Using FOG to PXE boot into your favorite installer images

george1421

Ubuntu 1910 Server

WARNING: The installer files needed for 19.10 has been removed from the download site. Noticed 25-Jan-2021. This tutorial is for reference only.

First we’ll create the required directories:

mkdir -p /images/os/ubuntu/Server19.10
mkdir -p /tftpboot/os/ubuntu/Server19.10

Now we’ll mount the Ubuntu Server 19.10 installer over the loop directory. Then we’ll copy the contents of the DVD to the directory we built above.

mount -o loop -t iso9660 /{full path where you have the iso stored}/ubuntu-19.10-live-server-amd64.iso /mnt/loop

cp -R /mnt/loop/* /images/os/ubuntu/Server19.10
umount /mnt/loop

Finally we’ll copy the pxe boot kernel and intfs to the tftpboot directory. We’ll need to download the netboot version from here: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/eoan/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz This version of bzlinuz.efi and initrd.lz support booting over an NFS share instead of the local DVD Drive.

wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/eoan/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz
tar -zxf netboot.tar.gz
cp ./ubuntu-installer/amd64/linux /tftpboot/os/ubuntu/Server19.10
cp ./ubuntu-installer/amd64/initrd.gz /tftpboot/os/ubuntu/Server19.10

The last bit of magic we need to do is setup a new FOG iPXE boot menu entry for this OS.
In the fog WebGUI go to FOG Configuration->iPXE New Menu Entry
Set the following fields
Menu Item: os.Ubuntu.Server.19.10
Description: Ubuntu Server 19.10
Parameters:
kernel tftp://${fog-ip}/os/ubuntu/Server19.10/linux
initrd tftp://${fog-ip}/os/ubuntu/Server19.10/initrd.gz
imgargs linux root=/dev/nfs boot=casper netboot=nfs nfsroot=${fog-ip}:/images/os/ubuntu/Server19.10/ locale=en_US.UTF-8 keyboard-configuration/layoutcode=us quiet splash ip=dhcp rw
boot || goto MENU
Menu Show with: All Hosts
That’s it, just pxe boot your target system and pick Ubuntu Server 19.10 from the FOG iPXE boot menu.

References:

george1421

Ubuntu 20.04 Server

This is solution still under investigation. It appears that Canonical has changed how their installer works and for me, its a bit strange since now they require the entire live iso to run from memory. That means transferring the 2.1GB iso image over the network to the network computer before the kernel boots. This kind of (imo) limits the target hardware to have at least 4GB of ram (2GB for the iso, 1GB for the OS and then 1GB for free RAM, said from an uneducated guess POV). To me this change seems a bit tone deaf to the Ubuntu user community only supplying the iso image in live boot mode.

Reference threads:
https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/netbooting-the-live-server-installer/14510
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/debian-installer/+bug/1429030?_ga=2.229105820.1620676036.1595355002-1365610273.1592834629
https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/14590/20-04-autoinstall

Also looking into the mini.iso referenced here (but only for bios installs, it appears that the uefi bits are broken and won’t be fix to drive folks away from this solution): http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/installer-amd64/current/legacy-images/netboot

george1421

Debian 10.5 Standard-Live

First we’ll create the required directories:

mkdir -p /images/os/debian/10.5L
mkdir -p /tftpboot/debian/10.5L

# for FOG Server with RedHat based OS
mkdir -p /var/www/html/os/debian/10.5L
# for FOG Server with Debian based OS
mkdir -p /var/www/os/debian/10.5L

Now we’ll mount the Debian live DVD over the loop directory. Then we’ll copy the contents of the DVD to the directory we built above.

mount -o loop -t iso9660 /{full path where you have the iso stored}/debian-live-10.5.0-amd64-standard.iso /mnt/loop

cp -R /mnt/loop/* /images/os/debian/10.5L
umount /mnt/loop

Finally we’ll copy the pxe boot kernel and intfs to the tftpboot directory.

