[How to] PXE boot Server

[gouryella]

[How to] PXE boot Server (compressed guide) updated 29.3.2010

expectations:

• PXE boot friendly net card / virtualbox with bridged adapter in network config (for testing)
• asus in router operation mode with active DHCP
• tested on wl500gp-1.9.2.7-d-r1222.trx after finished wengi guide

install xinetd (if you don't have)

ipkg update
ipkg upgrade
ipkg install xinetd

install tftp-hpa Trivial File Transfer Protocol Server

ipkg install tftp-hpa

add extra dnsmasq.conf, it will append to /etc/dnsmasq.conf during boot (thanks Sid)

nano /usr/local/etc/dnsmasq.conf

contents of dnsmasq.conf:

dhcp-boot=pxelinux.0,asus,192.168.1.1

asus=replece to your Host Name, 192.168.1.1=tftp server ip adress (may run outside asus for fastest transfer)
save:

flashfs save && flashfs commit && flashfs enable && reboot

example of config files (check Attached Files i'm providing all needed files for Windows 7 PE Boot and memtest x86)

mkdir /opt/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg
nano /opt/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default
nano /opt/tftpboot/boot.txt

contents of default:

display boot.txt
prompt 1
timeout 0
default winpe

label dsl
  kernel dsl/linux24
  append ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off vga=791 initrd=dsl/minirt24.gz nomce noapic quiet boot_image=dsl/knoppix

label dos
  kernel memdisk
  append initrd=dos/Dos6.22.img

label memtest
  kernel memdisk
  append initrd=memtest/memtest.img

label winpe
  kernel Boot/startrom.0

label gparted
  kernel gparted/vmlinuz
  append initrd=gparted/initrd.img boot=live union=aufs noswap quickreboot noprompt vga=788 fetch=http://192.168.1.1:81/filesystem.squashfs

label pmagic
  kernel pmagic/bzImage
  append initrd=pmagic/initramfs load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw sleep=10 livemedia

contents of boot.txt:

Boot menu: gparted | dos | dsl | winpe | memtest | pmagic

get the pxelinux.0 and memdisk kernel from syslinux (or everything is in Attach Files)
put both files to /opt/tftpboot/
get the dos bootdisk image

mkdir /opt/tftpboot/dos
cd /opt/tftpboot/dos
wget http://www.allbootdisks.com/downloads/Disks/MS-DOS_Boot_Disk_Download47/Diskette%20Images/Dos6.22.img

you may need chmod, thanks wpte for checking my tutorial

chmod +x  /opt/tftpboot/*.*
chmod +x  /opt/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/*.*

It's all, try to boot dos from network...