@george1421 It has a single SSD with standard Win7 partitions (three of them), no bitlocker enabled or other encryption, and no RAID. I’m not sure what you are referring to with the “hardware comparability”, but I can register that host with the FOG server, and schedule a capture task. The partclone process to “capture” an image begins, but very quickly fails as previously described.
What is the FOS client?? Are you and Tom saying the partclone.log file is on the Dell host in the RAM? How can I interrupt the error shutdown process and access a command prompt to find that file? It auto shuts down the system in one minute upon throwing the error.
Tom, capture an image? I don’t know how I would get it from the client to my other machine to send it to you.
I don’t have multiples of this system yet, but I will eventually, which is why I am testing it now.

I’m running FOG 7625 trunk on Debian 8. The system seems to be working fine with all my other hosts in this environment, in that I can register them and capture images (not doing much deploying… mostly using FOG for backups).
BUT… I have a very new Dell Precision 3420 (current gen i5 and DDR4 ram) that registers with FOG just fine, but when I try to capture an image from it I get an “invalid seek error”.

It then tells me to check the /var/log/partclone.log file, but that file does not exist when I look for it. I read somewhere to enable debug, which I did, but then the actual capture task doesn’t run at all, and thus obviously no errors are thrown. All it does in debug mode is give me a command prompt at the host, which is really of no use at all. Can someone explain the purpose of the debug checkbox??

I’ve searched around for a few hours now and can’t seem to find a solution. Anyone have any thoughts?
I’m happy to post any useful logs etc… if someone thinks it will help get to the bottom of this.

Awesome!!

Biet is correct. It really depends on the specific iso in question. Many need to be pre-mounted and have certain files (usually vmlinuz, and initrd) specified. Others will work directly from the iso. Fortunately the most common iso’s have been experimented with at this point and if you search the forum you can find the answers you need for your specific iso.

Tom, it appears you are directly accessing the Ubuntu ISO (in fact all your iso’s) without mounting first. I didn’t realize this was possible. This makes half of my tutorial method uneccessary :~) Do all iso’s work in this manner?

I’m excited to write this post, because it’s my first attempt at a tutorial, so please feel free to suggest changes and I’ll do my best to edit and improve it. If it matters, I’m not a padawan, nor am I a jedi master, but somewhere right in the middle. I’m writing this because I failed to find a single tutorial that had all the answers I needed concerning the installation of Fog 1.2 on Ubuntu 12.04 and then ESPECIALLY the adding of additional live cd iso’s into the advanced section of the fog menu. Having benefited so greatly from hundreds of tutorials myself, this is my humble attempt to bring the pieces together for the benefit of others. So, let’s begin…

ASSUMPTIONS:

1. I assume you have a working and updated Ubuntu 12.04 installation with a static IP address. For what it’s worth, I find it significantly easier to have my router (which is my dhcp server) assign a static IP to the machine, but you can do it manually on Ubuntu by configuring the network interface either through the terminal or the gui. Here are examples of both: [url]https://www.liberiangeek.net/2012/04/setup-a-permanent-static-ip-address-in-ubuntu-12-04-precise-pangolin/[/url]
   [url]http://askubuntu.com/questions/180925/how-to-setup-static-ip-in-ubuntu-server-12-04[/url]
   You can use any desktop environment, it shouldn’t matter. Also, though there were significant changes made to Ubuntu 14.04, this information will be 95% accurate for that distro as well, at least it will get you in the ballpark.

2. I assume you have a separate dhcp server (meaning you are not using fog as the dhcp server). *** PLEASE NOTE*** Depending on the specifics of your dhcp server, i.e. type/brand/firmware, it may be necessary to make special configuration changes to enable pxe booting. See the following link for more details: [url]http://fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/Modifying_existing_DHCP_server_to_work_with_FOG[/url]

3. I’m also assuming you have installed Fog 1.2 on your Ubuntu machine. The following link, which has loads of good info worth reading, has a section dedicated to the installation procedure: [url]http://fogproject.org/forum/threads/how-to-setup-ubuntu-server-fog-1-2-0-create-univeral-windows-7-image-using-sysprep-step-by-step.11245/[/url]

4. I assume you have downloaded or otherwise have a copy of your chosen Debian/Ubuntu based linux distro ISO file somewhere in your home folder, i.e. ~/Downloads/linuxmint-17.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso

CHANGES IN UBUNTU:
My example uses the linuxmint-17.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso, but I’m fairly sure these instructions will work for any Debian/Ubuntu based distro.

First, lets make a directory inside the web root of Fog.
CODEsudo mkdir /var/www/fog/service/ipxe/mint[/CODE]
I called my directory “mint”, but you can name it anything you want. When I add my next iso, I’m going to create another directory named “ubuntu” because I’ll be using the Ubuntu 14.04 iso, but I digress…

Now let’s copy the ISO file into that directory:
CODEsudo cp ~/Downloads/linuxmint-17.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso /var/www/fog/service/ipxe/mint[/CODE]

Next, we are going to tell Ubuntu to mount that iso on that same location so that the files contained in the iso will be available for pxe booting. We do this by editing /etc/fstab
CODEsudo nano /etc/fstab[/CODE]

Append the following code into /etc/fstab
CODE/var/www/fog/service/ipxe/mint/linuxmint-17.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso /var/www/fog/service/ipxe/mint udf,iso9660 user,loop 0 0[/CODE]

Now test the mount point works with:
CODEsudo mount -a[/CODE]

A window may open showing the contents of the iso mounted at /var/www/fog/service/ipxe/mint, but if not–run the following code to see the contents of the iso listed
CODEls -lash /var/www/fog/service/ipxe/mint[/CODE]

Now we edit /etc/exports to configure the NFS share.
CODEsudo nano /etc/exports[/CODE]

append the following mount point info into /etc/exports
CODE/var/www/fog/service/ipxe/mint/ *(rw,sync,no_wdelay,no_root_squash,insecure)[/CODE]

and restart the NFS service
CODEsudo /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server restart[/CODE]

CHANGES IN FOG GUI:
Now log into your fog gui by entering the following into the address bar of your browser:
CODE<your-fog-ip-address>/fog/management/index.php[/CODE]

and login with the default username: fog and password: password

in the gui, navigate to the big blue question mark–hover tool tip “fog configuration”, then on the left side menu go to “pxe boot menu”. Then in the page that appears, look for “advanced configuration options”, which when clicked will open a small text box where you will enter your php code to edit the fog boot menu options.