cp /images/os/debian/10.5L/live/vmlinuz-4.19.0-10-amd64 /tftpboot/debian/10.5L/vmlinuz
cp /images/os/debian/10.5L/live/initrd.img-4.19.0-10-amd64 /tftpboot/debian/10.5L/initrd

# for FOG Server with RedHat based OS
cp /images/os/debian/10.5L/live/filesystem.squashfs /var/www/html/os/debian/10.5L
# for FOG Server with Debian based OS
cp /images/os/debian/10.5L/live/filesystem.squashfs /var/www/os/debian/10.5L

The last bit of magic we need to do is setup a new FOG iPXE boot menu entry for this OS.
In the fog WebGUI go to FOG Configuration->iPXE New Menu Entry
Set the following fields
Menu Item: os.Debian.10.5L
Description: Debian 10.5 Live
Parameters:
kernel tftp://${fog-ip}/debian/10.5L/vmlinuz
initrd tftp://${fog-ip}/debian/10.5L/initrd
imgargs vmlinuz boot=live components fetch=http://${fog-ip}/os/debian/10.5L/filesystem.squashfs
boot || goto MENU
Menu Show with: All Hosts
That’s it, just pxe boot your target system and pick Debian 10.5 Live from the FOG iPXE boot menu.

george1421

Acronis 2018 (WinPE)

First we’ll create the required directories:

mkdir -p /tftpboot/os/acronis18

Now we’ll mount the Acronis 2018 WinPE ISO over the loop directory. Then we’ll copy the contents of the DVD to the directory we built above.

mount -o loop /{full path where you have the iso stored}/acronis2018pe.iso /mnt/loop

cp /mnt/loop/boot/BCD /tftpboot/os/acronis18/
cp /mnt/loop/boot/boot.sdi /tftpboot/os/acronis18/
cp /mnt/loop/sources/boot.wim /tftpboot/os/acronis18/
umount /mnt/loop

Download and install the latest wimboot kernel and extract it from the zip file.

cd /tmp
wget http://git.ipxe.org/releases/wimboot/wimboot-latest.zip
unzip wimboot-latest.zip

Copy the wimboot file from the archive directory to root of the /tftpboot directory (we’ll need this for every windows boot media, so we’ll place it in a common spot).

cp ./wimboot-2.6.0-signed/wimboot /tftpboot

The last bit of magic we need to do is setup a new FOG iPXE boot menu entry for this Acronis 2018 WinPE Image.
In the fog WebGUI go to FOG Configuration->iPXE New Menu Entry
Set the following fields
Menu Item: os.Acronis2018PE
Description: Acronis 2018 WinPE
Parameters:
set tftp-path tftp://${fog-ip}
set pe-path ${tftp-path}/os/acronis18
kernel ${tftp-path}/wimboot gui
imgfetch --name BCD ${pe-path}/BCD BCD
imgfetch --name boot.sdi ${pe-path}/boot.sdi boot.sdi
imgfetch --name boot.wim ${pe-path}/boot.wim boot.wim
boot || goto MENU
That’s it, just pxe boot your target system and pick Acronis 2018 WinPE from the FOG iPXE boot menu.

george1421

XenServer 8.2 Installer

Create the target directory on the FOG server

mkdir -p /tftpboot/EFI/xenserver

From the XenServer installer iso the following files and place them in the /tftpboot/EFI/xenserver directory
grubx64.efi install.img vmlinuz xen.gz
Create the grub.cfg configuration file in the /tftpboot/EFI/xenserver and insert this text into the grub.cfg file.

menuentry "XenServer Install (serial)" {
 multiboot2 /EFI/xenserver/xen.gz dom0_mem=1024M,max:1024M watchdog dom0_max_vcpus=4 com1=115200,8n1 console=com1,vga
 module2 /EFI/xenserver/vmlinuz console=hvc0
 module2 /EFI/xenserver/install.img
}

