Diskless booting from a network?

[docmarten]

h there.

Please can someone take pity on a simpleton (me), and help me out.

I have a specific problem. I want to create a diskless desktop client which boots XP from the LAN using PXE.

my problem at the moment is very simple I dont understand what kind of disk image it would be that gets served to the desktop. Is it simply a standard ISO image or do I need special software ?

Once I know the answer to the above I can proceed to try and get my client machine to boot up.

Does anyone know of a simple guide that would walk me through the entire procedure ?

I can find precious little on the web that gives this type of info to relatively inexperienced techies, and even when I searched the forums here I may have overlooked something but cant find the very basics of this question discussed.

I see a lot of people have managed to do it but they dont seem to do a step-by-step howto.

I have Windows Server 2008 if thats any help to know, and I do have a lot of experience in setting up servers but just not in this particular area of booting windows.

thanks very much (in advance) for any help. It is appreciated.

Edited September 14, 2008 by docmarten

[PC_LOAD_LETTER]

depends on what you want to do after you are booted into the OS.

for drive imaging / backup I use:

http://ping.windowsdream.com/

for starting XP setup i have used:

http://winner.windowsdream.com/

there are others but these 2 are the most open ended ive encountered.

AFAIK, there is not away to boot XP itself over PXE just imaging/installers (though im guessing theres a linux thatll do that)

[docmarten]

OK thanks for the info.

I was under the impression that I would be able to boot into windows itself from an image on the network. Perhaps a smaller version than the standard XP pro. I realise I can do installations across the network to client machine with disk drives but maybe I was mistaken or confused when I thought booting to the XP GUI, without resorting to Terminal Services, was possible.

Good links though - thanks geek !

[Tripredacus]

depends on what you want to do after you are booted into the OS.

for drive imaging / backup I use:

http://ping.windowsdream.com/

for starting XP setup i have used:

http://winner.windowsdream.com/

there are others but these 2 are the most open ended ive encountered.

AFAIK, there is not away to boot XP itself over PXE just imaging/installers (though im guessing theres a linux thatll do that)

There are server applications that can load a virtual desktop of XP to thin and thick clients. The only one I know by name is Ardence, now IntervalZero. Here are some infos:

http://www.brianmadden.com/content/article...-Citrix-Servers

http://www.intervalzero.com/rtx.htm

[Mordac85]

fwiw, I have a utility CD I built w/BartPE and I also have the ISO setup in my TFTP server for PXE boots when I don't happen to have my CD w/me.

The problem w/the XP image would be that it would have to be an image of a system that has already been built and run through mini-setup. In the long run, I would think a terminal session would be an easier and faster solution. However, to answer your initial question, yes, in most instances a normal bootable ISO is used for diskless/PXE boots.

As for step by step directions, I'll assume you have a bootable ISO XP image and the necessary permissions to make changes to your servers.

1. Configure a TFTP server in your domain (assumed service name is TFTPD)
   
2. Create the TFTP directory that is a local folder on the TFTP server
   
3. Set the Directory value (REG_SZ) of HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\tftpd\Parameters
   
4. Copy your XP ISO, ntdetect.com, NTLDR & startrom.com to the directory listed above
   
5. Create a test file called winnt.sif in the TFTP directory and include the info below
   
6. Change the name used in the rdpath value to match your ISO filename (no paths, just the filename)
   
7. Configure your DHCP server Option 066 (BootServer HostName) to the FQDN of the TFTP server
   
8. Configure your DHCP server Option 067 (Bootfile Name) to startrom.com
   

[SetupData]
BootDevice = "ramdisk(0)"
BootPath = "\i386\System32\"
OSLoadOptions = "/noguiboot /fastdetect /minint /rdexportascd /rdpath=XP.ISO"

Please note that there are many variations to this that depend on your environment and what you're trying to do, but it's a start.

Edited September 17, 2008 by Mordac85

[Tripredacus]

fwiw, I have a utility CD I built w/BartPE and I also have the ISO setup in my TFTP server for PXE boots when I don't happen to have my CD w/me.

The problem w/the XP image would be that it would have to be an image of a system that has already been built and run through mini-setup. In the long run, I would think a terminal session would be an easier and faster solution. However, to answer your initial question, yes, in most instances a normal bootable ISO is used for diskless/PXE boots.

As for step by step directions, I'll assume you have a bootable ISO XP image and the necessary permissions to make changes to your servers.

1. Configure a TFTP server in your domain (assumed service name is TFTPD)
   
2. Create the TFTP directory that is a local folder on the TFTP server
   
3. Set the Directory value (REG_SZ) of HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\tftpd\Parameters
   
4. Copy your XP ISO, ntdetect.com, NTLDR & startrom.com to the directory listed above
   
5. Create a test file called winnt.sif in the TFTP directory and include the info below
   
6. Change the name used in the rdpath value to match your ISO filename (no paths, just the filename)
   
7. Configure your DHCP server Option 066 (BootServer HostName) to the FQDN of the TFTP server
   
8. Configure your DHCP server Option 067 (Bootfile Name) to startrom.com
   

[SetupData]
BootDevice = "ramdisk(0)"
BootPath = "\i386\System32\"
OSLoadOptions = "/noguiboot /fastdetect /minint /rdexportascd /rdpath=XP.ISO"

Please note that there are many variations to this that depend on your environment and what you're trying to do, but it's a start.

Would a similar setup allow me to boot an ISO off the network that was basically an unattended XP Install CD?

[Mordac85]

I assume so, as long as you don't need to refer to the install sources after the first reboot. But then again, isn't that much the same as RIS or BDD? Seems like you'd be reinventing the wheel.

[Tripredacus]

I assume so, as long as you don't need to refer to the install sources after the first reboot. But then again, isn't that much the same as RIS or BDD? Seems like you'd be reinventing the wheel.

RIS isn't an option for me and I can't get BDD to work properly.