...it will not be your issue as MOST were not seeing the issue....

--

For a PC that gets the error, does it self-resolve?

If you run "zac ps --complete" do you get errors?  If so does rebooting and running again let it run successfully?

(Note: This new command runs everything needed to patch including ensuring the latest DAU is applied.)

Of course, checking AV Exclusions can help...it's possible that AV/Security Software is getting in the way....It's unusual but can happen.  But that would be down the line.

for self-help in regard to logs troubleshooting:  When remediate fails, it leaves behind a folder under %ZENWORKS_HOME%\zpm\stage\guid where guid is the id of the patch that failed, for example 00043303-0000-0000-0000-000000000000

(note for making support cases, zeninfo does also pick up these folders)

Within the state/guid folder is a logs folder.  In my experience the best logs to start with are STDeploy.log and STDeployerCore.log which typically contain information about the error that was returned by deployment.

Depending on the patch, the stage folder may also contain files of interest such as the actual patch binary file, bat or other script with deploy commands etc.

hmm, this AutoCAD patch was successful to about half those deployed to, and so far no mention of issues elsewhere on that patch.  But sadly, I don't have access to those having issues currently for that deeper dive today.  Will watch for if they clear after any restarts, as those AutoCAD errors are repeating every couple of hours, whereas the remediate.exe error was only on four of them just after initial deploy

I now see how that zac command runs on a clean box, so ready for when I can get to the troublesome ones.
   it even ran on the Win 7 vm we still have for a couple of apps.

FTF version, any point in installing?  I haven't done anything in that direction yet.

Thank you, Susan,  Now I really want to get my paws on some of those systems, now to see when I can manage that.

A client site where disrupting the primary production staff (all those pounding at AutoCAD and/or Revit) is so limited. <sigh>  It is rare I can do a Nick Burns "Move!" or more likely, "let me drive to figure that out" with them.

remediate -1 could be caused by other conditions, it's generic.  

Below is the changelog from ftf 96 in case it helps.  I believe 97 is scheduled to have more patch fixes as well (not out yet)

ZCM 23.4.0 Server Side FTF
Serial Number: 8

Defect Fixed Info:
ZCM_23.4.0_FTF_Server_96
OCTCR40D771069 - Post deleting an SU after prepare at awaiting authorization state does not allow us to re-import same or new update
OCTCR40D766029 - ZENworks ZCC 403 Forbidden message remove identifiable information
OCTCR40D706015 - Many ERI files found in ZCC for ZENworks FDE encrypted devices.
OCTCR40D737039 - Migrated Patch, the Update Now is returning a Failed status each time we try to update the patch metadata
OCTCR40D758026 - Random Content Download errors 404/503 for the patch contents
OCTCR40D634005 - Calculation of thread pools seems to be off
OCTCR40D748016 - "DeviceTimeSyncError" seen after upgrading to ZCM appliance 23.4
OCTCR40D752007 - pre-fetch occurs for all patches in the rule - not just those applicable to devices
OCTCR40D770090 - The system update workflow should use device authentication instead of OSP authentication for ZeUS requests
(zenclient-mgmt-23.4.0.95-patch.tar.gz zenadmin-mgmt-23.4.0.96-patch.tar.gz zencore-23.4.0.96-patch.tar.gz patch-management-23.4.0.96-patch.tar.gz zen-api-gateway-23.4.0.96-patch.tar.gz
zenhost-linux-23.4.0.94-patch.tar.gz zenhost-windows-23.4.0.92-patch.tar.gz tftp-23.4.0.91-patch.tar.gz pbserv-23.4.0.91-patch.tar.gz)

ZCM_23.4.0_FTF_Server_95
OCTCR40D745026 - Active Sync email smartforward is send twice to the recipient
OCTCR40D758003 - ZPM Advanced Feed - ZCC not populating the patches tab of patch Policies with custom patches
(zenclient-mgmt-23.4.0.95-patch.tar.gz zenadmin-mgmt-23.4.0.92-patch.tar.gz zencore-23.4.0.95-patch.tar.gz zenhost-linux-23.4.0.94-patch.tar.gz zenhost-windows-23.4.0.92-patch.tar.gz tftp-23.4.0.91-patch.tar.gz
pbserv-23.4.0.91-patch.tar.gz)

