JSmith

Has anyone tried this or been marginally successful making WDS work bootin WinPE 1.6 (2003 sp1)... We are missing something, probably configuration within the BCD. Anyhow, any word if this is even possible? If only PE2.0 supported nonacpi devices I wouldn't be doing such crazy things.

Ok, the first thing you'll want to do is change the kernel to pxeboot.com - which you'll want to rename to pxeboot.0. If you don't want to hit F12, you can rename the file called pxeboot.n12 to pxeboot.0 and use that. Are you using the BCD from a Vista install disk or following the manual that has you create your own? I found the manual method to be significantly more complex to do, but it works. using the one from the Vista install CD is easier, but the directory structure must be different. So let us know what your structure is and what BCD and try that out for the kernel!

Hi guys, here is a tough one for you. I am creating a PXE based rebuild solution and I am running out of options. PE2 worked great on most of the devices in my environment but requires ACPI support. Unfortunately I have an older device model that isn't ready to be replaced that needs to be part of my solution. So I am working with BartPE(SDI method) and PE1.6(ISO method), both of them exhibit the same basic issue, and only on this one device model, it works great on the other 5-6. When I PXE boot the device I get one of 3 results, and its a roll of the dice every time it boots up. 1.) The boot process freezes at the "Please Wait..." bar. 2.) The boot process freezes after booting into PE/Bart, but freezes while loading the networking portion. 3.) Passes the networking portion, and works fine until rebooted - next time we roll the dice again. I've tried different versions of the network drivers from both the manufacturer of the system/motherboard and the chip maker. The hardware is an IBM POS Device model 4694-247. I'm stumped, if you have any ideas please throw them at me! Thanks, John

That did the trick, thanks!

Awesome thanks. With that tip and a little help from a network trace I am now booting! Thanks a ton for your help! On a side note, is there a way to bypass the need to press F12 to PXE boot? It seems to freeze up all the time if you don't press F12 fast enough, and to me that extra key press is an annoyance anyway since I already have the pxelinux menu. Thanks again! John

I'm not 100% sure i'd know what to do with the logs, but perhaps my network guy would. I am going to try a newer version of pxelinux, the one we are using is dated 09/2005 and there are newer versions.

Hrm, so far no go. Are you guys using pxelinux? I am guessing thats where my complications are comming from, but man it will make things more difficult without it.

Cool, thanks for the ideas, I'll test em out!

I'm getting the 'txtsetup.sif is corrupted or missing' error. after it pulls the whole file down. I am currently using an ISO instead of the WIM as well, but can go either way. If my understanding is correct, txtsetup.sif isn't even used in PE2.

Bump to see if anyone has any ideas. I've been working with Microsoft on making a "flat file" method work, but thus far haven't been able to make either method work. In PXELINUX what would you use as the kernel for booting this? This is where I am stuck and I am not sure Microsoft understands the workings of PXELINUX enough to answer.

Alright, I'll try that out. Thanks!

