iPXE discussion forum - All Forums

Wimboot specifying wim index not working in version 2.7.4

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 04:37:51 +0000

Has any one else run in to an issue after updating to last wimboot(2.7.4) where index= (number) no longer works, and instead it boots the first index of the wim file? Updated from wimboot 2.5.2 going back to 2.5.2 resumes normal behavior.

Intel I350 with AlmaLinux9/Grub2 Network Issue

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 21:33:13 +0000

Ok this is a strange one.
I uEFI pxe boot and get a menu. When I attempt to load iPXE it fails, as it does not receive an IP.

My simple test is a file that just starts iPXE in shell mode.
When I enter dhcp from the prompt, it times out. I do see a DHCPOFFER and ACK in the var/log/messages file.

I am using dnsmasq as the DHCP server.

My previous PXE server was running Centos8 and had no issues.

My .efi file was built with snponly.efi. I also used ipxe.efi - Same Results
The i350 is a 4 port adding card, in a Dell R740xd system.
When I used a 10Gb dac cable on the base board 25Gb Broadcom it also works.

Any ideas?

Issue with with SSL

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 16:22:54 +0000

Hi all,

I'm trying to chain on a SSL URL and I got an error

TLS 0xfb0d4 created session
https:///...TLS 0xfb0d4 received fatal alert 40
Operation not permitted (https://ipxe.org/410de13c)
Could not boot image: Operation not permitted (https://ipxe.org/410de13c)

I'm trying to build IPXE with the server cert including the intermediate cert but I get always the same error.

Thanks for help,
Yannick

Can I boot a from a BIOS PXE server on a machine that is UEFI PXE only

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 23:52:36 +0000

Hi,
I am trying to boot off a server that only supported BIOS PXE clients. Have a new PC that now only supports UEFI PXE. Can I use iPXE to emulate a legacy BIOS PXE client on the new PC?

Thanks.

Boot into TrueNAS installer via iPXE

Sun, 22 May 2022 08:11:46 +0000

I have iPXE service setup in my network. It is working fine so far.

I download a VyOS ISO installer and the installer in my iPXE environment and this is the iPXE script:

Code:

set inst-dir http://install.example.com/vyos

kernel ${inst-dir}/live/vmlinuz initrd=initrd.magic boot=live nopersistence noautologin nonetworking fetch=${inst-dir}/live/filesystem.squashfs

initrd ${inst-dir}/live/initrd.img-5.10.116-amd64-vyos

boot

The script is working and I can boot into the installer from iPXE.

Next, I try to do similar configuration on TrueNAS Scale ISO:

Code:

set inst-dir http://installer.example.com/truenas

kernel ${inst-dir}/vmlinuz initrd=initrd.magic boot=live fetch=${inst-dir}/live/filesystem.squashfs

initrd ${inst-dir}/initrd.img

boot

But the script can't boot successfully. It show a message: No installation media found after fetching the filesystem.squashfs.

Can't load EFI file in iPXE that works fine in the BIOS EFI Shell

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 12:41:38 +0000

I am trying to use iDmiEditEfi64.efi which is part of the Intel Firmware Integrator Tools iDmi but can't get it to work within iPXE. Other EFI files load fine. But specific this one doesn't. It is 64bit just as my system and it works if I use the Intergraded EFI shell from the BIOS. But it doesn't run from the iPXE shell or an menu. It gives first OK for loading the file followed by the error 0x7F0482FF Is there an option in the iPXE config that I must enable before loading this kind of efi files? Chainloading or imgload doesn't make a difference.

The BIOS is in UEFI mode without legacy support just to be complete.
The iDmiEditEfi64.efi can set an asset in de SMBIOS/DMI

Compiling problem

Wed, 12 May 2021 14:18:09 +0000

Hello everyone :-)

I want to compile iPXE. I created a virtual Ubuntu 20.10 64-bit machine. I installed all packs which are listed on your website. I downloaded and extracted the zip from github. I edited some configfiles to enable features.

I used the command: make bin-x86_64-efi/ipxe.efi

The process fails. I get these lines at the end. What do i have to do to fix the problem?

I have a second question. I use iPXE via chainloading in my network to have quick diagnostic, backup and other live tools at the ready. I had several new Acer Travelmate notebooks in the past weeks here. They get the ipxe efi from the server; okay so far. But then they fail cause the auto configuration / loading the script file doesnt work because iPXE finds no network interface. I guess my ipxe efi doesnt support these network cards. Is there a way to make it work? Adding the driver or so?

