PXE boot and transfer image from an XP Pro PC

[Jason Krause]

Hello all,

I have read some posts about this, but I am still unclear which route to go based on what we are
trying to do.

We are going to be producing 50 or so devices, over a three month period, which will have our most
recent XPE image on them.
Our image will be created by putting one on a target machine, installing all of our applications,
then resealing that image.
The produced devices will not have a floppy drive or a CDROM, but they do have PXE boot capabilities.
We would like to put the “master image” on a server and boot each device with PXE then transfer the
“master image” remotely to the target machines’ hard drive.

Is this possible? If so, does this sound like an efficient way to streamline the process of putting
the master image onto a device?

I have a working DHCP server and TFTP server working on an XP Pro PC that I downloaded here:
http://tftpd32.jounin.net/
I know that they DHCP server works, but I’m not very clear on the TFTP server. We have downloaded a
trial for creating boot ROMs from emBoot (http://www.emboot.com/products_pxe.htm) but our network
cards only support a 500K image. I thought that I read somewhere that we could boot into a
“bootstrap loader” which would allow us to transfer the image (is that true?), but I can’t seem to
find any way of creating this “bootstrap loader.”

Thanks for you help,
Jason

 

[Adora Belle Dearheart]

Hello all,

I have read some posts about this, but I am still unclear which route to
go based on what we are trying to do.

We are going to be producing 50 or so devices, over a three month
period, which will have our most recent XPE image on them.
Our image will be created by putting one on a target machine, installing
all of our applications, then resealing that image.
The produced devices will not have a floppy drive or a CDROM, but they
do have PXE boot capabilities.
We would like to put the “master image” on a server and boot each device
with PXE then transfer the “master image” remotely to the target
machines’ hard drive.

Is this possible? If so, does this sound like an efficient way to
streamline the process of putting the master image onto a device?

I have a working DHCP server and TFTP server working on an XP Pro PC
that I downloaded here: http://tftpd32.jounin.net/
I know that they DHCP server works, but I’m not very clear on the TFTP
server. We have downloaded a trial for creating boot ROMs from emBoot
(http://www.emboot.com/products_pxe.htm) but our network cards only
support a 500K image. I thought that I read somewhere that we could
boot into a “bootstrap loader” which would allow us to transfer the
image (is that true?), but I can’t seem to find any way of creating this
“bootstrap loader.”

Thanks for you help,
Jason

You might want to look into WinPE and the Remote Boot Server which comes
with the XPe tools...

 

[Jason Krause]

I'm reading this article called "How to boot the Microsoft Windows Preinstall Environment from an
RIS server by using PXE-enabled clients"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304992&sd=tech

I get to step 6, "Locate the folder on the hard disk that contains the Windows PE build tools,
denoted as build_version. Run the Oscdimg command by using the following options:"

The problem is, I don't have the Windows PE build tools. I am using Bart's Preinstalled Environment
(BartPE): http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Should I continue to pursue this? I am able to use a CDROM drive and boot up with a BartPE image on
the CD and transfer the files, so I'm guessing that this RIS server is the way to go?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[Adora Belle Dearheart]

I'm reading this article called "How to boot the Microsoft Windows
Preinstall Environment from an RIS server by using PXE-enabled clients"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304992&sd=tech

I get to step 6, "Locate the folder on the hard disk that contains the
Windows PE build tools, denoted as build_version. Run the Oscdimg
command by using the following options:"

The problem is, I don't have the Windows PE build tools. I am using
Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE): http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Should I continue to pursue this? I am able to use a CDROM drive and
boot up with a BartPE image on the CD and transfer the files, so I'm
guessing that this RIS server is the way to go?

Thanks,
Jason

I don't use RIS and I don't use WinPE - I use the RBS that comes with
the XPe tools and my own minimal XPe image I made which supports the
functions I need.

 

[Pascal Bouchard]

To make a short story; i had almost the same concern you have 18 months ago;
i first tried to work with RBS that didn't make it for me; i didn't have
Windows PE at first so i created myself a Bart PE boot disk; with this boot
disk, i was able to boot, setup a network drive, install sdimgr.wsf script,
sdiaut.dll COM object and registries intending to deploy manually onto a
local hard drive.

When i received my WinPE CD, i've been able to, with a lot of difficulties)
to setup RIS with this; i was able to boot remotely; (at the condition that
the network driver was supported by PE); to add drivers to PE boot image, it
was also difficult and i am still unsure how i did; if you decide to go with
this, i can give you a hand.

I am still booting with this image.

To deploy to 50 machines, however, my advise is to buy a gang programmer;
you will, for sure, loose less time than deploying by network.

 

[Jason Krause]

Unfortunately our XPe image is close to 600MB. I was hoping that there was a way that we would be
able to partition a hard drive with NTFS, format it, then copy the image onto the hard drive all
with remote booting. Maybe that's not possible... has anyone done this?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[Jason Krause]

Hello Pascal,

When you were able to get your RIS running, what type of file did you boot from? We are using a
TFTP server but don't know what file we need to boot from.

Thanks,
Jason

 

[Pascal Bouchard]

First, with RIS, you must use "risetup" to read from a XP PRO CD; risetup
copies all files to a subdirectory AND configure it to be ran; at this
point, if you boot using PXE and contact the RIS Server, it will give you
the option to boot from the XP PRO subdirectory as a drive. (X.

So, to answer your question, i do not have a single file (like a sdi); a
drive is mapped (X and installation is ran from it.

To boot PE, if i remember well, you must override I386 subdirectory (scanned
for XPPro) with the one that comes on PE CD (1st cd of XPe).

Stoping RIS service and restart it was needed, if i remember.

For sure i miss some details, i just present the main idea of it.

Here is an interesting page to read :
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304992&sd=tech

 

[Adora Belle Dearheart]

Unfortunately our XPe image is close to 600MB. I was hoping that there
was a way that we would be able to partition a hard drive with NTFS,
format it, then copy the image onto the hard drive all with remote
booting. Maybe that's not possible... has anyone done this?

Yes, I created a small image that does all the partitioning and copying
- and I'm currently working on a system for selecting which version of
the OS it copies from the server using the touchscreen.