[Solved] WinPe PXE on PXELinux

[snoopinator]

Hi all

I'm tryning to boot winpe with a third party pxe server (pxelinux). when i'm booting, i only get the bootmgr telling there is an error with the file \boot\BCD : "An error occured while attempting to read the boot configuration data".

The error code is : 0xc000000f

I tried to boot on pxe the same files and folders with a windows tftpd32 server => success

The Linux TFTP server reports no errors, the file seems to be well downloaded.

Does anyone know how to solve this to boot under pxelinux ?

Thanks

Damien

Edited November 5, 2007 by snoopinator

[zorphnog]

Are using pxelinux on a Windows or Linux server?

I use pxelinux as my boot loader and menu on a Windows 2003 server in conjunction with tftpd32. I've had no problems. If you are attempting this on a Linux server using a built-in tftp server then I'm not sure I can help you, although it seems that tftp is working since you are able to execute the bootmgr.

I will say that I have ran into this issue sporadically when burning a PE DVD with ghost image files. I was never able to figure out the cause, but it seemed as if as soon as I had over 4GB on the disc the message you are receiving would appear. Its very sporadic though, as sometimes I get the message and sometimes I don't.

Have you edited your BCD at all?

[snoopinator]

PXELinux is used on a linux server. The TFTP server always worked fine before, continue to work with other pxe systems (ie : powerquest) and it has just been updated to the latest version.

I've been editing the BCD file myself , here it is :

Windows Boot Manager

--------------------

identifier {bootmgr}

description Boot Manager

displayorder {b04847ad-895d-11dc-a497-005056c00008}

timeout 5

Windows Boot Loader

-------------------

identifier {b04847ad-895d-11dc-a497-005056c00008}

device ramdisk=[boot]\boot\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions}

description WinPE x86

osdevice ramdisk=[boot]\boot\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions}

systemroot \Windows

detecthal Yes

winpe Yes

Setup Ramdisk Options

---------------------

identifier {ramdiskoptions}

description Ramdisk options

ramdisksdidevice boot

ramdisksdipath \boot\boot.sdi

I've also tried the default BCD file given with WAIK ... the error is still the same ...

I was thinking of a path problem, the thing is that i don't know if the pxelinux act like tftpd32 with the path. I had to tick something like "allow \ as virtual root". Maybe pxelinux does not support this.

I was just looking at an ethereal trace of communication between the server and the client. I note that some files can't be accessed despite there're all present ... (see attachment)

I'll try to remove the first backslash of \Boot\BCD that is hardcoded in the bootmgr.exe. If anyone has a procedure...

Thanks for your help

Edited November 2, 2007 by snoopinator

[spy]

We're currently running WinPE 1.6 and 2.0 over PXELinux. We've been doing it for a very long time, even hex editing the files before the BCDs were in place. There are a few things you might want to ensure are put in place.

You need to edit/create /etc/tftpd.rules and add this entry to it:

rg \\ / # Converts backslashes to slashes

That will fix any path problems you have because of the difference between the slashes Windows and Linux uses.

Also you need to ensure the paths are all the correct case, otherwise you'll have issues. (Boot worked for us, we had issues with lower case boot)

[snoopinator]

Actually i thought about rewriting the TFTP request : \Boot\BCD to Boot\BCD as i'm not able to modify the bootmgr.exe , i think that keeping those slashes would cause errors.

I'll do that on Monday. Thanks for your reply, i'll let you know the result of this.

Have a good we.

Damien

Edited November 2, 2007 by snoopinator

[snoopinator]

Thanks a lot spy !! It's working fine now !

We've just upgraded the version of the tftp server (the old one didn't support remap files). Then just added the line for the replacement of backslash and it's booting ...

Thanks again !

[spy]

No problem, glad to see it's working.

[Jazkal]

Anyone else seeing issues with the new RTM version of WinPE v2.1 (Windows 2008) boot loader?