I appreciate your help a lot :-)
==========

[HOSTCC] util/elf2efi64
[VERSION] bin-x86_64-efi/version.ipxe.efi.o
[LD] bin-x86_64-efi/ipxe.efi.tmp
bin-x86_64-efi/blib.a(librm.o): in function `pm_esp':
(.data.pm_esp+0x0): relocation truncated to fit: R_X86_64_32 against symbol `_estack' defined in .stack section in bin-x86_64-efi/blib.a(stack.o)
bin-x86_64-efi/blib.a(librm.o): in function `real_to_prot':
(.text16.real_to_prot+0x1): relocation truncated to fit: R_X86_64_PC16 against symbol `enable_a20' defined in .text16.early section in bin-x86_64-efi/blib.a(liba20.o)
(.text16.real_to_prot+0x8): relocation truncated to fit: R_X86_64_16 against symbol `rm_ds' defined in .text16.data.rm_ds section in bin-x86_64-efi/blib.a(librm.o)
(.text16.real_to_prot+0x22): relocation truncated to fit: R_X86_64_16 against `.bss16.rm_virt_addrs'
(.text16.real_to_prot+0x2e): relocation truncated to fit: R_X86_64_16 against `.bss16.rm_virt_addrs'
(.text16.real_to_prot+0x33): relocation truncated to fit: R_X86_64_16 against `.bss16.rm_virt_addrs'
(.text16.real_to_prot+0x39): relocation truncated to fit: R_X86_64_16 against `.data16.gdt'
(.text16.real_to_prot+0x58): relocation truncated to fit: R_X86_64_32 against `.text.real_to_prot'
bin-x86_64-efi/blib.a(librm.o): in function `r2p_pmode':
(.text.real_to_prot+0x10): relocation truncated to fit: R_X86_64_32 against `.data.pm_esp'
(.text.real_to_prot+0x17): relocation truncated to fit: R_X86_64_32 against symbol `idtr32' defined in .data section in bin-x86_64-efi/blib.a(librm_mgmt.o)
(.text.real_to_prot+0x1f): additional relocation overflows omitted from the output
ld: bin-x86_64-efi/blib.a(hidemem.o): in function `hide_region':
/home/bj/ipxe/ipxe-master-second/src/arch/x86/interface/pcbios/hidemem.c:97: undefined reference to `_textdata'
ld: /home/bj/ipxe/ipxe-master-second/src/arch/x86/interface/pcbios/hidemem.c:98: undefined reference to `_etextdata'
ld: bin-x86_64-efi/blib.a(hidemem.o): in function `hide_etherboot':
/home/bj/ipxe/ipxe-master-second/src/arch/x86/interface/pcbios/hidemem.c:158: undefined reference to `_textdata'
ld: /home/bj/ipxe/ipxe-master-second/src/arch/x86/interface/pcbios/hidemem.c:172: undefined reference to `_data16_memsz'
ld: /home/bj/ipxe/ipxe-master-second/src/arch/x86/interface/pcbios/hidemem.c:171: undefined reference to `_text16_memsz'
ld: bin-x86_64-efi/blib.a(pxe_entry.o): in function `pxe_segments':
(.text16.data+0x26): undefined reference to `_data16_memsz'
ld: (.text16.data+0x2e): undefined reference to `_data16_memsz'
ld: (.text16.data+0x36): undefined reference to `_text16_memsz'
ld: (.text16.data+0x3e): undefined reference to `_text16_memsz'
ld: bin-x86_64-efi/blib.a(pxe_entry.o): in function `pxenv':
(.text16.data+0x76): undefined reference to `_data16_memsz'
ld: (.text16.data+0x82): undefined reference to `_data16_memsz'
ld: (.text16.data+0x86): undefined reference to `_text16_memsz'
ld: bin-x86_64-efi/ipxe.efi.tmp: hidden symbol `_textdata' isn't defined
ld: final link failed: bad value
make: *** [Makefile.housekeeping:1219: bin-x86_64-efi/ipxe.efi.tmp] Fehler 1
rm bin-x86_64-efi/version.ipxe.efi.o

iso efi boot with memdisk

Sat, 08 May 2021 08:24:32 +0000

Hi, im'trying to boot sysresccd iso in a uefi machine, i have already setup dhcp and ipxe.efi with menu, but uefi machine cant boot iso image.
The string i'm using in my menù is

Code:

sysresccd-uefi

echo Boot SystemRescueCd ISO 

initrd ${nfs-linux-live}/Sysresccd.iso

chain memdisk iso raw

goto start

It ended with
nfs://server/pathiso/Sysresccd.iso ok
memdisk ok
Could not boot: Exec format error http://ipxe.org/2e008081
Could not boot: Exec format error http://ipxe.org/2e008081

Im'trying other solution that implies passing arg to vmlinuz, using imgargs or write argument like this

Code:

kernel images/sysresccd/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz vmlinuz archisobasedir=images/sysresccd ip=dhcp archiso_nfs_srv=192.168.1.9:/volume1/tftproot

it seem that all the cmdline options are ignored and no boot happens.

cmdline is from sysresccd website

Any hints?

