posts/docker-practical/windows11-netbootxyz/

[giscus[bot]]

posts/docker-practical/windows11-netbootxyz/

Learn to install Windows 11 (or a lot of different OSs or tools available) via the network using netboot.xyz, instead of having to store them in a flash drive and install from there. We’ll deploy docker containers, and I’m using a mikrotik router

https://linkarzu.com/posts/docker-practical/windows11-netbootxyz/

[linkarzu]

My comments weren't configured correctly, but @dneuhaeuser asked what exactly to put in these files for winpe

• auto.bat
• winpeshl.ini
• config.ini

---

I go over that in min 36:57 in the video

[mrkhachaturov]

To fully configure your network, where the TFTP server is located at 10.3.0.2, and you want to support both BIOS and UEFI clients, you need to follow these steps on your MikroTik RouterOS. In this example, I assume that you have already uploaded the necessary files to the TFTP server and want to configure the DHCP server to work correctly with different types of client devices.

Setup Steps:

Setting up the TFTP server:

Ensure that the files netboot.xyz.kpxe for BIOS and netboot.xyz.efi for UEFI are already on the TFTP server (10.3.0.2).
Setting up the DHCP Server: General DHCP server settings:

Install the DHCP server if it is not already installed:

/ip dhcp-server add name=DHCPSERVER interface=YOUR_INTERFACE address-pool=DHCPPOOL disabled=no

Disabling BOOTP:
Disable BOOTP support for the server:

/ip dhcp-server/set DHCPSERVER bootp-support=none

Configuring DHCP Options:
Add DHCP options for BIOS and UEFI:

/ip dhcp-server option add code=67 name=pxe-bios-netboot.xyz value="'netboot.xyz.kpxe'"
/ip dhcp-server option add code=67 name=pxe-uefi-netboot.xyz value="'netboot.xyz.efi'"

Create option sets for BIOS and UEFI:

/ip dhcp-server/option/sets add name="pxe-bios" options=pxe-bios-netboot.xyz
/ip dhcp-server/option/sets add name="pxe-uefi" options=pxe-uefi-netboot.xyz

Setting up Matchers for Automatic Option Set Selection:
Add a matcher for UEFI:

/ip dhcp-server/matcher/add name="pxe-uefi-matcher" server=DHCPSERVER address-pool=DHCPPOOL option-set=pxe-uefi code=93 value="0x0007"

Set the default option set for BIOS:

/ip dhcp-server/set DHCPSERVER dhcp-option-set=pxe-bios

DHCP Network Configuration:
Specify the TFTP server and the boot file in the DHCP network settings:

/ip dhcp-server network set 0 next-server=10.3.0.2 boot-file-name=netboot.xyz.kpxe

These settings will allow your MikroTik DHCP server to correctly handle requests from clients with different architectures (BIOS or UEFI) and provide them with the appropriate files for network booting from the TFTP server located at 10.3.0.2.

[mrkhachaturov]

Replace DHCPSERVER and DHCPPOOL with your own values, and ensure you pay attention to the entry at index 0 in the command:

/ip dhcp-server network set 0 next-server=10.3.0.2 boot-file-name=netboot.xyz.kpxe

To determine which value you should define, enter the following command in the terminal:

/ip dhcp-server network print

The value in front of address will be 0, 1, and so on, indicating the index you should use in your configuration commands."

[linkarzu]

Really appreciate the detailed instructions @mrkhachaturov
I haven't tested this but good to know you can pass BOTH boot file names at a time as DHCP options in mikrotik

[jmceara]

Where did you get your config folder from assets folder? I don't have this.....also, none of these files.

[linkarzu]

If you watch the entire video without skipping, you’ll find all the details

[speediestb]

I like this article a lot.
Build a proxmox host wit 2 virtual machines and everything works till the GParted Test from PXE boot.
Now im trying to access the isos samba share and now i'm stuck.

I cannot get acces from a windows computer with the default username: isos and the password: passpass
How can i get access to the samba share?