Create a new FOG iPXE menu entry using the FOG Web ui FOG Configuration -> New iPXE Menu. Fill out the form using this data
Menu Item: os.xen.install
Description: XEN 8.2 Installer
Parameters:
chain tftp://${fog-ip}/EFI/xenserver/grubx64.efi || goto MENU
Menu Show with: All Hosts
That’s it, just pxe boot your target system and pick XEN 8.2 Installer from the FOG iPXE boot menu.

ref: https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX217680
ref: https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/14970/uefi-boot-install-of-xenserver-close-but-no-cigar

george1421

Hiren’s BootCD PE x64 (v1.0.1)

Configuration currently works for UEFI only. It appears the wim file is missing bootmgr.exe for the BIOS booting systems

Be aware that your target computer will need at least 4GB of ram to deploy this image. The boot.wim file is 1.3GB in size. So you need 1.3GB of RAM just for the disk image, and then additional RAM to run the OS once its booted

First we’ll create the required directories:

mkdir -p /tftpboot/os/Hiren101

Now we’ll mount the WinPE iso over the loop directory. Then we’ll copy the contents of the DVD to the directory we built above.

mount -o loop /{full path where you have the iso stored}/HBCD_PE_x64.iso /mnt/loop

cp /mnt/loop/BOOTMGR /tftpboot/os/Hiren101
cp /mnt/loop/boot/bcd /tftpboot/os/Hiren101
cp /mnt/loop/boot/boot.sdi /tftpboot/os/Hiren101
cp /mnt/loop/sources/boot.wim /tftpboot/os/Hiren101
umount /mnt/loop

Download and install the latest wimboot kernel and extract it from the zip file. 10-Aug-21: There has been changes to the Hiren's wim file since this tutorial was created. To get Hiren's to properly boot you need to use winboot version **2.7.3** or later found here: https://github.com/ipxe/wimboot/blob/master/wimboot
The issue was discussed in this post: https://forums.fogproject.org/post/144293

cd /tmp
wget http://git.ipxe.org/releases/wimboot/wimboot-latest.zip
unzip wimboot-latest.zip

Copy the wimboot file from the archive directory to root of the os directory (we’ll need this for every windows boot media, so we’ll place it in a common spot).

cp ./wimboot-2.6.0-signed/wimboot /tftpboot/os

The last bit of magic we need to do is setup a new FOG iPXE boot menu entry for this OS.
In the fog WebGUI go to FOG Configuration->iPXE New Menu Entry
Set the following fields
Menu Item: os.Hiren101
Description: Hirens BootCD PE x64 (v1.0.1)
Parameters:
set tftp-path tftp://${fog-ip}/os
set pe-path ${tftp-path}/Hiren101
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

@mikr said that this parameter block worked with Hiren BootCD 1.0.2 in uefi mode ref: https://forums.fogproject.org/post/146996 Well done!

set tftp-path tftp://${fog-ip}
set http-path http://${fog-ip}/images/tools/hbcd102
kernel ${tftp-path}/win/wimboot gui
imgfetch --name bootmgr.exe ${http-path}/bootmgr.exe bootmgr.exe
imgfetch --name bootx64.efi ${http-path}/efi/boot/bootx64.efi bootx64.efi
imgfetch --name BCD ${http-path}/boot/bcd BCD
imgfetch --name boot.sdi ${http-path}/boot/boot.sdi boot.sdi
imgfetch --name boot.wim ${http-path}/sources/boot.wim boot.wim
boot || goto MENU

That’s it, just pxe boot your target system and pick ** BootCD PE x64 (v1.0.1)** from the FOG iPXE boot menu.

