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How to make the "Acronis True Image 2020" bootstick able to PXE boot from FOG 1.5.9.154

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  • P
    Pitohui
    last edited by Jun 18, 2022, 10:25 PM

    Dear FOG Project-Community,

    I’m relatively new to the FOG Server. But I saw that there was an option to boot an “.iso” from the FOG Server.

    What I’d like to do is to be able to boot the “Acronis True Image 2020” over PXE with the FOG Server.

    So generally, I managed to setup the FOG Server (Version 1.5.9) in combination with a Windows Server 2022 (DNS/DHCP).

    I’m able to register clients, capture and deploy the clients and the background is also changed without any problem.

    Further I copied the *.iso to following location

    • /tftpboot/tools/acronistrueimage2020/acronistrueimage2020.iso

    aswell i copied the memtest from

    • /tftpboot/memtest
      to
    • /tftpboot/tools/acronistrueimage2020/memtest

    (i had read this is required in an older post somewhere)

    The major problem I’m facing now is, that i have no clue to make this boot over PXE

    I’ve seen that this was possible in FOG 1.5.7 with a Acronis 2018 WinPE stick.

    Unfortunatelly the *.iso you now retrieve from acronis doesn’t seem to use WinPE anymore.

    I’ve mounted the *.iso to get an overview of the contained files. but i don’t see through anymore.

    Now I have no clue how to make the iPXE Menu entry.

    Actually im that far:

    • Menu Item “Acronis True Image 2020”
    • Description “Acronis True Image 2020”
    • Parameters “no clue to be honest”
    • Boot Options “no clue to be honest”
    • Default Item [no]
    • Hot Key Enabled [no]
    • Hot Key to use [none]
    • Menu Show with “All Hosts”

    Can I kindly ask to help and to get this work?

    Every hint would be much appreciated.

    Kind regards,
    Pitohui

    Content of “acronistrueimage2020.iso” if it helps in extracted form:

    bootmenu.exe
    bootmenu.xml
    bootwiz.cfg
    bootwiz.sys
    C1.png
    C2.png
    C3.png
    C4.png
    cpp.so
    dat10.dat
    dat11.dat
    dat12.dat
    dat14.dat
    dat15.dat
    dat16.dat
    dat2.dat
    dat3.dat
    dat4.dat
    dat6.dat
    dat7.dat
    dat8.dat
    fox.so
    graphapi.so
    i18n
    icon_continue_48.png
    icu38.so
    icudt38.so
    libc.so
    libgcc_s.so
    menulogo.png
    mouse.com
    osfiles.so
    resource.so
    sgn13.sgn
    sgn17.sgn
    sgn5.sgn
    sgn9.sgn
    SPL1.EXE
    SPL2.EXE
    SPL3.EXE
    SPL4.EXE
    threads.so
    ti_boot.so

    efi > boot

    bootia32.efi
    bootia32.xml
    bootx64.efi
    bootx64.xml

    Recovery Manager

    bootmenu_logo.png
    bootwiz.bin
    bootwiz32.efi
    bootwiz64.efi
    cpp.so
    fox.so
    gen_bootmenu.bin
    graphapi.so
    icu38.so
    icudt38.so
    kernel.dat
    kernel64.dat
    libc.so
    libgcc_s.so
    mouse.com
    osfiles.so
    ramdisk_merged.dat
    ramdisk_merged.sgn
    ramdisk_merged64.dat
    ramdisk_merged64.sgn
    resource.so
    splash.run
    threads.so
    ti_boot.so
    G 1 Reply Last reply Jun 19, 2022, 12:23 PM Reply Quote 0
    • G
      george1421 Moderator @Pitohui
      last edited by Jun 19, 2022, 12:23 PM

      @pitohui said in How to make the "Acronis True Image 2020" bootstick able to PXE boot from FOG 1.5.9.154:

      You may have no joy here.
      There are some target iso that can’t be network booted. We can typically get a linux or winpe iso to network boot, but not all ISOs. I think this Acronis iso is one.

