ipxe boot windows 7 installer using wimboot - error

[skydancer]

Hi,
I followed the tutorial of ipxe boot windows 7 installer using wimboot, everything went fine except when i get to the actual install phase, I'm getting "A required CD/DVD drive device is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, CD,DVD, or USB flash drive, please insert it now"
Please advice.
Thanks

[robinsmidsrod]

If you followed http://ipxe.org/wimboot then it is just a short explanation of how to boot _any_ .wim file. It is unfortunate that the screenshot used is for the Windows 7 installer, because it makes it seem as you can just continue and it'll work. It won't. The files required by the installer is not inside boot.wim, and as such they need to be located somewhere. You can either insert the Windows 7 installer DVD locally, or provide the files required on an SMB/CIFS network share. The following howto explains how to do the latter: http://ipxe.org/howto/winpe

[Sjoerd]

(2013-10-22 10:12)robinsmidsrod Wrote:  If you followed http://ipxe.org/wimboot then it is just a short explanation of how to boot _any_ .wim file. It is unfortunate that the screenshot used is for the Windows 7 installer, because it makes it seem as you can just continue and it'll work. It won't. The files required by the installer is not inside boot.wim, and as such they need to be located somewhere. You can either insert the Windows 7 installer DVD locally, or provide the files required on an SMB/CIFS network share. The following howto explains how to do the latter: http://ipxe.org/howto/winpe

I'm experiencing exactly the same thing, except for in my case it's Windows 10.

So, do I understand correctly that wimboot can boot the install.wim file (well, apparently it can). But it cannot be used to install Windows?
Perhaps you can elaborate on the how and why? And can I derive from this that WinPE is therefore always required to install Windows in our iPXE way of things?

Could be nice if this would be clarified a little bit on the wimboot page, right now it's suggested that u can just boot the installer and that's it.

Thanks!!

[Gelip]

Yes, I also tried to install Win10 but I got an error:

[NiKiZe]

(2016-03-26 08:30)Gelip Wrote:  Yes, I also tried to install Win10 but I got an error:

This is due to the setup not finding any installation media.

you can press Shift+F10, type wpeinit and if the network is supported you can now run \\server\share\sources\setup.exe to start the setup. (this should be done before pressing the initial "install windows")

[Gelip]

The network does not work, but I was able install the system in a way similar to that:
How to Install Windows 7 or Windows Vista on Physical Machine Without DVD Media
I had to use bootsect.exe from DVD Win7 because same tool from Win10 not work in WinPE (WinXP)

Code:

bootsect.exe is not a valid Win32 application.

[NiKiZe]

(2016-03-31 21:15)Gelip Wrote:  The network does not work, but I was able install the system in a way similar to that:
How to Install Windows 7 or Windows Vista on Physical Machine Without DVD Media
I had to use bootsect.exe from DVD Win7 because same tool from Win10 not work in WinPE (WinXP)

Code:

bootsect.exe is not a valid Win32 application.

That is pretty roundabout, to get a bootable usb most of the time it just works to partition the usb drive with diskmgmt.msc, format it (ntfs if install.wim/esd is greater then 4GiB) and then extract the iso (with winrar or similar) to the usb. and it will end up being bootable.

Or you can still boot with wimboot and only copy the sources folder to the usb to use it as installation source.

[KnightRaven]

I realize this post is older but is exaclty what I am butting into. Is there any other info out there that explains what needs to happen to get past the select driver screen. Been trying to boot to win 7 using iPxe wimboot from a fog install. Even after loading the NIC driver and mapping a drive back and re-running setup it still comes to the needs a driver screen.

Any details on this would be helpful. Is it actually looking for a driver? is it needing more setup files that perhaps didn't make it into the boot.wim? What is it looking for. Do the NIC drivers have to be embedded into the wim to work? Ive been able to manually load them from usb for testing but even on a PC that had drivers injected, I still get the needs driver screen.

Quite frustrating to be so close and cant get the install to work.

Thanks,
Jason

[KnightRaven]

My appologies if this is duplicated.

I am having the same, 'needs driver' problem. Are there any updates to this issue? I am using iPxe from a fog install. Trying to use wimboot to load the boot.wim(and other needed files). Like others I can get to the install screen but fails needing driver. I have a NIC driver injected and have loaded a NIC driver from usb after boot. Neither option gets rid of the Needs driver screen.

I have mapped a drive back to the "server" where the sources folder is and re-ran setup but still get the same screens. If I ran diskpart it does show that the local HDD is available(and also from the browse screens). I don't know what else its looking for. Does any one lse have any ideas on next steps to get past the need driver screen.

Currently trying to boot Win 7 but would like to use for possibly Win 8 and Win 10. This is to help refurb PCs.

Any info would be appreciated.

thanks,

Jason

[RichardRogers1972]

I'm running into the same problem.
What I'm planning to do to resolve this is replace the boot.wim with the winpe boot.wim and edit the startnet.cmd to map drive and run setup.exe.
That should work as booting into winpe and running the setup.exe usually works.

