PXE Deployment Suggestions?

[BlueWyvern]

Hello again all...

I'm back again because I have a friend's Toshiba Tablet PC here it's a PORTEGE M205-S810.

we are trying to get windows reinstalled on it and not having much luck. We cannot find the original toshiba optical drive it came with and attempts to boot via USB optical drives and USB Memory Sticks have failed as well as the supposedly supported option of booting from an SD Card.

So we have found we can PXE boot the machine, we have tried several things so far from "WINNER" to "Ultimate Deployment Appliance" and seem to get one error or another.

WINNER for example gets all the way done with it's little setup and reboots starting the windows setup and it dies because amdide.sys or some file resembling that name is missing.

UDA first tells us we don't have drivers for the NIC and when we add them through the web interface we then get what can only be described by my friend as "gobbly gook". The drivers we downloaded were from Toshiba's support page when entering the appropriate model.

I am currently looking at "Unattended" but I'm not expecting a miracle at this point. I really don't want to have to find a Toshiba optical drive just so we can reinstall.

Thanks in advance all!

[C-S-B]

Hello again all...

I'm back again because I have a friend's Toshiba Tablet PC here it's a PORTEGE M205-S810.

we are trying to get windows reinstalled on it and not having much luck. We cannot find the original toshiba optical drive it came with and attempts to boot via USB optical drives and USB Memory Sticks have failed as well as the supposedly supported option of booting from an SD Card.

So we have found we can PXE boot the machine, we have tried several things so far from "WINNER" to "Ultimate Deployment Appliance" and seem to get one error or another.

WINNER for example gets all the way done with it's little setup and reboots starting the windows setup and it dies because amdide.sys or some file resembling that name is missing.

UDA first tells us we don't have drivers for the NIC and when we add them through the web interface we then get what can only be described by my friend as "gobbly gook". The drivers we downloaded were from Toshiba's support page when entering the appropriate model.

I am currently looking at "Unattended" but I'm not expecting a miracle at this point. I really don't want to have to find a Toshiba optical drive just so we can reinstall.

Thanks in advance all!

This article is what you want. PXE booting to install Windows with open source tools.

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/10410

[lopez1364]

I use Altiris Rapid Deployment Pack for windows and TFTPD for linux but they both can used for both OS.

[manuel]

While intended for Imaging computers, you can use FOG - Free Open-Source Ghost -- http://www.fogproject.org/

Probably not what you are wanting, but it can PXE boot a computer.

-Manuel

[VaKo]

You can install Windows 5.x (XP, 2003) from a USB stick, you need to use the media deployment option from Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010, which is a free download, along with the WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit). You create a bootable WinPE2 media set, mark a USB partition as active and copy the media set to the drive. It will then boot into WinPE2 and launch an XP install from this. With Windows 6.x (Vista, 7, 2008, 2008 R2) you can install it by just marking a USB partition active using diskpart, then copying over the contents of the ISO to said drive. There are other ways of doing this, but this is what I use in conjunction with Windows Deployment Services, which is Microsofts free PXE deployment service. If your having trouble with USB, try setting the USB system to legacy.

[BlueWyvern]

I use Altiris Rapid Deployment Pack for windows and TFTPD for linux but they both can used for both OS.

I have tried Googling Altris Rapid Deployment pack and just Altris, I either get results for a piece of hardware from altris or mixed results about an HP Deployment pack, do you happen to have a link with more information?

While intended for Imaging computers, you can use FOG - Free Open-Source Ghost -- http://www.fogproject.org/

Probably not what you are wanting, but it can PXE boot a computer.

-Manuel

Not what I'm looking for at the moment, but definitely something handy to have and think about! Much Appriciated!

You can install Windows 5.x (XP, 2003) from a USB stick, you need to use the media deployment option from Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010, which is a free download, along with the WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit). You create a bootable WinPE2 media set, mark a USB partition as active and copy the media set to the drive. It will then boot into WinPE2 and launch an XP install from this. With Windows 6.x (Vista, 7, 2008, 2008 R2) you can install it by just marking a USB partition active using diskpart, then copying over the contents of the ISO to said drive. There are other ways of doing this, but this is what I use in conjunction with Windows Deployment Services, which is Microsofts free PXE deployment service. If your having trouble with USB, try setting the USB system to legacy.