Many thanks

exit vs exit 1

Fri, 07 May 2021 16:49:55 +0000

Hey,

using iPXE for automated server installs on a EFI Qemu-KVM.

My boot using EFI order:
- iPXE (cdrom)
- DISK

iPXE is chainloading information from an external service.

If the system should rebuild its executing needed steps and ends up in installing an EFI compatible OS on the disk.
In case of a "normal boot" it should exit and just boot the OS from the disk.

This whole setup just works fine. But im running into a weird problem, which i dont understand.

using following script (for skipping the install process):

#ipxe
exit 1

Just makes iPXE exit with an error. After this error qemu / kvm just goes on and boots the given OS.
If executing a clean exit "exit 0", im just ending up in the bootmanager of qemu instead that ipxe goes on with the next boot device..

Any idea why, and how to solve it? Currently im using the exit 1 workaround to "crash ipxe" and boot my systems disks. Which just shows an error message during boot which i would like to avoid..

Running script to download image

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 10:27:13 +0000

Can I have IPXE execute my curl commands that download my kernel, initrd and filesystem.squashfs from my git repository?

what is the exit code once sanboot fail

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 02:53:07 +0000

I see the demonstration on https://ipxe.org/cmd/sanboot#command_status
Failure Booting was unsuccessful

I wonder what the exit code is once booting was unsuccessful? Will ipxe forward the control to BIOS then?

Discussions has been moved to GitHub

Wed, 09 Dec 2020 12:16:49 +0000

New user registrations has been removed in this forum, as we've moved over to using GitHub Discussions.

If you have something you'd like to discuss, questions to ask or other things to share regarding iPXE, please head over to https://github.com/ipxe/ipxe/discussions

Winboot failed to load WinPE greater than 600MB on Dell R640

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 08:14:06 +0000

Hi -

I am getting below error on dell R640. The machine has 170 GB RAM. So memory is not an issue. It appears that on this hardware Wimboot can only work with 1GB of address space.

The exact error is "There isn't enough memory available to create ramdisk device."
Status: 0xc000007

The wimboot info is captured before it hand over control to bootmgr.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ag6Nr700xzwc-HrQjwrg...2?e=CeWpWd

The top two screen shoots are from R640. Left hand side is trying to boot from a 650MB winpe whereas right hand side successfully booted from a 580 mb Winpe.
The bottom image is from a different sku of dell server with larger Winpe Image and it worked fine.

My guess based on looking at address space is that for larger winpe, the address space of bootmgr will overlap with the address space where BCD is stored. Hence the error.

R640->ipxe(wimboot)->win image 650MB | bootmgr start at 0x434a0 + wim (28e25c38) = 28E6 90D8 ->BCD starting point (25784074)

R640->ipxe(wimboot)->win image 580MB | bootmgr start at 0x434a0 + wim (243afee8) = 243F 3388 ->BCD starting point (2a23e074)

I can be completely off here but it does appear that Wimboot is not using the ram space effectively.

I am using the latest version of wimboot (2.6.0), I also tried with previous version but same result.

Any pointers on how to fix this issue ?

Network driver issue?

Tue, 13 Oct 2020 23:24:23 +0000

I have built bin-x86_64-efi/ipxe.efi from the latest ipxe git repo.
No configuration options, clean. It hangs on the "boot" command after downloading Ubuntu kernel and initrd. Same ipxe binary works fine on other PC's with different NICs. This is on a Lenovo T440. See screenshot below.

Works fine before this commit:
https://github.com/ipxe/ipxe/commit/c70b...89583a6921

In this screenshot below, I am using bin-x86_64-efi/snp.efi from the latest ipxe git repo. With the same issue as above.

WinXP image issue.

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 11:11:02 +0000

Hello, i'm building some images for POS terminals based on WinXP Pro.

3 images completed perfectly without issues. In BIOS first boot devise is LAN, second HDD. I have ipxe menu with ability load iscsi disk or hdd (depends on default selection of menu) and both selection works correctly.

But with fourth image i have following problem - if i have both boot devices in BIOS enabled, ISCSI disk boot hangs on black screen without response (on already build image) or if I'm trying to setup WinXP it's hangs on "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration..." without end. If I turn off HDD as second boot device - ISCSI disk load correctly or setup is starting.

Any idea or maybe BIOS version issue ?

