Preboot execution environment (commonly known as PXE) is used to boot a device or virtual machine over a network. You can use PXE to achieve the following scenarios and this is used to remotely install a guest operating system over a network without needing the operating system installation media. See the following guide on how to set up a VM via PXE boot on a Generation 1 VM and how to set up a VM via PXE boot on a Generation 2 VM, how to deploy images to computers or virtual machines using WDS and Windows deployment cannot continue, the operating system is missing via MDT deployment.
Note: When a machine configured with UEFI will use bootx64wdsmgfw.efi on the WDS server when starting the boot. A legacy boot will use bootx64wdsnbp.com. Hyper-V currently has two generations of VM hardware which are;
– Generation 1: These VMs have a legacy version of Hyper-V, and have a little bit of overhead when it comes to using PXE boot because it uses the legacy BIOS.
– Generation 2: Hyper-V machine is a UEFI-based VMs.
The generation of the Hyper-V virtual machine matters, because PXE uses different boot files depending on if the machine boots either using Legacy BIOS or UEFI. It is recommended to use Generation 2 VMs and if you do not feel the need to, this could be because you have not yet enabled UEFI in your environment. See the link on why to choose Generation 1 or 2.
Generation 2 VM Installation: Please follow the installation steps described below. In the Installation Option
– Select Install an Operating System later and
– Click on Next or finish.
Note: When you click on next, it will show you the summary screen of the VM Installation, next click on finish Hardware configuration to support PXE
– Ensure you have your network at the top.
Ensure under Network Adapter
– Under Advanced features that the checkbox is selected for Protected Network (This absolutely depends on your environment need).
For how this is done on Generation 1 Hyper-V, see the link for how this is done. Note: Depending on your environment, you have to set a Static MAC address that will enable the VM search for the WDS server on the network.
– Now connect to the VM
When this process completes, deployment success will be displayed as shown below.
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