[gPXE] gpxe on USB or HD

[Yadin Flammer]

Hello list,

I've been trying to get gpxe to boot from a USB drive, and even an
internal hard drive, but no luck. Using the ISO for a CD works
perfectly, but a USB key would be much more convenient. The .usb and
.dsk files that download appear to be corrupt every time as no
application can open them (winimage says they are corrupt), or the
contents when dd to a disk under linux are corrupt. Copying the
contents of the .iso to a USB drive or internal HD does not result in a
bootable system regardless of the format or setup of the drive.

Has anyone managed to make a bootable USB key or internal drive with the
gpxe environment and if so precisely how?

Thanks!
Yadin

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Yadin Flammer - Systems Administrator
College of Arts& Architecture, Penn State University
228 Borland Building Office Phone: 814-865-0990
University Park, PA 16802 Dept. Phone: 814-865-1571
Email: yx...@psu.edu Dept. Fax: 814-863-6227


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[Yadin Flammer]

Thanks for the response. I have tried ipxe and it also does not work.
Trying to dd it to a drive under ubuntu 12 LTS results in a blank
drive. Copying the files from the ISO to the USB results in booting to
a black screen with GRUB and a flashing cursor and nothing else. I
tried posting to the ipxe forums but they appear to not be working as no
post happens and no error is given as to why.

Any advice on getting a USB drive to work with ipxe, as well as getting
the forums to work so I can reach a wider audience, are appreciated.

Cheers,
Yadin


On 6/13/2013 1:01 PM, Michael Brown wrote:

> On Thursday 13 Jun 2013 17:14:49 Yadin Flammer wrote:
>> I've been trying to get gpxe to boot from a USB drive, and even an
>> internal hard drive, but no luck. Using the ISO for a CD works
>> perfectly, but a USB key would be much more convenient. The .usb and
>> .dsk files that download appear to be corrupt every time as no
>> application can open them (winimage says they are corrupt), or the
>> contents when dd to a disk under linux are corrupt. Copying the
>> contents of the .iso to a USB drive or internal HD does not result in a
>> bootable system regardless of the format or setup of the drive.
>>
>> Has anyone managed to make a bootable USB key or internal drive with the
>> gpxe environment and if so precisely how?

> gPXE has not been maintained for several years. Please upgrade to iPXE, which
> is the replacement for gPXE.
>
> You won't be able to open the .usb image, since it doesn't contain a
> filesystem. It's a raw disk image; you need to transfer it to the USB key
> using dd (or equivalent). Be aware that this will erase all existing content
> of the USB key.
>
> Michael

[Marty Connor]

Hi Yadin,

You can use syslinux on a flash drive to load gPXE:

   http://etherboot.org/wiki/syslinux

gpxe.lkrn can be loaded like a kernel by syslinux, and this should give you a bootable USB flash drive that will boot gPXE.

Syslinux is quite robust when booting and loading OSes, so this might work better for you.

In case you might also find it interesting, here is a method for creating boot floppy image for gPXE:

    http://etherboot.org/wiki/soc/2008/stefanha/journal/week4

Let us know how things go.

Best Regards,

/ Marty /