References: None

george1421

Debian 10.7 Standard -Live

First we’ll create the required directories:

mkdir -p /images/os/debian/10.7L
mkdir -p /tftpboot/debian/10.7L

# for FOG Server with Redhat based OS
mkdir -p /var/www/html/os/debian/10.7L
# for FOG Server with Debian based OS
mkdir -p /var/www/os/debian/10.7L

Now we’ll mount the Debian live DVD over the loop directory. Then we’ll copy the contents of the DVD to the directory we built above.
I need to explain something here. The iso below is the "standard" version which is the debian console version. If you want to live boot into the debian XWindows interface you will need to download the ISO that contains your desired XWindows manager like Mate, XFCE, KDE, Gnome, etc The instructions are the same for all ISO, just the size if the initrd and squashfs will change

mount -o loop -t iso9660 /{full path where you have the iso stored}/debian-live-10.7.0-amd64-standard.iso /mnt/loop

cp -R /mnt/loop/* /images/os/debian/10.7L
umount /mnt/loop

Finally we’ll copy the pxe boot kernel and intfs to the tftpboot directory.

cp /images/os/debian/10.7L/live/vmlinuz-4.19.0-13-amd64 /tftpboot/debian/10.7L/vmlinuz
cp /images/os/debian/10.7L/live/initrd.img-4.19.0-13-amd64 /tftpboot/debian/10.7L/initrd

# for FOG Server with RedHat based OS
cp /images/os/debian/10.7L/live/filesystem.squashfs /var/www/html/os/debian/10.7L
# for FOG Server with Debian based OS
cp /images/os/debian/10.7L/live/filesystem.squashfs /var/www/os/debian/10.7L

The last bit of magic we need to do is setup a new FOG iPXE boot menu entry for this OS.
In the fog WebGUI go to FOG Configuration->iPXE New Menu Entry
Set the following fields
Menu Item: os.Debian.10.7L
Description: Debian 10.7 Live
Parameters:
kernel tftp://${fog-ip}/debian/10.7L/vmlinuz
initrd tftp://${fog-ip}/debian/10.7L/initrd
imgargs vmlinuz initrd=initrd boot=live components fetch=http://${fog-ip}/os/debian/10.7L/filesystem.squashfs
boot || goto MENU
Menu Show with: All Hosts
That’s it, just pxe boot your target system and pick Debian 10.7 Live from the FOG iPXE boot menu.

george1421

Debian 10.7 Standard

First we’ll create the required directories:

mkdir -p /images/os/debian/Server10.7
mkdir -p /tftpboot/os/debian/Server10.7

Now we’ll mount the Debian Server 10.7 installer over the loop directory. Then we’ll copy the contents of the DVD to the directory we built above.

mount -o loop -t iso9660 /{full path where you have the iso stored}/debian-10.7.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso /mnt/loop

cp -R /mnt/loop/* /images/os/debian/Server10.7
umount /mnt/loop

Finally we’ll copy the pxe boot kernel and intfs to the tftpboot directory. We’ll need to download the netboot version from here: https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/buster/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz This version of bzlinuz.efi and initrd.lz support booting over an NFS share instead of the local DVD Drive.

wget https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/buster/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz
tar -zxf netboot.tar.gz
cp ./debian-installer/amd64/linux /tftpboot/os/debian/Server10.7
cp ./debian-installer/amd64/initrd.gz /tftpboot/os/debian/Server10.7

The last bit of magic we need to do is setup a new FOG iPXE boot menu entry for this OS.
In the fog WebGUI go to FOG Configuration->iPXE New Menu Entry
Set the following fields
Menu Item: os.Debian.Server.10.7
Description: Debian Server 10.7
Parameters:
kernel tftp://${fog-ip}/os/debian/Server10.7/linux
initrd tftp://${fog-ip}/os/debian/Server10.7/initrd.gz
imgargs linux initrd=initrd.gz root=/dev/nfs boot=casper netboot=nfs nfsroot=${fog-ip}:/images/os/debian/Server10.7/ locale=en_US.UTF-8 keyboard-configuration/layoutcode=us quiet splash ip=dhcp rw
boot || goto MENU
Menu Show with: All Hosts
That’s it, just pxe boot your target system and pick Debian Server 10.7 from the FOG iPXE boot menu.