This might just be me being windows-stupid this morning but don't I need windows server 2003/2008/2008 R2 for this?

-------------

Thanks for all the info you guys have been providing, I think I'd still be ripping my hair out from trying to get UDA to work had I not asked here lol

[VaKo]

This might just be me being windows-stupid this morning but don't I need windows server 2003/2008/2008 R2 for this?

For WDS, you need a domain, windows DHCP and a deployment server. This may be overkill for one task, but its not that hard to setup something like this using a couple of VM's and trial software.

[BlueWyvern]

For WDS, you need a domain, windows DHCP and a deployment server. This may be overkill for one task, but its not that hard to setup something like this using a couple of VM's and trial software.

That does seem like a bit of overkill to load this little tablet lol, having said that I think I might have an old laptop running windows 2000 if you think that would work for domain and windows DHCP.

[VaKo]

Its a saleable skill so consider it. You will need at least a 2k3 environment for WDS.

However, going back to the issue at hand, what errors are preventing you from booting from USB?

[BlueWyvern]

The bios itself does not have support for USB Booting, it's an older tablet laptop, Toshiba Portege M205-S810

It has an option for booting from an SD card, but nothing over 512MB is supported (or so the last bios update says).

I know the USB ports are functioning because I am able to boot using a USB floppy drive.

I tried also installing PLoP to the hard drive and selecting the USB Boot option there and I get bupkis, the screen goes black and hangs eternally. I thought at first ok maybe it's just taking it's sweet time but I let it sit overnight the first time and in the morning still nothing.

[VaKo]

OK, this should work. Take a small USB drive or SD card, and use the HP USB formatting tool combined with the Windows 95 boot files to get yourself a DOS prompt. Then hang an external USB drive on another port. Boot from the USB stick/sd card, and then use dos to activate the windows xp setup application contained on the larger USB drive.

[BlueWyvern]

OK, this should work. Take a small USB drive or SD card, and use the HP USB formatting tool combined with the Windows 95 boot files to get yourself a DOS prompt. Then hang an external USB drive on another port. Boot from the USB stick/sd card, and then use dos to activate the windows xp setup application contained on the larger USB drive.

Ok I'm going to give that a whirl now. Thanks!

[lopez1364]

Q1. How can I get HP Insight Rapid Deployment software?

A1. HP Insight Rapid Deployment software is available for purchase via your HP Authorized reseller, through major account direct, as well as the online HP SMB Store

HP Insight Rapid Deployment software is available when configuring options for ProLiant ML and DL server purchases, as well as bundled with other Insight software products in Insight Control suite with or without BladeSystem enclosures.

An evaluation copy of Insight Control suite including HP Insight Rapid Deployment software is shipped with all HP BladeSystem enclosures. This evaluation includes a 7-day, 10-node evaluation license for RDP, upgradeable to a 30-day evaluation license.

Register and download an evaluation version of the RDP software, along with a 30-day, 10-node evaluation license.

[BlueWyvern]

Q1. How can I get HP Insight Rapid Deployment software?

A1. HP Insight Rapid Deployment software is available for purchase via your HP Authorized reseller, through major account direct, as well as the online HP SMB Store

HP Insight Rapid Deployment software is available when configuring options for ProLiant ML and DL server purchases, as well as bundled with other Insight software products in Insight Control suite with or without BladeSystem enclosures.

An evaluation copy of Insight Control suite including HP Insight Rapid Deployment software is shipped with all HP BladeSystem enclosures. This evaluation includes a 7-day, 10-node evaluation license for RDP, upgradeable to a 30-day evaluation license.

Register and download an evaluation version of the RDP software, along with a 30-day, 10-node evaluation license.

Their video says its for deploying servers, can this be used to deploy Windows XP Tablet Edition with some sort of tweaking or modification?

[VaKo]

Its in the same league as WDS, you'll need infra for it to work.

[BlueWyvern]

Why do I feel like I'm just digging myself into a deeper hole?

let me ask this, if i were to take the windows 2008 R2 from dreamspark (yay for MS Loving college students)

would I be able to even in the most remote chance be able to load this thing without having to take asprin for the rest of my days to cope with the massive headache? lol

[VaKo]

You have a few options here:

1: Try the USB option as I laid out.

2: Use MDT 2010 & WAIK in conjunction with a small SD card booting WinPE2 and a network share.

3: Setup a full deployment environment using either WDS or similar.

4: Buy a optical drive for the thing.

5: Set fire to the tablet and hurl it out a 4th floor window while screaming something about "fucking windows".

I would recommend that you leave the deployment environment options alone for now, try the "booting dos from a tiny USB drive (8mb is more than enough) and installing windows from another larger storage device" option as it is easy and most likely to work with the kit and skills you have right now. If this fails, you can look into installing from a network share. You will just boot of a local device instead of setting up PXE infra, while still keeping within the 512MB device limit. I can talk you through this option, its just a little more complex.

If that doesn't work, then you will need to use something that does PXE, I like WDS as I use it at work, I built the system myself and deployed it across our EMEA offices. The tool chain is simple to use and I can sync the images to other deployment servers hosted overseas using DFS replication. However, for you this setup is akin to using a C130 transporter to pick up milk from the corner shop.

[BlueWyvern]

You have a few options here:

1: Try the USB option as I laid out.

2: Use MDT 2010 & WAIK in conjunction with a small SD card booting WinPE2 and a network share.

3: Setup a full deployment environment using either WDS or similar.

4: Buy a optical drive for the thing.

5: Set fire to the tablet and hurl it out a 4th floor window while screaming something about "fucking windows".

I would recommend that you leave the deployment environment options alone for now, try the "booting dos from a tiny USB drive (8mb is more than enough) and installing windows from another larger storage device" option as it is easy and most likely to work with the kit and skills you have right now. If this fails, you can look into installing from a network share. You will just boot of a local device instead of setting up PXE infra, while still keeping within the 512MB device limit. I can talk you through this option, its just a little more complex.

If that doesn't work, then you will need to use something that does PXE, I like WDS as I use it at work, I built the system myself and deployed it across our EMEA offices. The tool chain is simple to use and I can sync the images to other deployment servers hosted overseas using DFS replication. However, for you this setup is akin to using a C130 transporter to pick up milk from the corner shop.

ok so here's what happens when I go to use the whole USB stuff. and it's the same with my USB Floppy drive connected to the unit. It loads the USB Drivers and BAM! now it can't find the floppy drive anymore. I also tried another USB Driver for Dos that allows you to pause and then connect your drive, I tried it both ways with that but still, I end up with the old time error of cannot find command.com or it is corrupt.

Options 4 and 5 are sounding like they might be the most viable.... or I can take some time to play with options 2 and or 3 with hopes that I may use them in the future.

[VaKo]

OK, Download MDT 2010, install it and use the component down loader to install WAIK.

Then try this, and see if it works or not:

http://www.svrops.com/svrops/articles/winvistape2.htm

Out of interest, someone posted a ubuntu pxe server guide further up, have you tried that? While I personally wouldn't use it, it does look useful.

[Lord Necron]

5: Set fire to the tablet and hurl it out a 4th floor window while screaming something about "fucking windows".

Holy hell, I just piddled myself! I hope you are happy... :o

[BlueWyvern]

So... my friend comes over as im trying to find a vista disc i can borrow to make a VM for the WAIK and says HEY! I found this thing I wanna try... today he comes over and his tablet is all set up and happy... he borrowed my usb floppy drive and used the Bart's Netboot disk or something like that. And installed the machine from a share off of his windows XP desktop....

I start to wonder why these little gems don't pop up sooner... Sorry for the headaches and thanks for all the help!

I wonder if MS is going to make a WAIK that can be used in windows 7

[VaKo]

They have a WAIK for W7 already.

[BlueWyvern]

cool, I honestly feel stupid that I didn't google it before posting.

again thanks for all your help. I'm downloading the Windows 7 WAIK Iso now.