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I have an old Vaio computer that was going to be thrown out because it has a faulty hard drive, and no i/o ports work except the ethernet (and the keyboard). (Note: I know that it is possible to change the hd, but that is not my question)

What my goal is: to boot ubuntu onto the computer using pxeboot (w/o any hd).

I was able to boot the ubuntu installer by using tftp on my other windows computer using instructions that I found on google somewhere. This was good, however, the computer does not have a hard drive, so I cannot install it there.

What I am asking is: do any of you know how to boot the entire ubuntu os (as you could with a usb dongle) only using pxeboot over ethernet? I only want ubuntu to RUN on the computer. I do not want it to be installed. Thanks ahead of time.

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  • Just curious. How would you be able to use Ubuntu after you've accomplished a PXE boot? Since there's no I/O I guess there's no way to operate it (no keyboard/mouse). Or do you plan to do this over the network somehow?
    – gertvdijk
    May 6, 2013 at 16:16
  • Do you have knowledge on setting up iSCSI or NFS? And have you every chrooted/debootstrapped for example? It's not the easiest task in the world for a novice user, but doable if willing to learn.
    – gertvdijk
    May 6, 2013 at 16:18
  • Well, its sort of an experiment. Once I get an os onto it, it might be worth changing out the i/o connections.
    – HelpingHand
    May 6, 2013 at 16:19
  • (reply to gertvdijk) No, I don't. Let me take a look at it on google. Yes i'm definitely willing to learn. It took everything i've got to even get the pxeboot to work on tftp because the files all got mixed up.
    – HelpingHand
    May 6, 2013 at 16:22
  • I took a look at iSCSI, NFS, chroot, and debootstrap on Wikipedia, but I would need directions on how to install/use them for what i'm trying to do. I'm not a newbie when it comes to this type of computer stuff, but I would appreciate some confidence in what I am doing (step-by-step instructions).
    – HelpingHand
    May 6, 2013 at 16:34

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