In a previous article, Installing Linux via PXE using Windows Deployment Services (WDS), I talked about using PXELinux to enable deployment of WDS images, Linux distros and a multitude of tools. It got a bit heavy when trying to make this all work but the system is now up & running and we have already benefitted from it on many occasions. So here is my guide for Microsoft admins wanting to enhance their existing Windows Deployment Services server.

Step One – Install WDS

This should be obvious and if you are reading this I imagine you’ve done it already. Ours is running on a Windows Server 2003 box but it should work fine with the latest, more secure, stuff.

• We will be adding bits to the folders within the \\WDS\REMINST share

Step Two – Install PXELinux

PXELinux is part of the SysLinux package

• Download SysLinux from here
• There’s quite a bit in SysLinux but you only need to extract the following files
  • ZIP\core\pxelinux.0
  • ZIP\com32\menu\vesamenu.c32
  • ZIP\com32\modules\chain.c32
• Copy the files into \\WDS\REMINST\Boot\x86
• Rename pxelinux.0 to pxelinux.com
• You also need to make copies of two original WDS files in this folder
  • Copy pxeboot.n12 and rename it to pxeboot.0
  • Copy abortpxe.com and rename it to abortpxe.0
• Create to new subfolders
  • \\WDS\REMINST\Boot\x86\Linux
  • \\WDS\REMINST\Boot\x86\pxelinux.cfg
• The pxelinux.cfgfolder is where you store the files that make up the PXE boot (F12) menu.
  • All the files we will put in there are text files, even though they don’t use a .txt extension
• First create a new text file called default.  This is the first menu that loads.
• Paste the following text into it

  01	DEFAULT      vesamenu.c32

  02	PROMPT       0

  03

  04	MENU TITLE PXE Boot Menu (x86)

  05	MENU INCLUDE pxelinux.cfg/graphics.conf

  06	MENU AUTOBOOT Starting Local System in 8 seconds

  07

  08	# Option 1 - Exit PXE Linux & boot normally

  09	LABEL bootlocal

  10	menu label ^Boot Normally

  11	menu default

  12	localboot 0

  13	timeout 80

  14	TOTALTIMEOUT 9000

  15	# Option 2 - Run WDS

  16

  LABEL wds

  17	MENU LABEL ^Windows Deployment Services

  18	KERNEL pxeboot.0

  19	# Option 3 - Exit PXE Linux

  20	LABEL Abort

  21	MENU LABEL E^xit

  22	KERNEL abortpxe.0

• Now create a text file called graphics.conf
  • This file controls how the menu is displayed. It’s very versatile so have a play around until it looks as basic or as flashy as you like
• Paste the following text into it

  01	MENU MARGIN 10

  02	MENU ROWS 16

  03	MENU TABMSGROW 21

  04	MENU TIMEOUTROW 26

  05	MENU COLOR BORDER 30;44     #00000000 #00000000 none

  06	MENU COLOR SCROLLBAR 30;44      #00000000 #00000000 none

  07	MENU COLOR TITLE 0      #00269B #00000000 none

  08	MENU COLOR SEL   30;47      #40000000 #20ffffff

  09	MENU BACKGROUND background.jpg

  10	NOESCAPE 0

  11	ALLOWOPTIONS 0

• If you want to use a custom background, place it in the \\WDS\REMINST\Boot\x86folder.
  • The image should be a 640×480 jpeg file.
  • Make sure it has the same name as specified in the MENU BACKGROUND line in graphics.conf
• Now we need to change the default boot program in WDS
  • Open the Windows Deployment Services Console
  • Right Click on your Server and select Properties
  • From the Boot tab change the default boot program for x86 architecture to \Boot\x86\pxelinux.com
  • In Server 2008 R2 you have to use the wdsutil  command line to set the the default boot program with these commands

Step Three – Test it out

Before you go any further, do a test PXE boot to check everything is OK.

I use a Hyper-V VM to make this testing process quicker. Just make sure it’s set to boot to a legacy network adapter in the settings

If it doesn’t load make sure you have the following files and folders in the right place within the \\WDS\REMINST share

• \Boot\x86\pxelinux.com
• \Boot\x86\vesamenu.c32
• \Boot\x86\chain.c32
• \Boot\x86\pxeboot.0
• \Boot\x86\abortpxe.0
• \Boot\x86\background.jpg
• \Boot\x86\Linux\
• \Boot\x86\pxelinux.cfg\
• \Boot\x86\pxelinux.cfg\default
• \Boot\x86\pxelinux.cfg\graphics.conf

Step Four– Add new boot options

If you can boot into the new menu and still load WDS then we are ready to add our Linux distros and other tools. If not, go back to step one and check everything.

This stage is relatively easy. It is just a case of putting the relevant netboot files for your preferred distribution in to the \Boot\x86\Linux folder and then adding a menu option for them. You can find more info on where to get these from on the official WDSLinux wiki. I’ll show you a more generic way of doing things using Debian as an example

• Create a new subfolder
  • \Boot\x86\Linux\Debian\
• Download the netboot files (initrd.gz and linux) from a Debian mirror
• Copy them into the Debian subfolder
• Create a menu entry for them in \Boot\x86\pxelinux.cfg\default

  1	LABEL debian6Netinstall

  2	menu label ^Debian 6-0 Net-install

  3	# Load the correct kernel

  4	kernel /Linux/Debian/Linux

  5	# Boot options

  6	append priority=low vga=normal initrd=/Linux/Debian/initrd.gz

That’s all there is to it. As long as you download the correct files and boot the correct boot options on the append line of the menu, you should be OK.

What if I need 64-bit options

This is easy too just replicate everything we did in \Boot\x86 into \Boot\x64. Don’t forget to change the WDS Server boot program for the x64 architecture (as shown in step 2) to \Boot\x64\pxelinux.com

Taking it further

Hopefully you are reading this because you have numerous ideas of what you could boot to. To help you along I’ve included my current default menu as well as adding sub-menus for Linux and Tools. Most of them were fairly straightforward as they had special PXE version with instructions on their website, e.g. GParted & Clonezilla

default

linux.menu (save in same place default)

tools.menu (save in same place default)

Conclusion

This is a really useful tool to have in our SysAdmin arsenal. I encourage you to give it a go. Let me know if your successful, or if you are having any problems getting it working, in the comments section. I’d also love to hear of any other tools you’ve added to the PXE menu.