References:

Tom Elliott

This post is deleted!

george1421

Windows 10 BIOS/UEFI 2021 edition
17-Mar-21 this post is currently being edited, so its not complete

First we’ll create the required directories. In this tutorial we will use a windows server/workstation to host the installer files. This is the easiest solution, but if your goal is to only use the FOG server follow the instructions at the end of this thread for SAMBA install instructions. On your file server copy the content of the Windows installation DVD to a folder on your file server. Be sure to set the permission so that everyone has read only access to that directory. Now share that directory. For this tutorial the Windows file server will be called \fileserv01 with the share name of \win10$
In this next step you will need a valid user ID. It can be a domain level or machine level. Create this user id and password. For this tutorial we will create a domain account called consento\user01
Beyond this point you will need a Windows 10 1909 (or later) workstation. You also need to be aware what version of windows 10 you intend to deploy. You need to download the proper version of Windows ADK for the version of Windows 10 you will execute these instructions against.
Download the appropriate ADK for the version of Win10 you have from here: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/windows-assessment-deployment-kit You will need both downloads “Windows ADK for Windows 10” and “Windows PE add-on for the ADK”.
Launch the ADK installer. You will be presented with about 15 different modules to install. You only “need” the Deployment Tools feature from the “Windows ADK for Windows 10”. Now run the “Windows PE add-on for the ADK” installer . From this installer you will need (the only option) Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE).
It might take as long as 20 minutes to install both packages depending on your network connection and target computer.
While this step is not necessary it is also a bit of an assurance that WinPE10 will have a good install of basic drivers needed to boot current hardware.
Download the WinPE10 drivers from the Dell Enterprise site here: https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000180533/dell-command-deploy-driver-packs As always download the latest WinPE Cab pack. At the time of this writing it was A23.
I realize that you may not be using a Dell for your imaging, don’t worry these drivers only cover network and disk subsystems.
Extract the winpe folder from the cab file and copy it in the winpe folder in the root of C drive (c:\winpe).
After the install launch the ADK environment from Start Button->Windows Kits->Windows ADK->Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment Make sure you run this command window as Administrator. FYI: you’ll need admin rights to use DISM.
In the Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment command window you just opened you will need to execute the following commands.
For the rest of the instructions we’ll just go copy and paste. Its fast and quick.

cd c:\
copype amd64 C:\WinPE_amd64

Dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:"C:\WinPE_amd64\media\sources\boot.wim" /index:1 /MountDir:"C:\WinPE_amd64\mount"

Dism /Add-Driver /Image:"C:\WinPE_amd64\mount" /Driver:"c:\winpe\x64" /Recurse /ForceUnsigned

Now we need to edit the WinPE startup file to have it mount our windows (samba) network share.

notepad C:\WinPE_amd64\mount\Windows\System32\Startnet.cmd
 @echo off
  echo Setting up WinPE
  wpeinit

  REM Set power configuration to Performance
  powercfg /s 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c

  echo Connecting to the remote share
  net use z: \\<server_name>\<share_name> /user:<domain\uid> <pass>
  z:
  setup.exe

I stopped here editing this document
15. Now that we have the settings the way we need them. Lets close the wim file and create our ISO.

Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:"C:\WinPE_amd64\mount" /commit

MakeWinPEMedia /ISO C:\WinPE_amd64 C:\WinPE_amd64\WinPE_amd64.iso

Now move the C:\WinPE_amd64\WinPE_amd64.iso file to the FOG server in the /images/os/mswindows/7Pro-x64 directory.
The last bit of magic we need to do is setup a new FOG iPXE boot menu entry for this OS.
NOTE: This instruction is for legacy bios only. If you need to boot both uefi and bios installs follow the WinPE10 section above. The issue is that memdisk utility is not supported in uefi mode, so another method is required. For bios mode memdisk IS the quickest method to boot a small iso image. https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/10944/using-fog-to-pxe-boot-into-your-favorite-installer-images/10
In the fog WebGUI go to FOG Configuration->iPXE New Menu Entry
Set the following fields
Menu Item: os.Win7Pro-x64
Description: Windows 7 Pro x64 OEM
Parameters:
initrd nfs://${fog-ip}:/images/os/mswindows/7Pro-x64/WinPE_amd64.iso
chain memdisk iso raw
boot || goto MENU
Menu Show with: All Hosts
That’s it, just pxe boot your target system and pick Windows 7 Pro x64 OEM from the FOG iPXE boot menu.

For this process to function you must also setup SAMBA on your fog server below.

References:
https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/7765/pxe-booting-into-ms-windows-7-setup

george1421

Bitdefender Rescue CD 31.01.2011

First we’ll create the required directory:

mkdir -p /tftpboot/os/bitdefender

Now we’ll mount the Bitdefender Rescue CD installer over the loop directory. Then we’ll copy the required files to the directory we built above. Note: when I downloaded the iso from the bitdefender web site the file came down as file with no extension. I tacked on .iso then I was able to mount it with my linux mint desktop. I rename the entire file name to BitdefenderRescue.iso for this tutorial.

mount -o loop -t iso9660 /{full path where you have the iso stored}/BitdefenderRescue.iso /mnt/loop

cp -R /mnt/loop/casper/vmlinuz /images/os/bitdefender
cp -R /mnt/loop/casper/initrd.gz /images/os/bitdefender
umount /mnt/loop

The last bit of magic we need to do is setup a new FOG iPXE boot menu entry for this OS.
In the fog WebGUI go to FOG Configuration->iPXE New Menu Entry
Set the following fields
Menu Item: os.BitdefenderRescue
Description: BitdefenderRescue v31.01.2011
Parameters:
kernel tftp://${fog-ip}/os/bitdefender/vmlinuz
initrd tftp://${fog-ip}/os/bitdefender/initrd.gz
imgargs vmlinuz initrd=initrd.gz file=file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper splash vga=791 lang=us
boot || goto MENU
Menu Show with: All Hosts
That’s it, just pxe boot your target system and pick BitdefenderRescue v31.01.2011 from the FOG iPXE boot menu.

I'm going to suspect this will not work because of the reference of the ubuntu.seed file. The image args are saying to look on the cdrom for that file, but since we are pxe booting from memory it won't find that file on the dvd/cvd. I'm sure it can be worked out. It will just take some debugging
References:

george1421

Platform Specific Bootable ISO, PER620

There is a bug in the kernel parameters. I'm suspecting the root= value is incorrect. I'm getting an error when the rpms are trying to update

First we’ll create the required directories:

mkdir -p /images/os/dell/pfs620
mkdir -p /tftpboot/os/dell/pfs620

Now we’ll mount the Dell Bootable ISO over the loop directory. Then we’ll copy the contents of the DVD to the directory we built above.

mount -o loop -t iso9660 /{full path where you have the iso stored}/PER620_BOOTABLE_21.04.00.184.iso /mnt/loop

cp -R /mnt/loop/* /images/os/dell/pfs620
umount /mnt/loop

Finally we’ll copy the pxe boot kernel and intfs to the tftpboot directory.

cp /images/os/dell/pfs620/isolinux/SA.1 /tftpboot/os/dell/pfs620
cp /images/os/dell/pfs620/isolinux/SA.2 /tftpboot/os/dell/pfs620