Richie

[Gelip]

(2016-03-31 19:33)NiKiZe Wrote:  you can press Shift+F10, type wpeinit and if the network is supported you can now run \\server\share\sources\setup.exe to start the setup. (this should be done before pressing the initial "install windows")

Yes, network work but you have to properly map a network drive through net use using computer name instead of IP address :

Code:

net use z: \\computer_name\C$ /user:user_name password

Now the installation of the Windows work

[NiKiZe]

(2017-02-05 14:44)Gelip Wrote:  

(2016-03-31 19:33)NiKiZe Wrote:  you can press Shift+F10, type wpeinit and if the network is supported you can now run \\server\share\sources\setup.exe to start the setup. (this should be done before pressing the initial "install windows")

Yes, network work but you have to properly map a network drive through net use using computer name instead of IP address :

Code:

net use z: \\computer_name\C$ /user:user_name password

Now the installation of the Windows work

There is no need for net use, it works exactly as described above. Both IP and computername can be used instead of "server" (name might be slow to resolve depending on how the network is configured).
However if you need a specific username or password on that share then you will need to connect to that share first somehow,
net use is one such way,
opening notepad and use file->open a file on the network is another possibility to enter these credentials (not recommended in practice but can be used to prove that net use is not strictly needed).
After that you can use the \\server\share approach regardless of need for username or password.
If "server" has a static IP it will be the most stable approach unless you have a well configured DNS,
but for proper name resolution you might need to run

Code:

net start dnscache

appropriate /etc/samba/smb.conf:

Code:

[global]
   security = user
   map to guest = Bad User
   netbios aliases = OPKServer
   guest account = pcguest

[opk]
   path = /mnt/data/opk/
   public = yes
   only guest = yes
   writable = no
   printable = no

appropriate startnet.cmd:

Code:

wpeinit
wpeutil WaitForNetwork
net start dnscache
REM possible loop here until network is up
\\OPKServer\opk\win7_x64\sources\setup.exe

[sebus]

Honestly, running setup, really?

How about doing it "right" with just:

Dism /apply-image /imagefile:N:\Images\my-windows-partition.wim /index:1 /ApplyDir:C:\

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/libr...24910.aspx

sebus

[Gelip]

(2017-02-05 15:05)NiKiZe Wrote:  There is no need for net use, it works exactly as described above. Both IP and computername can be used instead of "server" (name might be slow to resolve depending on how the network is configured).

I use more network interface in Windows e.g. real Ethernet, Wifi, virtual VMNet1. My bad - I use wrong subnet for used interface

Right, of course you can use an IP address and no need use computer name

but \\server\share\sources\setup.exe still not work on WinXP server.

[Gelip]

If date and time on running PC is other than on PXE server then error while mapping drive:

Code:

System error 1326 has occured.

[NiKiZe]

(2018-10-14 13:21)Gelip Wrote:  If date and time on running PC is other than on PXE server then error while mapping drive:

Code:

System error 1326 has occured.

It might be a good idea to use NET TIME to set time on local machine from server... can't remember if w32time is available in PE

[Gelip]

(2018-10-14 13:23)NiKiZe Wrote:  It might be a good idea to use NET TIME to set time on local machine from server... can't remember if w32time is available in PE

or simply use commands time and date in CMD WinPE. Under normal circumstances, the date should match. I noticed the problem when I tried to install Windows Vista Beta using Wimboot for which I need to set the appropriate date in CMOS to use the system 30-days after installation.

[Palmutip]

I got it guys.
Here i have a fog server running on ubuntu 19. I was looking for some way to boot my syspreped iso files by pxe boot. When i found this forum awnsered me all my questions. What i have done was:
- Copy the files of the ISO to the webroot of ipxe (in my case /var/www/fog/service/ipxe)
- changed the permissions and users acess with chmod 755 and chown fogproject:www-data
- Created 2 scripts: install.bat and winpeshl.ini as explained in http://ipxe.org/howto/winpe
-Put the scripts in the webroot folder and changed permissions
- installed webmin on ubuntu to share the webroot folder on my local network.
- released acces to guest users (webmin)

VOILÁ
My custom ISO is now running via iPXE boot. tanks guys

[NiKiZe]

(2019-07-12 15:03)Palmutip Wrote:  I got it guys.
Here i have a fog server running on ubuntu 19. I was looking for some way to boot my syspreped iso files by pxe boot. When i found this forum awnsered me all my questions. What i have done was:
- Copy the files of the ISO to the webroot of ipxe (in my case /var/www/fog/service/ipxe)
- changed the permissions and users acess with chmod 755 and chown fogproject:www-data
- Created 2 scripts: install.bat and winpeshl.ini as explained in http://ipxe.org/howto/winpe
-Put the scripts in the webroot folder and changed permissions
- installed webmin on ubuntu to share the webroot folder on my local network.
- released acces to guest users (webmin)

VOILÁ
My custom ISO is now running via iPXE boot. tanks guys

If you start winpe from iPXE, you should not have any ISO in the boot process at all. Use wimboot instead.

[Palmutip]

(2019-07-13 14:50)NiKiZe Wrote:  

(2019-07-12 15:03)Palmutip Wrote:  I got it guys.
Here i have a fog server running on ubuntu 19. I was looking for some way to boot my syspreped iso files by pxe boot. When i found this forum awnsered me all my questions. What i have done was:
- Copy the files of the ISO to the webroot of ipxe (in my case /var/www/fog/service/ipxe)
- changed the permissions and users acess with chmod 755 and chown fogproject:www-data
- Created 2 scripts: install.bat and winpeshl.ini as explained in http://ipxe.org/howto/winpe
-Put the scripts in the webroot folder and changed permissions
- installed webmin on ubuntu to share the webroot folder on my local network.
- released acces to guest users (webmin)

VOILÁ
My custom ISO is now running via iPXE boot. tanks guys

If you start winpe from iPXE, you should not have any ISO in the boot process at all. Use wimboot instead.

Yes, my fault.
Don't have any files .ISO in my webroot folder, but the archives inside the .ISO are in one folder created manually by me in the webroot folder.