Step One – Install WDS

This should be obvious and if you are reading this I imagine you’ve done it already. Ours is running on a Windows Server 2003 box but it should work fine with the latest, more secure, stuff.

We will be adding bits to the folders within the \\WDS\REMINST share

Step Two – Install PXELinux

PXELinux is part of the SysLinux package

Download SysLinux from here
There’s quite a bit in SysLinux but you only need to extract the following files
- ZIP\core\pxelinux.0
- ZIP\com32\menu\vesamenu.c32
- ZIP\com32\modules\chain.c32
Copy the files into \\WDS\REMINST\Boot\x86
Rename pxelinux.0 to pxelinux.com
You also need to make copies of two original WDS files in this folder
- Copy pxeboot.n12 and rename it to pxeboot.0
- Copy abortpxe.com and rename it to abortpxe.0
Create to new subfolders
- \\WDS\REMINST\Boot\x86\Linux
- \\WDS\REMINST\Boot\x86\pxelinux.cfg
The pxelinux.cfgfolder is where you store the files that make up the PXE boot (F12) menu.
- All the files we will put in there are text files, even though they don’t use a .txt extension
First create a new text file called default. This is the first menu that loads.

Paste the following text into it

DEFAULT      vesamenu.c32

PROMPT       0

MENU TITLE PXE Boot Menu (x86)

MENU INCLUDE pxelinux.cfg/graphics.conf

MENU AUTOBOOT Starting Local System in 8 seconds

# Option 1 - Exit PXE Linux & boot normally

LABEL bootlocal

      menu label ^Boot Normally

      menu default

      localboot 0

      timeout 80

      TOTALTIMEOUT 9000

# Option 2 - Run WDS

LABEL wds

     MENU LABEL ^Windows Deployment Services

     KERNEL pxeboot.0

# Option 3 - Exit PXE Linux

LABEL Abort

    MENU LABEL E^xit

    KERNEL abortpxe.0

Now create a text file called graphics.conf
- This file controls how the menu is displayed. It’s very versatile so have a play around until it looks as basic or as flashy as you like

Paste the following text into it

MENU MARGIN 10

MENU ROWS 16

MENU TABMSGROW 21

MENU TIMEOUTROW 26

MENU COLOR BORDER 30;44     #00000000 #00000000 none

MENU COLOR SCROLLBAR 30;44      #00000000 #00000000 none

MENU COLOR TITLE 0      #00269B #00000000 none

MENU COLOR SEL   30;47      #40000000 #20ffffff

MENU BACKGROUND background.jpg

NOESCAPE 0

ALLOWOPTIONS 0

If you want to use a custom background, place it in the \\WDS\REMINST\Boot\x86folder.
- The image should be a 640×480 jpeg file.
- Make sure it has the same name as specified in the MENU BACKGROUND line in graphics.conf
Now we need to change the default boot program in WDS
- Open the Windows Deployment Services Console
- Right Click on your Server and select Properties
- From the Boot tab change the default boot program for x86 architecture to\Boot\x86\pxelinux.com
- In Server 2008 R2 you have to use the wdsutil command line to set the the default boot program with these commands

wdsutil /set-server /bootprogram:boot\x86\pxelinux.com /architecture:x86

wdsutil /set-server /N12bootprogram:boot\x86\pxelinux.com /architecture:x86

Step Three – Test it out

Before you go any further, do a test PXE boot to check everything is OK.

I use a Hyper-V VM to make this testing process quicker. Just make sure it’s set to boot to a legacy network adapter in the settings

If it doesn’t load make sure you have the following files and folders in the right place within the\\WDS\REMINST share

\Boot\x86\pxelinux.com
\Boot\x86\vesamenu.c32
\Boot\x86\chain.c32
\Boot\x86\pxeboot.0
\Boot\x86\abortpxe.0
\Boot\x86\background.jpg
\Boot\x86\Linux\
\Boot\x86\pxelinux.cfg\
\Boot\x86\pxelinux.cfg\default
\Boot\x86\pxelinux.cfg\graphics.conf

Step Four– Add new boot options

If you can boot into the new menu and still load WDS then we are ready to add our Linux distros and other tools. If not, go back to step one and check everything.

This stage is relatively easy. It is just a case of putting the relevant netboot files for your preferred distribution in to the \Boot\x86\Linux folder and then adding a menu option for them. You can find more info on where to get these from on the official WDSLinux wiki. I’ll show you a more generic way of doing things using Debian as an example

Create a new subfolder
- \Boot\x86\Linux\Debian\
Download the netboot files (initrd.gz and linux) from a Debian mirror
Copy them into the Debian subfolder

Create a menu entry for them in \Boot\x86\pxelinux.cfg\default

LABEL debian6Netinstall

    menu label ^Debian 6-0 Net-install

    # Load the correct kernel

    kernel /Linux/Debian/Linux

    # Boot options

    append priority=low vga=normal initrd=/Linux/Debian/initrd.gz

That’s all there is to it. As long as you download the correct files and boot the correct boot options on the append line of the menu, you should be OK.