The last bit of magic we need to do is setup a new FOG iPXE boot menu entry for this OS.
In the fog WebGUI go to FOG Configuration->iPXE New Menu Entry
Set the following fields
Menu Item: os.platformR620
Description: Platform Specific Firmware R620
Parameters:
kernel tftp://${fog-ip}/os/dell/pfs620/SA.1
initrd tftp://${fog-ip}/os/dell/psf620/SA.2
imgargs SA.1 initrd=SA.2 root=live:http://${fog-ip}/dellsquashfs.img rootfstype=auto rd.live.image rd.writable.fsimg rw DEBUG=0 share_type=nfs share_location=${fog-ip}:/images/os/dell/pfs620 share_opts=nolock loglevel=7 BUILD=0 selinux=0 edd=off rd.md=0 rd.dm=0 quiet – share_script=drm_files/apply_bundles.sh
boot || goto MENU
Menu Show with: All Hosts
That’s it, just pxe boot your target system and pick Platform Specific Firmware R620 from the FOG iPXE boot menu.

References:
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=FRMMC&oscode=naa&productcode=poweredge-R620

george1421

ESXi 7.0u2

***This menu entry is still under development. It has not been tested in a production environment***

NOTE: This guidance only supports network booting of the uefi installer for ESXi.

First we’ll create the required directories:

mkdir -p /images/os/esxi/7.0u2

Now we’ll mount the ESXi installer iso over the loop directory. Then we’ll copy the contents of the DVD to the directory we built above.

mount -o loop -t iso9660 /{full path where you have the iso stored}/VMware-VMvisor-Installer-7.0U2a-17867351.x86_64.iso /mnt/loop

cp -R /mnt/loop/* /images/os/esxi/7.0u2
umount /mnt/loop

Edit the boot configuration file to use NFS to access all of ESXi’s files.

# remove forward slashes from the config file
sed -i 's/\///g' /images/os/esxi/7.0u2/efi/boot/boot.cfg

Now we need to edit the/images/os/esxi/7.0u2/efi/boot/boot.cfg file to insert or modify the prefix parameter. Insert/modify the following line just below the title parameter. Also, be sure to replace {fog_server_ip} (exactly including the curly braces) with the actual IP address of your fog server. Your prefix line should look similar to this:

prefix=nfs://192.168.1.20:/images/os/esxi/7.0u2

The last bit of magic we need to do is setup a new FOG iPXE boot menu entry for this OS.
In the fog WebGUI go to FOG Configuration->iPXE New Menu Entry
Set the following fields
Menu Item: os.esxi7.0u2
Description: ESXi 7.0u2 Installer
Parameters:
kernel nfs://${fog-ip}:/images/os/esxi/7.0u2/efi/boot/bootx64.efi -c nfs://${fog-ip}:/images/os/esxi/7.0u2/efi/boot/boot.cfg
boot || goto MENU
Menu Show with: All Hosts
That’s it, just pxe boot your target system and pick ESXi 7.0u2 Installer from the FOG iPXE boot menu.

george1421

Debian 11.3 Server

First we’ll create the required directories:

mkdir -p /images/os/debian/Server11.3
mkdir -p /tftpboot/os/debian/Server11.3

Now we’ll mount the Debian Server 11.3 installer over the loop directory. Then we’ll copy the contents of the DVD to the directory we built above.

mount -o loop -t iso9660 /{full path where you have the iso stored}/debian-11.3.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso /mnt/loop

cp -R /mnt/loop/* /images/os/debian/Server11.3
umount /mnt/loop

Finally we’ll copy the pxe boot kernel and intfs to the tftpboot directory. We’ll need to download the netboot version from here: https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/bullseye/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz This version of bzlinuz.efi and initrd.lz support booting over an NFS share instead of the local DVD Drive.

wget https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/bullseye/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz
tar -zxf netboot.tar.gz
cp ./debian-installer/amd64/linux /tftpboot/os/debian/Server11.3
cp ./debian-installer/amd64/initrd.gz /tftpboot/os/debian/Server11.3

