Metzen Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 (edited) Just going over some WinPE 2.0 stuff... I haven't tried anything out yet.It appears WinPE 2.0 can reboot to the memtest...? It's included in the default image under:mount\Windows\Boot\PCATAnyways... Just doing some idle thinking about this problem. I use PXELinux for a menu based system at work for floppy diagnostic utilities and such. We use WinPE as well. PXELinux has been great thus far as a solution. PXE boot files for WinPE 2.0 are located here:mount\Windows\Boot\PXENotice the .12 files are similiar to startrom.12 files that we'd rename for the PXELinux kernel?Here's an image detailing the boot procedure in technical (see attached).PXEBoot.com (startrom.com) is the loader, then passes off to bootmgr for a menu system (is my understanding?).Will experiment and post results tomorrow.Nevermind. All information is found in the WAIK.http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=84688 Edited November 29, 2006 by Metzen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bj-kaiser Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 Any idea if you can start the PE 2.0 loader from a PXElinux menu?All of my tests, booting PXELinux from TFTPd32 and calling \Boot\pxeboot.com (the one that was .n12 before) led to nothing. No errors, maybe a reboot if i pressed F12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pankajtakawale Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 Any idea if you can start the PE 2.0 loader from a PXElinux menu?All of my tests, booting PXELinux from TFTPd32 and calling \Boot\pxeboot.com (the one that was .n12 before) led to nothing. No errors, maybe a reboot if i pressed F12.i never tried this. but memdisk is a RAMDisk based dos boot image.Give it a try - replace memdisk by pxeboot.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bj-kaiser Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 i never tried this. but memdisk is a RAMDisk based dos boot image.Give it a try - replace memdisk by pxeboot.commy understanding was that MEMDisk is a RAMDisk driver that loads a floppy image you point it to. If I set the bootfile on the DHCP server to pxeboot.com all is working ok. But what I want is to add Windows PE 2.0 to my existing PXELinux menu. So I tried adding a entry containing only "KERNEL \Boot\pxeboot.com", which does not work for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyor Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 Any idea if you can start the PE 2.0 loader from a PXElinux menu?All of my tests, booting PXELinux from TFTPd32 and calling \Boot\pxeboot.com (the one that was .n12 before) led to nothing. No errors, maybe a reboot if i pressed F12.It works. That are the installation steps that i have made. I tried it with the RTM VersionHere come my small guide on how to do it:1. Create a directory named "C:\PXE" (any other location or name is alsofine)2. create 2 subdirectories within this directory: "boot" and "sources"3. copy pxeboot.com (or pxeboot.n12) to "boot" (This one can be found in thePE sources, you need to mount or apply one PEWIM in order to get it.)4. copy the BCD from the setupDVD to "boot"5. copy the boot.sdi (from the Setup DVD) to "boot"6. copy the bootmgr.exe to \ (so in this case "C:\PXE")7. copy the "boot.wim" to "sourcesCofigure the DHCP & TFTPD server:1. set the TFTPD root to "C:\PXE"2. set the DCHP bootfile to /boot/pxeboot.com (or pxeboot.n12)Done!!!So in case you wnat to use PXELINUX you should add:# PE 2.0label xpe2MENU label Windows PE 2.0kernel /boot/pxeboot.0to your config file and rename pxeboot.n12 to pxeboot.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pankajtakawale Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 Hi Metezen,can you post microsoftTechnet url for the ppt (ur attachement). or any other link which describes winpe 2.0 booting internals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bj-kaiser Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 thanks for all your help, I got it working now. It involved adding re-write rules to the tftp server but finally it works. I had to use rewriting cause I like to sort the files in my tftp-root the way I think it's right. This way I could stuff everything belonging to PE 2.0 in its own folder in the tftp path. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deman Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 Hi there,I was originally using Windows Deployment Services to provide the booting but thanks to you guys I'm able to cut all that out in favour of something giving me far greater control.Anyway for whatever reason I'm unable to load WinPE 2 through pxelinux. I've tried appending KERNEL \Boot\pxeboot.0 (renamed pxeboot.n12) to the default.0 config file but all I end up getting is tftp download failed, press any key to reboot.I've even tried using /Boot/pxeboot.0 to see if that would work, but still came with the same errorRemembering unix/linux is case sensitive I checked the casing of both the command and filename but that's fineIf I cut out pxelinux completely and simply set the DHCP bootfile name to be \Boot\pxeboot.n12 it works fine so TFTP is definetly able to find the file, it's just there seems to be a broken link of sorts when pxelinux gets involved.Does anybody have any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bj-kaiser Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 do you have a log from the TFTP server?And post the relevant directory structure of your TFTP share. Probably it's just a missing file or wrong directory names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pankajtakawale Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 thanks for all your help, I got it working now. It involved adding re-write rules to the tftp server but finally it works. I had to use rewriting cause I like to sort the files in my tftp-root the way I think it's right. This way I could stuff everything belonging to PE 2.0 in its own folder in the tftp path.did you replace initrd by pxeboot.0 or kernel?can you elaborate your configuration bit? Im trying to boot winpe 2.0 from pxelinux. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pankajtakawale Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 thanks for all your help, I got it working now. It involved adding re-write rules to the tftp server but finally it works. I had to use rewriting cause I like to sort the files in my tftp-root the way I think it's right. This way I could stuff everything belonging to PE 2.0 in its own folder in the tftp path.did you replace initrd by pxeboot.0 or kernel?can you elaborate your configuration bit? Im trying to boot winpe 2.0 from pxelinux.Here is my understanding about pxelinux:- it is proxy dhcp server, so it must be telling PXEClient boot file name (i.e. pxelinux.0)-once pxelinux.0 starts running at client side, it reads pxelinux.cfg/AppropriateConfigClientFile- then pxelinux.0 loads image (say initrd.img) with the help of memdisk (memdisk is just used as a RAM disk driver)Is it correct?I want to boot Windows PE 2.0 from pxelinux.I was trying to boot pxeboot.0 (renamed pxeboot.n12 - windows pe network boot program) using pxelinux.i tried following configurations but failed:1. kernel boot/pxeboot.0 initrd=somegarbage kepxe2. kernel memdisk initrd=boot\pxeboot.0 kepxeCan someone please advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pankajtakawale Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 thanks for all your help, I got it working now. It involved adding re-write rules to the tftp server but finally it works. I had to use rewriting cause I like to sort the files in my tftp-root the way I think it's right. This way I could stuff everything belonging to PE 2.0 in its own folder in the tftp path.did you replace initrd by pxeboot.0 or kernel?can you elaborate your configuration bit? Im trying to boot winpe 2.0 from pxelinux.Here is my understanding about pxelinux:- it is proxy dhcp server, so it must be telling PXEClient boot file name (i.e. pxelinux.0)-once pxelinux.0 starts running at client side, it reads pxelinux.cfg/AppropriateConfigClientFile- then pxelinux.0 loads image (say initrd.img) with the help of memdisk (memdisk is just used as a RAM disk driver)Is it correct?I want to boot Windows PE 2.0 from pxelinux.I was trying to boot pxeboot.0 (renamed pxeboot.n12 - windows pe network boot program) using pxelinux.i tried following configurations but failed:1. kernel boot/pxeboot.0 initrd=somegarbage kepxe2. kernel memdisk initrd=boot\pxeboot.0 kepxeCan someone please advice?I could do it. I was placing files at wring location under tftproot.One should specify following configuration:kernel \boot\pxeboot.0initrd=somegarbage kepxeboot folder must be located under tftp-root Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deman Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 do you have a log from the TFTP server?And post the relevant directory structure of your TFTP share. Probably it's just a missing file or wrong directory names.Hi, of course. Sorry I should of included it beforeUnfortunetly I don't have a TFTP server log (that i'm aware of anyway). It's the Server 2003 TFTP service pulled out of the RIS installationThe structure isTFTP rootD:\Imaging\TFTPRelevent Files and Folders\Boot\pxelinux.cfg\Sourcesmemdiskmenu.c32pxelinux.0The root folder has Windows deployment services & BDD folders etc in there tooInside Boot isbcd, boot.sdi, bootmgr.exe, hdlscom1.com, hdlscom1.n12, hdlscom2.com, hdlscom2.n12, pxeboot.com, pxeboot.0, WdsConfig.inf, wdsnbp.com & winpe.wimInside the Sources folder is BOOT.WIM and the pxelinux.cfg\default file is currentlyDEFAULT menu.c32PROMPT 0NOESCAPE 0ALLOWOPTIONS 0TIMEOUT 50MENU TITLE PXE servicesLABEL Imaging KERNEL \Boot\pxeboot.0LABEL Boot to local hard drive localboot 0Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bj-kaiser Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 well, can't help you much there. My TFTP server is aTFTPd on OpenSuSE.Didn't the Windows TFTP service have some sort of log?You could easily figure out missing files if you have the TFTP log. When i had this "TFTP download failed" errors, it was always a file missing in the TFTP folder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deman Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 (edited) Not that i've seen yet. I've looked in the Event viewer but I suppose with Microsoft they could be logging anywhere. Plus I've had it working with just directly linking \Boot\pxeboot.n12 to the PXE bootfile option in DHCP.Thanks anyway Edited December 13, 2006 by Deman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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