WinPE Network Boot fails, but ISO boot working

[karthikeayan]

Hi,

I have created WinPE using copype command using adk and also using aik.
iPXE script working fine and it copying all the files through HTTP server.
When executing boot command in both the cases the winpe going to blank screen or winload.exe missing.

But when I convert the same winpe.wim to ISO file and booting through ISO boot it works fine.

My iPXE script
#!ipxe
echo ======================================================================
echo freeing all loaded images to ensure wimboot works
imgfree
echo ======================================================================

set base <%= repo_url.sub(%r{/$}, '') %>
kernel <%= file_url('wimboot', true) %>
initrd ${base}/aik_x86/ISO/bootmgr bootmgr
initrd ${base}/aik_x86/ISO/boot/bcd BCD
initrd ${base}/boot/fonts/segmono_boot.ttf segmono_boot.ttf
initrd ${base}/boot/fonts/segoe_slboot.ttf segoe_slboot.ttf
initrd ${base}/boot/fonts/segoen_slboot.ttf segoen_slboot.ttf
initrd ${base}/boot/fonts/wgl4_boot.ttf wgl4_boot.ttf
initrd ${base}/aik_x86/ISO/boot/fonts/chs_boot.ttf chs_boot.ttf
initrd ${base}/aik_x86/ISO/boot/fonts/cht_boot.ttf cht_boot.ttf
initrd ${base}/aik_x86/ISO/boot/fonts/jpn_boot.ttf jpn_boot.ttf
initrd ${base}/aik_x86/ISO/boot/fonts/kor_boot.ttf kor_boot.ttf
initrd ${base}/aik_x86/ISO/boot/boot.sdi boot.sdi
initrd ${base}/boot.wim boot.wim

echo ======================================================================
#imgstat
echo now booting WinPE client
boot

please help regarding this.

Regards,
Karthik

[mcb30]

(2014-05-15 16:37)karthikeayan Wrote:  I have created WinPE using copype command using adk and also using aik.
iPXE script working fine and it copying all the files through HTTP server.
When executing boot command in both the cases the winpe going to blank screen or winload.exe missing.

Please try following the instructions exactly as written on http://ipxe.org/howto/winpe. If you follow those instructions exactly as written and still are not able to boot WinPE, then please let us know.

Michael

[karthikeayan]

Michael,

one more time all the steps has been done as mentioned in http://ipxe.org/howto/winpe

Still getting the blank screen after boot command present in the ipxe config file.

Here is the config file that I used
!ipxe
echo ========================================================
echo freeing all loaded images to ensure wimboot works
imgfree
echo ========================================================

set base <%= repo_url.sub(%r{/$}, '') %>
kernel <%= file_url('wimboot', true) %>
initrd ${base}/amd64/media/bootmgr bootmgr
initrd ${base}/amd64/media/Boot/BCD BCD
initrd ${base}/amd64/media/Boot/Fonts/segmono_boot.ttf segmono_boot.ttf
initrd ${base}/amd64/media/Boot/Fonts/segoe_slboot.ttf segoe_slboot.ttf
initrd ${base}/amd64/media/Boot/Fonts/segoen_slboot.ttf segoen_slboot.ttf
initrd ${base}/amd64/media/Boot/Fonts/wgl4_boot.ttf wgl4_boot.ttf
initrd ${base}/amd64/media/Boot/boot.sdi boot.sdi
initrd ${base}/amd64/media/sources/boot.wim boot.wim
echo ========================================================
imgstat
echo now booting WinPE client
boot


Let us know how to debug the ipxe. FYI: by including pxeboot.n12 in the dhcpd.conf we are able to boot the winpe.

At present we are ok if its slow by using TFTP but we want the solution to work with ipxe so that we can use "razor" software thats provided by puppet labs. Is there a way to chain from ipxe to pxe to take the pxeboot.n12 from the tftp location.

regards

[mcb30]

(2014-05-16 14:20)karthikeayan Wrote:  Still getting the blank screen after boot command present in the ipxe config file.

Please try the latest version of wimboot (v1.0.5), which I have just uploaded. This includes a change which will hopefully cause a proper error message to be displayed.

Michael

[nip]

(2014-05-17 22:54)mcb30 Wrote:  Please try the latest version of wimboot (v1.0.5), which I have just uploaded. This includes a change which will hopefully cause a proper error message to be displayed.

Michael

Getting the same issue on my SR1630HGP even with wimboot 1.0.5 and latest bios.

[karthikeayan]

(2014-06-11 10:46)nip Wrote:  Getting the same issue on my SR1630HGP even with wimboot 1.0.5 and latest bios.

Hi nip,

Did you solve your problem???

Regards,
Karthik

[jpwise]

I've run into some issues over time as well. Strip back the config to a known good PE image. ie; the base ADK PE WIM file, and see if it can boot that.
If it boots that, the issue is specific to the WIM file. I do also recall some issues around the BCD and how large a ramdisk it supports, but it's been a couple of years since I set our config up, so that's off the top of my head.
If your PE image is particularly large it may be a sizing issue, and using the original stock PE base should help isolate the issue for test purposes.

It's a few pointers to check anyway.

Jp.

[nip]

(2014-06-24 06:14)karthikeayan Wrote:  

(2014-06-11 10:46)nip Wrote:  Getting the same issue on my SR1630HGP even with wimboot 1.0.5 and latest bios.

Hi nip,

Did you solve your problem???

Regards,
Karthik

No, I didn't.
I've implemented another solution. I'm using memdisk with winpe iso. It is a bit complicated because of double stage image building (first - wim, second - iso).
Today I've connected with mcb30 in this thread. Hope he'll help.