Surface 4 Network boot and Image

[Psycholiquid]

OK I updated the trunk to the latest and got a bit farther. Let me explain the procedure I am using for now to at least get somewhere today:

I have the surface pro 4 setup to boot from network without IPV6. I have also turned off secure boot in order to get it to download the NBP file. Once it goes through the motions I get errors right after Starting host registration.

So upgrading the trunk allowed it to see the drive which is better. but it cant seem to register it. If we can get past that part and I can take a restore image of it I cant start testing deploying one. Then I just need to figure out how to get it to PXE boot to the network card or docking station it has. but lets work on this first part. I am uploading a video for the process in motion.

https://youtu.be/HCsBS-YQ_yY

[Tom Elliott]

@Psycholiquid Video is private.

[Psycholiquid]

@Tom-Elliott Sorry had to hit publish, got pulled into a meeting

Users are the worst.

[Psycholiquid]

Probably need to add I am using the ipxe.efi form the server to boot.

[Tom Elliott]

@Psycholiquid I don’t think it’s got anything to do with the ipxe.efi, or even your network interface.

Can you add (isdebug=yes) to the full registration menu item?

From there, it will drop you into the debug of the init. THis will allow us to perform more checks/balances.

[Psycholiquid]

@Tom-Elliott said:

isdebug=yes

How do I do that?

I have a snapshot of the FOG server so we cant mess it up. We can test whatever we need

[Psycholiquid]

As a test I did try making a Windows 10 bootable USB drive and it is working so I know EFI is working from all the ports be it docking for on-board.

Now to figure out a way to get the FOG bzimage on there to talk to the server? I am not sure what I am thinking here, a little over my head.!!!

[Sebastian Roth]

@Psycholiquid @Tom-Elliott From what I see in the video it seams like the FOG client system (FOS) is not able to get an IP via DHCP. Tries eth0 and eth1 (two NICs??) and does not show the version number (which should be displayed just below the FOG banner) because it cannot request it from the server…

[Psycholiquid]

@Sebastian-Roth I have two NICs in the device at the time of testing (1 is the docking station and 1 is the USB dongle. They are both working one is not network connected.

After I get past that it does bring up the FOG menu so it is talking to the server and getting an address. What I am having a problem with it would seem is the error while trying to register. I am attempting now to just put in the MAC manually and upload an image to see what it does.

I have looked at the partitions and there are 4 on a surface 1 is the EFI partition, one is the boot partition, the last two are OS and Restore (So basically the restore partition in case something goes wrong you can put it back to factory. I am of the opinion to keep all 4 so when it comes time there is no need to reimage we can just restore and boom.

[Tom Elliott]

@Sebastian-Roth Right, but I suspect the nic’s are recognized by the system, they just can’t pick up an IP address. I see this, often times, with USB nic’s. I just need a way to confirm this is the case. If it is, add has_usb_nic=1 to the host args (boot menu args too), and it should pause and tell the user to unplug the nic, and replug it back in.

This should, hopefully, get the system a nic.

[Psycholiquid]

Sorry @Sebastian-Roth I wasn’t quite understanding what you were saying, you are right at the last step it does look like it isn’t going anywhere.

Also a heads up in the latest trunk my users were being ask to enter TFTP address when booting to netwokr after they rebooted, so I had to roll it back until that is resolved.

This was on the undionly.kpxe boot file.

[Sebastian Roth]

@Psycholiquid Yes, iPXE is fine with your NIC and getting an IP. Then it loads the kernel and this kernel does not seam to play nice with your NIC. Try adding ‘has_usb_nic=1’ as Tom suggested.

[Scott Adams]

I can say that I added the kernel argument in my environment just now, and I am now able to image Surface Pro 4s. It would be nice if this was a built-in argument, as I had to manually create the host first, add the argument, then was able to get it to work.

[Psycholiquid]

@Sebastian-Roth I’m still not sure what you guys mean by that, were am I adding this?

“Try adding ‘has_usb_nic=1’ as Tom suggested.”

[Tom Elliott]

@Psycholiquid Edit the Full registration menu item. Look for fog.reginput, in the params field add has_usb_nic=1 to the params field and save the item.

Then boot the system.

[Psycholiquid]

@Tom-Elliott OK I’ll give that a try.

[Tom Elliott]

@Scott-Adams This isn’t a built_in argument because most people running FOG are using it for desktops. USB Nic’s are becoming popular but not enough so that I think it would entail everybody having to press enter on their systems.

[Psycholiquid]

@Tom-Elliott OK Params set this is the result.

https://youtu.be/UmitRjIjm0Y

I tried using just the USB NIC but it will just loop boot on it. I am having to use the SP4 docking station in order to get to the FOG menu. So basically the USB NIC is the secondary NIC.

Why cant they ever make this a bit easier.

[Psycholiquid]

This is the menu change I made:

[Psycholiquid]

When I take that option out and boot from network to the docking station I am getting this:

So I am getting somewhere. I am thinking the ipxe.efi file is good with the the docking station and it gets through to the menu but maybe its the kernel that cant see the drive?