pxe boot an iso to install windows

[spezticle]

so i've been googling, trying to learn how to do this, but i'm not finding the information i'm looking for.

i have 2 computers.
a laptop with windows 7 and a desktop pc with no operating system but is pxe capable.
i just want to load a windows iso over the network using pxe if possible.
i'm not trying to do some sort of fancy image deployment.

can somebody help me accomplish this?

 

[Ztruker]

Google gets lots of hits for this: install windows 7 via pxe boot

Is there some reason you want to do it this way instead of from a DVD or USB flash drive or is it just the challenge of it (which I understand and am highly susceptible to)?

 

[spezticle]

Google gets lots of hits for this: install windows 7 via pxe boot

Is there some reason you want to do it this way instead of from a DVD or USB flash drive or is it just the challenge of it (which I understand and am highly susceptible to)?

I'm trying this because I'm all out of blank dvds and the only usb media i have that is large enough is my androids sdcard. I'm not going to try with my android and I just wanted to see if I can pull this off without having to buy more dvds. So basically, yeah, i just want to see if I can do it.

I did find a guide that seemed helpful and made it seemingly easy, but the package it linked me to download came with a boot\pxeboot.com file that complained as follows when I tried to run setup.exe:
"this version of z:\setup.exe is not compatible with the version of windows you're running. check your computer's system information to see whether you need a x86 or x64 version of the program and then contact the software publisher."

i'm trying to install x64 so obviously the boot\pxeboot.com file from the guide is from an i386 build.

So, i'm just going to build my own winpe image.
An added challenge is significantly limited internet usage.
I live out in the middle of nowhere. the only internet access I have is my androids wifi hotspot connection and I have a 5gb/month cap so downloading of multiple large files is something i try to avoid.

I was hoping that I would find I could just tell a tftp server to dish out an ISO to boot for pxe but it doesn't seem so.

 

[spezticle]

So, I am successful.
I created my own winpe.wim for an x64 build and i'm currently installing over the network.

 

[Ztruker]

That's great. Did you follow a tutorial and if so, can you provide a link? I think I'd like to play with this as well.

 

[spezticle]

That's great. Did you follow a tutorial and if so, can you provide a link? I think I'd like to play with this as well.

kind of but not really. it's actually really pretty simple. the most challenging part was having to make the winpe.wim file for my x64 architecture but even that isn't that difficult at all.
if you don't know anything about making and modifying .wim files or using the waik then it could be challenging i suppose.
anyway, as the first reply points out, a google search shows some guides that are pretty simple and easy to follow.
check the links that are in the posts through this thread. if you need any help, message me or post here.

 

[Ztruker]

Thanks, I'll Google it.