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My aim is to Install the Ubuntu 10.04 desktop version on a remote machine using PXE-BOOT. I'm trying to apply the steps given in PXE-BOOT for Ubuntu 9.10 . (I know this is for 9.10).

In "Step 8. Setting Up Boot Files", it says cp -a /media/cdrom/install/netboot/* /tftpboot/ but I wasn't able to find the netboot folder in my Ubuntu 10.04 Desktop CD. Does that folder only exist in Ubuntu Server edition? Is it possible to do this in the Desktop edition?

2 Answers 2

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The second point of Step 8 in the guide you linked to says

Download files with lftp:

lftp -c "open http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/karmic/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/;

mirror"

That clearly states that you had to download the netboot version of Ubuntu desktop. So you wouldn't find the netinstall version on your Desktop Edition disc.

More so, you can check out the tutorial on How to network boot (PXE) the Ubuntu Live Disc which is more directly addresses 10.04 and doing a network boot with any edition of Ubuntu. An excerpt from the tutorial is as follows:

  • Copy the ISO into the /tftpboot/howtogeek/linux directory
  • Create the mount point:

    sudo mkdir -p /tftpboot/howtogeek/linux/ubuntu/<version-of-ubuntu>

  • Edit the fstab file to have the ISO auto-mounted at boot: sudo vim /etc/fstab

  • Append to “fstab” the ISO mount entry:

    /tftpboot/howtogeek/linux/ubuntu-11.04-desktop-amd64.iso /tftpboot/howtogeek/linux/ubuntu/11.04 udf,iso9660 user,loop 0 0

    Note: Despite representation, this is one unbroken line.

  • Test that the mount point works by issuing: sudo mount -a

  • If all went well, you should be able to list the contents of the ISO by issuing:

    ls -lash /tftpboot/howtogeek/linux/ubuntu/11.04/

Create an NFS share

While the boot procedure starts by using PXE, the actual heavy lifting is done by the NFS share on the server. As we are basing this guide on our FOG server, the NFS components and some configurations have already been done for us by the FOG team, and all we have to do is add to them our Ubuntu share.

  • Edit the “exports” file to add the new share: sudo vim /etc/exports
  • Append to it the pointer to our ISO mount point:

    /tftpboot/howtogeek/linux/ubuntu/11.04/ *(ro,sync,no_wdelay,insecure_locks,no_root_squash,insecure)

  • Restart the NFS service for the settings to take affect:

    sudo /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server restart

PXE menu setup

  • Edit the “Linux stuff” menu:

    sudo vim /tftpboot/howtogeek/menus/linux.cfg

  • Append to it the following:

    LABEL Ubuntu Livecd 11.04 MENU DEFAULT KERNEL howtogeek/linux/ubuntu/11.04/casper/vmlinuz APPEND root=/dev/nfs boot=casper netboot=nfs nfsroot=<YOUR-SERVER-IP>:/tftpboot/howtogeek/linux/ubuntu/11.04 initrd=howtogeek/linux/ubuntu/11.04/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash --

The above may look messy at first glance but all you have to do is replace <YOUR-SERVER-IP> with the IP of your NFS/PXE server.

For a clearer geek understanding, the text above will:

  • Create a new PXE entry in the“Linux” sub-menu called “Ubuntu 11.04”.
  • Because of the “MENU DEFAULT” parameter, this entry will be automatically selected when entering the “Linux” sub-menu.
  • Point the client to take the kernel + initrd files usinf TFTP from the relative path in the /tftproot directory of
    howtogeek/linux/ubuntu…
  • Point the initrd scripts to mount the root filesystem from the NFS share on the absolute path of <YOUR-SERVER-IP>:/tftpboot/howtogeek…
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It exists on the server CD and on the alternate CD. But not on the desktop version ^^

thi s is an interesting link to get a PXE working : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1606910

my2c

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