FOG 33b - installation - HP Elite 8300 SFF
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2 - Deactivate UEFI and then legacy pxe boot works but then after the timeout period (when fogserver is offline) it tries to boot further to the internal harddisk and gives an error message “GPT-formatted disk. Legacy boot not supported”.
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Here is the the description I sent to Experts Exchange:One group are USDT (ultra slim desktop). The other are SFF (small form factor).
All have the same latest BIOS. I have installed Win 8.1 Enterprise on one of each model in the same way. Before I installed Win 8.1 I deleted all partitions and allowed Win 8.1 to create its own 3 partitions:
300MB Recovery,
100MB EFI-system,
PXE Boot works on the SFF, but not on the USDT. I should say that the FOG imaging server which provides the PXE boot file is turned off. What I see on the 2 clients is that the SFF is clearly trying to find the PXE boot file for a while before booting further to the internal harddisk. The USDT makes no attempt to locate the PXE file. It just boots straight into the internal harddisk.
They have a slightly different BIOS Boot Order list. Here is the USDT:
UEFI Boot Sources
- Windows Boot Manager
- Atapi CD/DVD
- USB HD
- USB floppy/CD
Legacy Boot Sources
-Network Controller
-Hard drive
—Sata0
—USB Hard Drive- USB floppy/cd
This list is identical on the SFF except for “Windows Boot Manager”
“Windows Boot Manager” is missing on the SFF which has no problem PXE-booting.If I disable “Windows Boot Manager” on the USDT, then it attempts to PXE boot (fantastic), but then after a while it tries to boot further to the internal harddisk and gives an error message “GPT-formatted disk. Legacy boot not supported”. I have no idea what this means or how to get PXE working without getting this GPT problem.
Both BIOSes have:
SATA emulation: AHCI
Network boot: enabled
Secure Boot configuration: Legacy support:“enabled”, Secure boot:“disabled”
Remote wakeup boot source: Remote Server
NIC PXE option ROM download: PXE
Option ROM launch Policy - PXE Option ROMS: “Legacy Only” (can be UEFI Only) -
PXE timeout is now 10 seconds which gives plenty of time on the legacy network boot on the SFF, but makes no difference for the UEFI network boot on the USDT.
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it sounds to me like it would work if you wiped the drive and installed windows under legacy boot options.
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Have just deactivated UEFI and done a legacy network boot on the USDT.
It worked and I registered the client with fog.
But as expected when it rebooted and timed out past the fog page, and returned control to the PC, all I see is a flashing cursor in the top left corner.It cannot legacy boot to the disk because it is a GPT-formatted disk. Whatever that means.
I have appreciated your help but must cycle home now. It’s 9:30 PM. I’ll log in to the forum when I get home, but will not be able to test anything.
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[INDENT][I]it sounds to me like it would work if you wiped the drive and installed windows under legacy boot options. [/I][/INDENT]
[INDENT]Not sure how to do that or what the ramifications will be. [/INDENT]
[INDENT]Do you mean I could deactivate UEFI in the BIOS and somehow install windows again.[/INDENT]
[INDENT]But it just stops dead and says GPT disk or just shows the flashing cursor. How do I format the disk if I cannot get past the bios?[/INDENT] -
the GPT formatted disk means that you installed windows with UEFI enabled, and it has configured the hard disk as such. if you wipe the drive and re-install windows like you did before, but under Legacy, your hard disk will not be configured as GPT.
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That said, you will still need to make sure UEFI Mode is not enabled for the NICs. UEFI PXE Boot does not work quite yet.
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Also, the line:
[code]sanboot --no-describe --drive 0x80 || exit[/code] will not work because iPXE doesn’t know that the sanboot has failed. Hence why the system freezes. This is most likely due to the bug in the firmware HP has. This is also seen on many Dell systems. Simply make sure the PXE system is set to boot, and change the sanboot --no-describe --drive 0x80 lines are replace with just exit. Exit will drop the system back to BIOS which should allow everything to boot normally, even if your hard drivers are formatted as GPT. -
“the GPT formatted disk means that you installed windows with UEFI enabled, and it has configured the hard disk as such. if you wipe the drive and re-install windows like you did before, but under Legacy, your hard disk will not be configured as GPT”
Tom, do you agree with Junkhacker? I need to take action now today.
Junkhacker, what is the quickest, easiest way to wipe the disk when I cannot do a legacy boot? Not sure about how to proceed.
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Alistair,
You can do a legacy boot. You stated that earlier. The only difference for your particular scenario is that you’ll have to change the boot order of the devices.
I don’t agree with Junkhacker’s assessment wholly as I’ve created images using GPT formatting and Legacy PXE Boot. FOG 0.33b automates some of this process for you.
If you want to create a wholly Legacy system, you need to disable UEFI entirely in the BIOS. You state you cannot do this, so based on this I don’t know what to tell you.
To create an MBR based image, you would need to make sure the drive is formatted in MBR format. Load the system up with debug mode, perform[code]sgdisk -Z /dev/sda[/code] To wipe the drive of all partition/gpt/mbr information. Boot the system in Legacy Mode (MUST DO THIS) and create your Image from scratch.
If you cannot boot the system in Legacy mode for whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter how many times you try, your system is going to try to load windows using the GPT format structure, and you’ll be stuck in EXACTLY the same situation as you are now.
To allow the system to boot:
Change the relevant lines in BootMenu.class.php
(LINE 107 in current revision)
[php]print “prompt --key “.($this->KS && $this->KS->isValid() ? $this->KS->get(‘ascii’) : ‘0x1b’).” --timeout $this->timeout Booting… (Press “.($this->KS && $this-> KS->isValid() ? $this->KS->get(‘name’) : ‘Escape’).” to access the menu) && goto menuAccess || sanboot --no-describe --drive 0x80\n”;[/php]
TO SAY:
[php]print “prompt --key “.($this->KS && $this->KS->isValid() ? $this->KS->get(‘ascii’) : ‘0x1b’).” --timeout $this->timeout Booting… (Press “.($this->KS && $this-> KS->isValid() ? $this->KS->get(‘name’) : ‘Escape’).” to access the menu) && goto menuAccess || exit\n”;[/php]
(LINE 221 in current revision)
[php] print “sanboot --no-describe --drive 0x80\n”;[/php]
TO SAY:
[php]print “exit\n”;[/php]
(LINE 333 in current revision)
[php]print “sanboot --no-describe --drive 0x80 || goto MENU\n”;[/php]
TO SAY:
[php]print “exit || goto MENU\n”;[/php] -
OK I’m sorry, I think I’m confusing you.
The 0x80 issue relates to the very old HP clients which I need to wipe or hopefully install Ubuntu 12 on, to give away to students or parents. I understand, I think fully, your advice about how to solve that issue. And I might do what you say there.But much more important are the new HP Elite 8300 USDT clients that I need to get out to all the teachers. I have installed win 8.1 on one of these clients called “Teacher-1” This has the bios problem and the GPT drive.
The other new HP Elite 8300 clients are SFF and are for the classrooms and I have installed win 8.1 on one called “Classroom-1”.
(By the way I have confirmed that this Classroom-1 SFF model has an MBR drive, which is interesting since it also has a list of active UEFI boot options which have not automatically resulted in the creation of a GPT drive - curious. This should be no problem to image.)From my understanding we are not talking about fog or imaging now.
I can in fact completely deactivate UEFI in the bios of the Teacher-1 USDT.
I just need to wipe the disk somehow and then reinstall Win 8.1 with only legacy bios options active.
That should result in the creation of an MBR drive.I’ve done some research and now know what a GPT drive is.
Bottom line - how do I wipe the GPT drive, or how do I proceed to re-install Win 8.1? I have the latest Gparted Live boot CD if that’s a help.
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I stated that in my last message.
To completely wipe the drive of any and all GPT and/or MBR data:
Boot the system as a debug task. At the terminal prompt type:[code]sgdisk -Z /dev/sda[/code]
Delete the tasking and create your “base” image. Then upload the image. You should be good.
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It works!!
Used GParted to delete all partitions. (Didn’t want to bother you Tom to ask what you meant by “Boot the system as a debug task”. Chinese to me. So I took a chance on GParted.)
Disconnected network cable. (to avoid auto downloading of app store programs and other stuff after installation)
Deactivated UEFI in BIOS.
Put CD at top under “Legacy Boot Order”
Reboot
With no intervention did not boot from Win 8.1 DVD !!
Reboot
Need to press ESC to enter what I call the UEFI option page. Many UEFI options there including boot order. Weird since I have already deactivated “UEFI Boot Order” in BIOS.
Select Boot to CD - “Sata”
Win 8.1 DVD fires up
I do not do any partitioning. The disk space is unallocated. NEXT
After installation, the first page comes up asking for desktop colour and PC name. I press CTRL-Shift-F3 to enter Audit Mode.
I confirmed that the drive is now MBR !! Amazing.
Reboot to pxe fog and register client.
Reboot and with no intervention end up in Audit Mode.
Yeeeeeeeeees!!Now, FINALLY, I can try imaging from Audit Mode.
Thanks so much Tom and JunkHacker!!
I’ll let you know how the imaging goes.
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I’m trying to take an image of the Classroom-1 SFF
The pxe process started ok going through a check list:
Checking OS = win 8
CPU cores = 4
etc…
until
Looking for harddisks…Done
flashing cursor -
I stopped the task on the console.
Then used CTRL C on the client which then led to the following lines:
Using hardisk sda
Saving partitiion tables … invalid partition data -
I don’t know if this is relevant.
Although I never had a problem with this Classroom-1 SFF model with regard to PXE, the BIOS always had an active “UEFI Boot Order” selection menu which was above the “Legacy Boot Order” menu. So I have now deactivated the UEFI menu and tried to take the image again. Same result.
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This time I did not stop the task on the console.
Instead I hit CTRL C on the client.
It raced forward, created an empty image folder on the fogserver and rebooted back through pxe to Windows. -
Not trying to sound harsh but this error is fairly self explanitory…
[QUOTE]Saving partitiion tables … invalid partition data [/QUOTE]
Now that you’ve disabled UEFI, wipe the disk of all formatting, set it as MBR, THEN start the windows install.
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But the disk is already MBR, not GPT. That’s why I didn’t have problems with PXE boot on this SFF model.
Do I still need to wipe and re-format to MBR for some reason? -
Yes.
GPT doesn’t just disappear which is why I was recommending you to do the sgdisk -Z /dev/sda command. That will wipe out all partition information on the drive and allow you to truly install MBR.
