Wednesday 10 October 2012

GHOST PXE Boot Via TFTP


I have done a bit of googling and looking around on the net, and found some good article on how to create a PXE boot server, but just cant suit my needs following one procedure. Therefore i have mish mashed a few links and made it easy for others that just want to set up a pxe boot server without the hassle of reading/trying to figure out the finer details.


This will enable you to boot of a PXE image, install Dos Nic drivers and map a network drive and run GHOST to restore / create a Ghost image across the network.


I used Netbootdisk.com net boot tool,  However I dont understand the pxelinux and cant get it to boot for me with a Menu. I have also used a later version of PCDos7.2 I think.


## update - link is now dead - thanks for letting me know ##


I used the base of the instructions from Simple PXE Boot web site but with Netbootdisk image instead to get my PXE network boot to work.


Files you will NEED to make this Work.


http://www.netbootdisk.com/menuedit.htm Download the zip file and extract.


Menupref.bat file ( save text file and rename to .bat from .txt )


## update -2012 --  "error 52: A duplicate workgroup or computer name exists on the network." ##


When you edit the menupref.bat change the computer name from BD12345 to just BD* ( This will generate a random name )


Random Name


Solarwinds TFTP server, You can use TFTP32 Opensource if you do not have a DHCP server. I currently use Microsft 2003 DHCP on my network at work, and have used TFTP32 on my home network but need to turn the DCHP off on my router.


3Coms Boot Image editor


 

Already made Image I made (netboot based) called it awi.sys


 

Already made pxe boot Menu mba.pxe


Symantec GHOST.EXE, type in "index of /ghost.exe" in Google search if the link does not work anymore. The version Im using is about 1.366 KB in size.


Install and extract the files to the right places.




  • Install Solarwinds TFTP Server on a PC. Take note of its IP address

  • Create a folder the the PC that has Solarwind installed, In my case I created as "PXE.BOOT" on E: drive

  • Lauch Solarwind TFTP server, then click on "File > Configure"



Solarwind interface

Solarwind interface




  • Enter the location of the folder you created. In this example I called it "PXE.Boot"on E:ghostPxe.Boot


 



PXE boot file location ( awi.sys and mba.pxe ) lives here

PXE boot file location ( awi.sys and mba.pxe ) lives here




  • Copy awi.sys and mba.sys to the "PXE.Boot" folder. Then start Solarwinds TFTP server. Once its started it will look like the following.



http://www.tygarbyte.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/solarwind41-300x148.jpg

Solarwinds TFTP server started




  • Configure Your DHCP settings to point to the TFTP Server. In this case, the machine that has solarwinds installed is 10.10.4.49. I am using MS2003 servers DHCP, you need to add to entries.



Boot Server Host ( ie 10.10.4.49 )

Boot Server Host ( ie 10.10.4.49 )



Boot File name ( eg mba.pxe ) file inside pxe.boot folder.

Boot File name ( eg mba.pxe ) file inside pxe.boot folder.




  • Download and Extract 3com boot editor, Open awi.sys



http://www.tygarbyte.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/awisys1-300x286.jpg

Double click on <NETBOOT>



Add your menupref.bat into here and overight the existing menupref.bat file, then double click in <file copy>



http://www.tygarbyte.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/awisys3-300x287.jpg

Right click login, select edit.



http://www.tygarbyte.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/awisys4-286x300.jpg

Change the hostname of the computer where your ghost.exe file lives.




  • Now configure you need your PC / laptop to boot from network pxe first. This can be changed in the bios.

  • Dont worry about the Dban, stuff in the mba.pxe - I am trying to get DBAN to boot of PXE for wiping hard drives and will add it when I get it to work, currently I can get the DBan menu screen, but when I run it I get an error trying to load the linux files.


Thats about it, please let me know if any part of this is not clear.


 



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