      With a bios based computer you can use the memdisk program to load the iso image (as a whole disk) and run it. But memdisk is a BIOS only solution.

      For efi you need to work a bit harder. Looking at these files from your iso its hard to decide if this is a windows OS or a linux OS. The files actually makes me think its a mixed OS somewhere between linux and windows.

      I think in the case of this ISO you will find its not possible to pxe boot.

      Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!

      G 1 Reply Last reply Jun 19, 2022, 12:47 PM Reply Quote 0
      • G
        george1421 Moderator @george1421
        last edited by Jun 19, 2022, 12:47 PM

        @george1421 While I still have no idea if this will work I did find this thread that gives some ideas.

        https://forum.acronis.com/it/forum/acronis-true-image-home-forum-older-versions/pxe-boot-possible

        Specifically this line

        SAY 02b    Acronis True Image 2017 64
        LABEL 02b
                kernel /acronis2017/dat10.dat
                append initrd=/acronis2017/dat11.dat,/acronis2017/dat12.dat force_modules=usbhid ramdisk_size=102400 vga=791 quiet
        

        This is syslinux syntax. So if we translate it a bit. Lets assume you place the files in /tftpboot/acronis on the fog server.

        So the ipxe commands would be:

        Menu Item: os.trueimage
        Description: Acronis True Image 2020
        Parameters:

        kernel tftp://${fog-ip}/acronis/dat10.dat
        imgfetch --name dat11.dat tftp://${fog-ip}/acronis/dat11.dat dat11.dat
        imgfetch --name dat12.dat tftp://${fog-ip}/acronis/dat12.dat dat12.dat
        imgargs dat10.dat initrd=dat11.dat force_modules=usbhid ramdisk_size=102400 vga=791 quiet
        boot || goto MENU
        

        Lastly in the referenced thread its also mentioned that Acronis True Image is not licensed for pxe booting. So this discussion is only for a proof of concept and should not be used in a production environment.

        Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • D
          DBCountMan
          last edited by DBCountMan Jun 21, 2022, 2:18 PM Jun 21, 2022, 8:16 PM

          What about the wimboot method?
          This is my ipxe entry for booting PMagic11 that is WinPE.

          set tftp-path tftp://${fog-ip}
          set web-path http://${fog-ip}
          set pe-path ${web-path}/pm11_winpe
          kernel ${tftp-path}/wimboot gui
          imgfetch --name BCD ${pe-path}/BCD BCD
          imgfetch --name boot.sdi ${pe-path}/boot.sdi boot.sdi
          imgfetch --name bootmgr ${pe-path}/bootmgr bootmgr
          imgfetch --name boot.wim ${pe-path}/boot.wim boot.wim
          boot || goto MENU
          

          You’ll have to extract the files listed above from your Acronis ISO. Download the latest wimboot from here.

          You can place wimboot in your /tftproot and download it via tftp, the rest of the files you can place in /var/www/acronis to download via http and make sure to change ownership to fogproject:www for all the files in /var/www/acronis.

          G 1 Reply Last reply Jun 21, 2022, 8:37 PM Reply Quote 0
          • G
            george1421 Moderator @DBCountMan
            last edited by Jun 21, 2022, 8:37 PM

            @brakcounty It appears based on the files in the iso that Acronis Trueimage is linux based not winpe. The issue is that Acronis doesn’t make it easy to identify the kernel from the virtual hard drive. I was thinking that if the op loaded all of the ##.dat files onto the FOG server the file command might identify which ones are the kernel. I know if you run file bzImage it will tell you the kernel version of bzImage.

            Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!

            D 1 Reply Last reply Jun 22, 2022, 1:34 PM Reply Quote 0
            • D
              DBCountMan @george1421
              last edited by Jun 22, 2022, 1:34 PM

              @george1421 Ah ok I misread the OP. Well last time I checked, True Image can still create a boot image ISO with Windows kernels in addition to Linux kernels. If I’m not mistaken I believe you need to have the Windows ADK suite installed in order to create a WinPE boot ISO.

              @Pitohui
              How big is the ISO file? Perhaps you can try the sanboot or memdisk methods?

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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