Article: Boot to UEFI KBE over network!

Small work around me and my boss came up with.

I got tired of using the USB boot method to image tablets and desktops with UEFI options.

This may not work for a lot of setups out there that need multiple network boot options. Maybe someone can improve my setup. We are in an all x64 enviornment moving to Windows 10.

The short explanation is WDS.

You will need to add the WDS role on a server to get started.

We are imaging everything with Windows 10 for our upcoming year. Though we still seem to be able to image previous versions with our KBE. I created the KBE with the newest version of WinPE. After it has been created, open it in kace. Create and download the USB bootable image. Open the zip file and you will want the boot.wim located in files\sources\.

(Side note: I'm using the boot.wim created from the guide by SMal.tmcc that lets me stream images from an external server. Much faster than straight from kace!) You can find the guide here: http://www.itninja.com/blog/view/wim-storage-freeing-up-space-on-your-k2000-if-you-are-using-wims-k2000-version-3-6

There is another guide I've found that lets you stream the images straight from kace. I'm still testing this option out.

Open WDS on your server. Expand Servers->yourserver->Boot Images. Right-click and Add Boot Image and browse to your boot.wim

Right-click your server name on the left. Open Properties. Go to the Boot tab and select the default boot image for your x64 and x64 (UEFI) architecture. The same boot image will work for both.

My PXE Boot Policy on the same tab is set to require users to press F12 to continue into the KBE. I also set the PXE Response tab to Respond to all clients.

Make sure the WDS server is started before continuing.

Now that the WDS Server is ready you will need to change your DHCP option 67 (and optionally 66).

I have removed my option 66 since WDS does a broadcast I believe.

Change your option 67 to: boot\x64\pxeboot.com

Now you should be able to UEFI Network boot to your UEFI KBE!

Note: Make sure you use the UEFI Network boot option rom and not the legacy option rom!

This has worked out for me very well in the last couple months and I hope I haven't forgot anything about the basic setup for you. Let me know if I've skipped any steps and I will try to update this as needed.

Comments

This scenario (tablets and UEFI) is exactly what led us down the path of discontinuing use of the K2000 in favor of WDS. As cool as the KBE Manipulator is, it trained us to customize our own boot image and eventually replicate the K2 features we were paying for. I'm not dogging the K2, but it needs to keep up with modern tech to keep this from happening widespread. PXE over UEFI is a necessity in today's networks. - nheyne 8 years ago
- Agreed! It's been labeled as a planned feature for the next release on the kace uservoice site for a while. I've been waiting on official support but it hasn't arrived soon enough with our plans to move to a full Windows 10 UEFI environment, which led us to our current work around. Hopefully there won't be anymore delays and it will be in the next major release! - animerunt 8 years ago
According to the User Voice, it is coming in the next release. - Hrkljus 8 years ago
- Glad to hear it!! - JeffE 8 years ago
Followed this guide and was able to get this working.

Had trouble with it working when using DHCP options so ended up getting rid of them and using IP helper-addresses on the switches. After that it worked like a charm.

Thanks - bobot4258 8 years ago

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Boot to UEFI KBE over network!

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