Now, allow me to digress for just a moment and explain that fog 0.32 had a much simpler method of configuring the fog boot menu, and I realize that the new method in fog 1.2 is more complicated. So, I understand the frustration some of you may have with the new method, which involves php code. What you need to know is that the new way leverages the bandwidth available with http and allows for significantly faster network speeds than the former method which used tftp which is tragically slow by modern standards. So, everyone say thank you to the Fog developers for doing their job and improving the product, and get on board with the new and better way of doing things :~)

Here are some links that REALLY helped me get this working. I could not have done this without Tom Elliot, Junkhacker, and fabritrento. In the world of code and IT we always stand on the shoulders of others. A HUGE THANK YOU to those I mentioned, and many others who post on this forum.
[URL=‘http://fogproject.org/forum/threads/live-cd-configurations-for-boot.12044/#post-39436’][FONT=arial][COLOR=#1155cc]http://fogproject.org/forum/threads/live-cd-configurations-for-boot.12044/#post-39436[/COLOR][/FONT][/URL]

[URL=‘http://fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/Advanced_Boot_Menu_Configuration_options’][FONT=arial][COLOR=#1155cc]http://fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/Advanced_Boot_Menu_Configuration_options[/COLOR][/FONT][/URL]

[URL=‘http://fogproject.org/forum/threads/how-can-i-boot-a-live-image-with-ipxe.11940/#post-38652’][FONT=arial][COLOR=#1155cc]http://fogproject.org/forum/threads/how-can-i-boot-a-live-image-with-ipxe.11940/#post-38652[/COLOR][/FONT][/URL]

[URL=‘http://ipxe.org/’][FONT=arial][COLOR=#1155cc]http://ipxe.org/[/COLOR][/FONT][/URL]

HERE IS MY WORKING PHP CODE:
Paste the following code into the text box (substituting your actual iso files location where necessary) NOTE how the variable “${fog-ip}” picks up your fog server ip address automatically
Also–pay attention to the vmlinuz file found in the casper directory at your mount point–depending on your chosen distro it may be “vmlinuz.efi” rather than straight “vmlinuz”
CODE:MENU
menu
item --gap – ---------------- iPXE boot menu ----------------
item mint 17 Mint 17.1 Cinnamon x64
item shell ipxe shell
item return return to previous menu
choose --default return --timeout 5000 target && goto ${target}

:mint
kernel http://${fog-ip}/fog/service/ipxe/mint/casper/vmlinuz
initrd http://${fog-ip}/fog/service/ipxe/mint/casper/initrd.lz
imgargs vmlinuz root=/dev/nfs boot=casper netboot=nfs nfsroot=${fog-ip}:/var/www/fog/service/ipxe/mint/ locale=en_US.UTF-8 keyboard-configuration/layoutcode=us mirror/country=US
boot || goto failed
goto start

:shell
shell ||
goto MENU

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

autoboot[/CODE]

Now, if you want to add something other than a vanilla linux distro, like Hiren’s Boot CD 15.2 for example, you need to take a slightly different path. In this case, you do not need to mount the iso, so there is no need to edit /etc/fstab or /etc/exports. Simply create a directory within fog web root, i.e. /var/www/fog/service/ipxe/hiren–copy the iso into that directory–and add some additional php code to the “advanced configuration options” text box.

Here is what my code looks like with the addition of Hiren’s Boot CD 15.2 NOTE how the first menu section has changed, and for the “hiren” section there is completely different code used to load the unmounted iso directly

menu
item --gap – ---------------- iPXE boot menu ----------------
item mint 17 Mint 17.1 Cinnamon x64
item hiren Hiren Boot CD 15.2
item shell ipxe shell
item return return to previous menu
choose --default return --timeout 5000 target && goto ${target}

:mint
kernel http://${fog-ip}/fog/service/ipxe/mint/casper/vmlinuz
initrd http://${fog-ip}/fog/service/ipxe/mint/casper/initrd.lz
imgargs vmlinuz root=/dev/nfs boot=casper netboot=nfs nfsroot=${fog-ip}:/var/www/fog/service/ipxe/mint/ locale=en_US.UTF-8 keyboard-configuration/layoutcode=us mirror/country=US
boot || goto failed
goto start

:hiren
initrd http://${fog-ip}/fog/service/ipxe/hiren/hiren-boot-cd-15-2.iso
chain memdisk iso raw ||
goto MENU

:shell
shell ||
goto MENU

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

autoboot[/CODE]

One “gotcha” I noted in the forum was a corrupt iso that failed md5sum checking. The user had everything else right, but a corrupt download. The lesson–do your md5sum checks–before assuming something else is wrong.

If all went well, you should be able to select the “advanced” menu option from the client fog boot menu and choose to boot your chosen linux distro or Hiren’s Boot CD 15.2, which will then load itself into RAM on the client machine and act exactly the same as if you had a live cd or usb on the client (only way faster because it’s running from ram).

ENJOY YOUR FOG SERVER :~) & MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU