PXE Booting

[MarcheurDuCiel]

Hi,

I've got some probleme with booting in PXE mode.

I'm testing in a virtual environment under virtualbox the deployment solution WDS from Microsoft. I run it with a Windows 2012 server virtualized under virtualbox, in this server I've got WDS, DNS, DHCP and Active Directory installed and normaly well configured.
My probleme is that I tried to launch a virtual machine, without any OS installed on it, in PXE mode but it didn't work.
In my windows 2012 server I configured 2 networks : 1 NAT, and 1 internal network "intnet"
In my virtual client I configure 1 network : internal network "intnet". I also enable network boot and place it first.
In advance setting of network both have "Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop (82540EM)", and I already installed the virtual box extension pack.

Have you any idea to solve my problem?

You can find attached, screenshots of my virtual client config and the error I have booting in PXE mode.

PS: It's seems that it's a DHCP probleme but when I run another virtual machine with OS installed, it get well an IP address from my DHCP.

[michaln]

OK, you didn't say so but from the screenshots it seems likely that you're on a Windows host. You didn't say so but I'm going to guess that you're using VirtualBox 4.3.22, which has a known bug related to PXE booting specific to Windows hosts. If I guessed correctly, please see the first post in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=66067

Next time, please attach a VBox.log instead of useless screenshots. It will save the guesswork and you'll get an answer quicker.

[MarcheurDuCiel]

Thanks michaln,

I'm sorry that I complety forget to mention that I'm on Windows host, and my virtualbox version is 4.3.22.

Sorry too for the VBox.log, I didn't think about that at all . I'll attach it next time.

So to solve my probleme I will download the fixed package provided in the thread you linked to me.

Thank you again.

[michaln]

If the updated build fixes it for you then there's no need for any further information This was an unfortunate problem that crept in (a small build tools change...) and only affected Windows hosts.

[JonV]

This post may be a little late, but I wanted to post it for the benefit of others who may be struggling with this issue - as I was - for many hours.

I'm running VirtualBox 5.0.8 (with the extension pack installed) on a standard Dell Optiplex 790:
These are the network settings that finally worked for me:

VM_adapter1.png (19.45 KiB) Viewed 56780 times

VM_adapter2.png (19.2 KiB) Viewed 56780 times

Also, you will want to verify that both of the adapters are enabled (I had to manually enable adapter #2 - even though it was enabled/checked in the configuration settings):

Enable_adapters.png (13.53 KiB) Viewed 56778 times

[michaln]

Actually this isn't too helpful. The settings that work depend entirely on what the user wishes to do and how the PXE server is set up. There is no single "correct" VM setup. The VM must be able to communicate to a PXE server but that could be the built-in one on NAT, it could be in another VM in an internal network, it could be on the host using host-only networking, or it could be on a separate machine on the network reachable via bridged networking. Similarly the choice of the emulated NIC depends largely on the guest OS one wishes to boot. No single "right" choice.

[ppsupport]

Thank you this was helpful in getting a VM to start pxe booting.

We have an existing pxe boot network setup, this is first VM server we're adding.

Using the out-of-box configuration, it would assign itself an unfamiliar ip address not reachable from elsewhere on network, and then fail to find pxe server.

Using your configuration, it found the correct address and pxe server.

Now having an issue where it doesn't seem to recognize bzImage, but I think this is a seperate problem addressed in other threads.

Just wanted to point out the situation where you screenshots here were immediately beneficial.

This post may be a little late, but I wanted to post it for the benefit of others who may be struggling with this issue - as I was - for many hours.

I'm running VirtualBox 5.0.8 (with the extension pack installed) on a standard Dell Optiplex 790:
These are the network settings that finally worked for me:

VM_adapter1.png

VM_adapter2.png

Also, you will want to verify that both of the adapters are enabled (I had to manually enable adapter #2 - even though it was enabled/checked in the configuration settings):

Enable_adapters.png