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Enabling PXE boot with AT-NIC (Network Interface Cards)

How to enable PXE boot with AT-Network Interface Cards?

Introduction

The Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) is an industry standard client/server interface that allows networked computers that are not yet loaded with an operating system to be configured and booted remotely by an administrator. The PXE code is typically delivered with a new computer on a read-only memory chip or boot disk that allows the computer (a client) to communicate with the network server so that the client machine can be remotely configured and its operating system can be remotely booted.

A network card using the PXE standard will perform a DHCP request to find out its IP address and location of boot program. If a location is advertised, a TFTP request is performed to fetch the boot program, commonly referred to as a network boot program (NBP). If the boot service was unable to find a valid boot program, the boot service will exit and control returns back to the BIOS, which will try next boot service.

Sometimes, NIC does not show up in Device manager, enabling the PXE might be the fix.

UEFI boot (PXE) is pre-O/S and only depends on BIOS support. You can UEFI PXE boot a system even with no hard drive installed. The O/S should not be relevant.

****UEFI is short for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface which is a firmware interface for computers which work as a "middleman" between the operating system and the computer firmware. It is used at the startup of a computer to initialize the hardware components and start the operating system which is stored on the hard drive. It is seen as the successor to the BIOS and is expected to eventually replace the BIOS.
 

Steps to enable UEFI PXE Boot 


For Dell desktop systems:
  1. Right after power on hit F2 to enter BIOS setup
  2. Go to General -> Boot Sequence and select UEFI in the boot list option
  3. Go to General -> Advanced Boot Options and unselect Enable Legacy Option ROMs
  4. Go to System Configuration -> Integrated NIC and select Enable UEFI Network Stack
  5. Go to Secure Boot -> Secure Boot Enable and select Secure Boot Enable (optional if you want to use secure boot)

For HP desktop systems:
  1. Right after power on hit F10 to go to BIOS setup
  2. Go to Advanced -> Option ROM launch Policy and select All UEFI
  3. Go to Advanced -> Secure Boot configuration and select Legacy Support Disable And Secure Boot Enable (optional if you want to use secure boot)

For servers and other desktops we would need to check in to the correct settings and will open a case in regards to check the proper steps.

Please create a case if you have further questions.

How to create Case on support portal