Regards and keep up the good work

[speediestb]

In the manual: to change the password you are doing twice the same command
You wrote:
In the docker-compose.yml file, there are instructions to change the samba password for the isos user
But i think the commandline is for redeploying the container:
docker compose -f ~/github/containerdata-public/docker/samba/docker-compose.yml up -d

[linkarzu]

Hey there, I'm glad you find the guide useful, if you're following multiple guides, this won't work, you have to follow this guide, preferably watch the video and follow each one of the steps without missing any of them. If you do so, everything will be up and running, so I'd recommend you to start fresh and watch the video

[bugalou]

I found this helpful. I wanted to add the following for those who which is may be valuable: You do not have to host the WinPE files on the samba server and winpe can be launched from the netbootxyz http server, or from a 3rd party http server. Just add this to start it to your pxe config file in netboot:

imgfree
kernel https://boot.netboot.xyz/wimboot
initrd -n bootmgr ${win-base-url}/bootmgr bootmgr||
initrd -n bootmgr.efi ${win-base-url}/bootmgr.efi bootmgr.efi||
initrd -n bootx64.efi ${win-base-url}/efi/boot/bootx64.efi bootx64.efi||
initrd -n bcd ${win-base-url}/boot/bcd bcd||
initrd -n boot.sdi ${win-base-url}/boot/boot.sdi boot.sdi||
initrd -n boot.wim ${win-base-url}/sources/boot.wim boot.wim
boot

win-base-url should be set to the http path of your winPE files created from the above instructions. You can host it on your netbootxyz web server or elsewhere. I have found the bootx64.efi is needed for some platforms and not needed for others. If windows hangs at the boot screen try adding/removing this file.

To launch the actual windows installer, you can host on the netboot SAMBA server as noted above, or from a windows server. Just extract the ISO of the Windows installer to a share. Before committing the changes to the mounted WIM file, navigate to C:\WinPE_amd64\mount\Windows\System32 folder and edit the file startnet.cmd. Add a net use command to mount a network drive pointed to your SMB share at the end of the file. Then add a batch file to run, from the mounted drive called "wininstall.cmd" so something like:

wpeinit
net use I: \servername\share /user:.\USERNAME PASSWORD
I:\wininstall.cmd

Be sure to leave wpeinit and anything else at the top of the file as it is needed to start the network. Then on your SMB share root create the wininstall.cmd file. In this file you can make a menu to choose different windows versions or other custom things you needed. At the end just be sure to add a command that launches Windows setup from the SMB share with the Windows ISO extracted. Here is an example of my wininstall,cmd file that will let you install multiple windows verisons:

@echo off
cls
:retry
ECHO.
ECHO ...............................................
ECHO SELECT WINDOWS VERSION TO INSTALL
ECHO Note: UEFI must be enabled. x64 versions only.
ECHO ...............................................
ECHO.
ECHO === Windows Server ===
ECHO 1 - 2022
ECHO 2 - 2025
ECHO.
ECHO === Windows Desktop ===
echo 3 - Windows 10
echo 4 - Windows 11
SET /P M=Enter Option Number:
IF %M%==1 GOTO s2022
I>F %M%==2 GOTO s2025
IF %M%==3 GOTO win10
IF %M%==4 GOTO win11
echo Invalid option. Please select valid number from menu.
goto retry
:s2022
I:\svr2022\setup.exe
goto quit
:s2025
I:\svr2025\setup.exe
goto quit
:win10
I:\win10\setup.exe
goto quit
:win11
I:\win11\setup.exe

NOTE: Since the win PE environment will not be aware of kerberos since it is not domain joined, you may need to have NTLM enabled if you used a windows SMB share for above. I am not 100% certain on this though.
Hope this helps.

[linkarzu]

Thanks, I haven't tested but I'm pretty sure it's going to help others!

[AntraXClown]

Man, why we cant download this WinPE ISO. Very complicated to create this. I trying to create on KVM with windows 11, and not create. The problem is copype say amd64 unknow platform?