netboot.xyz

You can add netboot.xyz to your iPXE menu to run Live CDs, OS installers and utilities they provide. This can save a lot of time and their list is always improving.

Installation

You’re going to connect to the web for this, so there’s nothing to install. You can download their efi bootloader manually if you’d like to keep things HTTPS, but they update it regularly so you may fall behind.

Configuration

Autoexec.ipxe

Add a menu item to your autoexec.ipxe. When you select it, iPXE will chainload (in their parlance) the netboot.xyz bootloader.

#!ipxe

echo ${cls}

:MAIN
menu Local Netboot Menu
item --gap Local Network Installation
item WINDOWS ${space} Windows 11 LTSC Installation
item DEBIAN ${space} Debian Installation
item --gap Connect to Internet Sources
item NETBOOT ${space} Netboot.xyz
choose selection && goto ${selection} || goto ERROR

:WINDOWS
echo Some windows things here
sleep 3
goto MAIN

:DEBIAN
dhcp
imgfree
set base http://netboot/debian-installer/amd64
kernel ${base}/linux 
initrd ${base}/initrd.gz
boot || goto ERROR

:NETBOOT
dhcp
chain --autofree http://boot.netboot.xyz || goto ERROR

:ERROR
echo There was a problem with the selection. Exiting...
sleep 3
exit

Local-vars

Netboot.xyz detects that it’s working with a Proxy PXE server and behaves a little differently. For example, you can’t insert your own local menu.ipxe. One helpful addition is a local settings file to speed up boot.

sudo vi /var/www/html/local-vars.ipxe

#!ipxe
set use_proxydhcp_settings true

Operation

You can choose the new menu item and load netboot.xyz. It will take you out the web for more selections. Not everything will load on every client, of course. But it gives you a lot of options.

Next Steps

We glossed over how to install Windows. That’s a useful item.

Troubleshooting

Wrong TFTP Server

tftp://192.168.0.1/local-vars.ipxe....Connection timed out
Local vars file not found... attempting TFTP boot...
DHCP proxy detected, press p to boot from 192.168.0.2...

If your boot client is attempting to connect to the main DHCP server, that server is probably sending value next server: 192.168.0.1 in it’s packets. This isn’t a DNS option per say, but it affects netboot. Dnsmasq does this though Kea doesn’t.

sudo systemctl -u dnsmasq -f

...
...
next server: 192.168.0.1
...
...

The boot still works, it’s just annoying. You can usually ignore the message and don’t have to hit ‘p’.

Exec Format Error

Could not boot: Exec format error (https://ipxe.org/2e008081)

You may see this flash by. Check your menus and local variables file to make sure you’ve in included the #!pxe shebang.

No Internet

You can also host your own local instance.