Hello guys, and thanks for reading this in advance. I decided rather than semi-hijacking other peoples threads to just make a new one. So here is my situation. I've seen and tried to follow some other peoples work here, and it has helped me get *almost* everything I need I believe, but I am missing something yet to get this to PXE boot PE2. For starters, here is my ftp root directory, files and files in subdirectorys. I've tried the shotgun effect in this case so almost all files are in the root and the boot directories. tftpdroot\abortpxe.com tftpdroot\BCD tftpdroot\boot tftpdroot\boot.sdi tftpdroot\BOOTFIX.BIN tftpdroot\bootmgr.exe tftpdroot\display.msg tftpdroot\en-US tftpdroot\hdlscom1.com tftpdroot\hdlscom1.n12 tftpdroot\hdlscom2.com tftpdroot\hdlscom2.n12 tftpdroot\P.imz tftpdroot\pxeboot.0 tftpdroot\pxeboot.com tftpdroot\pxeboot.n12 tftpdroot\pxelinux.0 tftpdroot\pxelinux.cfg tftpdroot\SETUPLDR.BIN tftpdroot\startrom.0 tftpdroot\startrom.com tftpdroot\startrom.n12 tftpdroot\WdsConfig.inf tftpdroot\wdsnbp.0 tftpdroot\wdsnbp.com tftpdroot\winpe.wim tftpdroot\winpe_x86.iso tftpdroot\boot\abortpxe.com tftpdroot\boot\BCD tftpdroot\boot\bootmgr.0 tftpdroot\boot\bootmgr.exe tftpdroot\boot\en-US tftpdroot\boot\hdlscom1.com tftpdroot\boot\hdlscom1.n12 tftpdroot\boot\hdlscom2.com tftpdroot\boot\hdlscom2.n12 tftpdroot\boot\pxeboot.0 tftpdroot\boot\pxeboot.com tftpdroot\boot\pxeboot.n12 tftpdroot\boot\WdsConfig.inf tftpdroot\boot\wdsnbp.0 tftpdroot\boot\wdsnbp.com tftpdroot\boot\WinPE.wim tftpdroot\boot\en-US\bootmgr.exe.mui tftpdroot\en-US\bootmgr.exe.mui tftpdroot\pxelinux.cfg\default tftpdroot\pxelinux.cfg\menu.c32 tftpdroot\pxelinux.cfg\olddefault Next is the lovely "pxelinux.cfg\default" file. Some contents ommited that are irrelevant. (I have a load of IMZ files that also boot for other reasons, which are also omitted from the directory structure above) default 1 timeout 50 implicit 0 prompt 1 display display.msg label PE KERNEL \boot\wdsnbp.0 LABEL LOCAL localboot 0 As a side note, this may be the root of my problems, maybe not. I can't seem to get two of the commands from the "Configure boot configuration" phase to run correctly, maybe you can provide some input on that. The full script is as follows, the two lines that are commented out are the problem lines. The rest run sucessfully with no error. The first commented line will run sucessfully without the /inherit switch and option. The second line doesnt run at all, for any reason I can tell. I have tried swapping the "-" to a "/" as suggested, but it didn't work for me. I am doing this from a Vista Ultimate machine, so I really shouldnt be missing any functionality... I'm stumped. Bcdedit -createstore c:\BCD Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -create {ramdiskoptions} /d “Ramdiskoptions” Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdidevice boot Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdipath \boot\boot.sdi Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -create {dbgsettings} /d “DebuggerSettings” Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set {dbgsettings} debugtype serial Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set {dbgsettings} baudrate 115200 Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set {dbgsettings} debugport 1 :: NEW GUID CREATED HERE for /f "tokens=1-3" %%a in ('Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -create /d “WinPEBootImage” /application osloader') do SET GUID1=%%c ::Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -create {bootmgr} /d “VISTABootManager” /inherit {dbgsettings} Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set {bootmgr} timeout 30 ::Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set displayorder %GUID1%; Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set %GUID1% systemroot \Windows Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set %GUID1% detecthal Yes Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set %GUID1% winpe Yes Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set %GUID1% osdevice ramdisk=[boot]\Boot\WinPE.wim,{ramdiskoptions} Bcdedit -store c:\BCD -set %GUID1% device ramdisk=[boot]\Boot\WinPE.wim,{ramdiskoptions} I appreciate you guys taking the time to read all this, this forum has provided me a lot of help and you guys are great!

Ahh, that is strange. I'll give it a shot. Thanks for replying!

Yep, you are right. I was looking for it in the WinPE.CHM. Did you have any issues creating the BCD? Even when using the example script lines I get errors on about half of the script lines. Most of them don't like the label, so I took the spaces out and fixed them. but the bootmgr lines don't seem happy no matter what I do. What is the reason for having to create these files with unique GUID's anyhow? Seems like it wouldn't be necessary... but then again I obviously don't fully understand this new version of PE yet. Thanks for your time!

Ahh Strange, My version of the CHM doesn't have that section. I'll download it again here, maybe I just got an older version. Thanks for clearing that up for me!

If you don't mind, what did you do to get PE2 to PXE boot? I've got 1.5 working like a champ from PXE, but I get a "cannot load txtsetup.sif" error with PE2. I assume its because there are different boot files necessary, but I haven't found any documentation as to which files these are. Presumably they are different...

Cool, thanks for the help guys. I ended up getting a hold of a newer copy of PE and windows 2003 and now its working like a champ! I appreciate the help!

Changed the sdi name to PE2005.SDI, same issue. Now, just random thoughts here. Would it be a bad idea to boot the SDI without putting it in the ISO?. So have the SIF file in the PXE root call the SDI directly?

Base OS is XPSP2 as thats what my version of PE was complaining for. I'm not entirely sure what version it is, but the files are all timestamped 8/4/04 12PM. I'm sure I can get a hold of a newer version if necessary, and Server 2003 if needed. Think thats the problem? I'll give the 8.3 naming a shot here, can't hurt.

Ok, I must be missing some detail here. I am getting an error saying I would guess this means that for some reason it doesn't recognize the SDI file and thus can't read it. I'm using the ntdetect.com and setupldr.bin from the win2k3 disc.my directory structure is and my SIF file is exactly as Albuquerque posted, with WINPE2005.SDI as the SDI file. Any ideas? -John

Thanks! I'll try it out!

This seems like a very useful idea potentially, I am toying with this myself - only instead of using from a CD I want to PXE boot it. I get file not found errors when I run in Virtual Machine and havent found a way around it yet. (havent built the backend to PXE it yet) Any ideas or tips?