ZCM_23.4.0_FTF_Server_94
OCTCR40D750022 - ZCM - 23.4 appliance online upgrade registration not working
(zenclient-mgmt-23.4.0.93-patch.tar.gz zenadmin-mgmt-23.4.0.92-patch.tar.gz zencore-23.4.0.92-patch.tar.gz zenhost-linux-23.4.0.94-patch.tar.gz zenhost-windows-23.4.0.92-patch.tar.gz tftp-23.4.0.91-patch.tar.gz
pbserv-23.4.0.91-patch.tar.gz)

ZCM_23.4.0_FTF_Server_93
OCTCR40D748009 - After applying Server FTF-92 on 23.4 On-Demand content download fails intermittently
(zenclient-mgmt-23.4.0.93-patch.tar.gz zenadmin-mgmt-23.4.0.92-patch.tar.gz zencore-23.4.0.92-patch.tar.gz zenhost-linux-23.4.0.92-patch.tar.gz zenhost-windows-23.4.0.92-patch.tar.gz tftp-23.4.0.91-patch.tar.gz
pbserv-23.4.0.91-patch.tar.gz)

ZCM_23.4.0_FTF_Server_92
OCTCR40D740008 - API Gateway crashed and CPU high
OCTCR40D727039 - Ondemand content not following throttle rates when multiple devices are pulling down content.
OCTCR40D714002 - Windows 11 Readiness Report is throwing an Error
OCTCR40D716008 - zman sucp is failing with null pointer exception.
OCTCR40D634013 - "Notify all devices within X minutes" is not working the way it used to
OCTCR40D735037 - ZPM Advanced Feed - only 55 servers out of 365 servers have run a DAU scan since updating to the advanced feed
OCTCR40D560010 - Patch download not happening for Skype patches
OCTCR40D615035 - ZPM Advanced Feed - Custom Patch Applicability Requirements seem to be being ignored All devices not patched
(zenclient-mgmt-23.4.0.92-patch.tar.gz zenadmin-mgmt-23.4.0.92-patch.tar.gz zencore-23.4.0.92-patch.tar.gz zenhost-linux-23.4.0.92-patch.tar.gz zenhost-windows-23.4.0.92-patch.tar.gz tftp-23.4.0.91-patch.tar.gz
pbserv-23.4.0.91-patch.tar.gz)

ZCM_23.4.0_FTF_Server_91
OCTCR40D693002 - OpenSSL library upgrade to 3.0.12
OCTCR40D726008 - Restart required to allow imaging to work
(zenclient-mgmt-23.4.0.89-patch.tar.gz zenadmin-mgmt-23.4.0.91-patch.tar.gz zencore-23.4.0.89-patch.tar.gz zenhost-linux-23.4.0.91-patch.tar.gz zenhost-windows-23.4.0.91-patch.tar.gz tftp-23.4.0.91-patch.tar.gz
pbserv-23.4.0.91-patch.tar.gz)

ZCM_23.4.0_FTF_Server_90
OCTCR40D722060 - Support MacOS Sonoma as a managed device for ZENworks 23.4
(zenclient-mgmt-23.4.0.89-patch.tar.gz zencore-23.4.0.89-patch.tar.gz zenhost-linux-23.4.0.90-patch.tar.gz zenhost-windows-23.4.0.90-patch.tar.gz)

ZCM_23.4.0_FTF_Server_89
OCTCR40D715007 - Improper User Management on a ZENworks managed device with DLU policy and Novell Client installed
OCTCR40D710034 - After upgrade from 20.3 to 23.3 can't see bundles and Polices from ZCC Assignments
(zenclient-mgmt-23.4.0.89-patch.tar.gz zencore-23.4.0.89-patch.tar.gz)