Tag Archives: pxe server

Booting ESX VMware Guest Machines from the Network

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KB ID 0000310 

Problem

I do a lot of deployment testing for things like WDS, Ghost and SCCM. Now my test bed is entirely virtual, so any new technology testing, or proof of concept work is a lot easier.

Anything that involves PXE booting the VM’s is not turned on by default though.

Solution

1. Either from the VM itself, or from its entry in your VI client “Edit the VM’s Settings”.

2. Options tab > Boot Options > Tick “The next time the virtual machine boots, force entry into the BIOS setup screen”.

3. Reboot the VM, and the BIOS will open, use the arrow/cursor keys go go across to the boot menu, then down to the network card. (Note your network card may be an Intel E1000).

4. Press the + “Plus Symbol” on the keyboard to move the network card to the top of the list > Press F10 to Exit > Select “Yes” to save the changes.

5. Now when the VM boots simply press F12 when prompted and the guest VM will attempt to boot from the network.

Note: If you having trouble booting to WindowsPE with VMXnet3 network cards see here.

 

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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VMware ESX – WDS Fails “The network location cannot be reached”

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KB ID 0000308 

Problem

Whilst trying to contact a WDS server from an ESX client machine (though this can happen on a physical machine also). You see the following error,

The network location cannot be reached, For information about network troubleshooting, se Windows Help.

 

Solution

This is because the WindowsPE image you are using to Capture/Deploy does not have the network drivers for the NIC in the machine you are imaging (At time of writing the VMXnet3 driver is NOT in the standard WindowsPE 3.0 image).

1. Get the drivers for the NIC, if they are the VMware VMXnet 3 drivers, you can find them on any guest machine running the VMware tools, (look in Program filesVMwareVMware ToolsDrivers), copy both the folders as indicated below.

2. If you ARE using WDS you will need to right click your boot images and export them.

3. Once you have the drivers and the images – use THIS PROCESS to inject the drivers into the image.

4. Finally in the WDS Administrative console, delete the boot Images and “Re-import” the ones you have just updated with the new drivers.

 

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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