problems Loading Windows iso in advanced menu.

sacha marin

Hey guys.

I am currently in a company with a fog server and i would like to load some windows iso.

This is the code im using.

:MENU
menu
item --gap – ------------- Advanced Menu --------------
item windows7 windows
item RETURN Return to the Top Menu
choose --default RETURN --timeout 30000 target && goto ${target}

:windows7
initrd http://${fog-ip}/fog/iso/windows7x64.iso	
chain memdisk
goto MENU

:RETURN
boot http://${fog-ip}/${fog-webroot}/service/ipxe/boot.php?mac=${net0/mac} ||
prompt
goto MENU

autoboot

and this is the error i get.

Any Help is greatly appreciated.

thanks !

Sebastian Roth

Did you search the forums? I am pretty sure you are not the first to try.

sacha marin

I did but i didnt find anything related to this error.

sacha marin

i just tried with winpe and i get the same thing.

Joseph Hales

I would redownload your iso it may be corrupted.

sacha marin

@Joseph-Hales it did the same error with both this iso and another winpe iso, i doubt its the same problems, and i used that iso to install windows.

The error says " MEMDISK : image seem to have fractional end cylinder

im not sure what this mean.

Joseph Hales

This isn’t using the SVN version of FOG is it? Try “chain memdisk iso raw”.

sacha marin

@Joseph-Hales im on 1.20

Wayne Workman

@sacha-marin This might help: http://ipxe.org/howto/winpe

I’ve been intending to document how to do it for FOG specifically, but just haven’t done it yet.

sacha marin

@Wayne-Workman i think this is the way i was going to use, boot into winpe AND then load the sysprep image, since windows just wont load either way.

Wayne Workman

@sacha-marin well, this method doesn’t need 8GB of ram… it doesn’t load an ISO into memory, it just loads files. That’s the benefit of starting the Win7 installation via WinPE rather than an ISO. Not to mention probably significantly faster loading speed.

sacha marin

i managed to do pretty much all i wanted , except loading linux based iso, i always get that error
Unable to find a medium life file server.

Anyway i will document the best way to do the windows 7 this week. maybe i can make a wiki article on it or something.

sacha marin

Solution to install Windows 7 from the Fog server advanced menu “Did not tested win 8 and 10 as of now.”

Booting from windows"s iso directly simply wont work for reason unknown to me. You need to boot on a winpe iso

Take it here : http://ipxe.org/howto/winpe You need to get the WAIK from windows.

Your code line should be like that.

:winpe
initrd http://${fog-ip}/fog/iso/winpe.iso	
chain memdisk iso raw
goto MENU

After you booted on the winpe the only thing you will have is a command line utility. For the next step to work you will need a windows share on the network or a samba server. I use a windows share from my server. You must use the net use command to specify what you want to do next, aka boot the windows 7"s setup.exe

  net use \\myserver\installers
  \\myserver\installers\win7\setup.exe```
Of course you have to adjust this to your server.

if your server has authentication then it will be asked. Just enter your password and username like this, username@domain Press enter and then the password

after that if everyone work you should be promted to the windows 7 install !
**
TLDR : Boot from winpe with “chain memdisk iso raw”
run the command to start the setup.exe from your windows share.
install windows.**
NO YOU CANNOT DIRECTLY RUN A WINDOWS ISO FROM THE ADVANCED MENU.

PROTIP : you can modify your winpe.iso to boot directly to a batch file with a menu, to choose which iso you want, and make it totally codeless. i will post the code for example in the next post.

ps: sory for pour engrish.

sacha marin

@sacha-marin

To boot directly to a menu batch file you have to follow the instruction here : http://ipxe.org/howto/winpe article : Customising Windows PE

tldr : mount the boot.wim in command line with imagex, add your code, unmount it, use Winiso to open it and change the old boot.wim to the new and save it, boot on it and a menu will appear, you also have to manually create the folder from the command. Im talking about the temp folder and the folder in it.

here is the code for my menu.

wpeinit
@echo off

:MENU
ECHO.
ECHO ...............................................
ECHO Its dangerous to go alone, take these windows                                                
ECHO ...............................................
ECHO.
ECHO 1 - Windows 7 English
ECHO 2 - Windows 7 French
ECHO 3 - Windows xp english
ECHO 4 - Free donuts.
ECHO 5 - EXIT
ECHO.