The last bit of magic we need to do is setup a new FOG iPXE boot menu entry for this OS.
In the fog WebGUI go to FOG Configuration->iPXE New Menu Entry
Set the following fields
Menu Item: os.Debian.Server.11.3
Description: Debian Server 11.3
Parameters:
kernel tftp://${fog-ip}/os/debian/Server11.3/linux
initrd tftp://${fog-ip}/os/debian/Server11.3/initrd.gz
imgargs linux initrd=initrd.gz root=/dev/nfs boot=casper netboot=nfs nfsroot=${fog-ip}:/images/os/debian/Server11.3/ locale=en_US.UTF-8 keyboard-configuration/layoutcode=us quiet splash ip=dhcp rw
boot || goto MENU
Menu Show with: All Hosts
That’s it, just pxe boot your target system and pick Debian Server 11.3 from the FOG iPXE boot menu.

References:

george1421

Paragon Hard Disk Manager

Information kindly contributed by @Wolfbane8653

Configuration currently works for UEFI only. It appears the wim file is missing bootmgr.exe for the BIOS booting systems

It is highly recommended to use this on a machine that has 4GB+ RAM.

First we’ll create the required directories:

mkdir -p /var/www/fog/Tools/{iso folder name}
chmod -R 777 /var/www/fog/Tools/{iso folder name}

Now we’ll mount the WinPE iso over the loop directory. Then we’ll copy the contents of the DVD to the directory we built above.

mkdir -p /mnt/loop
mount -o loop /{full path where you have the iso stored}/{iso file} /mnt/loop

We are going to copy to /var/www/fog/Tools so we can use the http protocal already setup for fog management.

cp /mnt/loop/bootmgr /var/www/fog/Tools/{iso folder name}
cp /mnt/loop/boot/bcd /var/www/fog/Tools/{iso folder name}
cp /mnt/loop/boot/boot.sdi /var/www/fog/Tools/{iso folder name}
cp /mnt/loop/sources/boot.wim /var/www/fog/Tools/{iso folder name}
cp /mnt/loop/efi /var/www/fog/Tools/{iso folder name}

umount /mnt/loop

Download and install the latest wimboot kernel and extract it from the zip file.

https://github.com/ipxe/wimboot/blob/master/wimboot
The issue was discussed in this post: https://forums.fogproject.org/post/144293
We will use tftp protocal for this file in the fog menu.

cd /tmp
wget http://git.ipxe.org/releases/wimboot/wimboot-latest.zip
unzip wimboot-latest.zip

Copy the wimboot file from the archive directory to root of the os directory (we’ll need this for every windows boot media, so we’ll place it in a common spot).

mkdir -p /tftpboot/os
cp ./wimboot-2.6.0-signed/wimboot /tftpboot/os
chmod -R 777 tftpboot/os

The last bit of magic we need to do is setup a new FOG iPXE boot menu entry for this OS.
In the fog WebGUI go to FOG Configuration->iPXE New Menu Entry
Set the following fields

Menu Item: os.{iso file name}
Description: {iso file you would like to boot from}
Parameters:
set tftp-path tftp://${fog-ip}
set http-path http://${fog-ip}/fog/Tools/HD_Manager
kernel ${tftp-path}/os/wimboot gui
imgfetch --name bootmgr ${http-path}/bootmgr bootmgr
imgfetch --name bootx64.efi ${http-path}/efi/boot/en_us/bootx64.efi bootx64.efi
imgfetch --name BCD ${http-path}/bcd BCD
imgfetch --name boot.sdi ${http-path}/boot.sdi boot.sdi
imgfetch --name boot.wim ${http-path}/boot.wim boot.wim
boot || goto MENU

That’s it, just pxe boot your target system and pick os.{iso file name} from the FOG iPXE boot menu.

george1421

Parted Magic version from May 2023

Please see this article posted by @renewedharry

https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/17498/successfully-booting-parted-magic

Using FOG to PXE boot into your favorite installer images

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