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Boot Windows from Memory via TFTP server


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#1 PSherman

PSherman
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Posted 26 January 2017 - 04:32 PM

Hi All,

I am trying to set up a system and I have the Linux side working how I want it but am having trouble getting the Windows side working.

Machines:
Server - this is a RHEL7 machine running TFTP and the other pxe necessities. Hosts up various Linux and windows installers
Clients - these are empty machines to be configured with either Linux or Windows

Images:
Provision: lightweight RHEL7 image which is loaded onto the Clients initially using PXE. it can talk back to the server to note how this machine should be configured.
Linux install: anaconda installer image
Windows install: LiteTouchPE_x64.iso and memdisk

Workflow:
User starts up the Client (blank) and using PXE loads the Provision image. Now the user runs a script which asks the user for information such as:

Hostname, system type (windows/Linux), users, etc

The script them writes a bunch of information back to the server, including setting up a PXE config file for the new Client.

Then the script diverges: if it is Linux, then the PXE config is used to copy the necessary files over to the Client (initrd and vmlinuz files) and using kexec loaded into memory and ran. Then the Linux installer continues.

However, if the new system is Windows, the user has to reboot and reselect the network boot to use PXE to load the memdisk Kerbal and LiteTouch iso.

I'd like to be able to do one of the following ( or something along these lines) to not require the intermediate reboot:

1. Use kexec to load the memdisk/LiteTouch combo from Memory. This seems to fail right after starting the new Kerbal, and am unable to debug.
2. Use kexec to jump directly back to the pxe menu by loading something like pxelinux.0 but again, this doesn't seem to work.

I do have the workaround of just rebooting for the windows machine setup, but I'd like to remove that step if possible.

Any thoughts? I'm somewhat new to this area, so if I can clarify anything, please ask!

Thanks much,
PS




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