SET /P M=Type 1, 2, 3, or 4 then press ENTER:
IF %M%==1 GOTO winen
IF %M%==2 GOTO winfr
IF %M%==3 GOTO winxpen
IF %M%==4 GOTO donut
IF %M%==5 GOTO EOF




:winen
net use w: \\mtl-nt-apps\apps\iso\winpe\win7eng /user:username@domain password
\\mtl-nt-apps\apps\iso\winpe\win7eng\setup.exe
GOTO MENU


:winfr
net use w: \\mtl-nt-apps\apps\iso\winpe\win7fr /user:username@domain password
\\mtl-nt-apps\apps\iso\winpe\win7fr\setup.exe
GOTO MENU

:winxpen
net use w: \\mtl-nt-apps\apps\iso\winpe\winxpen /user:sacham@paradox qwerqwer1
\\mtl-nt-apps\apps\iso\winpe\winxpen\setup.exe
GOTO MENU


:donut


echo              _ _,---._ 
echo           ,-','       `-.___ 
echo          /-;'               `._ 
echo         /\/          ._   _,'o \ 
echo        ( /\       _,--'\,','"`. ) 
echo         ^|\      ,'o     \'    //\ 
echo         ^|      \        /   ,--'""`-. 
echo         :       \_    _/ ,-'         `-._ 
echo          \        `--'  /                ) 
echo           `.  \`._    ,'     ________,',' 
echo             .--`     ,'  ,--` __\___,;' 
echo              \`.,-- ,' ,`_)--'  /`.,' 
echo               \^( ;  ^| ^| )      ^(`-/ 
echo                 `--'^| ^|^)       ^|-/ 
echo                   ^| ^| ^|        ^| ^| 
echo                   ^| ^| ^|,.,-.   ^| ^|_ 
echo                   ^| `./ /   )---`  ) 
echo                  _^|  /    ,',   ,-' 
echo                 ,'^|_(    /-^<._,' ^|--, 
echo                 ^|    `--'---.     \/ \ 
echo                 ^|          / \    /\  \ 
echo               ,-^---._     ^|  \  /  \  \ 
echo            ,-'        \----'   \/    \--`. 
echo           /            \              \   \ 
echo			HMMM DONUTS.
GOTO MENU

Windows xp is not working and homer is funny but useless.

ps: winen is win7english and winfr is for the french version

Sebastian Roth

Great work, thanks for testing and reporting it here!

Wayne Workman

@sacha-marin I’ll be working on converting this to a WiKi article in the future. Excellent work, Bravo!

sacha marin

@Wayne-Workman Noice. Tell me if you need more info. im not the best at documenting.

Rayco

Hi, I have the same problem, but not in all computers.

Some computers work fine, and load WinPE correctly.

But others computers loaded at 100% iso file, and did a self restart.

Someone with a idea ?

I cheked cables and switches too.

george1421

@Rayco I have a tutorial for loading the winpe iso image, let me link it in here.

https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/6284/booting-mdt-2013-litetouch-with-fog

The other thing you need to be aware of with your winpe image is that you have all of the winpe hardware drivers embedded into the iso image or some systems may fail to boot. You also need to be mindful of the bios (firmware) settings to ensure they are the same between the winpe booting devices.

Rayco

@george1421 Thank you for ur fast answer.

All computers have bios updated and WinPE’s has drivers incluided.

I got a screenshot with the trouble. I think we have a problem with a trunked image when go to mapped in memory. (But not all computers fails, several do it nice)

alt text

Maybe we have a problem with image or drivers?

Thank you a lot.

problems Loading Windows iso in advanced menu.

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