What if I need 64-bit options

This is easy too just replicate everything we did in \Boot\x86 into \Boot\x64. Don’t forget to change the WDS Server boot program for the x64 architecture (as shown in step 2) to \Boot\x64\pxelinux.com

Taking it further

Hopefully you are reading this because you have numerous ideas of what you could boot to. To help you along I’ve included my current default menu as well as adding sub-menus for Linux and Tools. Most of them were fairly straightforward as they had special PXE version with instructions on their website, e.g. GParted & Clonezilla

default

DEFAULT      vesamenu.c32

PROMPT       0

MENU TITLE PXE Boot Menu (x86)

MENU INCLUDE pxelinux.cfg/graphics.conf

MENU AUTOBOOT Starting Local System in 8 seconds

# Option 1 - Exit PXE Linux & boot normally

LABEL bootlocal

      menu label ^Boot Normally

      menu default

      localboot 0

      timeout 80

      TOTALTIMEOUT 9000

# Option 2 - Run WDS

LABEL wds

     MENU LABEL ^Windows Deployment Services

     KERNEL pxeboot.0

# Go to Linux sub-menu

LABEL linux

    MENU LABEL ^Linux Distros

    KERNEL vesamenu.c32

    APPEND pxelinux.cfg/graphics.conf pxelinux.cfg/linux.menu

# Go to Tools sub-menu

LABEL tools

    MENU LABEL ^Tools

    KERNEL vesamenu.c32

    APPEND pxelinux.cfg/graphics.conf pxelinux.cfg/tools.menu

# Exit PXE Linux

LABEL Abort

    MENU LABEL E^xit

    KERNEL abortpxe.0

linux.menu (save in same place default)

MENU TITLE Install a Linux Distro

LABEL debian6.0-amd64-Netinstall

    menu label ^Debian 6-0 amd64-Net-install:

    kernel /Linux/Debian-Net-Install-amd64/Linux

    append priority=low vga=normal initrd=/Linux/Debian-Net-Install-amd64/initrd.gz

LABEL Centos5.0-Install

    menu label ^Centos 5-0 32bit install:

    kernel /Linux/Centos-5.0-32-bit/vmlinuz

    APPEND ks initrd=Linux/Centos-5.0-32-bit/initrd.img ramdisk_size=100000

LABEL Debian-5.08-Installer

    menu label ^Install 5.08 (Lenny)

    kernel /Linux/debian-installer/i386/linux

    append vga=normal debian-installer/allow_unauthenticated=true  initrd=/Linux/debian-installer/i386/initrd.gz

LABEL Main Menu

      MENU LABEL ^Back to Main Menu

      KERNEL vesamenu.c32

      APPEND pxelinux.cfg/default

tools.menu (save in same place default)

MENU TITLE Tools

LABEL memtest

    menu label ^Memory Test: Memtest86+ v4.20

    kernel \Linux\memtest\memtestp

LABEL Clonezilla Live

    MENU LABEL ^Clonezilla Live

    kernel \Linux\Clonezilla\vmlinuz

    append initrd=\Linux\Clonezilla\initrd.img boot=live live-config noswap nolocales edd=on nomodeset ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general" ocs_live_extra_param="" ocs_live_keymap="" ocs_live_batch="no" ocs_lang="" vga=788 nosplash fetch=http://192.0.0.24:81/RemoteInstall/Boot/x86/Linux/Clonezilla/filesystem.squashfs

LABEL gparted

    MENU LABEL ^GParted Live

    kernel \Linux\gparted\vmlinuz

    append initrd=\Linux\gparted\initrd.img boot=live config  noswap noprompt  nosplash  fetch=http://192.0.0.24:81/RemoteInstall/Boot/x86/Linux/GParted/filesystem.squashfs

    TEXT HELP

        GParted live version: 0.8.1-3. Live version maintainer: Steven Shiau

        Disclaimer: GParted live comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY

        ENDTEXT

LABEL Main Menu

    MENU LABEL ^Back to Main Menu

    KERNEL vesamenu.c32

    APPEND pxelinux.cfg/default

Conclusion

This is a really useful tool to have in our SysAdmin arsenal. I encourage you to give it a go. Let me know if your successful, or if you are having any problems getting it working, in the comments section. I’d also love to hear of any other tools you’ve added to the PXE menu.

Saturday, 7 September 2013

Combining Windows Deployment Services & PXELinux for the ultimate network boot