Entirely disk based?

[mlarss]

OK, thanks.
I've compiled the steps I did if it is of interest for somebody else.

-Download grub4dos http://download.gna.org/grub4dos/grub4dos-0.4.4.zip
-If you need an extraction utility 7zip is a good candidate ( http://www.7-zip.org/ )
-Extract and copy grldr and menu.lst to root of C drive
-Edit menu.lst to look like (hyphens not included)
-----
timeout 5
default 0

title iPXE
kernel (hd0,0)/ipxe.lkrn

title windows 7
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /bootmgr
chainloader /bootmgr
-----
For Windows XP replace /bootmgr with /ntldr

-Download Bootice http://www.ipauly.com/bootice/bootice_0.9.rar
-Extract files and run bootice.exe on Windows system and
--Select Hard disk, Process MBR
--Select Grub for DOS and Install / Config
--Save to Disk

-Download ipxe as documented on this site.
-Copy grub.exe from grub4dos to <ipxe-tree>src
-Download SYSLINUX from http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/bo...x-4.05.zip
-Extract and copy isolinux.bin to <ipxe-tree>/src/util
-Create a script file <ipxe-tree>/my-script.ipxe with the following content (hyphens not included)
----
#!ipxe
dhcp net0
prompt --key 0x02 --timeout 3000 Press Ctrl-B for the iPXE command line... && shell ||

autoboot
imgargs grub.exe --config-file="root (hd0,0); chainloader /bootmgr"
boot grub.exe
----

For some reasons the chain command did not work. Possibly because our RIS-server hands out a file name to the PXE-client and that gets the context mixed up. However imgargs followed by boot made the trick.

-Build with make EMBEDDED_IMAGE=<ipxe-tree>/src/my-script.ipxe,grub.exe bin/ipxe.lkrn
-Copy ipxe.lkrn to root of C drive

Now I can;
A: Boot Windows by doing nothing.
B: Make a network installation by pressing F12 when iPXE asks for it.
C And most important, I get the same ip-address for the iPXE-client and Windows.
That is of HUGE interest if your dhcp ranges cannot accomodate dual leases for your workstations, one for the pxe-client, mac-address based, and another for Windows, Client Identifier based (DHCP option 61 ). iPXE does seem to send the same client identifier as Windows, ie 01 plus mac address.

Now I only need to make this scriptable for WindowsPE and Windows 7 deployment with WDS, but that's another story...
Any thoughts or comments are welcome.

Thank you for your good work,
mike