Sorry for my English in forward and thx for attention

Passing dhcpd options to kernel command line

Sun, 11 Oct 2020 17:36:13 +0000

Hi,

I want to pass some options of the dhcpd to the kernel command line but some options does not work. The option `next-server` can be passed by using ${next-server} but `host-name` and `ipxe.username` are ignored and are blank.

I set these options like this:

Code:

option space ipxe;

option ipxe.username code 190 = string;

next-server x.x.x.x ;

option host-name "TheHostName";

option ipxe.username "TheUserName";

How to use these options because I need some informations from the server.

Thank you

Multiple tftp interfaces on 1 virtual server for iPXE / WDS

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 19:37:50 +0000

Hello everyone!

First of all: iPXE is great! Thanks for that!

Here's my situation:

Virtual Windows 2019 Standard Server on a VMware ESXi 6.7 for TFTP and iPXE.

One network interface. The solarwinds free TFTP server listen on port 69 and all files for iPXE are stored in the root path. Works fine so far.

I want to add a second network interface and install the windows WDS and bind the WDS only to that interface.

The primary network interface on ip 172.16.0.5 shall be managed by the solarwinds free TFTP server for the iPXE boot.

The second network interface on ip 172.16.0.6 shall be managed by the WDS service.

I want to add a menu option in iPXE for chainloading the WDS services.

In that way i could manage all Windows related installations with the WDS services and for the other stuff i add menu items in iPXE for Ubuntu http start or whatever.

The DHCP server in that network leads the clients to the primary TFTP server ip 172.16.0.5 using the DHCP options 66,67.

Is this a possible scenario? Can this work? I dont want to install another virtual machine for WDS. With two different network interfaces in the virtual machine it should work, right?

Please give me feedback! I appreciate it a lot! Thanks!

CentOS 8 kernel cannot be started from UEFI iPXE

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 15:17:22 +0000

Hello,
I have spent the past week getting to know the iPXE project and have been familiarizing myself with chainloading iPXE and then installing things over the network. I have been able to do this without issue for Debian 10, but now I ran into severe issues during the past 3 days trying to install CentOS 8.

My setup is as follows:
- RPi4 running pios arm64v8 as DHCP / TFTP / DNS / HTTP server
- Intel NUC10i5FNH2 as the testing machine
- Ubuntu Tower PC as my workstation

I am chainloading into the iPXE binary over tftp. Everything is using UEFI exclusively, SecureBoot is turned off. I embed a script into the iPXE binary that contains this code for booting CentOS:

initrd http://mirror.centos.org/centos-8/8.1.19...initrd.img
kernel http://mirror.centos.org/centos-8/8.1.19...ot/vmlinuz
imgargs vmlinuz initrd=initrd.img inst.repo=http://192.168.178.2/centos8
sleep 2
boot ||

However when I run this immediately get an error saying:
- exit_boot() failed!
- efi_main() failed!

Unfortunately I have no idea what to do here. I searched the forum and google, but have not found a solution. Does someone here have an idea of what is wrong here? I have spent way too much time on this already without making any progress...

Thank you for your help.

Chainload iPXE from Grub2

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 09:36:44 +0000

Hi
This is my first post, so hello to everyone.

I searched the whole forum, but didn't find any solution for my problem.

I have a GRUB2 which is loaded from TFTP server (booti386). When the computer boots from the network with pxe it recieves the grub2 boot loader. I want to add iPXE to my grub2 menuentry becouse I love how great this iPXE is . I don't want to resign from my grub2. All of my files are on HTTP server.

I tried....

Code:

menuentry " == iPXE == " {

    echo "Downloading iPXE...."

    linux16 (http)/iPXE/ipxe.lkrn

    echo "Downloading menu.ipxe..."

    initrd16 (http)/iPXE/menu.ipxe

    echo "booting..."

}

ipxe.lkrn and menu.ipxe are downloading correctly, so no problem with http or connection with server. The problem is that it just doesn't work. The cursors just blinks in endless loop and nothing appears.

Am I missing something ? Sorry If this was already answered, but I did not find any post with the same problem.

DHCP and HTTP boot

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 09:33:10 +0000

Hello,

This is my first post. We are trying to setup HTTP boot using iPXE. We don't use TFTP server. Currently DHCP and Webserver is setup in Linux box. We are testing Windows server build using Wimboot and WinPE. All the files are in the webserver root location and able to download them.

Could you let me know what settings should be configured in dhcpd.conf so when we boot the Dell server, it should HTTP boot into ipxe.efi and then download boot.ipxe or menu.ipxe from the webserver?

the below is the current setting in dhcp
if exists user-class and option user-class = "iPXE" {
filename "http://webserver/menu.ipxe";
} elsif option client-arch != 0 {
filename "http://webserver/ipxe-snponly-x86-64.efi";
}

Thank you in advance.